The band have collaborated with the Guthrie family before (arguably their biggest hit, ‘I’m Shipping Up To Boston’, is an unreleased Guthrie track re-jigged into the Murphys style), and in interviews singer Ken Casey has suggested he feels a thematic affinity between his music and Guthrie’s. But the question remains as to whether the second part of the Dropkick Murphys’ passion project stands up as album on its own rather than just a political and personal statement. 

The first single drop, ‘I Know How It Feels’, is pure Murphys twiddly-diddly Irish folky gold, heavy on the accordion and stand-up-strong sentiment. It’s almost purely acoustic, the kind of song to be played outside a striking picket line. ‘Gotta Get To Peekskill’, the followup, is very similar but with a rowdy, anti-racist rhythm that’s sure to play well when slotted into a setlist of classics. A lot of this album feels like it would be best suited to be interspersed between electric, punkier tracks, and it feels like they should have learned from the Pogues’ tactics: a softer track needs to be teamed with a vile or bitter one to avoid mawkishness. 

While ‘Gotta Get To Peekskill’ doesn’t make the most of guest artists the Violent Femmes, ‘Rippin Up the Boundary Line’ uses growly Bostonian roarer Jessie Ahern to maximum effect, and getting a third male voice on lead gives this united, workers choir effect which really works. Ahern’s delicate touch on the summertime guitar picking followed by a cappella interludes elevates a simplistic track to something a tad more special. ‘My Eyes Are Gonna Shine’ is a hopeful holiday opener with those folky drumbeats lifted from The Dubliners keeping the whole thing in line, and this standout track sets this utopian tone for the album.

Oddly, one of the most rip-roaring tracks with the best backing vocals is the most confusing. ‘Run Hitler Run’. “Run, Hitler, Run, we’re coming to get you,” intones Casey over peppy boxcar beats and the classic Murphys wail and dramatic harmonica. For sure, it’s a great song, but Hitler isn’t exactly a contemporary figure, and why they picked this historical artefact to preserve in its entirety when other Guthrie songs from a similar era have been adapted to exploit their universal messages is somewhat of a mystery. Finishing on ‘Shipping Up To Boston – Tulsa Version’ seems like an explanation of the Murphys’ choice to take on this project, as it’s a reworked version of their hit in the style Guthrie would have picked if he released it. It’s an interesting counter history moment with finally some shouted moments and a wailing, desolate country energy, and the banjo feels less a novelty and more a necessity. 

If anything, this album proves that the Dropkick Murphys are more than capable of making an excellent acoustic album, which they absolutely should as a career-spanning retrospective.  Imagine ‘Rose Tattoo’ and ‘Good Rats’ in this style and it’s easy to see the potential. But this album lacks the gutsy, ‘Bastards On Parade’-style roaring Celtic breakdowns which the band do so well, and they seem to have lost sight of their strengths in favour of flying their own political and historical flag. Perhaps this is their bid to be seen as a ‘serious band’, or it’s their comment on society’s injustices in the present day, but either way, ‘Okemah Rising’ is unlikely to enter the hallowed halls of Dropkick Murphys fan favourites.  

Kate Allvey

It is taken from their latest album, ’11 Short Stories of Pain and Glory’, and comes ahead of their UK tour dates for the end of the month.

Check out the video below.

JUNE
25 GLASTONBURY Glastonbury Festival
26 NOTTINGHAM Rock City
27 DUNFERMLINE Alhambra Theatre
28 LIVERPOOL O2 Academy
29 BOURNEMOUTH O2 Academy

This precedes the band’s upcoming run of live shows in July. The Australian rock n roll punks released their seventh album, ‘Shift’, last year on Dew Process.

