Chat with Ken Casey from the Dropkick Murphys

wdkscott: Hey Ken, keep up the great work! DKM has such a unique blend and I love the pipes. It's been a great 10 years! Where do you see the band and the music in the next 10 years?
Ken_Casey: That's a great question. I don't think we know, or anybody knows. I think we're tenatively planning on our next record being an acoustic album of new material, just because it's something people have been asking for for a while. And it's also gives us an opportunity to do something our grandparents can finally listen to. But I don't think that's necessarily a direction we'll go in. That's all the acoustic side of the band is something we've done from the start. So this shouldn't scare the punk kids into thinking we're going to get all old right away.

tuke: Can you talk a little bit about you've seen the music scene in the city of Boston evolve since you guys started playing?
Ken_Casey: When we started in 1996, we were very fortunate in that it was right at the peak of a huge all ages punk scene that was exploding at the time. We obviously had something to do with cause we booked a lot of the shows, and brought in a lot of the bands from out of town, but bands like the unseen, toxic narcotic and loads of other kids were also booking shows. But because bands from other cities wanted to play boston, that's what gave us the ability to get out of boston and play, cause every band in boston owed us a favor for when we hooked them up. That's what enabled us to go and play around the country.
Ken_Casey: But since then it's been funny. Since the rat closed -- which really knocked the scene for a loop. Then Lansdowne finally came around and let the punk shows happened. The funniest part is how the scene has changed -- it's a bit of an older scene. When we first started playing a 21+ show no one would be there. Now they're tons of shows at places like the abbey, and the beachcomber down in quincy -- that cracks me up. It's been funny to watch the scene grow up.

Sully: Ken, how come you guys have never had Mike and Street Dogs open for DKM ? That would be an amazing show!
Ken_Casey: It's something we've talked about, we've crossed paths. But Mike lives in LA now, and we're in two touring bands -- it's like two ships passing in the night. I'd venture to say that's something you'll see in the future.

keltoi: has the band ever thought of covering "garageland" by the clash.....I think it would be a perfect song for the band...
Ken_Casey: We feel a little "Clashed" out. We've done a lot of Clash covers. As much as we love the Clash, and quite often do their stuff at sound check... that's probably your best bet: catching us doing "garageland" at sound check.

david_warhol: Kenny -- do you ever go to hardcore shows anymore?
Ken_Casey: To be totally honest, I feel like that's the one negative impact the band has had on me -- being away so much, coupled with the fact that I was an idiot and didn't wear earplugs -- I don't get to go to shows nearly as much. I have two young children. Occassionally... I'll still sneak out.

Shawno: Are you guys plannning on any shows after the bruins games this year i know you usually do it but any dates? Also would there be any plans to perform after a sox game next year
Ken_Casey: The bruins haven't inquired about this year. We're in a wait and see situation. I actually gave up my season tickets -- I like all the changes that have happened, but I feel like they traded away everyone. I want to sit back and watch from a fan's perspective. As far as the band goes: we probably won't, cause we did it last year. We try to make that stuff special. You do it too much... and it becomes, oh, dropkick murphys at the bruins again
Ken_Casey: By the way, we're still undefeated at any sports game we've ever played...
Ken_Casey: As far as the sox, anything after 2004 would have seemed anti-climactic. If they needed us in a pinch, we wouldn't say no.

Joe: what other songs have you thought of covering? i think the band does kick ass versions of "fortunate son," "it's a long way to the top," etc...
Ken_Casey: There are so many songs we've enjoyed covering. Great question. We've had a wide range of covers -- when we did the rod stewart cover, that might have been pushing the envelope in the classic rock direction. we had a fifteen year old kid say he loved that song but that was the worst thing he'd ever heard. I guess we'd be open -- we always like to hear what people would like to hear us cover.

dotrat: any plans to come up to Portland (ME) and what do you think of the scene up there?
Ken_Casey: We just played Orono cause we couldn't find a venue in Portland. That old theater we played last time got shut down. The city's great but you gotta find us somewhere to play.

