Bunch of Bastards – Full Force Folk

We at BoB are Busy in February and March

Hibernation time is over, over big time even, because in February and March we at BoB are being pretty busy, playing a rather nice string of gigs, including headlining ‘our’ Saint Patrick’s Day event in Bibelot, Dordrecht, on March 14th. Also on the bill that night are local heroes Baby Belushi and our mates Burning Pubcrawlers. Over the summer, a few festivals have already been booked. Check under events for information on the other gigs.
Apart from that, mid February sees our (postponed) weekend in the studio to record an EP, for which we selected six of the beauties (at least we like tot think so) we’ve been working on. They all made it to our setlist, so loyal fans will now those songs. For others, they hopefully come as a pleasant suprise.

BoB in 2025

2025 saw us play 21 gigs, three of which in Germany. Honesty has it that two of them were below par, one in terms of the number of punters that turned up (app. 15) and one because there had just been a stabbing in the crowd, which somewhat lessened our appetite to play and have fun.

On the other hand, the number of highlights by far exceeds the number of disappointments: ‘our’ St Pat event in Bibelot was once again grand (and will be repeated in 2026); we traveled East to headline the wonderful Folk on Fire festival in downtown Twülpsted (Germany); we played a show for a massive and appreciative crowd at Wantijpop (Dordrecht); we (again) played support shows for Ferocious Dog (likely to happen again in 2026); and last but not least we were part of the famous (within our scene at least) Irish Rock Night in Arnsberg (Germany).

A recording weekend scheduled for November had to be postponed, as our singer Jasper chose that week to fall ill and loose his voice, which makes singing a wee bit difficult. So much against our will, there will be no EP-release around St Pat 2026. Recording will happen though, and is now scheduled for February 2026.

Summer and Beyond

Oi lads and lassies, the first six months of this year saw us play a nice string of gigs. Things kicked off at the Irish Pub Fest in Deventer, after which we revisited some joints where we’ve been welcome over the years. Besides, we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day again in Bibelot and King’s Day at the Down With The King festival. June saw us play two fantastic festivals: Folk on Fire in Germany and Wantijpop in Dordrecht, which sent us into the summer break with big smiles on our faces.

Regrettably, holiday plans got in the way of playing more gigs and festivals over the summer. We will resume gigging in September, with shows in Alkmaar (Sept 6th), Gouda (Sept 13th) and more to follow. And we’ve aquuezed in one gig in Varsseveld (August 17th).

In the meantime, we will further polish the songs that we will be recording this autumn, to be launched with an accompanying newly designed t-shirt around St Patrick’s Day 2026, for which two shows have been confirmed already, including of course ‘our’ St.Pat.-evening in Bibelot, Dordrecht. A first 2026 summer festival also has already been confirmed.

Some Festivals Coming Up

After playing ten shows this year so far, we at BoB are looking forward to playing three festivals before taking a summer break:

Double D festival, Lekkerkerk, Thursday May 29th, 22.00-23.00h

FolkonFire, Germany, Friday June 6th, 22.30-00.00h

Wantijpop, Dordrecht, Saturday June 14th, 21.00-21.45h

Over the summer we will finalize the dozen odd songs we are working on in preparation of new recordings later this year, due hopefully around Saint Patrick’s Day 2026, for which shows are already in the making. Some new songs have already made to our evergrowing longlist of songs.

After the summer, we’ll resume gigging in September. In between, regrettably, our respective holiday plans stopped us from playing more summer festivals.

BoB in 2024

It’s been rather quiet here, sorry for that, but not so in real BoB life. In ’24 we played 24 gigs, 2 of which in France and 1 in Belgium. Honestly, there were a few so-so or just-about-okay occasions, due for instance to rain during outdoor events or to total lack of publicity by a local barkeeper in a far away city. But overall, we had lots of fun, and so generally did the punters in front of us. And not unimportant: all six of us were in good health this year. Early in the year Andries was finally able to resume gigging after an 8-months sick-leave. Among the niceties in the first months were (again) playing Irish Pub Fest and of course (again) ‘our’ St. Pat. night in the beautiful Bibelot venue in Dordrecht, where we were accompanied this year by Burning Pub Crawlers and Drunken Dolly (we will be back at both events in 2025 by the way). The St. Pat. weekend also included us bringing the major St. Pat. festival in The Hague to a close by a rowdy late night set in Zwarte Ruiter. What made St. Pat. ’24 all the more special for us was that is also marked the launch of our Drink, Holler and Dance cd, a set of recordings we still are rather chuffed with. In between our holidays we played some festivals, and early autumn saw us spending many hours on French highways playing Caen and the neat Dirty Folk Festival near Tours. A final highlight was playing 3 sets at the Midwinterfair in the Archeon archeological themepark, where we played in a Roman Bath and a Roman Inn. Besides, we also found time to work on some new songs, a few of which have already become staples on our setlist. We hope to add a few more, to record a bunch of new songs by autumn ’25 and to have a new album out by St. Pat. ’26.
In the meantime: SLAINTE

ST PAT 2024 / CD RELEASE WEEKEND

Having played a handful of, if we daresay, successful 2024 gigs, we at BoB are well prepared for the upcoming Saint Patrick’s Day festivities.
It promises to be all the more festive, as we then also launch our new cd and matching new t shirt !

We kick off (again) in BIBELOT, Dordrecht, on Saturday March 16th. Also on the bill that night are young upstarts THE BURNING PUBCRAWLERS and longtime mates DRUNKEN DOLLY.

After a probably rather short night, we set sail to IRISH PUB VLAARDINGEN, where we play on Sunday March 17th, starting at 16.30 h.

To wrap up this weekend in true rock’n’roll style, that day we also play the St. Patrick’s Day event at De Grote Markt in Den Haag, where we throw the after party in DE ZWARTE RUITER, mayhem commencing at around 23.00 h.

Hoping to see you guys around, SLAINTE !!