Black 47 espouses an unblinkingly political and thoroughly Irish form of rock 'n' roll, with songs covering topics from the Northern Ireland conflict to civil rights and urban unrest in contemporary New York. Black 47 earned their chops playing the pub scene in Manhattan and self-producing their first indie record, Black 47, before converting The Cars' Ric Ocasek to the cause and gaining mainstream attention with their second album. The band celebrates their 20th year on the road with their latest album "Bankers and Gangsters"

"Usually most comfortable playing loud and live with upraised fists and chunky guitar riffs in local hangouts - explodes with declarations of gnashing street poetry punctuated with wailing uilleann pipes, Joe Strummer-style chord chops and Bourbon Street sax sojourns." — Rolling Stone

Geoffrey Blythe

Tenor and soprano saxophone

A founding member of Dexys Midnights Runners, Geoff is now part of GIBlythe, a high-energy hybrid of wit and horn-centric good-time Rock, which is amply demonstrated on their new self-titled debut EP release.

Joe Burcaw

Bass

During his career, Joe has divided his time between New York and London while collaborating with artists such as Ron McClure, Nick Beggs and Mark Egan. In 2007 he will return to London as a featured musician in Bass Guitar magazine's annual seminar/clinic.

His recent solo recording "Dichotomy Theorem" was called "A musical journey of atmospheric treasures, a superb display of playing and songwriting!" by The Village Voice.

Thomas Hamlin

Drums and percussion

Gods Of Electricity is the left field electronic soundscapes project from occasional Black 47 studio guitarist Mike Fazio and Thomas Hamlin. They have a long history of musical partnership dating back to Chill Faction days and before.

Sugartime is four NYC musicians coming together to play the soul songs they love. Jahn Xavier Bonfiglio (The Nitecaps, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Ghosts), David Conrad (Black 47, the Uptown Horns, Solomon Burke, Phoebe Snow, Chill Faction, Sylvain Sylvain), Thomas Hamlin (Black 47, Major Thinkers, Chill Faction) & Al Maddy (The Nitecaps, The Royal Wyld, The Dots, Joey Ramone)

Larry Kirwan

Lead vocals and Stratocaster

Independent of Black 47, Larry has produced two solo recordings, Kilroy Was Here and Keltic Kids. He also has published two books, Liverpool Fantasy and Green Suede Shoes: An Irish American Odessey. Kirwan has also recorded Kilroy Was Here and Keltic Kids as solo efforts.

He has written eleven plays and musicals, five of which are collected in the book Mad Angels. Liverpool Fantasy, his best known play, has been produced Off-Broadway and at the Dublin Theatre Festival. He has also written a novel version of Liverpool Fantasy, a memoir Green Suede Shoes and Livin' in America, a collection of songs and stories.

His latest novel, Rockin' The Bronx, has just been published. Kirwan hosts and produces Celtic Crush for SiriusXM Satellite Radio and writes a weekly column for the Irish Echo. In 1995 the NY Daily News named him one of the top fifty most interesting New Yorkers, several places ahead of Madonna. It would appear, however, that he has lost considerable ground to the blonde seductress. Nonetheless, while brooding on a comeuppance, he slaves away in cunning silence on Transport, a musical with book by Thomas Keneally, that will receive a workshop/performance at the Irish Arts Center, NYC in April, 2010.

Learn more about Larry's side projects on MySpace

Joseph Mulvanerty

Uilleann Pipes and flute

Joseph Mulvanerty has been performing Irish woodwinds and percussion for over 15 years. He is a founding member of The Ruffians, a pop/punk band called “an American, Gen Y version of the Pogues” by the Chicago Sun Times. Joseph currently performs across the country and overseas with the Irish rock band Black 47. In 2011 he was a featured soloist in a performance of music by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins at Carnegie Hall. Joseph has been called "The Eddie Van Halen of Uilleann Pipes"

Fred Parcells

Trombone and pennywhistle

In addition to publishing online over 1700 transcriptions of Irish music performances, Fred also maintains the Black 47 Archive featuring photographs and press from the early days of the band.

Check out The Reel Book and the Black 47 Archive