keltoi: my 2 yo daughter loves "rocky road to dublin" , can kids be too young for punk?
Ken_Casey: Definitely not. I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old, and they love it. MAybe because the beat is so much faster than what they're accoustumed to hearing. So many friends with kids say their kids love it. I'd love to put out a record for kids. We'd probably get cruicified. But maybe after no one wants to hear us, we'll do that. Or we'll do it under a fake name...

rrrrrr: Hey Ken, what do you think about 1000 sq. foot spaces in South Boston selling for $399.000? Who is really buying these things? Do you think the unaffordability of Boston hurts the music scene?
Ken_Casey: I'd never thought about how that relates to the music scene. I guess it would in the sense that most musicians are typically broke. It could be a spot where people don't want to move to start their music careers. Although that always annoyed me because they called people "boston musicians" -- when they were just people who moved here to play. The price of housing? Yeah, it's ridiculous. But it looks like there's a trend of things coming back to normal.

WDKS: what is your favorite size crowd to play for? i've seen you guys in places like CBGB and Fenway and the vibes are very different. what do you think?
Ken_Casey: Well those two examples are obviously the biggest gap you can get. The general question we get is do you prefer the punk shows in a club or festival shows -- and we prefer the club shows. I'd be lying if I said the big festivals aren't a thrill... but that's not really what we're about. I like the 2 to 3 thousand venues that have that small club feel to it.

Shifty: Why the high prices for rock shows?
Ken_Casey: That depends which bands we're talking about. It certainly doesn't need to be hundreds of dollars a seat. But on our behalf it's been amazing to watch how things escalate. When you go to the small theaters and larger venues, the prices from the rentals to the equipment just triples. So we'll say 25 dollars a ticket -- and know how expensive it is -- but 25 dollars only allows us to break even. There's some inflation going on. But when these bands are raising the prices themselves on the seats -- that's what the scalpers charge. It shouldn't be what the bands charge.

brownhole: Ever recall playing somewhere hotter then this past summer at the Hampton Beach Casino? Had to be over 100 in there.
Ken_Casey: We've definitely played places hotter. But not that big and that hot. I'd like to suggest to the casino that they invest in some air conditioning.

heydiddle: Hey Ken. Have you ever thought about doing your own record label?
Ken_Casey: I actually did run my own label when we started calling Flat Records -- I did a lot of local stuff, then stuff from overseas. It got difficult when we were on the road, though. It was great for what it started out to be. But you need to have 100 percent committment to these bands. So i stopped doing the label. But we have talked about starting our own label to release our own albums.

Joe: does playing a million shows in a row in boston around st. patty's day ever get old? how do you keep up your energy throughout all of the shows?
Ken_Casey: For us it definitely becomes a groundhog day effect. We have to fight hard to remember that it's a different 2000 kids in the room -- having to play those multiple nights is draining. It's definitely a grind to keep the energy up. It's also one of the most exciting nights of the year to play in your hometown. Both awesome and grueling. The good outweighs the bad. We defintiely want to try this year to move it into a larger venue. We'd ideally like to do one or two agannis areas and one or two avalons.

artistspin: Is the rumor true that next year saint patty day shows are being moved to the Lowell arena?
Ken_Casey: Nope. We decided it was too far out of the city. If the city of boston won't cooperate with doing a larger scale, all-ages show, the farthest we'd go is quincy.

Shawno: Will you guys be making any public appearences any time soon? Not for shows really that be sweet but just for autographs and meet and greet?
Ken_Casey: Nothing planned -- that's always been awkward for us cause we feel we're not that important. Catch me at the Bruins games. Nothing technically planned -- but hey, we're all around the city when we're home. Keep an eye out.
Ken_Casey: Thanks everyone for signing on for this chat. It's been nice to talk to you. I've got to go do soundcheck for the Canadian tour. We appreciate all your support.