Since 1996, Dropkick Murphys have been the type of band that lovers of furious and euphoric punk consistently gravitate towards.
Twelve studio albums to their name, and the beloved Bostonians are continuing to find new influence and new facets of their band alchemy that produce music that's unafraid to explore new territory – thematic and sonic.The band's boldness is one that Australian crowds have been missing, with Dropkick Murphys' last visit to the country coinciding with the 2018 Good Things Festival. The wait is over though – Dropkick Murphys are back on deck later this week, embarking on a long anticipated Australian run with Chicago's Alkaline Trio.
For songwriter, vocalist and bass player Ken Casey, Dropkick Murphys' return to Australia is one he has been hanging out for, just as much as the fans. "Oh my God, it feels like it's been forever since we've been down there," he says.
"It's one of my favourite places to tour and travel. I always say, ironically, Australia is the farthest away from us, but I feel the most at home there. I don't know, maybe I was an Aussie in my past life!"
Well aware of the amount of time that needs to be made up for on this run, Casey is excited to be bringing a varied set list of Dropkick Murphys tunes to Australian fans. With two shows apiece slated for Melbourne and Sydney, the band will be switching things up entirely – playing two different sets for each show in both cities.
When you're a band with the type of catalogue Dropkick Murphys have grown, the task of putting these shows together doesn't get any easier. Casey provides some insight into their process, noting the band's repertoire is inbuilt like muscle memory at this point.
"I think we're prepared to play like, 200 songs at any time," he laughs. "It's pretty cool that, just for our own sanity purposes, we can tour and know we're able to play them and play them well.
"I mean, it is punk rock, so we'll play something when it's loose too, but it's gotten to the point where the wide repertoire of songs is really tight, and it's kept touring from ever getting monotonous over the last few years."
In the time that has passed since Australian audiences last saw Dropkick Murphys, the band has dropped four studio albums, including two acclaimed acoustic projects: 'This Machine Still Kills Fascists' (2022) and 'Okemah Rising' (2023).
These two records, both built around unused lyrics and words of iconic American folk artist and songwriter Woody Guthrie, saw Dropkick Murphys engage with different elements of musicality; the payoff saw longtime fans and new waves alike not only see the group flexing in a new environment, but it also brought Guthrie's perspectives to a new generation.
"We elected to do it unplugged, but we didn't want it to be all kumbaya," Casey says of their Guthrie-inspired albums. "We wanted to give it some balls. It was a challenging project, but in a good way.
"[Guthrie's] daughter Nora says to me that it's like I have some knack or connection with Woody’s lyrics. . . the songs we've been doing of his, they were lyrics that he never used. He never put them to music, all we had to do was go off of what we were reading on the page – it was nice to bring those to life."
The arrival of both 'Okemah Rising' and 'This Machine Still Kills Fascists' came at an almost perfect time. Mirroring new periods of social upheaval and unrest, particularly in North America, Casey reflects on these projects as records that fans can find solace in, but also learn from when it comes to Guthrie's messaging.
"It also made you feel like we were doing the world a service, in the sense that these particular lyrics were so apropos to what's going on in the world today," he explains. "They were sitting in a filing cabinet. No one was going to get to see them if they weren't brought to life and put to music. So it felt like, almost, partially a history project too.
"We'd been talking about doing these albums for 15 years, but with our touring schedule, we never would get around to doing it. It makes you believe everything happens for a reason; these albums were supposed to come out now, in the last few years."
Bringing things to the present day, outside of their relentless touring schedule, Dropkick Murphys are back in the studio working on what will become album thirteen. When scenestr chats with Casey, the world is only a few days into accepting the reality of another Donald Trump presidency.
Understandably, it is hard for many people, but specifically those in the United States, to grapple with what the next four years will mean. Casey is equally as baffled, but the belief in the resilient nature of art and music is something that keeps him positive.
With recording of the new Dropkick Murphys album set to take place this December, he is looking forward to pouring new fury into the new project. "It's a good time to be able to take people's minds off their troubles," he says. "It's also a good time and atmosphere for writing angry punk songs. We're inspired by the desire to get loud and angry again.
"We've already recorded three of the songs and demoed a bunch of others. I think we have 16 more songs that we're bringing in. I'm not saying we'll put them all on an album, but it's nice to have that much creativity going on; we're not trying to get enough songs to make an album."
Until then though, the focus is on immersing themselves back in the fun of loud, punk music – delivered with that signature Dropkick Murphys snarl. The shows have the opportunity to go in a number of directions on any given night, which makes them so exciting.
"I know Elvis Costello for a while, had a wheel that he would just spin," Casey says, thinking of ways audiences can interact with artists at shows, and dictate different set lists.
"We tried to do a bootleg version of that on one tour, but because we couldn't do the fancy wheel, we had a dartboard. Each number was assigned to a song and we'd have people from the crowd throw the dart. At one point, a dart got stuck in my leg because they missed the dartboard.
"It was the most Dropkick Murphys thing ever," he laughs. "Someone's going to get a dart in the eyeball, you know?"
- written by Sosefina Fuamoli
Dropkick Murphys 2024 Tour Dates
Fri 15 Nov - AEC Theatre (Adelaide)Sun 17 Nov - Forum Melbourne* sold out
Mon 18 Nov - Forum Melbourne
Wed 20 Nov - Roundhouse (Sydney)* sold out
Thu 21 Nov - Roundhouse (Sydney)
Fri 22 Nov - The Fortitude Music Hall (Brisbane)
