Name a musical act after one of the great warriors of Irish legend, and you’d better be prepared to crank out some energetic, larger-than-life performances.

That’s precisely why Culann’s Hounds has been a favorite on the San Francisco scene for six years - and is now bringing their self-described punk-Irish-hoedown sensibility to a larger audience. The melodies of Steve Gardner (fiddle) and Renee de la Prade (button accordion); harmonies of Mike Kelleher (guitar); and rhythm of Scott Marshall’s bodhran meld with rich vocals that are a staple of the Irish tradition.

The Hounds connect with their audience because they are as adept with traditional arrangements as they are with bringing their eclectic artistic backgrounds to an original brand of Irish-inspired music.

The band boasts an impressive musical pedigree: Gardner played Red Rocks with Grammy winning favorites Blues Traveler; and wows crowds with his work on fiddle, guitar, mandolin and vocals. Kelleher’s ability to connect with and uplift a crowd with raucous humor and hard driving songs is a key; Marshall’s years drumming for punk band The Nuns gives him the straight ahead power that he harnesses on the bodhrán (and instrument he learned at the beginning of his stint with the Hounds); and de la Prade the Berklee graduate (barely, she says) started her love affair with the Cairdin Irish button box backstage at a Pogues show.

Four very different musical paths have converged to create performances rambles.net described as having ”the innate strength of Cuchullain.”

Web site:  http://www.sfhounds.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/sfhounds