Socks in the Frying Pan • Gifted Irish Trio Set for March 13th Performance

For those looking to experience this year’s  St. Patrick’s Day holiday by bringing some rich and colorful musical authenticity into their celebration, once again The Friends of Celtic Culture are showcasing the talents of an exceptionally gifted, jovial, and highly spirited Irish musical trio known as Socks in the Frying Pan to Bay City’s State Theatre on Friday, March 13^th for a special one-night only performance at 7:30 PM.

This high-energy traditional Irish trio was formed in Ennis, County Clare, and over the expanse of their 16-year career have cultivated a solid reputation for infusing virtuosos musicianship with humor, charisma, and a palpable passion for exploring the deep lineage of their musical roots. Critically acclaimed as “Live Band of the Year” at the 2020 Celtic Music Awards, the group is comprised of band members  Shane Hayes (accordion, keyboard, guitar and vocals), multi-instrumentalist Calum Bell (banjo, fiddle, flute, guitar), and David McKindley Ward (guitar and vocals. 

Having embarked upon a coast-to-coast United States tour with over 20 performances across 17 states from mid-February to mid-March, band member and co-founder Shane Hayes says this 30-day jaunt will mark a big return to some venues, and also break new ground in others, including this upcoming debut performance in the Great Lakes Bay region at the State Theatre.

“We’re absolutely buzzin’ to get back stateside,” exclaimed Hayes as he spoke to The REVIEW rom his home in Dublin.  “We’ve got some new material to break in and we’ve also dug through the old Sock vault for some older stuff we haven’t performed for years, so we’re super excited to share it with everyone on this tour!”

Socks in the Frying Pan performances continue to be one of the highlights of the St. Patrick’s Day season, with LadBible adding the band’s recent album Waiting for Inspiration to its list of Top 2025 Irish Tunes To Add To Your Playlist: "If you enjoy vibrant, high-energy Irish folk music with impressive musicianship and a bit of lighthearted fun, this album is for you. It’s a great mix of fast-paced reels, emotional ballads, and engaging arrangements that will appeal to fans of The High Kings or Lúnasa."

Having established a reputation as top players who hold a great love for their Irish musical roots, their energetic instrumental approach to framing the songs are reinforced by a finely tuned approach to harmony singing, and a sense of humor that rings with the lucky levity of a four-leaf clover.

According to Shane, the origins of the group began 17-years ago back when he finished university. 

“I was working at a bar in my hometown of Venice County that summer after graduation, and the musicians set to perform that night cancelled, so the manger asked if I played any music. I said, ‘Yeah, a little bit’, and he asked if I could pull something together for the show. I called everybody on my list to pull a group together - and I mean everybody, including people I didn’t want to play with - and none of them were available.”

“At the very end of my list was a guy I knew played guitar, but I didn’t know if he was any good or not, and I knew he was a Rock guitarist, so I didn’t really want to try him out’,” he continues. “But out of pure necessity I phoned him and we ended up playing seven nights a week together. My brother joined the following year and he was just out of high school, and that was how we ended up forming Socks in the Frying Pan seventeen years ago, although a few cast members have changed over the years.”

When asked if he feels the Socks sound is traditional Irish music or more of a modern fusion and blend of different contemporary styles, Shane laughs and responds: “All of that and then some! I mean, anyone doing traditional Irish will tell you we’re not traditional Irish, and others not doing traditional Irish will tell you that they play traditional Irish, so I kind of gave up on trying to answer that question. I think we’ve just got our own kind of thing going, which I label the ‘Socks’ sound. It’s forged within the medium of original Irish music but its closer to fusion, so I guess more than anything else its Irish Traditional music performed with the Socks sound, it that makes sense.”

Much of that ‘Socks Sound’ hails back to the groups formative musical influences, which Shane says are all over the map. “My favorite band is Queen, and my brother’s favorite band was Creed and Creedence Clearwater Revival, and its kind of funny that we came out as three people known for playing Irish Music, yet we listen to lots of other stuff. Our last album, for example, on the vry last track after we recorded it, we put some final polishing on the track in the studio, and got chatting about the Beetlejuice Theme that Danny Elfmann wrote and how we all this same type of thing going on in the background, so different group influences can pop into a song at any given moment.”

Receiving the national honor of Best Celtic Band of 2020 was a huge honor for the group that Shane says is a result of 17-years of dedicated collective group effort.  “It’s like building a house, and we’ve been building for a long time,” he reflects. “The thing is you have to be a prophet in your own land, but in order to really do that you have to make it somewhere else first, so the first time we went out to America was back in 2014, people got into what we were doing, and we kind of grew it from there.”

“Our sound has evolved because we travel so much,” he continues. “When you travel so much you get to hear other types of music, so think we've been exposed to so much world music at this stage, especially in terms of Bluegrass and Americana, that those stylistic influences color our material. Plus, we’ve matured a bit ourselves as individuals and musicians, so while our sound has evolved a bit it’s still true to what it was originally. If anything it’s probably more collaborative. I probably write most of the tunes, but my brother also wrote a ballad or two on the road, so we’ve got a good mix going on.”

With so many different Irish bands and songwriters populating the genre, what would you say distinguishes your group from other Celtic bands?   

“It’s our personality more than anything else,” states Shane.  “I mean the music is as good as what's out there,  but there are some phenomenal musicians out there as well. The fact that we all sing is something else that gives our harmonies more firepower, but I think it's more of the group personality and on-stage banter that makes us different. I think it's more of a personality  thing than anything else. You'd have to come to see us live to get a proper feel about the shows like.”

What do you think is the biggest challenge for you guys at this juncture of your career?

“The travel is always a challenge,” conclude Shane. The travel is the fun part, but it's also the difficult part. Last March we did 20 states in 20 days. Now we're doing 18 states in 25 days or something like that. It's mostly by car and is a whirlwind coast-to-coast tour from Texas to Jersey to Seattle and up to Canada, and its all done by car.”

“We like to blend our shows, so there’s a little bit of everything. It wouldn't be fair to call our show all high energy live stuff, nor would it be fair to call it all the traditional stuff. We like to give a good mix and a well-timed, well-calculated mix, so people kind of get a flare of everything and they leave on a high note.”

Socks in the Frying Pan will perform in concert at The State Theatre in by City on Friday, March 13th at 7:30 PM. Tickets are only $25.00 plus service fee and are available by clicking this link.