Dave King has a confession to make.
"I'm really not that much of a drinker," says the 47-year-old singer-guitarist. "I never have been. Not even when I was younger."
It's a sobering admission coming from him.
The Dublin-born King is, after all, the frontman of Celtic-punk outfit Flogging Molly -- a band that formed in (and took its name from) an Irish pub in L.A.
And he's the voice behind Guinness-hoisting anthems like Drunken Lullabies and albums like Whiskey on a Sunday.
For him, perpetual liver-curdling inebriation is practically part of the job description.
Then again, so what if King can't go pint for pint with Shane McGowan of the Pogues?
His long-running septet still knows how to serve up a potent cocktail of traditional Irish music (right down to the fiddle, tin whistle, accordion and bodhran) and contemporary punk (complete with power chords, breakneck beats and plenty of tattoos).
Some folks call it punk. Some call it Celtic. Others brand it folk-rock.
King has his own label.
"We are a no-holds, no-bulls---, rock and roll band," he says in his lilting accent from the Detroit home he shares with band violinist (and as of last year, wife) Bridget Regan.
"Yeah, we've got accordions and fiddles and mandolins and all that. But it's still rock and roll."
The 16-year-old group's high-energy hybrid of styles -- most recently displayed on its fourth studio album Float -- has never been the most commercial sound around.
But its inability to be pigeonholed has turned out to be its biggest asset, allowing it to perform and fit in everywhere from folk festivals to the Warped Tour, King says.
"A couple of weeks ago we headlined a punk-rock festival in Blackpool in England. And then the next night we played in Belgium with Richard Thompson.
And then another night we played with Motorhead. And at every one of those shows, I can look out and see people enjoying it. That's the place this band is in."
But it's a long way from where the band started out.
"All we were about was playing music that inspired us. We had no idea what we were going to do with it. But that was OK. "
Eventually, the group found the right match in L.A. indie label SideOneDummy.
And over the years, Flogging Molly has evolved one member at a time, one song at a time, one tour at a time, finally turning into the formidable, hard-touring outfit it is today.
"I remember early on in our career, nearly getting signed to an indie label run by Miles Copeland," King recalls. "He said to us, 'You guys are always going to do all right because you're always going to be a live band.' And he was right."
"We've got accordions and fiddles and mandolins and all that. But it's still rock and roll."
