Dropkick Murphys

Tue 15th Mar, 2011 in Features

With a new year and a new album, Dropkick Murphys schedule must be booked out. Just having wrapped up their Australian tour for No Sleep Til… festival and back in New England, lead singer Al Barr took some time out to chat about the band’s time Down Under and the long awaited album Going Out in Style.

You just wrapped up in Australia in December for the No Sleep Til festival, how was it like being back down under?
Oh it was great; it’s always a pleasure to be there. It’s literally one of my favourites, you can check any interviews, it’s my favourite place to tour. I don’t just say that, I really love Australia!

What was touring with NOFX & The Descendants like, were there any little backstage fights?
[Laughs] No there was no fighting; it was a very good vibe everybody got along great. You know at the end of the tour Milo (from The Descendants) lost his voice so Fat Mike and a bunch of people from other bands all helped out singing including myself; we all got to sing with The Descendants which is like a dream come true for all of us. That was really cool cos I grew up listening to The Descendants, felt like a 15 year old girl [laughs].

That must be a little bit daunting, growing up listening to them then performing with them?
It was funny I was in a punk band back in the 80s, that actually backed up The Descendants, but they of course didn’t remember me; I didn’t expect them to and I don’t think I had the nerve to introduce myself. Its funny like I said I grew up listening to them and now we’re watching them from the side of the stage and you know everybody is going in and singing and Fat Mike (NOFX) comes off the stage from singing a song and is like “Al Al! I cracked up, dammit you gotta know one of their songs”, I’m like “yeah, yeah I do I’m pretty sure I know Loser, yeah I know all the words to Loser; he’s like “Well you gotta get out and sing Loser”.

But you know the thing is its different singing with the record then performing it, you know there’s fucking Bill Stevenson behind the drum kit. Oh my god! I didn’t want to fuck it up! So that was cool I remembered all the words, I couldn’t believe it! It was probably the best thing that happened on the whole tour.

You guys are veterans when it comes to music festivals; do you have any backstage demands like some bands want certain drinks or furniture? Do you have anything like that?
[Laughs] No we’re not really all rock stars you know what I mean, we come out and let our performance do the speaking for us. We go out there and do our thing, were not really interested in going backstage and being pompous with all that bullshit. We have a lot of water and beers for the guys that like beers and were good.

You guys have been known to go wild on stage; you have this sense of unity with the audience. Do you feed off the crowds energy or once you’re in performance mood, you just rock out?
Definitely a feeding off crowd, I mean the more energetic the crowd, the more we are; I think its definitely that. We’ve always said the audience is the other 50% of a good Dropkick show. It’s that relationship we get together and that’s what makes a great show.