DROPKICK MURPHYS "Going Out In Style"

DROPKICK MURPHYS
“Going Out In Style”
by Jason Walsh



The Boys on the Docks are back with a new collection of Celtic anthems, but this time have taken a different approach than in previous offerings. In the traditional Irish vein of literary storytelling akin to James Joyce, Dropkick Murphys created a concept album that tells the tale of a fictional character named Cornellius Larkin. “Going Out In Style,” released on the band’s own label, Born & Bred Records, chronicles the journey of the Irish immigrant who has passed on from this world, through retrospectives of his life and times, heavily influenced by personal experiences of the band as well as family folklore. Art imitates life as the epic saga of Cornellius reveals itself through the thirteen tracks on this newest record.

The Murphys enlisted the talents of friends like Fat Mike from NOFX, Chris Cheney from THE LIVING END, and even actor/comedian Lenny Clarke, best known for his role as Uncle Teddy on RESCUE ME. But the biggest surprise guest is New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen. I had a chance to catch up with Vocalist Al Barr before the record’s release to find out how the story came about as well as how the guys from Boston recruited “The Boss.”

First off, how are you doing, Al?

AL BARR: I’m good, been busy y’know. We’re getting ready to go on the road soon so we’re rehearsing a lot.

And you have a new record, “Going Out In Style,” coming out this March. Let’s talk about the new record. I heard it this week, been listening to it a bunch. It’s a really great record, but tell me about what you guys did to make this, because it’s a little different from some of the previous records you guys have put out.

AL BARR: Yeah, I mean it’s different from a couple different perspectives. I mean you got the perspective that it’s a bit of a concept record, the character “Cornellius Larkin,” kind of going through, y’know, coming through the songs and then it was the first time we worked with a producer (Ted Hutt) in years and I think that’s really evident when you listen to the record, because I think it’s a really big sounding record for us. We’ve layered the shit out of it.

So tell me how the idea for the Cornellius Larkin character came about and how you decided to not make it one ballad or maybe two songs, but there’s a lot of songs that involve him in this record.

AL BARR: When we started the whole process of writing, this is our seventh studio album and usually it’s two years between every record and this is three years. We didn’t really know where to begin in the sense that, “How do we make this record different than the other records? How do we make it better than the last one, and different and kind of not make the same record?” All these things came up and “Going Out In Style” was one of the first songs we wrote actually and when we talked about the song after writing it and putting it together, we realized there was a character in this song. The idea kind of came about from that, like “wouldn’t it be kind of cool to have a storyline that kind of went through the record?” So Cornellius was born.

When did you guys start working on this and putting this idea together?

AL BARR: Well, we started working on the record probably like the third week in August. I think all of us had been working a little bit, I mean I kept writing after the last record came out just so I could stay in the practice of writing. Everybody kind of did their own thing, but when we came together to do the record, I guess it was like the third week of August we started working on it and we worked straight through to December.

And like you said, you’ve put out a lot of records and no band wants to reinvent themselves every time they do a new record because that can be good and bad, so to go past that, y’know, “well, we’ve done something like this, now how can we make this fresher, how can we make this something different from the past?” Is that something that goes through your minds when you are doing a new record?

AL BARR: Well, that’s just it. Y’know, there’s a formula and kind of attitude in the band of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but then we still want to challenge ourselves. You’re going to get your punk rock, your Irish, blah, blah, blah, and you know that already, so you know you’re going to have your folk stuff, your punk stuff. I mean I’ve heard people say we’re the Irish punk Ramones or the Irish punk AC-DC or whatever. I mean I’ve heard all that stuff and those are all big compliments, don’t get me wrong, but in the same sense, we wanted to keep challenging ourselves and make it interesting for the fans as well and I think we did with this one. I don’t think we’ve ever made the same record but it becomes more and more challenging the further into your career that you get, y’know.

When you guys sat down and it was all mixed down and everything, and you listened to it top to bottom, what was going through your mind when you were listening to it?

AL BARR: It’s funny, with records in the past, because you’ve been doing it, you’ve been writing it and recording it and you’ve got to learn it, you get sick of it on one level in the sense that it’s not so new anymore. But this record, everybody in the band is really excited about it. There’s an excitement there, in my memory, that hasn’t been there before. I know that I’ve been listening to it nonstop and the rest of the guys have been saying the same thing, you know what I mean, and I think we’re just real excited to get on the road and play it for the fans.

