On The Rocks

The Worcester Phoenix
October 26 - Nov. 2, 2000

[On The Rocks]

Louder and prouder

James Lynch and the spirit of the Dropkick Murphys

by Brian Goslow
For the past half-decade, punk rock, and indie rock in general, has stayed comfortably beneath the radar of mainstream music press and radio. Sure, Green Day and Elliott Smith somehow managed to break through, and a few hundred other acts were signed by major labels who hoped a dozen or so would stick and sell millions of records. But today, most of those bands are pretty
much back where they started, playing the showcase-club and 2000-capacity-hall circuit.
About the time Dookie hit, we started hearing stories about the Dropkick Murphys, a Boston-based band with capital-I integrity who meshed Irish folk songs with working-class punk rock. More important, they were instilling their audiences with an all-for-one spirit. Earlier this year, one of those audience members joined the band. Former Westies frontman James Lynch explains how he went from being a teenage punk rocker living in Sturbridge to traveling around the world playing guitar for a living.
"Basically, the Westies started playing in Boston, where I met the Ducky Boys," says Lynch from his cell phone in Harvard Square. "They needed a guitarist and asked me to go on tour [in Japan] with them. When I got back, they [the Dropkick Murphys] decided to add a second guitar player. The timing was good."
When Lynch got the call, the Dropkick Murphys were undergoing major line-up changes. Past and current Outlet Rick Barton was leaving; the remaining Murphys decided to add four new members in hopes of bringing their material closer to the authentic Irish sound they always wanted.
Since they were formed, in 1996, the Dropkick Murphys have released two full-length albums (The Gang's All Here and Do or Die), an EP, and 10 singles. They've earned countless frequent-flyer miles touring Europe and Australia. And they've managed to stay true to their original aim of writing and performing music that unites their audience.
"In the true spirit of punk rock, we view the band and the audience as one in the same," reads their Web page. "In other words, our stage and microphone is yours." Asked if this policy has ever backfired, Lynch says, "No, we always try to encourage it and make the crowd as much a part of [the show] as possible. I used to love doing it myself when I was a kid going to shows."
Lynch was initiated into the band last spring when they visited 40 cities with the Bouncing Souls, Dwarves, and Distillers on the Punk-o-Rama Tour. That tour's date at a club called the Rendezvous in Winnipeg ended in a riot during the Dwarves set.
"The security guys got scared," Lynch explains. "They were just young kids." After failing to convince the police to let them perform to calm the situation down, the Murphys, whose bagpipes were destroyed in the chaotic scene that followed the show's cancellation, went outside the club and played an acoustic set. "They [the police] said they would arrest us for inciting a riot if we played, but nobody was looking for trouble, except for them."
More recently, the Dropkick Murphys have been touring the US with Beerzone, Runnin' Riot, and the Vigilantes on bassist Ken Casey's Flat Records Fall Tour. It arrives in Worcester at the Palladium this Saturday.
The next Dropkick Murphys album, Sing Loud, Sing Proud, is slated to be released by Hellcat Records on February 6. "The main goal [in recording the album] was to go back to the feel of Do or Die, the mix of punk and folk," explains Lynch, who says the disc includes, "a bunch of Irish folk songs." It also features two songs recorded with that infamous Pogue, Shane MacGowan -- "Wild Rover," a traditional Irish folk song that may be included only on the vinyl version of the album, and a Murphys original to which MacGowan contributed a few verses.
"The whole experience was incredible," says Lynch. "We didn't know what to expect because we had heard so many different things about him. He wasn't easy to work with at times, but he was coherent at least."
After the Worcester show, the Dropkick Murphys pack their bags for a short tour of England, Germany, and the Netherlands to do some pre-release interviews and concerts to promote the upcoming album. It's only a precursor to 2001. "We won't be home too much next year."
And that suits Lynch just fine. "The traveling is incredible. I never thought I'd be in Japan for any reason. I'm doing what I've always wanted to do and I'm making a living from it."
THESE ARE disconcerting times for country-music fans. Even as Nashville's legendary Grand Old Opry celebrates its 75th anniversary, their beloved TNN is being transformed into a ruralized version of MTV (bring on the wrestling, book more monster trucks, show less country music).
On the bright side, locally anyway, is Joe Macey's debut CD, Lonesome Rider (BGM Nashville), which took almost half a decade to see the light of day. Macey recorded the album with producer Fred Bogart (Trout Fishing in America, Vassar Clements) in the mid-'90s at Ocean Way Studios on Nashville's Music Row. Ocean Way is housed in an 1850 Gothic Revival-style former gray-stone church and has been used by country superstars Garth Brooks, Jo Dee Messina, and Vince Gill (plus the Spice Girls and Yo-Yo Ma).
Listening to the five-song disc, you would never know Macey hadn't met his sidemen before he walked into the studio. "They basically were session musicians who came in, read the charts, and did the session. It's pretty standard for Nashville," says Macey, who says his role was to lay down the rhythm tracks and "be sure I knew my own music cold."
After the CD was recorded, Macey had to find a label to put it out. "When I was living there [in Nashville], the rumor was that no label was going to sign anyone over 25. I searched until I found a label open to older artists." Since its release, Lonesome Rider has sold more than 4000 copies. "Critics said it wasn't commercial enough, but he [Bogart] was a hippie-type producer who said we were going to keep the glitches in on purpose so it would have its own unique style."
The title track, Macey's signature song, shows that Macey definitely had the Nashville equivalent of Motown's legendary studio band backing him. "Back in the Middle" opens as a traditional Irish folk song then kicks into a rolling Southern-rock sound. "Can't Get There from Here," which bears no similarity to REM's song of the same name, is the story of a couple trying to come to terms with the fact that their relationship is damaged beyond healing.
"I really pictured two elderly people driving down the road, looking at all the street signs trying to make something out of them," says Macey. The song features some great fiddle work by Hank Singer, as does "Never Stop Believing," a part-true, part-fiction song about having a dad who disappeared at the age or three and a brother who died on the night of his senior prom. Which part is fiction? "Well, I don't have a brother," Macey replies, adding, "The song is something that touches the heart and evokes a lot of emotion at my shows."
The final song, "Carry on Blues," is one we all sing at one time or another. Sound wise, it's more Ricky Nelson than Willie Nelson. "It was a true story," Macey says. "I had a stack of bills eight inches high. It was one of those country songs with no end in sight."
While he refuses to give up his dream of finding success on the country charts, Macey, a business representative for Sovereign Bank by day, has learned to take care of business at home as well. "I'm a fantasy cowboy," he admits. "It's tough to balance. Right now, we're one of the top country bands in four states, regularly traveling 100 to 150 miles to shows. But with the job and newborn baby, it's getting tougher to do."
Macey finds optimism in the recent chart success of two New Englanders. "We've had a couple of breakthrough artists in Jo Dee Messina of Holliston and Billy Gilman from Hope Valley, Rhode Island, both who signed and had hits with Curb."
But, he also knows that most the people who were around when he began playing music are long gone. "I'm truly a survivor," he says proudly. "Most of the people I started with are dead or retired. The [country] fad is over. The true honky tonks will always be honky tonks, but the dance clubs are dying. There's not too many musicians [who play country music] available."
Four of them who are, Macey (who plays rhythm guitar), guitarist Rich St. Michael, bassist Vin Smith, and drummer Brian Jyringi, a.k.a. the Joe Macey Band, appear at the Mount Auburn Lounge this Friday and Saturday nights.

Brian Goslow can be reached at bgoslow[a]phx.com.