Coming to Otto’s on January 29th, The Tossers might be from Chicago, but they’ve got not only a national, but an international following. So, this is a big show and a great reason to have a look at one of their most recent CD’s. Much like such bands as Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly, The Tossers combine punk rock and traditional Irish music into a musical stew that’s both Celtic and driving rock.

Personally, I've got a love/hate relationship with Celtic music. Sure, my Maternal Grandfather came over from Ireland, so it's in my blood. And when it's good it can really get you powered up. The working man's folk music quality also lends a lot of charm. The problem is, the musical format – when taken in its most traditional form – is extremely limited. This means a lot of the music sounds the same.

The Tossers stay a bit closer to the traditional than the bands mentioned above. Fortunately they change it up enough to keep the disc from dragging too much. That said, there are a couple points where it really suffers from a lack of variety. The truth is, though, I like this disc a lot and I'm sure I'll be spinning it quite a bit in the future. I also look forward to more from The Tossers and here's hoping the break even further out of the monotony that some times hinders Celtic music. They've definitely shown a lot of progress in that direction here.