Dropkick Murphys are preparing to release their 10th full-length studio album, Turn Up That Dial, April 30 via band-owned Born & Bred Records. Volume cranked, heads held high, smiles wide, eyes on the prize, Dropkick Murphys charge forward with the same spirit that brought them here in the first place…yet with a new determination and exuberance that brings both the live show and this album to the next level. We talk to bassist/co-lead vocalist Ken Casey about the new songs, their upcoming live stream event and a hilarious story involving The Clash.
Andrew: How’s things on your end and how have you been dealing with all that’s going on at the moment?
Ken: A day at a time, trying to stay positive and hopefully onwards and upwards. The current President has been doing a pretty good job of stepping up the vaccinations and hopefully we’ll be back to normal in no time.
Andrew: Well you are about to release this new album “Turn Up That Dial” and I heard it yesterday and I gotta say this is an album we really need at this very time. It’s a very uplifting and fun album to listen to.
Ken: Yeah that’s the goal man. We figured after this horrible year, people need something to smile about, laugh about, something to smash shit to…I don’t know. Whatever makes you happy or excited or even wakes you up.
Andrew: Yeah definitely! Well done on the new album, it’s fantastic stuff and I got a few questions to ask about it but the first one I want to ask is on this particular song called “Mick Jones Nicked My Pudding”. I heard there was a very interesting story behind that song.
Ken: Yeah so our producer Ted Hutt who is also British, was working at a studio in England and it was a kind of multi-studio complex and Mick Jones from The Clash was in the same complex working in another studio and there was a shared kitchen refrigerator and Ted had put his pudding in there, without putting his name on it, and when he came out to have his pudding there was Mick Jones eating it. So Ted told us the story and I said this needs to be a song and in about 20 minutes the song was done and we’re all laughing in tears and having fun as it was written and just about the shock and horror of having one of your musical idols break your heart like that.
Andrew: Yeah it must be and coming back to that fun aspect, when you guys sat and wrote and recorded these songs, I guess that was sort of the main goal behind these set of songs was to have it be more of an inspirational kind of thing because it does seem like it’s very inspirational at the same time.
Ken: Yeah I mean everything, there’s some songs that we were just literally tears running down our cheeks. Maybe they’re not that funny but you know how if you work on something long enough, you go around the bend and you get kinda punchy about it, we had a lot of fun making it. And then even some of the songs that are maybe more serious subject we kind of tried to spin it like for instance “Middle Finger” and “Smash Shit Up”, both about kinda frustration and rebellion but we try to do it in a fun, somewhat lighthearted way. So I think even serious songs have a lighthearted twist to them.
Andrew: How about the logistics of putting this together? Obviously dealing with the pandemic while putting this album together, was that difficult or did you find a way to work around all that stuff?
Ken: Yeah well with technology as it is today, we were able to stay in the loop with each other on every level, everywhere that was put on it so it wasn’t like you were going into the studio saying, ‘Oh I’m just hearing this song for the first time’ or hearing it with guitars for the first time. We were all, everyday, in the loop, the only difference is when you get to the studio your band mates and friends weren’t there but we were all in constant contact and using technology to stay in the loop so it didn’t seem all that different.
Andrew: And obviously it will be quite difficult to take this out on the road, you guys must be missing the road so to speak. When was the last time you did a show?
Ken: May 1st is our record release party so that will be our 4th stream in the pandemic but the last time we did a show in front of people was in London February of 2020, that was the last show of our European tour. Then we came home and had a few weeks off and went to start our run of Boston St. Patricks Day and then the lockdown happened. So it’s been a year and 3 months since we’ve played a a show in front of people and we’d like to do that again soon. But I think we’re going to announce some European dates for February 2022 coming up soon and just kind of hoping the vaccines start to make their impact and the world will be a better place by then.
Andrew: Yeah hopefully! Now you mentioned this live stream show you have happening on May 1st, I guess you’ll be playing all the songs from the new album or a bit of everything?
Ken: We’re going to play the album straight through and then play probably 15 or more songs after that and the setlists we’ve done for the live streams we’ve done have been massively different, I think the setlist for this show is totally different songs. So if people watch the other live streams, we’re working very hard to make them different from the prior ones.
Andrew: That’s sort of becoming a thing these days with live stream events. What are your thoughts initially going into that kind of thing and do you think you’ll continue doing that?
Ken: I mean obviously I do, I think we’ll continue to live stream our Boston St. Patrick’s Day shows, hopefully with people there. That way people around the world that can’t attend can be there but as far as these live stream shows in the pandemic era when no-one can attend, it’s the only way you can connect with your fans really. It’s not ideal but we’ve tried to make the live streams unique, set the band up different, go to some different places, have some production that’s unique so that’s at least something that stands alone as opposed to, ‘Oh crap it’s a concert with no fans’.
Andrew: Yeah that’s it. Obviously you guys have been doing this for quite some time now, what’s the driving force for you to keep doing what you’re doing? Obviously you love the music but outside of that, what else kind of motivates you to keep going?
Ken: We were kids that never got to leave Boston before this band started and now we can say we have friends all over the world, I mean it’s such an experience of our life. I mean half my life I’ve been doing this and it’s second nature and it’s something we’re so grateful for to have. I feel like after this break we’ll recharge and ready to go for another 25 years!
Andrew: So this new album then “Turn Up That Dial”, how would you put this up against previous albums? I mean obviously you have a signature sound that everyone knows you for but how would you put this up against all the other stuff you’ve done in the past?
Ken: I just think the songwriting is better on this. It’s not necessarily more intricate or anything, I just think it’s catchy and I think we worked out…normally you’re in a rush to finish a record, you release it and afterwards you go, ‘Ah you know I wish we did this differently’, or ‘This one I don’t like’. I don’t feel that about this record, from the artwork to the music I feel like it’s the most complete thing we’ve ever done and maybe it’s because we have this extra time to kind of rehash it and make sure it’s the way we wanted it.
Andrew: Yeah that’s probably a big help I guess, you had this extra time and were able to tweak and fine tune a lot of things. How long does it normally take for you to record an album?
Ken: Well a lot of times it ends up being done in little batches between tours but we always write the album completely. There’s no writing done in the studio, it’s always finished and ready to go and it’s usually a month or so just because there’s a lot with this band. There’s a lot to layer on, banjos, accordions, whistles. It just seems like when you think you’re done you’re like, ‘Oh crap we forgot the Kazoo’, there’s always something else to go on there!
Andrew: [Laughs] Well congratulations on the new album, as I said I loved it and it’s the perfect album we need in this time in history. Congratulations and we hope to see you in Australia in the near future as well.
Ken: Oh man we love you guys and can’t wait to come back. Thank you for all your kindness to us, we’ve been coming there since ’99 and can’t thank you enough for the opportunity.