Very cool. Now there are some guests on the record. You’ve got Fat Mike (NOFX) in there, Chris Cheney (THE LIVING END), and comedian Lenny Clarke. How did you decide to get these three guys in there in the studio with you?

AL BARR: Well, y’know, everybody kind of came differently. Years ago, we wanted to do, on the “Sing Loud, Sing Proud” record, originally we had this idea of getting all these guests and I remember we sent out all these offers, y’know, invitations if you will, and everybody basically turned us down and we thought that was kind of funny. This time, we wanted to get some guests on there and we were kind of going through who would be good. We know Fat Mike, and Ken and Fat Mike play golf when we’re on the same festivals and when they come to town…they got this kind of kinship and I just kind of said, “what about getting Fat Mike on the record, wouldn’t that be cool?” and Ken’s like, “that’s an excellent idea, we’ll call him right now.” The Chris Cheney thing, we were in Australia and we did the vocals for “1953” in Australia. Y’know Chris Cheney had this studio called “Red Door Studios” in Melbourne, and he was nice enough to let us do the recording there and he was hanging around and we had to have him come and do some on the record and he was good enough to do that. Lenny is a friend of Kenny’s so Kenny asked him to do it and he said he’d do it, so that’s cool.

Now the surprise for me when I got the record and I read the press release, I looked and I did a double-take and said, “they did a song with Bruce Springsteen?”

AL BARR: (laughs)

How did that come about?

AL BARR: We met Bruce and it came to our attention a while ago, I want to say around 2006 or something, that Bruce was a fan of the band. We read in an interview that his son, Ryan, had gotten into us, so we reached out to him to see if he wanted to come to a show with his son and in 2006 when we were doing the St. Patty’s Day shows in Boston, he was supposed to come. It was funny, we got the call from the tour manager, “Bruce is in his limo and he’s on his way,” and the next phone call was “Bruce is turned around. There’s a bad snowstorm and he’s on his way back home,” and we were like, “fuck.” Then in 2007, when we released “The Meanest of Times,” we were in New York City at Roseland Ballroom for a couple dates and he came out to that show and y’know, we met him right before we went on stage. Then, he kind of returned the offer and invited us to one of his shows in Boston and our lead guitar player Jim (James Lynch) actually proposed to his now-wife on the stage and a bunch of the guys played with them. So, this kind of kinship was kind of born. When we were writing we were like, “wouldn’t it be cool if we got Bruce to be on the record? Ha, ha, ha.” Can’t hurt to ask, the worst he could say is no, so we sent an email out to him and much to our surprise it came back a “yes” that he would do it. That’s how all that came about. It was very cool.

I mean Bruce goes back, as far as American music history.

AL BARR: He’s an icon. In my mind, he’s Americana, y’know what I mean. He’s working-class and you know he’s got to put his money where his mouth is. He comes from that background. We have a lot in common with that, in terms of our values.

And that’s the thing…when I first saw it, I was like “what?” and then I thought about it and I was like, “well, yeah, it does kind of have that working-class common man theme to it.” But at the same time, Bruce Springsteen in 2011...he’s like one of our Beatles.

AL BARR: (laughs) Yeah, definitely. He’s an American icon. I mean there’s no denying it. I mean it’s a feather in our cap that we got him on the record, for sure.

It’s that time of year when you guys do your tour that winds its way to Boston for the week of St. Patty’s Day shows. You guys have been doing these for a while now. Are these shows still special for you guys, playing your hometown during that time of year?

AL BARR: Oh yeah, I think they get more special as it goes on because it’s become such an institution and every year it floors me to see that the shows sell out right away and it’s just insane. Y’know, I just wonder when the hell are people just going to get sick of this and they don’t seem to ever get sick of it.

So, after the St. Patty’s shows in Boston, you guys are heading to Europe.

AL BARR: Yeah, we’re heading over to Europe in April. Y’know, we’re going to be on the road supporting the record, I want to say straight through. Dates may not be announced yet, I don’t know where we’re going to be, but I know for the next year plus, we’re going to be on the road for sure.

AMP Magazine article online

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