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22 December 2023
MIX TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC, GOOD OL’ PUNK ROCK 'N' ROLL, SOME WORKING CLASS VALUES WITH A FIGHTING SPIRIT, AND AN EVER-SWELLING FAN BASE, AND YOU HAVE THE INFAMOUS DROPKICK MURPHYS. MY MAIN MAN HECTOR HOOKED ME UP, AND I HAD THE PLEASURE OF CHATTING WITH DROPKICK MURPHY AND HELL OF A NICE GUY, KEN CASEY. READ ON, MY WAYWARD SONS.
Vinnie: How you doing?
Ken: I’m doing alright.
V: You guys just finished up touring, right?
K: No. We just started a new one last night.
V: It started last night?
K: Yeah. We kicked off a tour with the Sex Pistols last night.
V: I didn’t know it had started yet. What’s that like?
K: It’s cool. The tour started in Boston, which is our hometown, so that was a good show. Contrary to what everyone thinks, the Pistols are actually nice guys.
V: Yeah?
K: Yeah. We’d played with them before at their anniversary show in London. We hit it off with them then, so it’s gonna be a fun tour.
V: So, you played Boston already. Every year your St. Paddy’s Day shows seem to get bigger. I know how your fans are-- how the crowd is-- and it’s insane how packed the place will get. Did the crowd wind up being louder for you guys than for the Sex Pistols?
K: I wouldn’t say that. The venue we played in is on the water. It’s one of those places where Elvis Costello, Foo Fighters, and big acts like that will play. I have been to a bunch of shows there, but I never once saw anyone actually go in and watch the opening act. People usually just have a drink and hang out outside. But I think we had as many people watch us as the Sex Pistols. Even though it was a punk show, being the Pistols and all, there was still a rock show element to it. There were seats in the venue-- there was no dance floor area, but it went really well. People started tearing the seats out. That’s what I was hoping for.
V: Nice. So, did you get much time off between Warped Tour and the Pistols tour?
K: We had a week. You get home, unpack, do your laundry, pay your bills, and then start packing again to go.
V: You don’t take your family on the road with you, do you?
K: Actually, I do part of the time. My wife and daughter will come on a Sunday and stay for two weeks. They really can’t hack it for much more than that. My wife starts to get freaked out trying to be a mother while traveling on a bus with ten guys.
Both: (laugh)
K: It kinda gets old quick. But if I go out on a six week tour, she’ll usually come out for a couple weeks, to break it up so it’s not so long. I mean, we have the best job in the world, and we’re the most fortunate people. I’d say the only downside is that I wish I was an 18-year-old kid with no ties (laughs) and nobody at home to miss. The only downside I can see to this whole music thing is that. Most of the guys in this band are definitely rooted in Boston and get really homesick, you know?
V: Well, whenever I’ve seen you guys, it’s different for me than seeing other bands. I just feel like you are the guys you know growing up who you really want to make it. You’d see them on the street and say, “Man, I hope those guys make it someday.” When I see you guys-- it’s totally weird-- but I feel proud of you, and I don’t even know you.
K: That’s awesome. Thank you. I wish more people shared that feeling. In punk rock, you know, you feel like your fan base is rooted against you sometimes. (laughs) Like they're wanting you to fail. And I know where they’re coming from, to a degree, because I used to go see bands when I was growing up, and there would be 200 kids there, and you’re like, “Yeah!” But next thing you know, it’s 500 kids, and you’re like, “This is okay, but it’s getting kinda packed.” And then it gets bigger, and you’re like, "Who the fuck are all these assholes?!?"
Both: (laugh)
K: And I’ve been guilty of that in the past. I think it took me until I got in a band to understand what goes into it behind the scenes; what it takes to get a band to stay afloat. I don’t expect everybody to understand the whole workings of being in a band. But I think we try to cater to the people that listen to us, just as much as we try to cater to the people that don’t listen to us. There are a lot of bands that have success and forget where they came from and who their core fan base is.
V: And you guys involve the fans a lot, too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show of yours where the fans didn’t wind up on stage.
K: Well, for us, the eighth band member is the crowd. The audience is what makes the show good or bad. And they always make it good.
V: So, you guys seem to be doing really well with the new album.
K: All the records have gradually gone up in sales, and that’s what we’re hoping for: to climb up the ladder a little bit. Because bands that shoot up overnight bottom out really quickly. So, it’s kinda working out how I’d hoped: a band steadily growing so that it’s not an overnight success type of thing.
V: I saw you did some stuff with the Boston Bruins, too; a charity game.
