Dropkick Murphys: 'Blood,' a Boston Blowout & Barfing in Taxi Cabs

On the first track of their new album Signed and Sealed in Blood, the gentlemen in Dropkick Murphys claim that "the boys are back and they're looking for trouble."

Sitting down with multi-instrumentalists Tim Brennan and Jeff DaRosa in the lower level of New York City's Webster Hall, we learned that the Irish punk band isn't really looking for trouble -- it just manages to find them.

"Two nights ago I called my wife at 2 in the morning, blackout drunk," DaRosa says with a shrug. "Don't remember that, and she's pretty pissed at me. I was just like 'bleb, bleh, bleb.'"

"I think that's the biggest trouble: We've been on the road so long that our wives hate us," Brennan agrees.

Then there was an incident in Germany where one of the Boston band's entourage had a run-in with a taxi driver.

"Long story short, one of our guys threw up in a cab and then the driver was basically trying to extort them and then instead of paying they all just ran," Brennan says.

"They smashed his phone and then ran," adds DaRosa.

"Smashed his phone in the pile of puke and then ran," Brennan clarifies. "The cops came the next day because they had seen the hotel security footage of the guys getting back at 2 in the morning and high-fiving because they got out of it. Every once in a while you run into something but we're all well-behaved guys at this point."

Going on 17 years and eight albums together, Dropkick Murphys are riding as strong as ever. Their usual St. Patrick's Day blowout has expanded from a handful of shows at Boston's House of Blues to a headlining stint at the hallowed Boston Garden, where they promise to bring in guests like Black 47 and the Mahones, and maybe even some pyrotechnics.

"The Boston Garden is so huge and we have such a low opinion of ourselves that we feel like we need to stack the bill and make it some sort of St. Patrick's Day Irish festival," says Brennan. "It's a chance for us to get together with a lot of the bands that have inspired us over the years, friends of ours that are doing similar stuff in modernizing Irish music for people. I imagine there will be a large Boston Irish contingent."
It doesn't take a psychic to know that there will be thousands of screaming, Irish fans at the Garden -- the Murphys' fan base is one of the most passionate in rock 'n' roll. To wit: Hundreds of Dropkick loyalists got the Signed and Sealed album cover tattooed on their bodies at the band's urging, and many were featured in the video for the single "Rose Tattoo."

"The album work is pretty intricate so it's not something you can get small," Brennan says. "We were getting these submissions of these dudes with their entire back done and chest pieces and stuff, so it's pretty crazy how dedicated they are."

Out of the Murphys crew, Brennan and DaRosa are the tattoo outliers: Neither of them sport any ink, and aren't likely to start now. "Both of us have just turned 30 and I think it's a little late to get your first tattoo," Brennan says. "Yeah, now I know how stupid they are," DaRosa adds jokingly.

And while they're not willing to get tatted up, DaRosa and Brennan don't mind getting down and dirty with their fans. A staple of Dropkicks shows is fans getting on stage en masse, crowding the band during late-set sing-alongs. Naturally, things sometimes get a little out of hand.

"I've been kissed, my butt touched, they steal stuff," DaRosa says of his weirdest experiences.

"There have been times when we've been playing and you'll literally watch kids unscrewing [drummer] Matt Kelly's cymbals and he's hitting them with his sticks," Brennan says while both laugh. "There was one night and I was facing my amp and playing and I was looking over at my tech who was guarding the drum kit. At one point, he was facing the drum kit and pushing everyone back with his back, and a surge of kids came forward. When he pushed back this kid threw up all over him, and it just went all down the front of him and all down his arms. So god only knows what's going to happen up there, but we ask for it. We invite them."

"It's like a Gallagher show," DaRosa offers. "You gotta wear a smock.

With that kind of rabid support, as risky as it may be, the Murphys have no end in sight, even as they get older. "When the band started, Ken [Casey, the bassist and founder] certainly didn't think we would make it this far," Brennan says. "We're going to keep on playing Dropkick Murphys songs until people stop coming to the shows and buying the records. We'll keep going as long as our bodies will let us -- or as long as our fans will let us."

Signed and Sealed in Blood is out now via Born & Bred Records/Warner Independent.