News
Dropkick Murphys have just released a new single and video from their powerful and poignant For The People album. Following the success of early track “Who’ll Stand With Us?,” a call to stand together against divisiveness and inequality, the new single and video for “Chesterfields And Aftershave” pay tribute to singer and founder Ken Casey’s late grandfather who was an important role model in his life.
The video, directed by Jon Vulpine, features evocative vignettes that follow a young “Ken Casey” and demonstrate the steadying influence his late grandfather had on his childhood. The video includes historical television clips of Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics games that Ken watched with his grandfather when he was a child, as well as a clip from the Red Sox 2004 World Series-clinching victory referenced in the song, thanks to the help of MLB, the NHL and the NBA.
The video culminates with the song's refrain "I hope I’d make you proud" as Ken's grandfather watches on (in spirit) while Dropkick Murphys perform the song at their recent free show for the Quincy 400 celebration – just a mile up the road from where the band formed in 1996.
Casey explains the song’s inspiration, “My father died when I was young and my grandfather raised me. He passed away before the band got going. I hope my grandfather would’ve really liked the message that we carry in our music because he’s the one that ingrained a lot of those beliefs in me. I hope I would’ve made him proud and I hope the band would’ve made him proud.”
Dropkick Murphys have also announced the titles of the 5 bonus songs that will be included on the For The People vinyl and CD release, out October 10 via the band’s Dummy Luck Music label / Play It Again Sam. Four of these songs are exclusive to the physical album and “Sirens” was previously only released digitally as a single. The bonus tracks are:
- Dropped On My Head
- Take Your Bow
- Straight Edge (I Liked You Better)
- A Hero Among Many
- Sirens
