I'm a big fan of Flogging Molly (surprising absolutely no one who's spoken to me for more than 30 seconds). For the band's latest single, "A Song Of Liberty," they hired Ukrainian animation team Mad Twins to create this fantastic music video, tracing the past hundred years of humanity's struggle for liberation, drawing a direct line from the Easter Rising of 1916 (which helped shaped the childhood of Flogging Molly frontman Dave King) to the current and ongoing struggle in Ukraine.
From the description:
"We were working on this video for three months under air alerts and constant shelling of our country," explain Ukrainian twin sisters Olya and Vira Ischuk, aka The Mad Twins, who have created award-winning videos for Social Distortion, NOFX, Josh Freese and more. "Dave and Bridget got in touch with us for this very special song, which is meant to tell the Easter Rising story and highlight the universal message of nations who fought for their independence and identity. These are idealists who will fight and die for their ideas. We connected the story with the reality we are experiencing in Ukraine. Generations who went through two world wars paid with their blood for peace. Modern generations have grown up in a world where it is easy to take things for granted. We had calls with Dave talking about the video development where Dave exclaimed indignantly 'What?! Again?! People have to go through war again?!' We've been going through this for over six months now: life plans stopped, our friends were drafted, some of them have already been killed, friends' homes have been destroyed or looted, the lucky ones have been evacuated to a safer region or abroad. Generations of Ukrainians have been traumatized for a lifetime."
"It's a song of freedom, which I wrote as a recounting of a dark period in Irish history. But suddenly the injustice, and the fight against it, became current events," Dave King details. "And so our Ukrainian friends, who've had their freedom taken away from them, created something with it that seeks to inspire hope in everyone."
On a somewhat related note, there's a great Flogging Molly documentary from about 15 years ago that among other things touches on Dave King's experiences as an undocumented immigrant. He had initially moved to LA from Dublin to audition as the new lead singer of a popular metal band. The process wasn't over by the time his nine-month tourist visa had expired, so he was left with a choice: give up on the reason that he came here in the first place, or overstay the visa. He ended up not getting the role, and formed Flogging Molly instead, but his immigration status made things pretty complicated for the band in those first few years.
