When Summer Breeze first announced the line-up for the 2024 edition, a band name truly stuck out. Not your traditional heavy metal act, but one with a Celtic flavour. But indeed, an incredible heavy metal past. We are talking about the Celtic-punk phenomenon Flogging Molly. Who? Here’s some background. After “Fast” Eddie Clarke left Motörhead in 1982 during the Iron Fist tour, he joined forces with Humble Pie drum legend Jerry Shirley and a new singer from Dublin by the name of Dave King. Fastway was formed and the band’s debut album went through the roof, hitting the Top 40 in the US, which Motörhead had never done. To this day it is one of the finest debut albums in hard rock/metal history in 1983. And King’s voice led the charge with such classic as “Easy Livin’”, “Say What You Will”, “Feel Me, Touch Me (Do Anything You Want)” and the epic “We Become One”. Fastway disbanded after three albums (including 1984’s All Fired Up, 1986’s Waiting For The Roar) and the Trick Or Treat soundtrack in 1986. After the Katmandu project, King formed Flogging Molly and the rest is history.
So when I saw that Flogging Molly was added to the Summer Breeze bill, I thought, what the hell. Let’s try and cross paths with the legendary voice of Fastway, Dave King. And the festival organizers made it happen. And he was gracious enough to talk about his present and his past. So, Fastway fans, here is an excerpt from my jaw-dropping chat:
BraveWords: Where were you when “Fast” Eddie died? When we lost all the original Motörhead members, that was tragic.
King: “Philthy used to live with me in LA. He used to stay in my flat. But Eddie had health issues, but I didn’t even know Eddie was sick. I was in the middle of a tour in Europe, like festival season, when I heard he passed away. Myself and Eddie hadn’t talked in a few years you know. It was sad, but there were a lot of issues there between the two of us.”
BraveWords: Were you actually a Motörhead fan when you got hired?
King: “Yeah, I mean I literally had seen Motörhead three weeks before he left.”
BraveWords: Although I was too young to attend, Fast Eddie’s final show with Motörhead was on the Iron Fist tour at Toronto’s CNE in 1982. That’s when then band imploded.
King: “He was very upset at the thing they did with Wendy O’ Williams from The Plasmatics. Eddie was very upset by that. I’ve got a great story. I was at a pub called the Prince Of Wales in London. And a lot of people drank there. Joe Strummer drank there. So did Lemmy. They hired a friend of mine to help me out, help me adjust. They just hired him so that I’d be OK. Because it was a whole new world to me you know. I was 18 years of age and knew fuck all, and we are in the Prince Of Wales pub and my friend went over to talk to Lemmy and he asked him, ‘Do you think you’ll ever get back together with Eddie?’ He said ‘No’ and he pointed at me. I was at a pinball machine and Lemmy points at me and says “Because of him.”
BraveWords: So did you get along with Lemmy at all?
King: “Lemmy was fine, Lemmy was brilliant. He was a fucking genius. He didn’t give a fuck. He ruled his world. Flogging Molly toured with Motörhead a few times and he was always, always, always a really intelligent, smart man. His company was great. Him and Eddie always got on after he left Motörhead.”
BraveWords: What was your fave Motörhead record then?
King: “I’m the live album guy. No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith was my album. UFO, their live album as well. I was really into live albums. I think that’s the reason Flogging Molly is a live band, I love live music.”
BraveWords: Where would you want to record your live record then?
King: “Well, we have a plan.”
BraveWords: Are we talking about the plan?
King: “No, I can’t talk about the plan yet, but we have one in the works and obviously it’s going to be very special. Hopefully it will pan out the way I feel it. Because I think it’s important, for us anyway, it will be an important record. Our next album will be a live album. Especially playing these metal festivals as well. You feel that energy and you miss that. The comraderie of people, looking out into the audience, A sea of people, it’s uplifting it really is.”
BraveWords: Last question. Who is your rock star?
King: “Probably him. Freddie Mercury (shows me that tattoo on his finger). I’m mean there’s lots. He brought a lot of joy. The first few Queen albums are just fucking mint. And he’s given me one of the greatest compliments anyone has ever given me. He said he hated me. And I asked why he hated me. Because he heard me sing. On the first Fastway album. Jokingly. Cause he heard me sing. I knew the rest of the band. I’d met Brian and Roger. Brian May told me Freddie was a big fan of mine.”
BraveWords: So what do you think was your peak vocal moment in Fastway?
King: “Oh fuck. I don’t, maybe ‘We Become One’. But ‘All Fired Up’ is a good one for me because I’m just SCATTIN’. Eddie Kramer who produced it said, you’re not going to beat that first take.”
Stay tuned for our entire chat in the coming days.