“We had just played a show and this girl was talking about seeing it with her dad,” he said. In the entry, the author wrote that when the Virginia Beach based Celtic rock band played the Irish classic, “The Leaving of Liverpool,” father and daughter looked at each other and smiled. “She said that he’s sung that song to her since she was a baby. They had this incredibly special moment. It was a really great story and it made us feel so good.”
On a recent Friday night in Richmond, McLaughlin and the rest of The Fighting Jamesons are gathered in their dressing room, pre-show at The National rock club to share stories about their relatively quick emergence on the music scene.
“You think back to when you were a kid and you’re setting up a stage made of milk crates like you’re Gene Simmons or something putting on shows for your sister and cousins and then you’re actually playing clubs like The National or the NorVa or The Stone Pony in New Jersey,” said singer/guitarist Mike Powers. “It’s extraordinary. Playing music has got to be the coolest job in the world.”
Powers, who also plays the banjo, ended his 10 year on-air reign at Norfolk radio station 96X last year and founded The Fighting Jamesons in 2010. The quintet, including guitarist Geo Bauman and brothers Paul and Jon Bidanset on drums and bass guitar respectively, take their cue from such bands as The Pogues and Dropkick Murphys by blending traditional Irish/Celtic music with rock and punk. The band has quickly made a name for themselves thanks to their fiery high-energy shows. Think sing-along choruses, the occasional guest bagpiper and hoisted pints of Guinness.
“We take a lot of pride in our live act,” said Powers. There’s a lot of energy and heart behind it and we always do our best every time we go on stage. I think that’s missing in music right now; going out there and working hard for your audience.”
The band’s skillful performing chops even managed to surprise some family members. “My mom had never seen us play until last November,” said Jon Bidanset.
“After the show she was like wow, that was really, really good. I laughed because she sounded so shocked.” On Saturday, The Fighting Jamesons perform at the NorVa for what will likely be one of their more festive gigs. As the saying goes, everybody is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. In the case of The Fighting Jamesons it also happens to be factual. Each of the band members can lay claim to some Irish ancestry.
“My family emigrated from Ireland around 1913,” said McLaughlin. “The legend in our family is that they were actually going to take the Titanic to America a year earlier but they didn’t have enough money saved.”
At that revelation, Powers’ voice raises with good natured incredulity. “How have we not heard about this before?” he exclaimed. “This is ridiculous. You have to write a song about it. That’s an amazing story.”
It was Powers’ own visit to the Emerald Isle that inspired him to start the band in the first place. “It was kind of life changing,” revealed the musician.
“My wife and I went there three years ago and it was the greatest time of our lives. The people, the atmosphere, the sounds, the smells; everything about it is just intoxicating. One night we were in a pub in Killarney and this husband and wife were performing. They saw me singing along and invited me up on stage. It was incredible.”
For lead guitarist Geo Bauman, playing in a Celtic band has even improved personal relationships. “My family is about as Irish as you can get,” he said. “Growing up I played in all kinds of different bands, mostly metal and really weird sounding stuff that really doesn’t mesh with other people. Now that I’m playing something that involves my heritage like Irish music, they’re really proud. I have a really strong connection with my family now.”
It’s easily apparent that the band mates are also exceptionally close knit.
“These guys are literally my best friends in the world,” said Jon Bidanset. And while his brother is mostly absent from the conversation to man the band’s merchandise table, his brief appearance initiates a wild flurry of jokes, anecdotes and good humored barbs. “What we lack in height we make up for in charisma and friendliness,” joked Paul Bidanset. “If you were to stand outside of a room and just listened to us talk, you wouldn’t go fifteen seconds without hearing somebody laughing,” added Bauman.
For Powers, that camaraderie helps keep the band motivated.
“I really believe in these guys and in this bond,” he said. “I think if we work hard and continue on this path, we can take it to the next level.”
To that end, the band essentially gave up drawing a salary last year, sacrificing immediate gratification in favor of the bigger picture.
“We took all of the money we made and invested it right back into the band,” said Powers. “We used it to make our record.”
The Fighting Jamesons released their self-titled debut late last year. The eight song CD features a healthy respect for Irish music tradition while infusing the genre with a decidedly modern day attitude. The disc kicks off with the thrashing, fiddle fueled “Ghost Ship Baltimore,” an original song about the ships that carried Irish immigrants trying to escape the country’s Great Potato Famine. On “Uncle Michael” the band charges through their own version of an old school drink soaked Irish anthem. Elsewhere, “Sink” finds the band taking on a more introspective tone.
“It’s about having an emotional night kind of alone in a bar,” said McLaughlin. “It’s not slow by any means but it’s the slowest song on the record. We were kind of scared to do it because we’re such an upbeat band but people seem to really like it.”
"There are so many different styles of Celtic music,” added Powers. “We tried to hit every single one from traditional to punk rock to straight up rock and roll to something more folksy. There’s so much to pull from.”
The next challenge for The Fighting Jamesons is expanding their predominantly east coast fan base. “I’d love for us to tour nationally and even internationally at some point,” said McLaughlin.
The band recently got one step closer to that objective by signing with a national agency that also represents such artists as The Clancy Brothers, The Irish Rovers and The Saw Doctors. The Fighting Jamesons have since been booked to play several big Irish music festivals this summer, including gigs in Colorado and New York. If all goes according to plan, the band mates will one day be able to quit their day jobs.
“My number one goal and I think everyone else is on the same page; is to make this band our number one priority,” said Bauman.
“I think we owe it to ourselves and all the people that supported us to see how far we can take it,” added McLaughlin. “We’re in this place now that so many musicians are never fortunate enough to reach. We want people to know that we’re incredibly appreciative and humbled by the ridiculous amount of support that’s been shown to these five nerds. We intend to work incredibly hard to hopefully be worthy of it.”
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