The Mahones
The Mahones are a Canadian Irish punk band, formed on St. Patrick's Day in 1990, in Kingston.

Biography
The Mahones are a Canadian Irish-punk band, formed in 1990 by Dublin-born Finny McConnell, as a one-off band for a St. Patrick's Day party. Encouraged by a positive reception, McConnell decided to pursue the band full-time. The Mahones have released thirteen albums to date with their most recent, Love, Death, & Redemption, being released in 2018.

The Mahones’ music has appeared in several major films. Recently, their song “Paint The Town Red 2010” was featured in the climactic final fight scene of The Fighter, starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, and Amy Adams. The film went on to win two Academy Awards and several Golden Globes. The Mahones also co-wrote and recorded the title track for the Hollywood Pictures movie Celtic Pride, featuring Damon Wayans, Daniel Stern, and Dan Aykroyd. Their song 100 Bucks was also featured in the movie Dog Park, featuring Natasha Henstridge, Luke Wilson, Janeane Garofalo, as well as Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney from Kids in the Hall. The Mahones’ song ‘A Little Bit of Love’ is in the new film Ecstasy, based on Irvine Welsh’s critically acclaimed book.

The Mahones have shared stages and toured around the world with bands such as Dropkick Murphys, Stiff Little Fingers, Shane MacGowan and The Popes, Billy Bragg, Chuck Ragan, UK Subs, Sick Of It All, The Defects, Agnostic Front, The Buzzcocks, D.O.A., Against Me, The Tragically Hip, Crash Vegas, The Damned, Suicidal Tendencies, The Prodigy, Gwar, Skunk Anansie, Blue Rodeo, Steve Earle, The Alarm, Sinéad O'Connor, Roger Miret and The Disasters, Dylan Walshe, Flogging Molly, Spirit of the west, The Dubliners, Christy Moore, The Band and Van Morrison. The band’s cited influences included The Clash, The Pogues, Greenland Whalefishers, The Who, and Hüsker Dü. The group’s lineup has changed a number of times, with McConnell and Whelan as the main constant members. Pogues members Terry Woods and Phil Chevron joined the band on tour in 2003.

In 1999, bassist Joe Chithalen died in Amsterdam shortly after a concert. He had accidentally ingested food containing peanuts, to which he was allergic. The Joe Chithalen Memorial Musical Instrument Lending Library, Joe’s M.I.L.L., was established in Kingston soon after by Wally High. The Mahones perform fundraising concerts for Joe's M.I.L.L. annually.

In 2010, The Mahones started their own record label, Whiskey Devil Records, and signed a distribution deal with eOne Music.

In 2014, The Mahones were nominated Best Punk Band at the Sirius XM Indie Awards. In 2012, The Mahones' album The Black Irish won the Independent Music Award for Best Punk Album, and Angels & Devils won Paddy Rock Radio's album of the year, as well as Vandala Concepts' album of the year 

In 2016, Scruffy Wallace joined the band as their new bagpipe player. Wallace quit the Dropkick Murphys after 12 years with the band. That same year, Guillaume Lauzon (formerly with Canadian  Psychobilly band "The Brains") joined the band as their new drummer.

Name
The Mahones cite The Pogues as a main influence. That band were originally called Pogue Mahone (an anglicisation of an Irish phrase meaning "kiss my arse"), but later shortened it to The Pogues. "The Mahones" is seen as similarly derived from Pogue Mahone, as a tribute to The Pogues.

Members
Current Members
 Finny McConnell - Lead Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin, Songwriter
 Katie "Kaboom" McConnell - Accordion, Vocals
 Michael O'Grady - Tin Whistle, Vocals
 Sean Ryan - Bass,  Vocals 
 Guillaume Lauzon - Drums 
 Scruffy Wallace - Bagpipes

Former Members 
 Dom "The Bomb" Whelan
Chris Ward
 Colm McConnell
 Paul "Cuzo" Mancuso 
 "The" Barry Williams
 Andrew Brown
 Ger O'Sullivan
 Mauro Sepe
 Owen Warnica
 David Allen
 Kevan Williams
 Paddy Concannon
 Miranda Mulholland
 Chris Scahill
 Chris Smirnios
 Ewen McIntosh
 Joe Chithalen
 Sean Winter

Controversies 
In March 2019, The Mahones were fired from a European tour with Avatar following multiple reported lateness to gigs and unprofessional behavior by front man Finny McConnell. The band was fired while on the Scandinavian leg of the tour and replaced by singer/songwriter Dylan Walshe as the main supporting act.

Several previous musicians of The Mahones have come forward over the years on social media as having not been paid for tours and general abusive behavior by front man Finny McConnell. This has been cited as the primary reason for the frequent revolving cast of musicians in the band.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

Singles