Callaghan’s always throws one hell of a St. Patrick’s Day party. This year, they’re upping the ante, adding another saint into the mix: St. Paul and the Broken Bones. The neighborhood bar welcomes the soul-rattling, table-dancing septet of Paul Janeway, Jesse Phillips, Browan Lollar, Andrew Lee, Allen Bransetter, Ben Griner and Al Gamble back to their stage, fresh off their stint at the legendary Austin music festival South By Southwest (SXSW). Virtually overnight, the band has built a strong reputation for their dynamic live shows. Now, with the release of their album, “Half The City, ” produced by Bill Tanner, of Alabama Shakes, you get the sense that they are on the precipice of something big. Here, Mobile Bay Magazine talks with the band’s fearless leader, Paul, left, third from right, about their music and the highly anticipated upcoming show.
◗ Our first show was a year and eight months ago. It’s been crazy quick for us. Jesse, the bass player, and I have been really good friends for seven or eight years now. He and I played in another band that fizzled out, but we stayed good friends. I was kind of done with music and went back to college to get my accounting degree. But Jesse convinced me to get in the studio, and we started writing songs. Jesse, because he’d played in another band, met Andrew, the drummer, and Browan, the guitar player. He knew one of the horn players, because he’d worked with him in a music shop. This is all Jesse’s fault, I guess.
◗ The name of the band is Jesse’s fault, too. I didn’t want my name in there, but obviously it got in somehow. He thought of it as good versus evil. Broken bones was meant to be like a fragmented ragtag group of guys that come together from different backgrounds and form a cohesive unit.
◗ I was born and raised in Alabama so everything about it influences our music: the barbecue, me growing up in a very Southern church. I like to keep things slow, and I think that’s kind of a Southern culture thing.
◗ Callaghan’s is one of our very favorite places to play in the country. There’s something in the water down there – or in the alcohol. We’re also playing SXSW that week, which can be crazy, so this party down at Callaghan’s is going to be a nice way to end it. We always have fun in Mobile; it’s a really cool city.
Buy “Half The City” on iTunes, and for more information on the band, check out stpaulandthebrokenbones.com.
March 15: St. Patrick’s Day Street Party
Callaghan's Irish Social Club • 916 Charleston St. 433-9374.
11 a.m. Let the day of drinking begin. 7 p.m. Performance by St. Paul and the Broken Bones.
text by mallory boykin • photo by Dave mcclister
