The Dropkick Murphys

I was teaching the Boston Police Gaelic Column Pipe Band in 1996 when one of my students, Sean Scannel, was asked by Ken Casey from the Dropkicks to play the pipes on a demo record they were producing.  The Dropkicks were just getting going at this stage and wanted to add the pipes into their repertoire.  Sean was relatively new to the pipes and he asked me to meet Ken and give him some ideas.  We met outside Fenway Park and he  took me to their studio and introduced me to the band.  We tried out a few different ideas that would fit into what they wanted and shortly after that, “Cadence to Arms” (see youtube clip) was released and used as their intro to their shows.  The first encounter was memorable as no money exchanged hands but with a  commitment from Ken that if the band got some momentum, he’d remember me.

He called a couple of months later asking me to work with them on Barroom Hero and play with them in the Middle East Club in Cambridge MA.  First time I had ever played  punk rock gig and certainly wasn’t the last.  7 years later; several tracks and gigs in Boston, Canada, Las Vegas I moved back to Ireland with great memories from a superb rock band.

A selection of Dropkick Murphys tracks on which I played:

Song: Bar Room Hero Album: Do Or Die

Song: Workers Song Album: Blackout

Song: For Boston Album: Sing Loud, Sing Proud

Song: Fields of Athenry Album: Blackout