Interview with the Dropkick Murphys

Vocalist, bass player, union man and long-suffering Boston Red Sox fan Ken Casey talks beer, tin whistles and AC/DC with Truepunk.

Archival July 2003 Interview by Steve Tauschke | steve@staff.truepunk.com | with The Dropkick Murphys’ Ken Casey.

You seem to improve with every release. What are your thoughts on the new record Blackout?
We’re happy with it and I’m very excited about it but it’s a question
of being asked about our own music. We just make it and let other
people listen to it and decide if they like it.

What’s this
thing you use called a tin whistle, an instrument of traditional Irish
folk music?
Geez, that’s a good question. You’ve stumped me. It’s obviously been
used in traditional Irish and folk music but it’s also been used in
a lot of American folk music. But I think when people hear the tin
whistle, their first association is probably with some form of Celtic
music.

Was traditional
Irish music part of your upbringing?
I come from a place where everyone’s parents or grandparents were
from Ireland and anytime there was a function or party they didn’t
put on music to cater to the kids, it was dedicated to them so it
was always adult music. It was just ingrained in me before I necessarily
decided I actually liked it. Obviously I heard the Irish balladeers
playing in the household and everybody singing the songs and knowing
the words and that kind of sticks in my head; it’s how I learnt the
songs. For years I knew the songs and would sing them as a kid but
I always thought it was grown-ups music and it wasn’t for me. It wasn’t
until I got into my teenage years that I started to appreciate it.

That community
spirit seems to have rubbed off judging by the shared vocal duties
in the band.
I think that’s more from the punk rock thing where we’re just a bunch
of guys playing the music. The crowd who comes to support us is what
makes the show, to me. So far be it for us to tell the people who
make the show that they can’t participate in it.

You’re from
a working class background obviously?
Yeah, Boston’s kind of a funny city because to a lot of people it
started as a real hard-nosed blue collar city. But it’s the tale of
two towns because it’s also a big university town and those two worlds
are very separated. I didn’t go to college and I was raised blue collar.
My dad died when I was like 5 years old but my grandfather, who basically
raised me, was a longshoreman and a union organizer so I kind of come
from a union family. And then I went and married into one too – my
father-in-law is a union president.

Given the solidarity
in the band, was it tough to see your bagpipe player Spicey leave?
Not really because we tour at a tremendous pace and like I said, we’re
working class kids who stumbled into music, not life-long musicians.
So we’ve had a couple of people leave over the years just because
they met a girl or whatever. It’s not necessarily the life that we
all envisaged. The guys who continue to be in the band are overwhelmed
with the opportunity to continue to do it and are grateful. But some
people, from the first time they pick up an instrument, they know
they want to play music and don’t care if they’re sleeping in the
dirt. You’re like a gypsy, traveling around the world and removed
from your roots so it’s kind of a tough juggling act from how we were
raised. And that’s gotten the better of a few members.

Do you enjoy
being a tumbleweed?
I don’t enjoy parts of it at all but on the other hand I never got
out of Massachussets when I was a kid and now I’m traveling all over
the world and meeting people who I now call friends. I try to look
at the glass as half full. It’s kind of strange not being grounded
all the time but on the other hand when in the hell in my life would
I have gone to Australia or Japan or Europe or even California if
I hadn’t been in this band. I also have a wife and child who support
what I do and they come with me a good portion of the time. So I’d
hate to give the illusion that any of the guys in the band are ungrateful.
We realize that we have a very unique opportunity that I’d say probably
less than one per cent of all bands get. It’s a pretty awesome thing
to have happen to you.

Speaking of
touring, tell us about the time nudists turned up to one of your shows
in Dublin?
You know, they enjoy a drink in Dublin. We’ve played Dublin many times
before but we’ve never had people taking their clothes off left and
right. As much as I enjoy a chaotic show, it got a little messy towards
the end. But it was good for a laugh.

How are things
with Hellcat at the moment?
Well, we’ve been with the label since its inception and we signed
in the first year we were a band putting out 7" on our own. We
weren’t even a touring band, we all had jobs. The guys in Rancid are
music fans and they have their ear to the ground. They picked up on
our singles and heard the band and so we got a call from Tim Armstrong
asking if he wanted to do a record with his new label. We thought
it was a joke at first but we’ve become friends and have had a long
relationship with them. This will be our fourth full- length album
with them. Six releases in six years.

I notice you’ve
released a 12" picture disc on the label that includes a version
of AC/DC’s Long Way To The Top.
It’s gonna be five songs from the new record and then Long Way To
The Top. We’ve always covered AC/DC songs in our live set. We’ve done
TNT and Dirty Deeds. A band with bagpipes needs to do an AC/DC song
so it seemed like a natural song to do.

So do you throw
it in the live sets?
Of course!

You guys are
known for your drinking prowess. What’s your favourite drop?
The band’s most requested beer is probably Guinness, if we can get
the good stuff. If not, then a good old fashioned American Budweiser.