Band: Dropkick Murphys Members: Marc Orrell & Tim Brennan Label: Epitaph Records Location: Shaw Conference Centre - Edmonton, Alberta Date: Wednesday, Sept. 27th, 2006 Interviewer: Bobby Gorman

What can be said about The Dropkick Murphys? I mean, it's the god damn Murphys! Amazing live band, great albums, really nice guys. I was lucky enough to catch up with Marc and Tim of the band before they hit the stage with Bad Religion on the co-headlining cross-Canada tour. While the interview was short, it was a good one. We talked about them collapsing the stage, their charity work, the Red Sox, The Pogues and more. Thanks to the guys for doing it and to Keith for setting it up.

Bobby: Okay, you guys have been on tour with Bad Religion for a few days now, how’s that going?

Marc: It’s going great. The crowds have been awesome. The shows have been great. I feel like, from the fans’ point of view, it’s just a good set up between the both of us and the two opening acts – Comeback Kid and Clit45. It’s coming along good.

Bobby: Have there been any really memorable moments from the tour so far?

Marc: Memorable moments?

Tim: Nothing crazy has happened yet. We actually collapsed the stage a couple times before Bad Religion’s set.

Marc: We did last night and a couple nights before that.

Tim: We broke the stage.

Marc: Collapsing the stage, that’s kind of a first for us.

Tim: Second now.

Marc: Second now. Yeah, I like that.

Bobby: The fact that you did it twice in one tour in like nine days is pretty impressive.

Marc: Yeah, it’s awesome.

Bobby: After this tour, you’re going to England for a couple weeks, are you excited for that?

Marc: I guess so.

Tim: Yeah.

Marc: I just get on the bus and they tell me where to go. *laughs* But yeah, we’re going with Less Than Jake, that’s right. That should be pretty cool. We’ve done a couple tours with those guys in the past, they’re really cool guys – it should be a fun show.

Bobby: Earlier this month, on the 12th, you guys did a charity event at the Hard Rock Café…

Marc: Yep, in Boston.

Bobby: For the Leary Firefighters Foundation. Can you tell us a bit about that foundation and the event?

Marc: That was cool. That was just like a charity event that we played at, there was like a raffle and we were able to raise like – what was it?

Tim: Twenty grand.

Marc: Twenty grand for the Leary Foundation. It was pretty cool.

Tim: It was sort of set up in conjunction with the Hard Rock putting an instrument of ours up on their wall.

Marc: Yeah, that’s right.

Tim: And we played acoustically and we turned it into a benefit and stuff and it turned out real well. We auctioned of a bunch of stuff. Some poor bastard has to go eat lunch with me, Marc and James.

Marc: *laughs* Yeah, Coney Island hot dogs.

Tim: Stuff like that, it was a good time.

Bobby: That’s one charity you’ve worked with. You’ve also worked with other charities like the Andrew Farrar memorial foundation. What other charities do you guys support?

Tim: We did Brother’s Keepers, which was, a friend of ours, Greg Riley – we called him Chickenman – and when he passed away, there was this charity he used to work with called Brother’s Keeper. So we work with them sometimes. And the Red Fox Foundation.

Marc: Yeah, with all the Tessie promotions.

Tim: We did this benefit for a soldier who was a fan of ours that died. We raised money for his wife and his kid. We do a decent amount of it.

Bobby: Like you just mentioned raising money Andrew Farrar. When you read the letter he sent to his mother asking you guys to play Fields of Athenry at his funeral. How important was it for you guys to go and play at his funeral?

Marc: We were in the middle of writing “The Warrior’s Code” so only a couple of us got to go down, but we found spare time late at night and we did an acoustic version, like a piano version of Forever and Fields Of Athenry. We put one copy in his casket and gave copies to his wife and mother. Then a couple months down the line we decided to release it for a charity benefit, and it’s been doing well. I think people are buying that stuff, which is pretty cool.

Bobby: I actually think they’re all sold out now.

Marc: Yeah, probably. I would think so, but I don’t know.

Bobby: I was reading an article that Scruffy Wallace did with the Gateway, the university paper, and he said he wanted to give a shout out to his brother in the Lord Strathcona's Horse and Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. He himself was part of the Canadian infantry a while ago, how important do you think it is for people to support their troops overseas even if they don’t necessarily agree with the war?

Marc: Exactly. You took the words right out of my mouth. It’s very important. There’s a lot of people over there that don’t agree that they should be over there and people over here who don’t agree that they should be over there. But their lives are at stake and they’re the ones doing the job. So you have to, like you said, support the family and the troops. I think its basic human nature; you should support the troops and the families.

