When Irish Eyes Are Smiling…they are probably listening to The Dropkick Murphys
While I have a passion for Texas-bred Country and Americana, I have also long held a soft spot for various bands that carry the banner for the other prominent region of my heritage, Ireland. Although in Texas, we are flooded with bands that claim to be covered in red dirt and Shiner Bock, we lack in bands that claim to be covered in shamrocks and Guinness. The acts that often come to mind when my Irish eyes need to smile are veterans such as The Pogues, Flogging Molly and of course, The Dropkick Murphys.
The Dropkick Murphys have become even more synonomous with the whole “Boston-Irish vibe” since the release of the 2006 flick The Departed (even though they have had several albums and have been rocking full-houses for years before the movie came out), where the track “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” was applied to sheer perfection, sending tons of folks to I-tunes to find out more about this band from Boston.
With St. Patrick’s day around the corner, DKM’s are releasing a deluxe version of their most recent release, The Meanest of Times. Tons of new stuff, just in time for cranking it up as you toast the contributions of Ol’ St. Pat. The musical blend of Irish Folk, Punk and straight-up Rock is the ideal backdrop for Al Barr’s roaring, gruff vocal screams.
Click here for a sample of some recent offerings from The Dropkick Murphy’s.
6 Responses
I’m going to be a bothersome pedant and inform you that everything ever considered remotely C&W in America is a pure and direct descendant of the Scottish highlands and the Irish lowlands. If one bothered, one would find that an enormous portion of the American musical catalog is Scots-Irish. Cranking up the guitars to 11 and screaming profanities, while very enjoyable in short bursts, is merely an extension.
And some of us had plenty of wild-ass Celtic on our Walkman, nee iPods, before The Departed were imagined. We even listened to it while drinking Shiner and kicking the red or black dirt. Boston & Chicago, for all their very real shamrockedness, got naught on us.
Hey Scott,
I agree that this blend of music has been kicking arse way before the departed movie (I even said so in the post). What is great about country music in all its forms is that it has roots that reach to many forms of old-school music. Thanks to the large amounts of immigrants from the emerald isle near the turn of the century, many parts of american life have an irish feel to them in this day and age. While Celtic-Scottish is connected (down the line a bit), I would say the most direct descenedents would be american gospel and blues.
BTW, I too have Flogging Molly sharing space with REK & Billy Joe Shaver on my ipod.
I like anything that utilizes a banjo as a lead instrument. oh yeah… and the keytar. the video was awesome and it makes me want to go and beat a defenseless object of some sort!
I’ve been a fan of the Dropkick Murphys for years. Definitely buy an album. You won’t regret it!
Check out Albion’s Seed, my friend, or James Webb’s Born Fighting for the short version, of the history of drunken brawling Celts on these shores. We happened earlier and harder than you credit, and the influence is wider than most can imagine.
I don’t make much distinction twixt Scots and Eires, except I’m much more Scots by nature, and hence, more prone to a lager and a kilt and killing interlopers than peat-distilled whisky and a nice vest and versing them into comas.
Hey Scott,
You are right, I dont doubt how early we began contributing, the only distinction I made was to say that american gospel and blues is the link between those earlier times and now. I am linked more on the irish side and thus am more prone to babbling about as Jamesons dribbles down my chin…