Dropkick Murphys
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
Mob Mentality, a split release with the Business, appeared in mid-2000, but at the same time the band was going through an extensive redesign. Their five-piece arrangement expanded into a septet, for Marc Orrell stepped in after original guitarist Rick Barton left the band to get married. James Lynch (guitar), Spicy McHaggis (bagpipes), and Ryan Foltz (mandolin) were also added to the lineup to enhance the bands growling sound. Frederiksen, who produced the bands first two albums, left the Dropkicks to venture out on their own for their third studio effort, Sing Loud, Sing Proud. Bassist Ken Casey took over, and the album, which featured collaborations with ex-Pogue Shane MacGowan and Cock Sparrers Colin McFaull, was issued in early 2001.
Their Irish pride shone through the next year, when Live on St. Patricks Day from Boston, MA was released in the summer. Recorded at the biggest Irish-American celebration of the year in a town known for its widespread Irish heritage, the set was a blistering example of their intense and lively gigs. As the band prepped for the annual ~Vans Warped Tour in summer 2003, they released Blackout in June; the album featured new bagpipe player Scruffy Wallace and accordionist Tim Brennan (who further took over mandolin and tin whistle after Foltz left following some touring). The Murphys reworked the Boston Red Sox anthem Tessie on their mid-2004 EP Tessie, which subsequently became the theme song to the Soxs World Series run that year. Warriors Code followed in 2005, and one of its songs, Im Shipping Up to Boston, was later used in the 2006 Martin Scorsese film #The Departed.
