Check out the Dropkick Murphys at the Rooftop at Pier 17 on Tuesday, September 24th!
One of the biggest Celtic punk bands in the world, the Dropkick Murphys got their start in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. Currently, the band consists of co-vocalists Ken Casey and Al Barr (who is currently on hiatus to take care of family), Matt Kelly on drums, James Lynch and Tim Brennan on guitar, and Jeff DaRosa on various other instruments such as the banjo, mandolin, piano, and more.
Named after Dr. John “Dropkick” Murphy, a wrestler and owner of an alcohol detox facility, the Dropkick Murphys released their debut album Do or Die in 1998. The album featured their take on “Finnegan’s Wake”, an Irish-American song that was first published in 1864 as well as a reworking of Jacqueline Steiner and Bess Lomax Hawes’ “The MTA Song”, the fan favorite “Skinhead on the MBTA”. Following the album’s release, their original lead singer, Mike McColgan, left the group to join the Boston Fire Department, allowing Al Barr to step in.
In 1999, The Dropkick Murphys released their second album, their first with Al, titled The Gang’s All Here and was met with positive reviews. This album has “10 Years of Service” which gave them their first taste of mainstream success when MTV’s 120 Minutes started to play the songs video. Their third album, Sing Loud, Sing Proud! was released in 2001 and featured the tracks “The Spicy McHaggis Jig”, the tradition “The Wild Rover”, and a cover of the Boston College fight song “For Boston”.
In 2002, the Dropkick Murphys started their now annual tradition of playing a number of shows in Boston on and around St. Patrick’s Day, the first of which became their first live album Live on St. Patrick’s Day from Boston, MA (2002). The following year the band released Blackout (2003) which was very well received by critics. The album features some of the band’s biggest tracks, including covers of Ed Pickford’s “Workers Song” and Pete St. John’s “Fields of Athenry”, as well as the minor radio hit “Walk Away” and the fan favorite “Kiss Me I’m #!@*faced”.
For the 2004 season, the Dropkick Murphys recorded two versions of the Boston Red Sox fan anthem “Tessie”, one that was in their normal style that featured backing vocals from various Red Sox players, the team’s then vice President of Public Affairs, and a Boston Herald sportswriter, and the other known as the “Old Timey Baseball Version” which is accompanied by a ballpark organ. The track has since become a staple of every Red Sox win, being played after The Standells “Dirty Water”.
The Dropkick Murphys released their fifth album The Warrior’s Code in 2005, and with it came the band’s biggest hit in “I’m Shipping Up to Boston”, which has since been certified platinum by the RIAA. The album debuted at number 49 on the charts and would become certified gold and also contained other hits like “The Warrior’s Code”, “Captain Kelly’s Kitchen”, and “Citizen C.I.A.”.
Now an independent band, the Dropkick Murphys released The Meanest of Times in 2007, reaching number 20 in its first week. The lead single “The State of Massachusetts” became an overnight success, eventually becoming the theme song for MTV’s Nitro Circus and being named the 83rd best song of 2007 by Rolling Stone. The album also contained the band’s version of the traditional “Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya” which has become a live staple. The band continued to tour extensively, including dates with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band and Aerosmith, where the band joined the headliners on stage for a handful of songs.
The Dropkick Murphys kicked off 2010 with a performance of “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” for that year’s NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park. Later that year, they released their second live album, Live on Lansdowne, Boston, MA which was made up of recordings from the 7 shows in 6 nights they played the previous St. Patrick’s Day weekend. The live album did remarkably well, landing at 25 on the Billboard 200 and in the top 10 on the US Independent, Alternative, and Rock album charts.
The band’s growth continued in 2011 with the release of Going Out in Style, which peaked at number 6 on the Billboard 200 chart. The title track was by far the Drop Kick Murphys’ biggest hit from the album, featuring NOFX’s Fat Mike, The Living End’s Chis Cheney, and comedian Lenny Clarke. The following year, they released a deluxe bonus edition of the album that included their live set from Fenway Park in 2011, aptly titled Going Out in Style: Fenway Park Bonus Edition (2012).
In 2013, the Dropkick Murphys released Signed and Sealed in Blood, further cementing their well-deserved fame. The album features two of the band’s hits in “The Boys Are Back” and “Rose Tattoo”, as well as the Christmas song “The Season’s Upon Us” and fan favorite “Prisoner’s Song”. The band toured extensively like they always have before releasing their ninth studio album 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory which was critically well received and did well on the charts both in the US and internationally.
Despite a handful of setbacks including Ken Casey being involved in a motorcycle accident and the Covid shutdown, the Dropkick Murphys have continued to push on and find ways around their roadblocks. They took Ken off bass duties while their stage tech took over due to his injuries, and did a number of livestreams including one from the field at Fenway Park titled Streaming Outta Fenway that featured a remote appearance by Bruce Springsteen.
In 2021, the Dropkick Murphys finally released their 10th album Turn Up That Dial which featured previously released singles such as “The Bonny” and “Mick Jones Nicked My Pudding” as well as newly released singles in “Queen of Suffolk County” and “Middle Finger”. The album continued their success on the charts, reaching as high as number 2 in the UK and two top 10 spots in the US.
The Dropkick Murphys quickly followed this up with their 2022 release This Machine Still Kills Fascists, an acoustic album comprised of ten songs that use previously unused lyrics from Woody Guthrie. Most recently, the band released a second acoustic album with Guthrie’s lyrics that also included a “Tulsa Version” of their massive hit “I’m Shipping Up to Boston”.
Tickets on sale now at rooftopatpier17.com.
Check out which 10 of our favorite albums turn 10 in 2024 HERE!
