Why Gaelic Storm is so Easy to Love

Erin Bannen
Marketing Intern

Gaelic Storm's Tree is one of those albums that has followed me for about 10 years. When I was 12 I stealthily stole the tape (TAPE!) from my older sister's music collection. I remember waiting until I was home alone and then trying to Irish dance to Beggar Man in my basement. Then I sprained my ankle; I can't Irish Dance.

It was the album I played in high school when I was restless and decided the only thing to do was to completely re-decorate my room. I'd get to the last song on the album, Walk Through My Door and try to convince myself that I was NOT plastering my walls with Slipknot posters because Zach Martin hadn't asked me out. Nope. Not at all.

When I turned 17 and realized that Catholicism and me could be friendly but not friends, Mary's Eyes became a song that made a kind of cold religious figure into a human being for me.

When I was 22 and studying abroad in London the album effectively saved me from killing my roommate. She snored. Like a tanker truck. And I listened to Before the Night is Over on repeat to keep from punching a hole through the wall.

So Tree came out in 2011, and I have fanatically bought every album Gaelic Storm produced since then. They're all fantastic. But I'm writing about one of their first albums to show that this is a band with the kind of versatility that can follow a person through 12 formative years of her life. So if you choose to see these guys at the Wisconsin Union Theater on February 17th, don't be surprised if you can't get the songs out of your head for 10 years.