The Prodigals combine tradition, experimentation

Celebrating the 2006 release of their sixth CD, the appropriately titled Momentum, the Prodigals stem from an anarchic, young-blooded New York Irish music scene. Since the band’s birth in 1998, it has performed everywhere from Los Angeles and Boston to Canada and Ireland — homeland to many of its musicians. 

Gregory Grene of County Cavan, Ireland (button accordion and vocals), Eamon O’Tuama of County Cork, Ireland (guitar and vocals), Ed Kollar of New York City (bass) and drummer Dustin Rohrer make a sound critics have coined “jig-punk,” a modern alternative to the melodic odes of their ancestors.

“The one thing the band has done is taken the lid off the respectable side of traditional Irish music and reveled in it,” says Grene.

“It’s throwing off the rules and making the traditional parts insane and raucous,” adds Kollar.

Momentum, the band’s 14-track studio album, features guest performances by Joanie Madden of Cherish the Ladies, New York fiddlers Tony DeMarco and Mattie Mancuso, Lisa Gutkin and Mathieu Darriau of the Klezmatics (Jewish traditional music). The album also includes a track from Neil McLellan, producer of The Prodigy.

“We’re proud of our CDs, but it’s not possible to duplicate seeing the band live on them,” says Grene. “When you continuously play the material live, it develops on its own.”

With freedom to bend the rules of Celtic composition, Grene and his bandmates experiment to create an atmosphere of edgy Irish rock. Readers of Irish Echo, the oldest and largest Irish-American newspaper, voted the Prodigals “Number One Irish Band,” rating them higher than U2 and Sinéad O’Connor.

The band began in New York as a product of a piecemeal St. Patrick’s Day gig. Grene liked the outcome so much that it stuck. “There are four lead members in this band,” he says. Without a hierarchy, the musicians bounce ideas off each other and explore the wilder side of Ireland.

When Irish traditional music was “uncool,” according to Grene, Americans knew “there was something different about this kind of rock” that intrigued them. “Now it’s gone full circle,” he says. “What I hear in the back of my head are melodies that are based in the traditional idiom, and lyrical poetry like (William Butler) Yeats and (Rudyard) Kipling. We follow the usual things — love, drink, hope, dreams and the songs are profoundly based on truth.”

O’Tuama, an avid soccer fan when not performing live, grew up playing guitar and listening to American singer-songwriters like Bob Dylan. “It was a vehicle to write songs,” he says. He didn’t begin following his country’s musical traditions until he moved to New York for the love of a girl, much to the chagrin of Grene, who had a similar experience. However, Grene was well-versed in the traditions of Irish music, using it to fuel his music today. He moved from Ireland to Chicago and then to New York to work on Broadway as an actor.

“We used to have Harvest parties, and I’d see musicians sitting on the steps, playing,” Grene says. For him, it was the feeling of joy and warmth that inspired him to start playing the accordion at nine years of age. “It was a peculiar time in Ireland — very joyful, even though it was economically depressed.”

New York native Kollar played bass and trombone throughout the years, studying jazz, which has been known to unleash its influence on the band’s rhythm section from time to time.

For the past three years at New Year’s Eve, the Prodigals have returned to Ireland to perform and spend time with family. The band has been on tour constantly for about four years, which leaves little time for outside interests. Nevertheless, Grene, a music producer in his limited spare time, reads novels and historical books to gain inspiration.

“When you’re stuck in a van with four guys for nine hours a whack, you see if it’s gonna work or not,” says Grene. “We feel like family. It’s been a brilliant, brilliant time.”

Returning to Irish Fest, the Prodigals look forward to the passion of the people there. “These guys are so bloody committed,” says Grene. “There are months and months of planning involved.”

College students wearing college apparel and showing a college ID will get into the festival for $5. Regular gate admission costs $12. Gates open from 4:30 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. The event also includes an Irish Festival 5K Night Run and the semi-final round of the Irish Toast Contest. The festival promises to celebrate the best aspects of Irish heritage.

“If you’re not proud of where you come from, I don’t understand how you can move in any direction at all,” says Grene. “You don’t have to stay there, just know where you’re from.”
For more information on the band, visit www.prodigals.com. For details about the Irish Festival, visit www.indyirishfest.com.