JUNE
26 NOTTINGHAM Rock City*
27 DUNFERMLINE Alhambra Theatre*
28 LIVERPOOL O2 Academy*
29 BOURNEMOUTH O2 Academy*
JULY
01 LONDON British Summer Time, Hyde Park w/ Green Day
03 MANCHESTER Gorilla
04 GLASGOW King Tut’s
05 LEEDS Beckett Students Union w/ Gogol Bordello
06 PORSTMOUTH The Wedgerooms

* w/ Dropkick Murphys

The shows will be in support of their ninth album, ’11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory’, which was released earlier this year on Born & Bred Records.

JUNE
26 NOTTINGHAM Rock City
27 DUNFERMLINE Alhambra Theatre
28 LIVERPOOL O2 Academy
29 BOURNEMOUTH O2 Academy

They’ve been a band for twenty years, and probably have more yesterdays than tomorrows in the bank, as ‘Sandlot’s nostalgia for younger days shows. But there’s always been a sense of community with the Dropkick Murphys, and they make sure to reaffirm the common links in the punk rock scene on ‘Rebels With A Cause’, as singers Al Barr and Ken Case call on their peers not to be “angry at the kids, be angry at the greed!”

Rallying around the sense of heart and kinship found in music provides the Dropkicks with the message they need to take to as many people as possible. This is the band’s first album since the Boston Marathon bombings in April of 2013, a moment that shook the entire Boston community to its knees. Yet the band did what they could to support the victims after the disaster: visiting hospitals, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars and recording a charity EP with Bruce Springsteen. Perhaps that’s why some of the songs on this album have a much slower, more reflective pace than previous offerings, especially on the heavily Springsteen influenced ‘Paying My Way’ and lead single ‘Blood’. This heartwarming folk-punk anthem flies in the defiance of those who would stand to hurt their communities; with “if you want blood, we’ll give you some,” it’s a rallying cry for unity.

If this all sounds a bit heavy, don’t worry. The Dropkicks have always had a sense of humour to go along with their communal chants and ‘First Class Loser’ is another song that’ll tease a few laughs out of the listener, about “the type of guy you’d cross six lanes of traffic to avoid” who just seems to stick around forever, parking in handicapped spaces, just being rude, obnoxious or lazy.

Alongside self-deprecating elegy ‘Kicked To The Curb,’ it goes a long way in injecting a sense of levity on an album that deals with some hefty subject matter, especially as it moves towards the album’s emotional centrepiece, ‘4-15-13’. As Barr reels off a list of professions who were, on that day, “just trying to make our way”, it becomes a fitting tribute to those who died, eulogising not only those who are “gone but not forgotten,” but also the innocence of the city. By rising to the challenge of trying to turn this tragedy into art, Dropkick Murphys manage to turn pain into glory.

With a bar-room brawl cover of ‘We’ll Meet Again’, the scrappy Boston punks take heartache and find strength in it. Melancholy yet triumphant, tragic but optimistic, ‘11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory’ is an album brimming with life, energy and camaraderie. It’s not easy to make such a life affirming record after going through such loss. Trust the Dropkicks to pull it off.

MATTHEW WILSON

It is taken from their recently released ninth full length, ’11 Short Stories of Pain and Glory’, on Born & Bred Records.

The band will be playing a London headline show later this month at Brixton Academy on the 27th January with Slapshot and Skinny Lister. This is their only UK date of their upcoming European tour.

The single is taken from their upcoming ninth studio album, ’11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory’, which will be available on the 6th January 2017 through Born & Bred Records. Pre-orders are available here.

Watch the video for ‘Paying My Way’ by Dropkick Murphys at the NHL website

It is taken from the celtic punks’ upcoming ninth album, ’11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory’, which will be available on the 6th January 2017 via their own label, Born & Bred Records. You can pre-order it here.

It will be released on January 6th via the bands own label, Born & Bred, and will include their new single, ‘Blood’, which they have released a lyric video for today.

Dropkick Murphys will celebrate the release with a headline show in London at Brixton Academy on January 27th.

Pre-orders for ’11 Short Stories of Pain and Glory’ are available now, and you can take a listen to ‘Blood’ below.