“You go out, get totally fucked for days, go home, wake up, feel like shit, then write songs about it until you feel better,” disreputable frontman Dave Ashby garbles, hurriedly summing up everything that makes Rum Shebeen the brilliant band they are and the liability they present to record companies. Formed in the winter of 2006, Rum Shebeen — named after Ireland’s illicit Prohibition-era drinking dens — have just released their first single on 1965 Recordings. “We recorded and produced both tracks ourselves,” guitarist Matt Allchin says. “We have always been of the opinion that, though they might need us, we don’t need the music industry. We don’t need some prep-school type telling us how to sound more marketable.”
     An all-out sneer at the late-night revelries of “living-for-the-weekend” types, the schizophrenic “Lock a Monkey Up” lurches through ska off beats, dirty bass, ’80s hair metal guitar licks and football hooligan chanting. It’s awesome, but the kind of thing that might reduce a 14-year-old Kooks fan to tears. “We made our own video, making sure every single thing MTV bans was included and were going to put it out on our own label, Shaboogie Music,” Allchin explains. When 1965’s James Endeacott came across a copy of the video, he immediately offered a deal. “We took it, but only because we never have any phone credit so, we thought it would save us some hassle.”