Dropkick Murphys
The Gang’s All Here (Hellcat)
An interview with singer Al Barr
by Scott Hefflon
live photos by Jay Hale
How did you join Dropkick Murphys, and how did you know them?
I’ve known the band since their inception. They started playing shows and I was in the music scene myself. My old band, The Bruisers, played various shows with them. My old band had been going for ten years, and I’ve been in Dropkick Murphys for about a year. I’d just come back from our third European tour with The Bruisers, and I was feeling like I wasn’t really into it anymore. I didn’t know what else I should be doing, but I knew that I didn’t want to keep doing the same thing. I was the only original member left after 17 line-up changes, and I just didn’t feel like I was where I wanted to be. I heard Mike (McColgan) left the Dropkicks. I called Ken (Casey, bassist), who I’d known for some time, because he was sick, and he told me yeah, he was sick, but the reason the band wasn’t on tour was cuz their singer had quit. I didn’t think of myself as their next singer because my voice is so drastically different from Mike’s.
You’ve been doing this for so long, and yet the Dropkicks just took off, any weird feelings?
You can’t ignore the right place at the right time factor, but their tenacity has a lot to do with it. In the last year with the Dropkicks, I’ve played well over 150 shows with them. So I can see how they got the word out there. They hit as many places as they can, and just when you think they might’ve forgotten you, they go back and hit them again.
This is kinda what you always wanted with your own band.
To me, success is having people come to your shows that know the words to all the songs.
But this is more touring than you’ve ever done.
Definitely.
You also come from a background of touring, and you, like the rest of the band, have to leave a family behind when you go out.
I don’t have any children yet, but I’m married. Rick has three kids, one of which is 17. He’s been doing this longer than anyone else. He was in The Outlets, and his first band was back in ’79. My first band was in ’83, but I don’t date back to the ’70s. So yeah, we all make a sacrifice, but I think it’s our better halves who are making a real sacrifice, supporting us while we go out and do this. That’s key because I don’t know where I’d be without my wife’s support.
Tell me about the change for you from your last band to this one.
Since I’ve been in the Dropkicks, I see reviews outside of the punk rock world, and lots of them call my vocals growling or whatever. And it’s funny because if you listen to anything I’ve done prior to this, that’s growling. I’ve been singing since I was 14, but when I got into the whole punk rock thing, my style changed. I also had a cerebral hemorrhage when I was 19, and after brain surgery, my voice was a lot deeper. So the last ten years with The Bruisers, I had what I call the “Tom Waits of hardcore” voice – growly, gravely, yet melodic at times. And since I joined the Dropkicks, I’m singing a lot more than I ever have.
The word “hardcore” is bound to come up, but it’s not like you’re barking a single note. I think it’s more like Chad from ALL – he sings, and he’s got a really good range, but he happens to have a rough, gravely voice.
That guy can really sing.
What about the Dropkicks’ music? It’s seems to’ve gotten heavier, even without having your gruffer vocals.
Yeah, it’s gotten heavier, but I think a lot of that’s the order of the tracks. It’s still very similar to what they did before, but the songwriting has certainly matured, and I just have a harder voice than Mike.
These songs were all written before you joined, right?
Yeah, they just needed someone to sing the songs.
Did you have to adapt the songs to record them? And by now, after playing them live so many times, are they your songs?
Oh yeah, for sure. In order for me, as a singer and a performer, to sing a song and put my heart and soul into it, I really have to get into the character of the song.
It helps to hang out with the guys who wrote the songs daily, so you really know where they’re coming from.
Exactly. A friend of ours came to a show and said someone 23 or 24 probably couldn’t sing a lot of these songs, because they hadn’t been through some of the things. Being 31, not that that’s really that old, but I’ve been through a lot of the same things as these guys.
Are you Irish?
No, I’m certainly not. I’m Scottish/German.
Does that cause problems?
Initially, some people had a problem with it, but I never claim to be or pretend that I’m Irish, and more importantly, we’re an American punk band. Our influences outside of rock’n’roll come from what we grew up listening to.
The use of bagpipes and the cover of “Amazing Grace” I find interesting because I’m Scottish, hence the name, and my Grandfather used to play bagpipe records, and “Amazing Grace” brings up very strong Scottish memories for me.
A lot of people say, “Close enough.” But honestly, none of this really mattered to me until we played Dublin. In every review, in every interview, it’s all Irish, Irish, Irish, but we’re an American band. When we play Europe, a lot of people attack us saying we don’t know anything about Irish politics and Irish lifestyle. But we’re not singing about that, and we’re not claiming any of that, it’s the heritage of this American band that’s important. When we played Dublin and faced the real deal, they embraced us and said we set their hearts on fire. THAT was the biggest compliment we could get, so others can say what they will.
Are you sad that you had to kill your band to join the Dropkicks?
If I hadn’t joined the Dropkick Murphys, I probably wouldn’t have broken up The Bruisers right away, but it was something I was going to do. I was the one that always pushed the band, and while the last line-up of the band, I have to say, was the most solid, we didn’t know what else it was going to take. I was going to get a “normal” job. I was 30 at the time, and while it wasn’t really a mid-life crisis, I realized I had a high school diploma, no real marketable skills, what the hell am I really doing here? I was going on tours, coming home with no money, and can I really keep doing this? I’d brought the band to the ten year mark, and that was a goal for me. So joining this band is like the icing on the cake for me.
