WC: Your favourite moment in the band's career? Al: You know it's really hard to just pin-point one moment, there's been so many amazing things that have happened with us. This record has topped #9 on the billboard right now back home, which is huge. A band like ours, we move in next door and your lawn dies so it's never been anything we expected. Playing sports stadiums and having songs in movie soundtracks and getting the opportunity to play with some of our favourite bands and meeting our heroes. It's just too much to just go "that one thing". I think we are all very grateful just to be able to do what we do, to be able to get on a stage every night, wherever we are and no matter how big the show is, that people come and know the words to our songs and that just kind of keeps you going cus it's like wow this really means something. So definitive moments, it's really hard to just pin-point one and I just don't think I could answer that. My personal moments have been having my children throughout my career with this band. I've had three children since I've been with this band. The latest one just turned three months when I left so it's crazy. He wasn't planned but he's a blessing
WC: Going on from Music in films, how did Shipping Up to Boston end up in The Departed? Al: We have heard so many stories, as Kenny says he had a bunch of friends he grew up with that were actually extras in the Departed and they of course all took credit for getting the song in the movie but it was actually Robbie Robertson from the group 'The Band'. That was when Martin Scorsese got out of film school; he did a documentary on a rock band and The Band was his first thing. So Robbie Robertson and Martin Scorsese had a special relationship, and apparently Robbie Robertson unbeknown to us is a huge fan of ours and he owns all our records apparently, this is what we've been told. And he went to Martin Scorsese and he took Warrior's Code and said "there is definitely a song on this record perfect for your movie you are doing about the Boston mob and the Irish mafia in Boston." We have never met Martin Scorsese but he's given us shout-outs when he got his academy award, his first. Which is crazy to think he got his first academy award on that film and on the red carpet he thanked the people of Boston and that great band Dropkick Murphy's... What? That's pretty crazy but it's funny because there are a lot of stories that go along with the whole thing. First of all, Shipping almost didn't even make the record. We were like "that's off the record" and then we needed an extra song so we were like "oh throw it on there". And thank god we did. But I remember when we found out it was confirmed it would be in the movie, as for s**ts and giggles we contacted Warner studios and asked if we could use, after we made our own video, clips from the movie to do a different video. And we were like "they will say no" because we asked Major League Baseball one time for clips for the Tessie video and they wanted half a million dollars for like thirty seconds of clips, and were like "Okay, guess were not gonna do that". So we figured the same would happen. The movie wasn't even out yet, and so to ask for clips from a film that's not even out yet is crazy. Not only did we get an email back, but the email read something like "Tell the band: Thank you, love the band, love the song. They can have whatever they want. Marty" and we are like "holy s**t". Not only is it not some studio guy but its Martin Scorsese answering the email. Fast forward to the premiere, and we weren't there. It was New York, I saw the Rolling Stone where Bono and Mick Jagger are walking out with Scorsese and they are all smiling... f*****g p****s, not Scorsese but those other two. So last year we did a tour with the Bouncing Souls and it ended in Glasgow and then we flew over to Norway to do a snowboard fest as our last show and Andrew W.K. was MC'ing and he was announcing us. Then he, and his girlfriend and I hung out all night. They were drinking and I was drinking coffee because I don't drink anymore and we were all just hanging out in this bar. And Andrew has a friend who was a film archiver and he lives in Manhattan now, he married a New Yorker and he has befriended this film archiver who is really good friends with Martin Scorsese so Andrew was at the premiere. Now it was in this old vaudevillian movie theatre in Manhattan that has volume control knobs in the seats, and he said when the opening scene came on all of a sudden one of the seats just cranked to maximum and he looked back and it was Martin Scorsese cranking our song. And we would never have known that story in a million years if he hadn't told us and it was just like "what!?" Pretty cool but yeah, to make a long story short it was Robbie Robertson.
WC: So you recently did shifts at Newbury Comics, how did they go?Al: Yeah they worked us really hard. The big two hour shift. I haven't worked a real job in a long time and I'm lucky, and I was never good at the nine to five thing anyway. I got fired from most of my jobs. I am still hanging on to this one.
WC: Favourite Boston Red Sox Player Al: You know what? You have got the non-sports guy in the band. I got into the spirit of the Red Sox when we did the Tessie thing and being involved in the World Series and all that. Same with the Bruins. It has always been an exciting thing but I grew up a punk rocker. In the 80s, the jocks beat us up, they chased us. So I had a natural aversion to sports and sporting events because I grew up a punker and on the record, we are doing this song 'Jimmy Collin's' which is about back in the old-timey baseball days, he was one of the first iconic ballplayers in Boston. So we are going even further back into baseball history there. But you'd have to ask the other guys. I mean Jason Varitek who was the captain of the team when we did the Tessie thing, he was a super super great guy. He made the nicest impression because I remember being at the statehouse when Mitt Romney was still the governor of Massachusetts. And I remember Mark who was still in the band, and Mitt Romney walked in as Mark was shoving dinner rolls into his pockets and he was like "I can get you a bag if you want", it was hilarious. But anyway, later on we were trying to get pictures with certain guys and I remember Manny was a d**k. He didn't want nothing to do with us and other people were too busy but Jason Varitek took a picture with us and then as we were taking a picture he goes to his wife "Honey. Get the camera, I want a picture with these guys" and I was like wow, that's pretty class so If I had to pick someone it would probably be him.