Dropkick: Urban Folk

It all started with a group of buddies trying to have some fun. In a friend's downtown Boston barbershop basement during the summer of 1996, the group of seven tried to blend the genres of music the guys had grown up with, including, punk rock, Irish folk, and classic rock. With Al Barr on lead vocals, Ken Casey with lead vocals and bass, Matt Kelly takes the drums, bodhran, and vocals, James Lynch holds down the guitar, Tim Brennanguitar as the accordion, Jeff DaRosamondolin on the banjo, bouzouki, whistle, acoustic guitar, keyboard, and vocals, and finally Scruffy Wallace makes the bagpipes a constant reminder of Dropkick Murphy's celtic roots.

Dropkick Murhpys, more commonly known as Dropkick, can best be described as the folksy Bruce Springsteen... if Brucie toted around a set of bagpipes, sang with a scrappy Southie Boston accent, and could wail on an electric guitar like something out of a Velvet Revolver concert. Many of their songs are simply ancient Irish barsongs with an electric guitar thrown in, such as the timeless classic, "Captain Kelley's Kitchen," which includes the opening line, "Come single guy and gal, unto me pay attention, don't ever fall in love, it's the devil's own invention."

The boys cite the Irish punks, Flogging Molly as their main inspiration. Flogging Molly's songs consist of ancient gaelic traditions, mixed with modern European punk. Dropkick can be seen as an Americanization of Molly's own hybrid genre. The Boys from Boston are really just out there to get the audience to sing along, and generally have a good time. Dropkick sees the band and the audience as one in the same. In addition to bringing some more fun to the world the group hopes to share their experiences and beliefs in working class solidarity, friendship, loyalty and self-improvement as a means to bettering society. The guys are very careful not to be too preachy as they state, "You can preach till you’re blue in the face but if you’re lying inthe gutter no one’s gonna listen. If you pick yourself up by the bootstraps and live your life to the best of your ability you may set an example that others will follow."

The blue collar boys with their working class roots definitley bring energy into the room with every howling, off-key chorus. Their blue-collar message also permeates through every story of youthful fist-fights in the streets as, "The nuns and priests they grabbed their rosaries as they pulled our bodies apart. That day at school you may have lost the fight but you gained my respect. You fight with so much heart." and working-class family dynamics with, "Daddy lay drunk on the lawn, yelling and screamin' like he do, but sometimes my old man he spoke with his feelings, sometimes my old Mr. MacKay he spoke the truth." Work hard and scream your lungs out every time you get a chance to have some fun.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s51Vn4tjS0U