The Real McKenzies – Pissed Tae Th’ Gills – Review

dvd-therealmkenzies200The Real McKenzies

Pissed Tae Th’ Gills (MVD)
by Grady Gadbow

I spoke with Paul McKenzy at some party years ago and he described the stringent code of conduct to which a Real McKenzie must adhere. In his Scottish accent, as thick as grounds-keeper Willie’s, he said, “Wea’ve got but two rules when wea go on tour, no heroin and no underwear!” So what do you wear under you kilt? “Me boots!” Yes, they’re Scotsmen all right, albeit from Canada. Scottish Canadians, if you will, and they put on a good show.

There’s a few such conversations on the DVD, along with 16 tracks of live footage, a hilarious video, and a surprisingly successful promotional campaign for haggis waged on the streets of Vancouver, BC. The sound quality is pretty good overall, but one of the guitars is barely audible in most of the live tracks. My guess is he wouldn’t turn down when the sound guy asked him to, and he ended up faded out of the PA to compensate. Who knows? Anyway, the bagpipes sound great and the crowd is huge and crazed. It looks like a great show.

The “Mainland” video is a completely silly pirate adventure in which the Scottish heroes board a sailboat under the command of some sort of Frenchman, cast him overboard, and plunder the cargo of hot chicks.

If you want to learn the brilliant guitar secrets of Scottish punk rock by watching this DVD, I’ll save you the trouble. Bang repeatedly on a single power-chord while your boy goes to town on the bagpipes, and you’ve pretty much got it. It’s a dead simple formula, but it sounds awesome and is fun to watch to boot.
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