This interview comes from Daniel Torres, special to Dying Scene. We caught up with Mike McColgan (frontman for Street Dogs) backstage after their St. Patrick’s day show in Southern California. Mike talked about who the show was dedicated to, their St. Patrick’s day traditions, as well as the recent AFL-CIO demonstrations in Wisconsin where they joined Tom Gabel (Against Me!,) Tim McIlrath (Rise Against) in performing at the rally for the people. Mike also announced that the Street Dogs have been added to this summer’s edition of the Van’s Warped Tour. Check out the full interview here, as well as Mike’s recommendations for places to eat & drink at on St. Patrick’s Day.
Street Dogs will be heading to Europe with The Mahones from April 21st till May 22nd. These are the rescheduled Euro tour dates from earlier this year.
DS: On the show and who it was dedicated to…
Mike: One of our biggest fan from Orange County, Jordan Stanton, was a corporal in the United States Marine Corp, and on March 4th he was killed in action. He was with the 2nd Marine Recon and we received word of that happening this morning. We went to the cemetery, we paid our respects, and his family came out to the show as well. It was a very, very heavy show and we dedicated the show to him, to his memory, and we dedicated the songs “free” and “Final Transmission” to him as well. It was a celebration as well, but it had its heavy parts also.
DS: On his personal St. Patrick’s Day traditions…
Mike: Corn beef and cabbage, green beer, going to this pub on Savin Hill on Dorchester Ave called Harp and Bard and just singing Irish songs all day long and all night long, being with your family and friends and your loved ones. Going to the parade in South Boston, that was always something I’d like to do as a kid and even when I got onto the [Boston] Fire Department, I marched in it a few times. I’m not a hero or anything like that, I just try to do the right thing and help out where I can. Sometimes I say too much, but I guess it’s better than saying too little. Obviously, it’s a critical need and service and its fine with the community and it comes at the most stressful and difficult times. It’s a rewarding job. All the cleatias that you hear about it are true, they really are, and I served for 4 years and I still have a very close relationship with a lot of guys on the Boston job and now, via Street Dogs, with fire fighters all over the world. That return feeling never goes away; that bond rather.
DS: On the band’s St. Patrick’s Day traditions…
Mike: We obviously want to play, guys drink a little bit more than they normally would, its really difficult not to get caught up on the festival or party atmosphere of it. We just love to celebrate the day and play our songs and hang out with our fans who are our friends. We try to stay accessible and keep our feet on the ground with our fans; we’re not stowed away in a buss, hiding from our fans. We are equal footed. We are no better, no less than our fans and that’s very important to us. We are very grateful that people take time and money out of their lives to come see us because we know times are tough and there’s a lot of different things people can do on St. Patrick’s Day, so we have a lot of gratitude and respect to our fans and this year we find ourselves in Anaheim. it’s been explosive, it’s probably been one of our best sets.
DS: On why they chose to play the House of Blues, Anaheim for their St. Pat’s Day show…
Mike: We’ve played here with Flogging Molly before and Todd Miller, who runs the joint, is a huge fan of the groups and he basically pleaded with us, ‘Come on, come out here and play,’ and we were like ‘ok, well come out there and play.’ We’ve played all over the country on St. Patrick’s Day. We’ve played in Boston, we’ve played in Phoenix, New York, D.C. at the Shamrock Fest before, today we find ourselves in Anaheim and it’s great, it’s real great.
DS: On getting involved with the Wisconsin AFL-CIO labor rallies...
Mike: AFL-CIO[American federation of Labor Congress of Industrial Organization], somehow we wound up on their radar, reached out to us and asked, ‘Can you guys go out there?’ and we said yes. Simply put, we wanted to do the right thing and stand up for working families and stand up for young and old alike. It’s just a human rights issue and I don’t think it’s fair to arbitrarily eliminate collective bargaining for employees that have had it for 50 years. The voting methodology was really corrupt and quick and not inclusive of all representatives and things like that. We’ve been in this fight since we started the group. I’ve been in it since I was born. I was born into it. My father worked for the MBTA [Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority] as a track man and he was already used to it. All around me in Boston, there were electricians, iron workers, laborers, and carpenters and police officers and fire fighters and things like that, they all had representations and they could sit down with their employer and collectively cooperate in bargaining and work things out that are fair and inequitable, I think that’s in the spirit of democracy and I think eliminating it is counter to democracy. It sets a really bad tone and it could set up a two class system in the United States of extreme have not and extreme haves and I don’t think that that’s acceptable at all. I’m sure a lot of people would disagree with that, but that’s just how we feel. People can agree with us or disagree with us. We’re not trying to tell people to think like us, we just go out there and say what we feel and we try to walk our talk and stand up for it.
DS: On the band’s summer plans…
Mike: We can officially announce that we are going to play the Vans Warped Tour June 24 to July 30th, we are excited abut that. We’ve played on it before in 2005 for two and a half weeks, 2008 for the entire tour with “State of Grace,” and now with the self titled album we’re looking forward to getting out there and playing. I know the Aggrolites, a lot of bands have been added recently. We are excited to get back out there and have a good time. The thing with Street Dogs, we’ll play a backyard gig, in a sweat basement, we’ll play at the warped Tour, we’ll play the Warped Tour, we’ll play on the Capitol steps, we’re gona be there and we’re gona play. We love to play music. We want to try to help people. We know we can’t change the world, we’re not that naïve or super idealistic, but we just want to do something constructive and help out and if that’s a crime, I’m guilty as charged.
DS: On whether they prefer playing at bigger venues, or smaller more intimate ones…
Mike: I think the fortunate thing about our group is that in any setting, we try to make it intimate. The bigger it gets, obviously the more difficult it gets and we want to try to play our music to as many people as possible. We try to keep ticket prices reasonable, we know what’s going on out there and how expensive things are, where the economy lies now. Even prior to that, we tried to keep our ticket prices reasonable, whether it’s in a sweaty basement, sweaty bar, or the House of Blues, or on the Warped tour, we’re going to try to keep that intimacy and we’re going to try to get the crowd involved. It’s not a poetry reading when we come and play a show. It’s not spoken word; we want it to be explosive. We want people to go off, but go off in a good way, not a bad way and there are times when people misunderstand that and there are fights and we don’t advocate fighting in our shows, we don’t like that, and we are attempting more so, each and everyday to let people know to look out for each other, have respect for each other and have a good time at the show. The crowed was great tonight.
DS: On what they want to say to their fans…
Mike: Come and see us. Get into our music by hook or by crook and just give us a chance. I think you’ll like what you hear and what you see. You can link up with us after the show. You shake hands, agree with us, disagree with us, tell us how much you hate us, or tell us how much you love us.
MIKE’S RECCOMENDATIONS:
McGreevy’s, Ken Casey’s restaurant on Boylston St. Steak tips, beckett burger
The Middle East in Cambridge
Blackthorn Pub in Southie
Fat Belly Deli, Minot and Adams st. in Dorchester
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