Matt Kelly is the drummer for the Irish tinged punk rock band Dropkick Murphys. On March 13th the band will release a new live album that was recorded at historic Fenway Park located in Boston, Mass. Media Mikes had a chance to talk with Matt about the new album and the bands current tour.
Adam Lawton: Can you tell us about the new “Live at Fenway Park” album?
Matt Kelly: We did a couple shows at the hallowed grounds of Fenway Park in September of 2011 and we figured what better way to commemorate the even than to record/release the shows to the fans. We used choice cuts taken from the two nights as well as throwing in a few other things here and there. The release will also be available on vinyl which I highly recommend picking up. I have yet to see the video footage of the show but I had been told it’s amazing. The guys who worked on one of the live Foo Fighters DVDs worked on this one as well. Those two nights were amazing! When you are twelve years old playing in punk bands you never dream of playing to 10,000 people at Fenway Park. We were all really psyched and honored.
AL: Were the shows something of your own doing or were you guys asked to perform at the park?
MK: We have a lot of connection within the organization. Since day one of 2004 the Red Sox organization has just rolled out the red carpet for us. The band had been
kicking around the idea of playing the park for awhile but I am not sure how it all actually worked out. There was a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes as we had never done something like this before. Our crew along with the grounds crew at the park really made everything work and it was awesome! I think everything was a collaborative effort.
AL: Can you tell us about the bands current tour?
MK: We are currently out on tour with The Mahones and, Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls. The shows have been great and everyone has been getting great crowd responses. Our crowd can be kind of tough as our fans are just rabid. They are very supportive but not always of the other bands we are playing with. Everything on this tour has gone great! We have been having a blast. We will wrap the tour up with our annual St. Patrick’s Day shows in Mass. We will be playing 3 nights at the House of Blues in Boston, 2 gigs on Saturday in Lowell, Mass. and on Sunday of that weekend we are playing the Brighton Music Hall which used to be called Harper’s Ferry. The Sunday night show you will only be able to get tickets the day of the show at the door. It’s going to be really cool because the venue only holds around 400 people or so.
AL: Have there been any talks about a new studio album?
MK: Around April 1st of this year we will be going into the studio to record the new album. We have a bunch of stuff already written. We have been playing one new song live and it has gotten some good responses. I am not sure if we are going to put it on 
the record or just release it as a single. We will record April into May and depending on how things go it should be out towards the end of 2012 or early 2013.
AL: What else does the band have planned for 2012?
MK: We will be playing the Shamrock Festival in Washington D.C. March 24th. We also will be heading over to Europe in June for a bunch of festival shows. We will also be doing some smaller shows while we are there as well. All the guys in the band are really excited about playing Rome for the first time. A lot of us want to try and see Vatican City while we are there. When we are in Europe we usually play Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands. It will be nice to see some new places and meet some new people. There might also be some stuff in the works for September and October however, nothing has been confirmed yet.