Irish bands The Scratch and The Mary Wallopers will both feature on Dropkick Murphys' new album "For The People," which is set to be released on July 4.
The Scratch, a Dublin-based Irish folk-metal quartet that has spent the better part of three years opening for Dropkick Murphys on tour, features two songs on the 13th studio album from the Boston Celtic punk band.
They bring their Celtic howlings to the bridge of “Longshot," and also sing in Irish as Dropkicks dip into the traditional song “Mo Ghile Mear” on the bridge of “One Last Goodbye ‘Tribute To Shane.'"
The song - which features a powerful refrain (“In a million empty bottles we cried / down goes the hero / one last goodbye”) and shout-outs to Shane’s cohorts in the afterlife - is a glorious tribute that mines the joy out of the solemnity of death.
It's also an acknowledgment of how MacGowan firmly put Dropkick Murphys on the road that has taken them all over the world.
The song also features the line “‘Piss off, you wanker,’ you signed on my soul,” which is how MacGowan autographed DKM's frontman Ken Casey’s copy of the “Dark Streets Of London” single upon meeting him for the first time in 1998.
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Also featured on the new album is the traditional Irish folk squad The Mary Wallopers, who are based in Dundalk, Co Louth.
Currently blowing up across Ireland and the UK, the band made time to duck into a recording studio while on tour to put the boot into “Bury The Bones,” adding the symbiotic voices of protest from Ireland.
Along with "Fiending For The Lies," "Bury the Bones" addresses the USA’s dysfunctional climate and the social media disinformation that fuels much of the division.
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Speaking ahead of the release of the new album, frontman Ken Casey said: “Many of these songs are about the issues that do harm to regular people.
"'For The People' is about…life.
“But life can be cruel, and I don’t want to side with the people that vote for cruelty, that vote against free school lunches for kids, and vote against workers’ rights, and enable corporate greed in the growing wealth divide.
"So if the point is to have a heart and help people, where do those characteristics exist with those that side with the billionaires and the corporations over the worker and the child?”
He added: “We've always had the same message and haven’t been afraid to speak out about what’s important to us. But for me now, I think about my kids’ future, and the next generation.
"That could be anything from speaking out against injustices, or just simply making sure you take the time to tell the people close to you how important they are to you.”
"For The People" will be released digitally on July 4 via the band’s Dummy Luck Music / Play It Again Sam, with the LP and CD release featuring five bonus tracks out October 10.
The album's first single is "Who'll Stand With Us?" which is described as "a call for unity, a return to sanity, and a look at what – and who - is really dividing us."
The video for "Who'll Stand With Us?" was released on Tuesday as DKM announced their new album:
Dropkick Murphys are: Ken Casey (vocals), Tim Brennan (guitars, tin whistle, accordion, piano, vocals), Jeff DaRosa (guitars, banjo, mandolin, vocals), Matt Kelly (drums, percussion, vocals), James Lynch (guitars, vocals), Kevin Rheault (bass), and Campbell Webster (bagpipes and Uilleann pipes).
The song listing for For The People is as follows:
- Who’ll Stand With Us?
- Longshot (feat. The Scratch)
- The Big Man
- Chesterfields And Aftershave
- Bury The Bones (feat. The Mary Wallopers)
- Kids Games
- Sooner Kill ‘Em First
- Fiending For The Lies
- Streetlights
- School Days Over (feat. Billy Bragg)
- The Vultures Circle High (feat. Al Barr)
- One Last Goodbye “Tribute To Shane” (feat. The Scratch)
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