Since 1996, Boston's Dropkick Murphys have been leading the young and old astray with their own brand of Celtic punk rock and rugged pub leanings. Over almost a decade and a half, the band has released six studio albums, two singles and rarities collections, and a couple of live albums, including the upcoming
Live On Lansdowne, Boston MA CD/DVD concert document, due March 16.
In the late '90s, the band came roaring out of the garage with lead singer Mike McColgan out front and co-founder Ken Casey handling bass and backup vocals. Early on the band was closer to their local Oi! and hardcore forebears, with the Celtic stew not quite fully simmered. McColgan was on board for 1998 debut LP,
Do Or Die, before leaving the fold a year later to pursue a career as a Boston firefighter.
Soon after, Bruisers frontman Al Barr stepped in as McColgan's replacement and the band released their sophomore album,
The Gang's All Here, during the summer of 1999 in time for a jaunt on the Vans Warped Tour. Buoyed by the ace title track and the amped-up traditionals "Amazing Grace" and "The Fighting 69th," the album would also telegraph the new sound to come for the Murphy's, who began adding fiddles, bagpipes and other Celtic-derived instruments to their live show.
2001's
Sing Loud Sing Proud would be the new lineup's coming-out party, and the stage on that first tour out bulged with kilts and scally caps. Strong LPs
Blackout,
The Warrior's Code, and
The Meanest of Times followed over the next six years. The band saw a noticeable upswing in its mainstream popularity with the inclusion of their single "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" on the soundtrack to Martin Scorcese's Oscar-winning
The Departed.
Today the band has one of the most energetic and hellacious live shows going, almost beating out the likeminded Flogging Molly (and perhaps Monotonix) for the title of most beer-soaked and sloshed fans. This spring the band will be touring the States and Europe, before taking part in the Bonnaroo Festival back in Tennessee in June. The band's first new studio album in over three years is also in the offing for a late 2010 or early 2011 release.
We chatted with Barr from his Boston-area home as he and the rest of the Murphys got ready to tour behind the upcoming
Lansdowne, and asked him about the old-world response to their Celt-American sound, their punk-rock lineage and the band's plans for the rest of 2010 and beyond.
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