Sporting a black rose on the cover, symbolising change, renewal, rebirth, courage, confidence and power, For The People, their thirteenth studio album finds the Massachusetts Celtic punk in furious and fiery protest form while still finding room for some personal nostalgia, kicking off with guitars ringing and drums thundering on ‘Who’ll Stand With Us?’, a rallying call to arms against the repression and exploitation of the working man “for another rich man’s gain/In the endless quest for wealth and power …the bosses and bankers/Who never gave their share/Of any blood/Of any sweat/Of any tears”.
The first of two to feature Dublin folk-metal quartet The Scratch, the Irish traditional jig feel of ‘Longshot’ opens with adrenaline spraying mandolin and more thumping drums as it takes a similar lyrical stance in the lines contrasting the pessimism of “people like you and I/We’re never meant to achieve our dreams/We’re conditioned to settle for something/Something much less than it seems/So be careful what you wish for/‘Cause some dreams aren’t meant to come true/Or the dreams you thought you wanted and needed/Are custom fit for a fool” with the more upbeat “sometimes fate’s a funny gal/So keep your eyes peeled for the signs/Keep the faith and keep on dreaming/‘Cause it might just be your time”.
One of four tributes, roaring out of the mosh pit ‘The Big Man’ is an ode to Fletcher Dragge, guitarist with California punks Pennywise (“he’s fair, but he don’t fuck around/He’ll set you straight, he won’t let you down”), clearly a colourful character to go by Ken Casey singing “I knew I liked The Big Man/When he kidnapped Adam Corolla/ And I knew I liked The Big Man when he ripped the chains off Kid Rock/And I knew I liked The Big Man when he shot me with a BB In front of 15,000 people/ In a Warped Tour parking lot”, though the call to “raise your Pringles cans up high” seems an unlikely toast by a band more often fuelled by more liquid refreshment.
The second, the relatively more musically restrained and outlaw country, ‘Chesterfields And Aftershave’ is Casey’s touching personal homage to the grandfather who raised him (“I’d say I’ve come a long way since the days you left this world/When I descended into madness and the tragedy unfurled …it made me question everything I’ve ever known” but “If you could come back now/ If you were out there in the crowd/ You’d know that I turned out okay/And I hope I’d make you proud “).
The Mary Wallopers join them for the accordion swaying salty shanty flavours of the snarlingly sung ‘Bury The Bones’, another protest number about taking a stand against the man (“It’s time to unite/It’s time to be true to a cause/It’s time to do what’s right/And rip the power back from their claws/What happens to the weak and the weary?/Who’ll stand with the marginalized?/The strong must help those in need/When the crooks just bully and lie”), climaxing with the clarion cry of “Resist (resist)/And never comply/Protest and organize/The people must have the power/If the world is meant to survive”.
Surviving the hard knocks life is the thrust of the barrage of guitars and drums driving ‘Kids Games’ with its memories of a wild youth (“Yeah, we got roughed up/We got locked up/We never grew up/We never had enough/We didn’t learn/We watched it all burn/Down in flames/Playin’ silly kids’ games/Nickel bags and BMX bikes/Selling fake grass on long summer nights/ It was simple shit, it was a different time”) but here with an uncharacteristic sense of hopelessness (“here I am and I’ve lost my mind/No school, no sports, no job, no life/My own damn mother couldn’t stand my sight/If you wanna make it back, you gotta put up a fight/But back from what?/I was never quite right”).
There’s another foray into traditional Irish territory with ‘Sooner Kill ‘Em First’, a song that serves as a religious imagery counterpoint to the previous track’s self-loathing (“In that cold and lonely cell In that dark and dingy hole I took a look deep down inside/My evil, rotten soul/If someone did to me…what I let me do to me I’d sooner I’d sooner kill ‘em first”) with the reaching out of a redemptive hand (“one day a fella came/He said “I’m here to spread the word”/I said “the word of what?” … He was in the business of saving/Helpless, hopeless, broken souls…he comes to help the hopeless/And I think it’s time you choose”).
The ugliness of today’s America and media disinformation comes under the spotlight on the urgent punk and vocally howling ‘Fiending For The Lies’ (“you don’t work, you pick fights/Your principles change overnight/Ya gave more power to the powerful/And now we’re livin’ in a livin’ hell…We’re drowning in a wave of misinformation/Designed to divide, man, we gotta pay attention/They got blinders on our eyes/They’re distortin’ our minds/No one seems to recognize/We’re livin’ in a world of lies, lies, lies”).
Casey’s father died when his son was just eight (“A phone drops/And a face falls/A heart breaks/And time stalls/A grandma wraps her arms around a little boy”) and, with ‘Streetlights’, he’s finally written a song about how it affected him. It’s too rowdy and propulsive to be called a ballad but there’s now escaping the hurt and emotion that flood from lines like “I wanna stay at your house tonight/I don’t ever wanna go home/That’s where the nightmares happen/And I feel so all alone/So say your prayers and make your peace/It’s time to buckle up/Will ya share with me some courage?/Will ya share with me some love?”) and the crushing sense of despair in “No church, no bar, and no museum/Will ever make this right/As we kneel before the statue/Virgin Mary lift me up/We’ll say your name 10 times/But it just won’t be enough”.
The final three numbers all feature special guests, first up, Uillean pipes sounding and guitars chugging, as Billy Bragg joins them for an urgent cover of Ewan MacColl’s ‘School Days Over’. Then, though on an extended leave of absence to be with his family, bandmate Al Barr lends his growl to the traditional shaded fatalistic ‘The Vultures Circle High’ with its rattling military drums and lyrics that touch on themes of regret (“I sold my soul for pennies and gave blood for quarters/ I built it to an empire and locked all the borders/ I’ve killed for faith and family, but never said I loved you”), mortality (“lay me down, down six foot deep in peace and quiet, I’ll finally sleep/It’s time for me to close these eyes/And leave behind this world of lies”) and trepidation (“I’ve dotted all my i’s/Crossed all my t’s, and severed all my ties/The evidence is burned, the documents are shred …Still my enemies are many and the vultures circle high/May the family all be spared as I shut my eyes to die/When the lion finally rests the pride will conspire”) but with defiance still blazing (“We were taught by the worst, the rules of the game/Nice guys are losers …someone always comes in last And it better not be you/So fight dirty, fight often …don’t make excuses, to fail is a sin”)
For The People ends with the final tribute, The Scratch singing in Gaelic on the traditional ‘Mo Ghile Mear’ that forms the bridge of ‘One Last Goodbye’, a suitably styled parting glass (or several) raised to Casey’s formative influence (“You brought my worlds together, shaped my future with your sound/Gave meaning to the mayhem when I was beaten to the ground”) and friend The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan (“ be easy and free and have one for me/With Behan, Drew and Kelly/And we won’t meet a man like you no more/ But the send off sure was priceless/In a million empty bottles we cried/Down goes the hero/One last goodbye”). On a trivia note, the line “Piss off, you wanker” was how MacGowan signed Casey’s copy of “Dark Streets Of London” when they first met in 1998.
Going full throttle, they’re not musically subtle and perhaps not as populist anthemic as their UK counterparts Merry Hell, but unlike the Democrats 2018 election campaign, For The People is much more than a slogan.
Note: For The People is released digitally with CD and vinyl following in October featuring five bonus tracks
Mike Davies
Artists’ website: www.dropkickmurphys.com
‘Who’ll Stand With Us?’ – official video:
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