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Bagpipes, baseball and Boston - it's the perfect combination for making the Irish-punk music that always gets the crowd going.
Dropkick Murphys' sound is unmistakable. Geared with rip-roaring guitars, punk lyrics and sounds from its Celtic roots, the band has created a sound to call its own without losing sight of where it came from.
Dropkick Murphys started in Boston in 1996 in the basement of a local barbershop. When it came to picking the band's name, the group looked to Boston's history for inspiration.
"It was a rehab center in the '50s and '60s," said Ken Casey, bassist and vocalist for Dropkick Murphys. "There was a guy there who ran a boxing camp, but everyone kept getting drunk before fights so he tried to find new ways to get them sober and it became more well known as a rehab center. It's kind of famous in Boston."
Band members keep their Boston roots close to their hearts in more ways than just the name and lyrics: they are die-hard Boston Red Sox fans and it shows.
"Sometimes my wife tells me that I think that I am on the Red Sox, but I have to remember that I'm not," Casey said.
Dropkick Murphys has taken part in six Red Sox games over the years by singing the national anthem. Every time Dropkick Murphys has been a part of a game the Red Sox have won.
"We are 6-0," Casey said. "I guess we're good luck."
But the band's Boston attitude doesn't deplete once it goes on tour. If anything it gets stronger.
"When we start touring, we look at it like a home team playing an away game," Casey said. "We are like 'Oh let's show Chicago how it's done!'"
Dropkick Murphys will make a stop at The Senator Theatre on Sunday.
"We used to come to California more than anywhere else, but we haven't in a while," Casey said. "We love California. It was one of the first places that we ever toured in 1996."
Dropkick Murphys will also make stops in Los Angeles and San Francisco before making its way up to Chico.
"We haven't been to Chico in a while, but it has always been a stop of ours," Casey said. "It's a good place to play and a good way to get kids that don't get to come to San Francisco or L.A. to see a show."
Dropkick Murphys has been scheduling small tours of three weeks instead of the usual five or six weeks since the band members have kids now, Casey said.
"Leaving home is always hard for us now," he said. "The best thing for me is the fact that I have a computer with a camera so I can see my wife and kids and talk to them when they are at dinner. Technology has really made touring a lot better for everyone."
Despite missing home and their families, the band members' favorite places to tour are across the world.
"Australia is one of my favorite places to tour because it is so far away. It cracks me up. It's just like, 'I'm on the other side of the world just because I'm in a band,'" Casey said. "I like Japan, too because it is just like Vegas and New York put together. It's crazy there. But sometimes small towns are so passionate about the music or they don't get to see a show very often, so those shows are always fun."
Casey said the band's goal for next year's tour would be to go to South America and meet fans there.
For this tour, Dropkick Murphys plans on playing songs off its September release, "The Meanest of Times," along with some old crowd favorites.
"We judge the reaction of the crowds when we decide what to play," Casey said. "There are over 200 songs that we play, and we only play 20 to 25 songs in a show so it is hard to please everyone."
Dropkick Murphys may not be able to please every fan and play all 200 songs in one night, but its the fans that the band thinks it owes everything to.
"We have a very wide audience in age," Casey said. "You see 17-year-old kids but you see 70-year-olds. They inspire us to do better and play faster and harder, and hopefully we inspire them to get rowdy and have a good time."
And they do. "Rowdy" is a word that is often used to describe Dropkick Murphys music and its crowd, but it doesn't bother the band.
"We just make the music, we don't tell people what to do," Casey said.
But life hasn't always been a party for Dropkick Murphys. In 2004 the band lost close friend Greg "Chicken Man" Riley in a motorcycle accident.
Since then band members have been using music as their outlet in coping with his death.
"His death directly impacted 'The Warrior's Code.' That's why it took so long to get the album out," Casey said. "I thank God for being able to write some music and get some of the anger out in the songs. Don't ever take your friends and loved ones for granted because they can be gone in an instant."
Amber Morley can be reached at amorley@theorion.com
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