K: I think that’s when I know we’ve reached all our goals; that we’re just as big as we need to be. When I start getting calls to play in a charity hockey game with the Bruins. (laughs) That’s all I care about.
Both: (laugh)
V: Are all the other guys in the band big hockey fans?
K: Yeah. But not as big as me. (laughs)
V: So, what’s different now than when you started playing?
K: When we started we were driving in a van, lugging our own equipment, playing in people’s basements. And now we’re on the Sex Pistols tour, and there’s three catered meals a day. (laughs) And we have a big dressing room. That’s because of the Sex Pistols, obviously. But it’s gotten easier. You still have the demands of being away from home, and that actually gets harder. The better the band does, the more you wind up working. I’ll say I want to tour no more than three months this year, and the next thing I know we’re doing eight months. How the hell did that just happen? (laughs) But it’s definitely gotten easier. You know, we’re guys that are used to having real jobs, so music’s easy. Even when you’re touring in a van and lugging your own equipment, it beats spending all day laboring.
V: This might be a dumb question, but when you have larger amounts of time off, do any of you guys go and get a factory job or something?
K: No. I sometimes joke that this band has me busier when I’m at home than when I’m on the road. We try to answer all our mail ourselves. We come home and each get a stack of 200 letters. Then there’s all the daily runnings of the band you get caught up on when you’re home. Sometimes I feel like being on tour is easy because you just have to focus on that one thing: playing that show. Then you come home, and you try paying your own bills, trying to get your own life in order, and things keep coming in for the band. It keeps you really busy. There is definitely no time for going back to the day jobs right now.
V: And I’m sure that’s fine by you, too.
K: Yeah. The way I look at it with day jobs is, I know that time’s coming. It's just a matter of how long I can hold out for. (laughs)
V: You know, for me, this is a big honor to interview you. Not only because of your music but because of the stuff you guys do outside of music. When I heard a couple years ago about the Pittsburgh Warped Tour stop where you weren’t gonna play because the stagehands were on strike, that blew me away. You never hear of bands doing something like that. Have you found it easier to speak out against injustices and get more attention doing it, with the band getting more popular?
K: Well, bands get a microphone and some people in front of a stage, and the next thing you know, they wanna be politicians instead of being in a fucking punk band.
V: Yeah.
K: It’s not our goal to set out and change the world. I mean, when we run across situations where things that we believe in are being taken away from people, obviously we wanna walk the walk. We don’t just want to be a band that sings about organized labor, but then crosses the picket line on a strike. That stuff’s complicated and can get very convoluted. But we happened to know a lot of those guys, and those guys had worked on other shows of ours before. So to pull up to the venue and see them standing there, sweating their asses off in the middle of the day,.. whose side are we on? Theirs, or the corporation running the venue?
V: Yeah.
K: So, for that particular day, it was the right thing to side with those guys.
V: That was really cool to me. And I agree with you, but it’s not just with music. I know a lot of artists who get attention, and then they start force-feeding their beliefs to you.
K: Yeah. I mean, as a whole, musicians aren’t the most educated bunch. (laughs) Not to say that there aren’t some, and I don’t want to seriously take away from people who do work hard for causes they believe in. But too many people get up there harping at people, preaching about this and that. And I don’t think some of them know what they're talking about. (laughs)
V: So, you got to work with Shane MacGowan, and go into the Guthrie Archives and record some of his lyrics, which I thought was pretty intense. But I always imagined you guys would team up with Joe Strummer on something.
K: You know, there had been talk of that a bunch of times, but the trouble was just coordinating time, you know? We never expected him to be passing away so soon. It definitely,.. you know, we knew Joe, so that kinda hit real hard on the band. And then, after the dust settled and we were over the initial shock of it, we realized that it would have been real cool. You know, 20 years from now, after the band is done, we’re gonna look back on that and say, “Holy shit. We did a Woody Guthrie song. We got to go in the studio with Shane MacGowan." But to have been able to add Joe Strummer to that list would've been amazing.
V: Yeah. Is there anyone else that you want to record with?
K: I don’t know. There will always be a wish list, you know? Get Angus Young in to do a guitar solo. (laughs) But not really. It’s like I said, getting Shane MacGowan into the studio and recording with him, how do you top that? I mean, Strummer would've topped it. But you can’t really top it now, so why try?
V: Yeah. I noticed after your Sex Pistols shows, you have some shows with Unsane and Roger Miret and the Disasters. Is that gonna be a full-on national tour?
K: Yeah. The Sex Pistols tour ends in Los Angeles. Then we'll do a two week tour with those bands, which ends on September 20th. We have a few days off after that. But then we do a whole U.S. Tour with The Casualties and Roger Miret and the Disasters. And then we’ll go back out again.
