The Dropkick Murphys are a Celtic-Punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. In Nottingham UK we caught up with the band's lead vocalist Al Barr.
WC: How's the response to the new album been? Al: It's been unbelievable really. It's crazy really, I mean we keep putting records out and people keep buying them. We're really grateful; we have the best fans in the world. We always say it's been amazing to see the growth over the last seventeen years and see the band go from this little four piece to this seven piece thing that's taking the world. Everywhere we go is like a party, it has been amazing but yeah the new record has been received really well so far. I mean there is always going to be someone who says they don't like it but I think our fans are just kind of wowed that we put out another record so quickly and there is material on there that is actually good. Usually when a band puts out a record on the heels of something that's hard to beat but it has been amazing.
WC: What inspired the new title? Al: Signed and Sealed in Blood are lyrics from the song Rose Tattoo and that was the first song that the band performed and the first song that was ready. We never really stopped from Going Out in Style it is like an album cycle going into another album cycle whereas we had that nearly four year break between Meanest of Times and Going Out in Style. The band just felt like they had this creative gel going and we grabbed Ted Hutt again and said let's just make another record right away so we have kind of been on tour now since Going Out in Style and it wasn't even a break. So we went from touring to writing and recording. There was really no definitive break if you will.
WC: This album has a more traditional feel than your previous albums, was that an intentional move? Al: I think there is plenty of punk on the record as well, it's just that our fans and our music allowed us to delve into those things because we are influenced by so much else than just punk. So our fans go into it knowing there's gonna be a lot of celtic instrumentation, there's gonna be that folk influence that's there and really important to us. I think over the years we've taken the veracity and the attitude of punk and we have been able to put it towards our trad stuff. And I think with every record we've kind of melded it more. I think with Meanest of Times was the first time we actually really saw the melding, and with Going Out in Style even more with songs like Sunday Hardcore Matinee, you have a hardcore song with a banjo. And with this one, there's a melding still but there's definitely standouts where there is more of a folk thing and more of a punk thing, but I think a song like Out of our Heads is a perfect example of you got the accordion beginning and it's like it's gonna be a folk song and then all of a sudden it comes in with all of the guitars and the same with the Boys are Back you got the acoustic beginning and then it kicks you in the nuts with the roar of thunder, and that's our thing you know. We are forever trying to get the right concoction of our influences and in saying that too, we are the AC/DC, Ramones of what we do. We are never looking to necessarily change, just like to keep it interesting and I think we have been able to do that with Signed and Sealed. So we're not doing the same thing.
INTERVIEW CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE...