Band’s songs and shows are straightforward fun

By John Benson

Gaelic Storm returns to Cleveland’s House of Blues this Thursday.

After rocking Northeast Ohio earlier this year at the House of Blues, Celtic folk rock act Gaelic Storm returns to the scene of the crime with a Thursday show at the Cleveland venue.

“Ohio is just straightforward and straight-talking people, and we like to think we are too,” said co-founding member Steve Twigger (vocals, guitar, bouzouki), calling from somewhere in Wisconsin. “We enjoy hanging out after the shows and going out for a pint or two with the locals and see what everybody is up to.”

Clich s aside, that pint is Guinness, right?

“That’s usually where we start, and it can go anywhere after that,” Twigger said, laughing.

Within six months of forming in the mid-’90s, the Los Angeles-based outfit appeared in blockbuster feature film “Titanic” as the band playing in the steerage dance scene. Talk about auspicious beginnings, the outfit has gone on to grow a loyal following with its four-leaf-clover-styled music.

“It ranges from the sort of light end of rock into the heavier end of folk music,” Twigger said. “Again, acoustic folk music with the energy of a rock band. But the pieces of the puzzle include traditional elements that go back centuries. Some of the tunes we play are a hundred years old. It sort of includes the roots, quite a lot of American music as well.”

The band is celebrating the release of its seventh studio album, “What’s the Rumpus?” And no matter how you say it, rumpus is, well, a funny word. However, a noisy commotion is what fans will find all over the 14-track album.

“There’s a lot of life and energy in the lyrics because we get to meet so many people around the country,” said Englishman Twigger. “We get to hear so many stories. So this CD shows more colorful characters and events of our past, and in the music, we manage to actually capture a lot of spontaneous energy.”

While “What’s The Rumpus?” successfully channels the rowdy Irish pub experience with raucous sing-along anthems, driving bagpipe sets and spirited fiddle tunes, it’s the tales of band member Patrick Murphy (vocals, accordion, harmonica) that are drawing attention.

Twigger said the title track details the night Murphy threw a loud party that was visited by the Los Angeles Police. Instead of shutting down the fun, the officers ended up coming back and partying after their shift. Another song is “The Night I Punched Russell Crowe,” which describes Murphy’s brief fisticuff encounter with the A-list celebrity. Though Crowe denies the event ever happened, Murphy says otherwise.

Such is the fun and frivolity that defines not only Gaelic Storm’s song appeal but also its onstage presence.

“I think there’s an energy to it that people pick up on,” Twigger said. “We don’t really write songs about doom and disaster too much. We like to think we entertain ourselves for those few hours on stage and perhaps take people away from their troubles for a couple of hours themselves.

“I like to think we put a smile on their faces. So if they don’t arrive with a smile, we’ll give them a smile to take home.”

Perhaps that’s from the Guinness?

“The band will give them a smile,” Twigger said. “They can get their Guinness on another night. We’re all in this together. I’ll tell you what, if this show is anything like the show we did in March, that was one of our top three shows of the whole year. And I’m not just saying that: Cleveland is a great place to play.”