VISIT KEN AND HIS FELLOW DROPKICKS HERE.
PURCHASE ITEMS BY KEN CASEY
Vinnie: How you doing?
Ken: I’m doing alright.
V: You guys just finished up touring, right?
K: No. We just started a new one last night.
V: It started last night?
K: Yeah. We kicked off a tour with the Sex Pistols last night.
V: I didn’t know it had started yet. What’s that like?
K: It’s cool. The tour started in Boston, which is our hometown, so that was a good show. Contrary to what everyone thinks, the Pistols are actually nice guys.
V: Yeah?
K: Yeah. We’d played with them before at their anniversary show in London. We hit it off with them then, so it’s gonna be a fun tour.
V: So, you played Boston already. Every year your St. Paddy’s Day shows seem to get bigger. I know how your fans are-- how the crowd is-- and it’s insane how packed the place will get. Did the crowd wind up being louder for you guys than for the Sex Pistols?
K: I wouldn’t say that. The venue we played in is on the water. It’s one of those places where Elvis Costello, Foo Fighters, and big acts like that will play. I have been to a bunch of shows there, but I never once saw anyone actually go in and watch the opening act. People usually just have a drink and hang out outside. But I think we had as many people watch us as the Sex Pistols. Even though it was a punk show, being the Pistols and all, there was still a rock show element to it. There were seats in the venue-- there was no dance floor area, but it went really well. People started tearing the seats out. That’s what I was hoping for.
V: Nice. So, did you get much time off between Warped Tour and the Pistols tour?
K: We had a week. You get home, unpack, do your laundry, pay your bills, and then start packing again to go.
V: You don’t take your family on the road with you, do you?
K: Actually, I do part of the time. My wife and daughter will come on a Sunday and stay for two weeks. They really can’t hack it for much more than that. My wife starts to get freaked out trying to be a mother while traveling on a bus with ten guys.
Both: (laugh)
K: It kinda gets old quick. But if I go out on a six week tour, she’ll usually come out for a couple weeks, to break it up so it’s not so long. I mean, we have the best job in the world, and we’re the most fortunate people. I’d say the only downside is that I wish I was an 18-year-old kid with no ties (laughs) and nobody at home to miss. The only downside I can see to this whole music thing is that. Most of the guys in this band are definitely rooted in Boston and get really homesick, you know?
V: Well, whenever I’ve seen you guys, it’s different for me than seeing other bands. I just feel like you are the guys you know growing up who you really want to make it. You’d see them on the street and say, “Man, I hope those guys make it someday.” When I see you guys-- it’s totally weird-- but I feel proud of you, and I don’t even know you.
K: That’s awesome. Thank you. I wish more people shared that feeling. In punk rock, you know, you feel like your fan base is rooted against you sometimes. (laughs) Like they're wanting you to fail. And I know where they’re coming from, to a degree, because I used to go see bands when I was growing up, and there would be 200 kids there, and you’re like, “Yeah!” But next thing you know, it’s 500 kids, and you’re like, “This is okay, but it’s getting kinda packed.” And then it gets bigger, and you’re like, "Who the fuck are all these assholes?!?"
Both: (laugh)
K: And I’ve been guilty of that in the past. I think it took me until I got in a band to understand what goes into it behind the scenes; what it takes to get a band to stay afloat. I don’t expect everybody to understand the whole workings of being in a band. But I think we try to cater to the people that listen to us, just as much as we try to cater to the people that don’t listen to us. There are a lot of bands that have success and forget where they came from and who their core fan base is.
V: And you guys involve the fans a lot, too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show of yours where the fans didn’t wind up on stage.
K: Well, for us, the eighth band member is the crowd. The audience is what makes the show good or bad. And they always make it good.
V: So, you guys seem to be doing really well with the new album.
K: All the records have gradually gone up in sales, and that’s what we’re hoping for: to climb up the ladder a little bit. Because bands that shoot up overnight bottom out really quickly. So, it’s kinda working out how I’d hoped: a band steadily growing so that it’s not an overnight success type of thing.
V: I saw you did some stuff with the Boston Bruins, too; a charity game.
K: I think that’s when I know we’ve reached all our goals; that we’re just as big as we need to be. When I start getting calls to play in a charity hockey game with the Bruins. (laughs) That’s all I care about.
Both: (laugh)
V: Are all the other guys in the band big hockey fans?
K: Yeah. But not as big as me. (laughs)
V: So, what’s different now than when you started playing?
