Dropkick Murphys discuss 'Rock Against Bush' with AP.
From Dropkick Murphys own website:
Read it here, before it hits the news stands. A new DKM interview with AP on the "Rock Against Bush" compilation >>
AP Interview with the DKM
Is there a specific moment or story behind the song "We Got The Power"?
"We Got The Power" is about the 1919 Boston Police strike and the people that lost their jobs as a result of it.
What are some political causes the DKMs as a whole supports?
For the most part we have always been a band that has kept our beliefs pretty low key because we feel too many bands associate or support a political cause as a means to further their career by generating publicity in relation to these causes. In most cases we have preferred to take a different path for example doing individual work away from the spotlight of the band or if the involvement is directly related to the band we try to let the lyrics from our songs do the speaking for us because the world doesn't really need another high school dropout with a microphone holding political debates. However the most notable exceptions to that rule would be our strong relationship with the AFL-CIO, we have a good history of working together with them and we have a lot of respect for the people there especially Joe Ueline and President John Sweeny. We have also done several tours in support of anti-racist causes.
What inspired the DKMs to join the Rock Against Bush compilation?
We want people to know that you don't need to be super liberal or anti-American to vote against the government that is in office. I would like to make it very clear we chose to be on this compilation simply because we're all Democrats and we would like to see our guy in office. We consider ourselves to all be patriotic, we love this country and we support our troops however that doesn't mean we have to agree with all the decisions that a guy who doesn't even fight comes up with.
Coming from Mass., what kind of insight do you have on John Kerry's political career in your home state?
Well I'm no political analyst, as a kid that came from a strong pro-union family I was told to just shut up and vote Democrat however I do have a lot of respect for Kerry's ideas and his background. I think his biggest drawback is that he comes off as a bit robotic, he needs to loosen up and let people see more of his personal side.
Do the DKMs support Kerry's election campaign?
Yes, we do support Kerry as the Democratic's candidate but it's hard for that to be a cut and dried answer as I don't think I would ever find myself agreeing with everything a politician had to say.
Outside of performing live, are there any other things the DKMs are doing to support the Rock Against Bush comp?
No, were we supposed to?
Are there any other politically-minded compilations or any more politically-minded songs we should expect from you guys in the near future?
I am sure there will be a lot more politically minded songs but probably not that many more compilations. As I said earlier this is a pretty rare thing for us.
You guys recently resurrected a century-old Boston Red Sox fight song called "Tessie." What was the inspiration and reasoning behind re-writing the song?
Free Red Sox tickets!!
Seriously though it's an honor to be involved in anything to do with the Red Sox, we've been fans since we were little kids. We even got to perform the National Anthem and "Tessie" on the field at Fenway Park before a Red Sox/Yankees game (especially a game that had a bench clearing brawl and a last inning rally for a Red Sox victory!).
What was the biggest challenge in maintaining the original integrity of "Tessie"?
What integrity? The song was horrible, it was a hundred years old. We basically rewrote the whole song with just a hint of the original melody. We were more intrigued by the story behind the song (in the early 1900's rabid, drunken Red Sox fans would relentlessly sing "Tessie" to annoy the opposing team. The fans stopped singing "Tessie" after 1918 and the Red Sox have not won a World Series since).
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