Mix together a little Irish folk, bluegrass guitar, pop beats and a melodious voice and you get the Fenians, a band from California with a new-class Irish sound.

At the core of the group is Terry Casey, lead singer and mandolin player. Brendan Harkins adds to vocals and plays bass, while Dave Burnett whistles, plays sax and the occasional flute on certain tracks. Chris Pierce adds the beats with the drums and some more vocals. Stuart Martz adds his voice to the mix, and also brings a little bluegrass to the sound with his impressive guitar strumming.

The group began in 1990, and since then the band has been touring big-name venues from California to Ireland, including The House of Blues in Hollywood and The Quays in Galway, Ireland. They have become so acclaimed for their new-wave Irish sound that they were inducted into the Guinness Hall of Fame. Since their foundation, they have released five albums, some of them compilations of their older works. In 1999 they released Band of Rouges, which includes new works and covers of some of their favorite tunes.

Their newest album, Ever Day's a Hooley is an achievement of instrumental creativity and humorous melodies and lyrics. The band shows that international music can be made fun and entertaining just by adding a few more instruments and a few twists along the way.

The music may not be making it into the pop mainstream anytime soon, but they have the potential to attract the rock audience that may have rebuffed the idea of Celtic Irish music. "This is a record we wanted to make for a long time. We wanted to do some songs that we had written and push the envelope a bit as well as Irish ballads and American folk songs," said lead singer Terry Casey.

The first track, "Token Whiskey Song," opens like a classic rock song, with hard drumbeats and electric guitar. It quickly turns into a more classic Irish song with the flute chiming in and Casey's voice steadily singing with the accompaniment of his other band members. "Whiskey you're no devil/ to me you're more a saint/ you make me feel like heaven/ and the angel that I ain't." The drums beat hard, reminiscent of military marches, but are softened by the cheerful sound of the mandolin. As the chorus counts the amounts of whiskey being consumed, it becomes reminiscent of "100 Bottles of Beer On the Wall," but more creative and far less repetitive.

The album's title track "Every Day's a Hooley" opens with Ska sounds but soon switches to the Celtic roots that dominate the band's ingenuity. The flute dominates in the song, driving the soul back and forth between the melody of the flute and the fluidity in Casey's voice. The guitar can be heard strumming the same chord over and over to add yet another level, mirroring the simple, solid drumming of Pierce. The band chants "Lift up your head Tom Dooley/ and keep it up as well as you're able/ 'cause everyday is a hooley/ when there's supper on the table," bringing to mind the pub songs of an earlier Ireland.

The album is a creative feat that combines different genres of music to create a new wave of international sound. That a group of boys from California could become a critically acclaimed Irish band says something about their skills and their desire to do something different in the world.