‘This is what Dropkick Murphys has been about from the very start': Ken Casey talks punk rock, politics, and new album

Boston Globe

02-07-2025

According to a press release, the record is aimed 'against the injustices happening in the United States.' Casey noted that while 'some of the songs were written late last summer,' well before the election, several were written after he 'knew we were headed this way,' with 'three or four songs directly pointed at current situations.'
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
Sign Up
The Dropkick Murphys drop their new album, "For The People," on Friday.
@Chezphoto / Riley Vecchione
'I never even imagined we'd already be where we are at in terms of the cruelty and mismanagement, in my opinion, of our country,' said Casey, who described the new album as tackling issues that are both timely and timeless. 'It's the same old story of divide and conquer and get regular people divided and fighting amongst themselves over the same old tropes of immigrants, sexual identity.'
Advertisement
'We're fighting amongst each other while the rich and the powerful are stealing everything out the back door,' he added. 'And I think that's obviously gone on forever in the world. It's just so blatant right now, and America is so divided.'
Fearing what he calls 'a massive swing back towards authoritarianism,' Casey believes it's 'the most serious moment that has arisen since a band that speaks out politically has been around.'
The first single from the new album, 'Who'll Stand With Us?,' released last month with a powerful music video, featuring visuals of missing persons posters and people getting kidnapped from their workplaces. It's taken on a new meaning with the rise of ICE raids across the country, although Casey revealed that the original intention of the music video was to serve as a metaphor for issues like veterans and the elderly losing benefits.
'The snatching of people was really supposed to be kind of symbolic in the sense they're disappearing … they might be gone, meaning that they're faceless to the government,' said Casey. 'And then here you are, fast forward a few months, and it's like, no, people are literally getting snatched off the street.'
'The images are right there in front of our face, yet the world has gotten to a place where even what you see with your own two eyes is not enough to kind of answer any doubts or questions,' he added. 'I thought the plan was to get rid of the worst criminals that were here hurting people. And now we're taking pregnant women and little old ladies off the street.'
Advertisement
In addition to the heavier subject matter at hand, 'For The People' has songs 'written in better times' too that the band is excited for fans to hear, Casey noted. The new album also features a cameo from longtime Dropkick Murphys singer Al Barr, who has been away from the band for the past few years while taking time off for family matters. He lends his vocals to the track 'The Vultures Circle High.'
'It was awesome to be sharing a microphone again and spend some time together,' said Casey. 'That song definitely calls for the trade off on the vocals like a lot of our songs, where the verses are just so rapid fire they connect well into each other.'
The record includes a tribute to late Pogues frontman
'The Pogues really drew on that combination of the punk crowd, and just a regular townie crowd that grew up with Irish roots,' said Casey.
The Bay State musician later got to work with MacGowan, who appeared on the track 'Good Rats' from Dropkick Murphys's 2001 album 'Sing Loud, Sing Proud!' Casey admitted that getting the chance to tour with the Pogues overseas also had 'a massive impact' on his life.
'As someone who never really left the 128 area before the band, all of a sudden, I've seen the world, and the Pogues were definitely a huge motivation for starting the band,' said Casey.
Advertisement
Ken Casey and Dropkick Murphys energized demonstrators during an anti-Trump/Musk rally at City Hall Plaza in Boston on April 5.
Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
Dropkick Murphys are set to headline the
But before the band hits the road, Dropkick Murphys will play a free album release show on July 12 beginning at 4 p.m. on Hancock Street in Quincy Center at the Common. The group first formed in Quincy nearly three decades ago, and the show also coincides with the city's Quincy400 festivities.
'Our very first practice space was only a half a mile, three-quarters of a mile, from where the stage will sit,' said Casey, explaining that the band used to jam 'in the basement of a little tiny barbershop.'
'We're coming up on 30 years of the band, and 30 years later to be doing a free show outside and shutting down the street that we started the band on, it's [a] pretty wild vibe,' he added.
Matt Juul can be reached at