The Clock

Issue date: 5/11/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Arlin Goss [Click to enlarge]

As we entered the dimly lit Hub Multipurpose Room just hours before the upcoming 2007 Spring Fling concert, we stared at the bands sitting at the tables by the windows and our nerves consumed us. The scene we saw was in no way what we had been expecting. Upon telling others of our approaching interview with Al Barr, lead singer of the Dropkick Murphys, most people responded with, "you know, they'll probably be wasted the entire time."

We scanned the room for Barr, which was difficult because we knew virtually nothing about him. As the members of Dropkick and their opening band, Catch 22 chatted and enjoyed the wonders of Sodexho catering, we realized that while they're rock stars, they are totally professional rock stars, and they by no means lived up to the predictions of our friends. After introducing himself, Barr sat down with us for a very personal interview about his life as a musician, and what's next for Dropkick Murphys.

According to Barr, the band was formed in 1996 in Boston and used to practice in the basement of a barber shop.

"The aspirations in the early stages of the band were to open for this band from California," he said.

Back then Barr was not a member of Dropkick, but of another band called The Bruisers, that formed in Portsmouth, N.H. His band played a lot with the Dropkicks so when Mike quit, they asked Barr to be their lead singer. The first album he recorded with Dropkick was in 1999.

Barr, himself, started listening to music at an early age.

"Even when I was a kid I always wanted to be in a band," he said. "It was always a fantasy of mine… so this is just me living out my fantasy."

Barr calls Joe Strummer one of his musical and life influences. Stummer was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead singer of The Clash and The Mescaleros who died an untimely death of an undiagnosed congenital heart defect. Barr admires Strummer for a number of reasons.

"He's just such a cool guy," he said, "he was a nice, genuine human being, there was no rock star in him at all, he'd talk to anybody, he'd give you his time, and he loved music, he got excited about music. He was fifty years old when he died and he had so much more to do I think. I always said, if I could ever turn out half as cool as that guy I'd be doing all right… he was so inspiring to me… he is a beautiful human being." Barr named his son Strummer, after the artist.

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