Rumjacks, The
Hestia
Hestia, the fifth and most recent studio album from The Rumjacks, marks a new era for the band. Hestia takes the energy of traditional folk music, lights it on fire, then sprinkles it with ash. Dark, gritty, and historically aware, this is music grounded in the character of the Rebel. When writing Hestia (named after the Greek goddess of home and hearth), bandmembers Mike Rivkees (vocals), Johnny McKelvey (bass), Gabe Whitbourne (guitar), Adam Kenny (bouzouki/mandolin), and Pietro Della Sala (drums) apply their diverse American, Australian, Italian, and Irish perspectives to create a new, globalized iteration of the Celtic punk legacy dating back to the Pogues, with the punk, ska, and hard rock sounds pulsing through their veins. For twelve years, the Rumjacks have written songs that you cannot help but start singing by the second chorus, even if you have never heard them before. In this short career, they have released four acclaimed studio albums and two live albums that capture their most renowned asset: their electric energy onstage. That organic energy has garnered them a far-reaching fanbase. The bands breakthrough hit, "Irish Pub Song" (2011), a tongue-in-cheek jaunt about all the Irish pubs in the world, has over sixty-five million views on YouTube.