K: When we started we were driving in a van, lugging our own equipment, playing in people’s basements. And now we’re on the Sex Pistols tour, and there’s three catered meals a day. (laughs) And we have a big dressing room. That’s because of the Sex Pistols, obviously. But it’s gotten easier. You still have the demands of being away from home, and that actually gets harder. The better the band does, the more you wind up working. I’ll say I want to tour no more than three months this year, and the next thing I know we’re doing eight months. How the hell did that just happen? (laughs) But it’s definitely gotten easier. You know, we’re guys that are used to having real jobs, so music’s easy. Even when you’re touring in a van and lugging your own equipment, it beats spending all day laboring.
V: This might be a dumb question, but when you have larger amounts of time off, do any of you guys go and get a factory job or something?
K: No. I sometimes joke that this band has me busier when I’m at home than when I’m on the road. We try to answer all our mail ourselves. We come home and each get a stack of 200 letters. Then there’s all the daily runnings of the band you get caught up on when you’re home. Sometimes I feel like being on tour is easy because you just have to focus on that one thing: playing that show. Then you come home, and you try paying your own bills, trying to get your own life in order, and things keep coming in for the band. It keeps you really busy. There is definitely no time for going back to the day jobs right now.
V: And I’m sure that’s fine by you, too.
K: Yeah. The way I look at it with day jobs is, I know that time’s coming. It's just a matter of how long I can hold out for. (laughs)
V: You know, for me, this is a big honor to interview you. Not only because of your music but because of the stuff you guys do outside of music. When I heard a couple years ago about the Pittsburgh Warped Tour stop where you weren’t gonna play because the stagehands were on strike, that blew me away. You never hear of bands doing something like that. Have you found it easier to speak out against injustices and get more attention doing it, with the band getting more popular?
K: Well, bands get a microphone and some people in front of a stage, and the next thing you know, they wanna be politicians instead of being in a fucking punk band.
V: Yeah.
K: It’s not our goal to set out and change the world. I mean, when we run across situations where things that we believe in are being taken away from people, obviously we wanna walk the walk. We don’t just want to be a band that sings about organized labor, but then crosses the picket line on a strike. That stuff’s complicated and can get very convoluted. But we happened to know a lot of those guys, and those guys had worked on other shows of ours before. So to pull up to the venue and see them standing there, sweating their asses off in the middle of the day,.. whose side are we on? Theirs, or the corporation running the venue?
V: Yeah.
K: So, for that particular day, it was the right thing to side with those guys.
V: That was really cool to me. And I agree with you, but it’s not just with music. I know a lot of artists who get attention, and then they start force-feeding their beliefs to you.
K: Yeah. I mean, as a whole, musicians aren’t the most educated bunch. (laughs) Not to say that there aren’t some, and I don’t want to seriously take away from people who do work hard for causes they believe in. But too many people get up there harping at people, preaching about this and that. And I don’t think some of them know what they're talking about. (laughs)
V: So, you got to work with Shane MacGowan, and go into the Guthrie Archives and record some of his lyrics, which I thought was pretty intense. But I always imagined you guys would team up with Joe Strummer on something.
K: You know, there had been talk of that a bunch of times, but the trouble was just coordinating time, you know? We never expected him to be passing away so soon. It definitely,.. you know, we knew Joe, so that kinda hit real hard on the band. And then, after the dust settled and we were over the initial shock of it, we realized that it would have been real cool. You know, 20 years from now, after the band is done, we’re gonna look back on that and say, “Holy shit. We did a Woody Guthrie song. We got to go in the studio with Shane MacGowan." But to have been able to add Joe Strummer to that list would've been amazing.
V: Yeah. Is there anyone else that you want to record with?
K: I don’t know. There will always be a wish list, you know? Get Angus Young in to do a guitar solo. (laughs) But not really. It’s like I said, getting Shane MacGowan into the studio and recording with him, how do you top that? I mean, Strummer would've topped it. But you can’t really top it now, so why try?
V: Yeah. I noticed after your Sex Pistols shows, you have some shows with Unsane and Roger Miret and the Disasters. Is that gonna be a full-on national tour?
K: Yeah. The Sex Pistols tour ends in Los Angeles. Then we'll do a two week tour with those bands, which ends on September 20th. We have a few days off after that. But then we do a whole U.S. Tour with The Casualties and Roger Miret and the Disasters. And then we’ll go back out again.
VISIT KEN AND HIS FELLOW DROPKICKS HERE.
PURCHASE ITEMS BY KEN CASEY
artid
1562
Old Image
6_1_casey.jpg
issue
vol 6 - issue 01 (sep 2003)
section
interviews