Bobby: Okay, right now in university I’m taking a music course. My teacher’s favorite band is the Pogues, I know back in 1997, you guys did cover of Billy Bones for the split with The Bruisers and last week, Rhino just re-released the entire Pogues catalogue – newly re-mastered and stuff. How influential do you think the Pogues were to punk and music?

Tim: I don’t know how influential they were to punk. I mean, there are definitely a lot of people who listen to them. Especially for people like me and Marc, like I learned how to play the accordion and am influenced by listening to The Pogues. That was sort of the band that made me realized that Irish music can be kind of cool too. They just have that sort of punk ethic and they just play like they were a punk band.

Marc: We got to do a tour with them last Christmas over in England. It was really cool. We don’t like going on the road in like Christmas time, but if it’s any band to do it with, it’s with The Pogues – you know what I mean? They were awesome. They had Christmas trees up, fake snow, and stuff, it was awesome. Just watching them, they were like the E-Street band of folk music. Everybody in the band is just so amazing, you’re watching everybody. I don’t know they’re just an amazing band, punk aside; they’re just a tight, tight band and an amazing poet.

Bobby: You guys are pretty big sport fans. You got to play the Fleet Centre in 2003, you’ve also been heavily involved with the Red Sox. How cool was it to have your song, Tessie, as the official anthem for the 2004 Red Sox run?

Marc: It was pretty overwhelming. It’s pretty strange when you see yourself in the theatre of the background and shit at Fenway Park. It’s like “Oh my God, that’s us playing at Fenway Park.”

Tim: Not to mention the fact that they won that year and we were officially a part of that. I got home from the studio, recording Tessie and played it to my mom and she was like “why? They’re not gonna win.” I was like “Yeah, I know they’re not gonna win, but whatever” but then they won, it was fucking crazy.

Marc: Everyone was saying that whole season “Man, if they win, you guys are gonna be on the cover of Rolling Stone.”

Tim: Then that didn’t happen.

Marc: Yeah, that didn’t happen. *they both laugh* But yeah, I think everyone just had faith and that song helped build faith and make people believe. I’ll take the credit *laughs*.

Bobby: It’s been a little over a year since “The Warriors Code” came out, any plans for a new record?

Marc: Yeah, yeah. We’re just kind of taking it easy right now. Previous records have always just been like trap ourselves in a practice space and like “let’s write!” Right now, we’re just kinda like “I got a riff here and there”. We’ve got a couple riffs in the closet that we’re just gonna bust out and hopefully we’ll get some studio time soon. I’m not sure when in the near future; but hopefully soon.

Tim: Yeah, there aren’t any solidified plans to record yet. We’re just kind of like; the idea at this point, like Marc said, has usually been just lock ourselves in a room and come out with thirteen songs or whatever and we’re like “Alright! We’ve got an album!” But this time we’re looking to do more along the lines of writing a bunch of songs and being able to pick and choose…

Marc: Over a period of time.

Tim: It’ll probably be a little bit, but it’ll be good.

Marc: It’ll take us a little longer.

Bobby: I love going to concerts, I try to go to as many as I can, but of course, some are always more memorable than others. So thinking back, what are some concerts that you’ve been to, or played at, that were really memorable for you guys?

Marc: The Pogues. Seeing the Pogues was amazing. I saw AC/DC at the Fleet Centre in Boston, which was pretty cool. Who else? Who else? Drag The River! Where was the Drag The River show?

Tim: Minneapolis.

Marc: We saw this band, this alt-country band called Drag The River. We saw them in Minneapolis; I forget the name of the bar.

Tim: One of the best shows I’ve ever seen was in somebody’s basement in South Bend, Indiana. It was this band called Clutch. There was like a keg-party or something and I walked downstairs and they played their first song and I was just like *drops his jaw and freezes in astonishment* It was the craziest fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

Marc: The Scheming No Goods – that was a great show eh?

Tim: The Scheming No Goods. Me and Marc went to this shitty bar in Detroit, Michigan, right in the middle of the city to see our friend’s band play and they were awesome. There were all these bikers making out and shit all around us, it was crazy.

Marc: The Exit is always amazing to watch live. Have you ever heard of The Exit?

Bobby: I’ve heard of them yeah.

Marc: Really good, really good band.

Tim: The Explosions. Million Dollar Matt’s my favorite front man ever, so I’ll go see The Explosions anytime I can.

Marc: Those are the only ones I can think of off the top of m head.

Bobby: That’s quite a few. So I guess you guys have to head out, thanks a lot, do you have any final thoughts you’d like to add?

Marc: Nah, nah, thanks man. Thanks for having us.

Tim: Thank you very much.