Looking back, Ken Casey wonders if he was out of his mind. A decade ago, the Dropkick Murphys bassist-singer found himself with a major life decision to make. Having just tied the knot, the Boston-born-and-bred musician announced to his bride's family that he was quitting his day job to devote his life to the band he'd just started. Clearly not lacking for balls, the next thing on his list was asking his father-in-law if he could move in.

"You think he would have given me a slap in the head," Casey says, on the line from the home of the 2007 World Series champions. "Like 'Kid, you just married my daughter, and you quit your job to start a punk band?' But he was good enough to let me follow my dreams, and so was my wife."

What might have made things easier for all involved was that, right from the beginning, the bassist had a suspicion that he was destined for something greater than community halls and grimy hardcore bars.

"In the early days, when we were playing to 200 punk rockers and skinheads, the band already had the vision that this could become a wider thing because of the nature of what we were doing and what we were singing about," Casey says. "That's all come to fruition now. I've got friends with seven-year-old kids bringing those kids to our shows, and they're there with their parents and grandparents."

Indeed, the Dropkick Murphys' just-released sixth studio album, The Meanest of Times, finds the band offering something for fans of all generations. Warped Tour warriors with a taste for East Coast hardcore won't be disappointed by the old-school bruiser "Shattered". Those who long for the days when Joe Strummer found himself doing shots with the Pogues will love Celtic punkers like "Fairmount Hill". And traditionalists determined to make a pilgrimage to the Emerald Isle before they die will be hoisting the Guinness to the straight-from-the-pub sing-along "(F)Lannigan's Ball", which features Ronnie Drew of Irish folk legends the Dubliners.

Released on the Dropkick Murphys' own Born & Bred label, The Meanest of Times debuted at number 20 on the Billboard charts. Part of the reason for that is that the band's profile has never been higher. When the Boston Red Sox knocked the Cleveland Indians out of the World Series in Game 7 on October 21, it was the Murphys who warmed up the Beantown faithful with a pregame performance. (The Dropkicks' "Tessie" was not only the official anthem of the Sox's '04 championship run, but the team is also 6–0 when the band performs before a game at Fenway Park.) On the Hollywood side of things, Martin Scorsese made good use of the Murphys' whiskey-soaked punk-rock reel "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" in his Oscar-winning ultra-violent epic The Departed.

The Dropkick Murphys' biggest accomplishment on The Meanest of Times, though, is the way they once again manage to–without ever sounding like a shtick–fuse bloody-knuckled punk with traditional bagpipes, mandolin, and tin whistle. It's a lethal mix that's turned the band into a major draw not just in North America but abroad, making Casey glad he didn't settle for punching a clock.

"It's funny how accepted we've become," he says. "Things have definitely expanded beyond where I ever dreamed that they would go."

The Dropkick Murphys play a sold-out Commodore on Tuesday (November 6).

Link: The Dropkick Murphys official site