Music Scene
Punk rock, Boston Irish style

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

From punk-rock quartet to a globetrotting septet, Dropkick Murphys, the Boston-based punk-folk band, has carved a niche in the music world with its blend of hardcore rock and bagpipes. The band will make its Hawai'i debut at World Cafe on Saturday. Dropkick Murphys With The Sticklers and Buck Shot Shorty 7 p.m. Saturday; doors open at 6 p.m. World Cafe, 1130 N. Nimitz Highway $17.50 ($16.50 advance) 526-4400 All ages welcome

You get Dropkick Murphys, the Boston-based punky folk band that rouses crowds with its fist-pumping, pint-hoisting revelry.

"We're basically a blue-collar punk rock that incorporates the folk element into it," said bassist-songwriter Ken Casey, founding member of the septet, in town for a concert Saturday at World Cafe. "Punk rock is what the band was founded on."

But Irish culture is what the band was raised on.

"We all grew up in that environment," Casey said. "The thing is, with a town like Boston, with such a strong Irish culture, even if you didn't grow up in an Irish family, it still rubs off on you."

The band formed four years ago in Boston, starting in the basement of a friend's barbershop. The then-quartet wanted to blend the different musical influences they had grown up with, from punk rock to Irish folk music, into something their own.

Their distinct sounds lured fans from 12 to 50, all converging for the love of bagpipes, beer and barroom lyrics that turn Murphys concerts into karaoke.

The band since has added three more members, dropping the band's overall age and upping the sound quality. With a more complete lineup for live shows, its sound is fuller, more together, definitely Irish.

"From the beginning we were always using the influence of Celtic instrumentation," Casey said. "We'd always have friends from around town show up for shows and play for us."

The search for new members was the most daunting, especially because they were looking for musicians who could play traditional Celtic instruments but maintain a punk-rock groove.

"We consider ourselves first and foremost a punk band," Casey said. "It was just a continuous search for the right people, without putting the word out. But it all kinda fell into place."

The addition of the self-taught accordion and guitar prodigy Mark Orrell, piper Spicy McHaggis and the mandolin- and tin-whistle-playing Ryan Foltz has given Dropkick Murphys a new dimension of sound evident on the band's latest album, "Sing Loud, Sing Proud."

The songs range from mug-raising anthems, such as "A Few Good Men," to the more introspective "Which Side Are You On?" "Fortunes of War" is dedicated to the memory of Brian Deneke, a punk rocker run down by a Cadillac in a Texas parking lot by a rival teenager, who was punished with 10 years probation.

But the Murphys aren't about preaching or politics. They're here to have a good time.

"We've got a wide audience that listens to us that proves our sound is acceptable to lots of different types of people," Casey said. "I can take more pride in doing it somewhat on a grass-roots approach. I feel like, in a lot of ways, we made the band."

Instead of tweaking their sound to get airplay or to sell millions of records, the Murphys keep true to their roots, marketing their music with raucous and energetic live shows. To date, the band has released a scad of seven-inch singles and full-length albums, touring at least nine months out of the year. They've played shows all over the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan.

They haze new members by running a gantlet on them. (Essentially, pushing the poor lad down the line, as everyone takes jabs at him.)

"It's a ritual," Casey said, referring to the hazing of the newest member, Orrell. "Little blood, lots of bruises."

But even punk rockers have to settle down sometimes.

Casey, whose wife is expecting their first child, laments about being old in his 30s. Instead of knocking back drinks on the road — "That's their superstition" — he sneaks out to the movies once a week.

"When you're sitting in a movie theater, you can pretend it's the movie theater down the street from your house," he said. "The popcorn's the same, the candy's the same. I can pretend I'm not on tour."

But while he's in Hawai'i for a two-day stopover en route to Japan, he plans to hit the beach in Waikiki, not the bars. Or movie theaters.