Ken Casey - Dropkick Murphys (05/03/2013)
Chatting to us from his car phone in Boston, Massachusetts, is Dropkick Murphys singer and bassist, Ken Casey.
This year, at the beginning of January, Celtic punk outfit Dropkick Murphys released their 8th record, Signed and Sealed in Blood. The intentions of this record were “minimal” following their previous album Going Out in Style which “was a bit of an undertaking, being a concept album. [Signed and Sealed in Blood] was inspired by raw enthusiasm and wanting to have fun. This was just more a desire to make a fun kind of record and enjoy it.”
Dropkick Murphys will be on their way to Australia in April, starting with Bluesfest in Byron bay, which is a new experience for them. “[We] never have [played bluesfest] we’re excited! We hear great things about it and that it’s a very prestigious thing to be asked to play. We’ve never played with Wilco, that’s exciting. We’ve played with Iggy Pop many times on European festivals. Never played with Robert Plant, and that’s obviously huge.”
These guys have always been a large group, currently with seven members. Ken talks about the pros and cons of being in a large band. “The pros are when a band member breaks his wrist the night before the tour and you just find out about it last minute there’s enough guys to pick up the slack.” (Yes, this has happened multiple times, and unfortunately just the other day! But Ken assures us “he’ll heal by the time we get to Australia”). “You can have more instrumentation to carry the melody” and “it really does have more of a family feel than a normal four piece would”. Really, the only con is “paying for seven flights to Australia I suppose (laughs).”
Also to be expected, when you’re in a band of so many, is turnover. Ken is now the only original member of Dropkick Murphys left, although the current line-up has been the same for several years now. “We’ve always had a kind of love it or leave it attitude. We always have the attitude that no individual band member is more important than the whole group and if someone ever got the attitude or kind of wanted to be a rock star, we just told them hit the bricks, you know? (Laughs). There’s no room for tortured artists in this group.”
Arguably amongst the best of 2012’s non-traditional Christmas songs, is Signed and Sealed in Blood’s 2nd single The Season’s Upon Us. This song graced our airwaves all through December, especially on Triple M. The lyrics themselves are pretty humorous, but the video clip adds an extra level of Irish hilarity – the question of whether it’s based on the bands’ own families in an exaggerated way comes to mind. “Yeah it’s a little bit of a collaboration [of the bands families], I don’t know about exaggeration (laughs). You know everybody’s got a crazy uncle or two in their family.”
True to Irish tradition, Ken also owns his own bar in Boston, McGreevey’s Third Base Saloon. “Australians love McGreevey’s. We have a lot of Australians come into McGreevey’s when the come through Boston, but then again, Australian’s just like a bar I think anyway.” Too right, Ken, too right.
Of course, carrying on with the Irish roots, the question had to be asked for all the Irish dancers out there – will he be making an appearance at the World Championships which are actually being held in Boston this year? “Oh! Well I’ll tell you what, I will be because one of those people performing at the world championships is in the car with me now, my daughter. Actually it’s being held at the convention centre which is directly across the road from McGreevey’s Third Base Saloon!” So if you dancers out there are heading that way for the Worlds this year, jump across the road and you might be lucky enough to meet Ken or another of the DKM crew. They were even asked to play at the end-of-event party… Great time to be apart of something weird, hey?!
Well all in all, while this kid may have been a bit too excited about the Irish dancing part, we’re definitely all excited to have the Dropkick Murphys back in Australia in April!
Rebecca Costanzo
This year, at the beginning of January, Celtic punk outfit Dropkick Murphys released their 8th record, Signed and Sealed in Blood. The intentions of this record were “minimal” following their previous album Going Out in Style which “was a bit of an undertaking, being a concept album. [Signed and Sealed in Blood] was inspired by raw enthusiasm and wanting to have fun. This was just more a desire to make a fun kind of record and enjoy it.”
Dropkick Murphys will be on their way to Australia in April, starting with Bluesfest in Byron bay, which is a new experience for them. “[We] never have [played bluesfest] we’re excited! We hear great things about it and that it’s a very prestigious thing to be asked to play. We’ve never played with Wilco, that’s exciting. We’ve played with Iggy Pop many times on European festivals. Never played with Robert Plant, and that’s obviously huge.”
These guys have always been a large group, currently with seven members. Ken talks about the pros and cons of being in a large band. “The pros are when a band member breaks his wrist the night before the tour and you just find out about it last minute there’s enough guys to pick up the slack.” (Yes, this has happened multiple times, and unfortunately just the other day! But Ken assures us “he’ll heal by the time we get to Australia”). “You can have more instrumentation to carry the melody” and “it really does have more of a family feel than a normal four piece would”. Really, the only con is “paying for seven flights to Australia I suppose (laughs).”
Also to be expected, when you’re in a band of so many, is turnover. Ken is now the only original member of Dropkick Murphys left, although the current line-up has been the same for several years now. “We’ve always had a kind of love it or leave it attitude. We always have the attitude that no individual band member is more important than the whole group and if someone ever got the attitude or kind of wanted to be a rock star, we just told them hit the bricks, you know? (Laughs). There’s no room for tortured artists in this group.”
Arguably amongst the best of 2012’s non-traditional Christmas songs, is Signed and Sealed in Blood’s 2nd single The Season’s Upon Us. This song graced our airwaves all through December, especially on Triple M. The lyrics themselves are pretty humorous, but the video clip adds an extra level of Irish hilarity – the question of whether it’s based on the bands’ own families in an exaggerated way comes to mind. “Yeah it’s a little bit of a collaboration [of the bands families], I don’t know about exaggeration (laughs). You know everybody’s got a crazy uncle or two in their family.”
True to Irish tradition, Ken also owns his own bar in Boston, McGreevey’s Third Base Saloon. “Australians love McGreevey’s. We have a lot of Australians come into McGreevey’s when the come through Boston, but then again, Australian’s just like a bar I think anyway.” Too right, Ken, too right.
Of course, carrying on with the Irish roots, the question had to be asked for all the Irish dancers out there – will he be making an appearance at the World Championships which are actually being held in Boston this year? “Oh! Well I’ll tell you what, I will be because one of those people performing at the world championships is in the car with me now, my daughter. Actually it’s being held at the convention centre which is directly across the road from McGreevey’s Third Base Saloon!” So if you dancers out there are heading that way for the Worlds this year, jump across the road and you might be lucky enough to meet Ken or another of the DKM crew. They were even asked to play at the end-of-event party… Great time to be apart of something weird, hey?!
Well all in all, while this kid may have been a bit too excited about the Irish dancing part, we’re definitely all excited to have the Dropkick Murphys back in Australia in April!
Rebecca Costanzo