Dropkick Murphys
Ken Casey on sobriety, stolen puddings, and the resurrected art of smashing TVs with sledgehammers.
They were forged in the white heat of Boston’s mid-90s punk scene, but the Dropkick Murphys were always a breed apart, fusing blistering rock’n’roll tear-ups with folk f lourishes that made every show feel like St. Patrick’s Day. For now, the hot crush of their stage-front security rail might be off-limits, but for co-frontman Ken Casey, tenth record Turn Up That Dial is about “closing the door on 2020, looking forward and being optimistic.”
Which dial should we turn up, exactly? Well, that’s why I like the album title. It could be the dial on anything. Making shit change. Speaking up. It could just be your stereo, y’know? Just don’t sit back. Don’t be a pussy!
Why is it important to play Turn Up That
Dial loud?
It’s been such heavy times. Our last album kinda documented a lot of overdose and death in our lives. Now [with covid] it goes to this super-heavy time, and who wants to lament about that? Music is obviously a tool for serious change at times, but even then it can be in the form of just kicking down the door and fuckin’ screaming.
The song titles are brilliant. Tell us about Mick Jones Nicked My Pudding.
Our producer, Ted Hutt, was telling a story about how he was working on a record and Mick Jones from The Clash was in the same studio. There was a common area, and Ted had a pudding in the fridge – he didn’t label it or anything, and Mick ate it. I got a real kick out of that, because he’s one of my musical heroes. So everyone went to lunch, and I stayed back and wrote Mick Jones Nicked My Pudding in five minutes.
How about Smash Shit Up?
That’s about how you can’t always speak up as an adult, for fear of losing your source of income. But it’s still inside you. Someone told me you can rent a room now where they give you a sledgehammer, let you get in there and smash old TVs. My point is, everyone has that desire to rebel. And sometimes music is how you do that, because it takes you back to your youth, or maybe it makes you think of the people that had the balls to actually rebel.
The new record was begun during the Trump presidency but finished after his defeat. Can you hear both eras? Trump is someone who I despise. There’s definitely influences of him on the song Chosen Few. But at the same time, I also like Joe Biden’s perspective of: ‘Let’s not give this guy life’. He was hopefully an anomaly that will never exist again. Let’s look onward to positive stuff. I’ve been guilty of it. If there’s two things on TV – Joe Biden telling me how we can improve the future, or Donald Trump hopefully getting convicted in an impeachment – what do I want to watch? Well, my human nature says I want to watch Trump get fucked, y’know? But the reality is that we’d all be better off looking to the future.
“Our goal is to put a smile on people’s faces. Or maybe a scowl.”
People often describe the Dropkick Murphys as great drinking music.
I haven’t had a drink in almost thirty years. But when you say something is drinking music you’re essentially saying it’s goodtime music. For me, drinking isn’t good times. But turning up the dial and listening to my favourite music gets me amped up in a way that drugs or alcohol never did. Ultimately our goal is to put a smile on people’s faces. Or maybe put a scowl on their faces. But we’re not making stand-onthe-sidelines music here.
Turn Up That Dial is out on April 30 via Born & Bred Records.