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). 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. Patrick's Day from Boston, MA was released in the summer. Their Irish pride shone through the next year, when Live on St. For their third studio effort, 2001's Sing Loud, Sing Proud, bassist Ken Casey took over production duties, and the album featured collaborations with ex- Pogue Shane MacGowan and Cock Sparrer's Colin McFaull. James Lynch joined as guitarist, with bagpiper Spicy McHaggis and mandolinist Ryan Foltz also coming aboard to enhance the band's increasingly Celtic-driven sound. Their five-piece arrangement expanded into a septet, as Marc Orrell stepped in after original guitarist Rick Barton left the band to get married. Mob Mentality, a split release with the Business, appeared in mid-2000, at the same time the band was going through an extensive redesign. McColgan exited the group soon after (he later went on to form the like-minded Street Dogs) and was replaced by vocalist Al Barr for the follow-up, 1999's The Gang's All Here.
After a series of EPs, including Fire & Brimstone, Tattoos & Scally Caps, and Boys on the Docks, the Murphys signed to Hellcat Records to issue their 1998 full-length Do or Die, produced by Rancid's Lars Frederiksen. Twenty-five years into their career the Murphys delivered their tenth studio album, Turn Up That Dial, in 2021.Äropkick Murphys formed in South Boston in 1996 vocalist Mike McColgan, guitarist Rick Barton, and bassist Ken Casey comprised the original nucleus of the group, with a series of drummers passing through the lineup before the addition of mainstay Matt Kelly in 1997. Also active in charitable causes and politics, they founded the Claddagh Fund to supports community-based non-profits and have essentially become regional heroes in their hometown. In subsequent years, the band's audience increased significantly with albums like 2011's Going Out in Style and 2017's 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory consistently charting in the Top Ten. With songs about working-class troubles, street-tough solidarity, and the joys to be found at the bottom of a bottle, the Murphys won over both traditional punk fans and mainstream revelers, particularly after their song "Shipping Off to Boston'' was featured in Martin Scorsese's 2006 Oscar-winning film The Departed. The group formed in the late 1990s as a fiery, though relatively straightforward punk outfit, but through the years began incorporating traditional Irish folk instrumentation and melody into their unruly sound. Taking their musical cues from British Oi!, American hardcore, and traditional Irish music, Boston's Dropkick Murphys have built a reputation as one of America's most celebrated Celtic punk outfits.