Boston punk band the Street Dogs are one of the more seasoned and widely-heralded bands to be playing this year’s Warped Tour. Formed in 2002 by former Dropkick Murphys front-man (and former firefighter) Mike McColgan, and comprised of current members: Johnny Riox (bass), Marcus Hollar (lead guitar), Tobe Bean III (rhythm guitar), and (formerly of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones) Paul Rucker (drums), the band has toured with such seminal punk bands as Flogging Molly, Social Distortion, Tiger Army, Bad Religion, Rancid and The Bouncing Souls.
Their reputation may precede them, but their work speaks for itself. Having already put out three popular and critically acclaimed albums (2003’s Savin Hill, 2005’s Back To The World, and 2006’s Fading American Dream) this prolific band has been blazing a trail across not only the punk rock scene, but the hard-rock scene in general. My own brother, a dyed-in-the-wool metal-head, having seen them open for Tiger Army in September of last year, told me (well before this interview was conducted) that “they’re the only band that I’d never heard of before, saw them, and left the venue with all of their albums.”
The band has a spot on this year’s Warped Tour main stage, in promotion for their new album, State of Grace (release date: July 8th, 2008). Their set, comprised of mainstay songs off their previous albums, as well as some new songs, recalls the workman-like styling’s of two-plus decade’s worth of blue-collar punk. If their sound itself did not make this obvious, their set definitely did. While ascending onto the speakers and walking into the raging crowd, McColgan dedicated their June 21st set to the memories of punk rock icons Joe Strummer and The Ramones.
Before their set, lead singer Mike McColgan and bassist Johnny Riox talked to me about the Warped Tour, the differences between the West Coast and East Coast punk scene, and their own Boston Celtics recent defeat of the L.A. Lakers for the NBA championship.
AAM: How was the tour??
Johnny Riox: It was good times. It was really, really hot; we were in the middle of southern California heat-wave, but we were fortunate enough to be playing at a time when the stage was shaded and it was, I dunno, it was really fun. It was the first day, working out the first day Warped Tour kinks, so we anticipate today being a little smoother and more fun.
Mike McColgan: We were on the highway, on the main stage, one of the main stages, run by Gary O., and we had the honor of kicking this whole tour off, being the first band to play, you know, on the first day. It was cool, like Johnny said, we going for it full blast, just having fun, and we went into a cover of Black Flag’s “Rise Above”. That was a lot of fun, people went off, we got a couple of circle pits, kid’s just letting it go, and by the end of the first set we had a lot of people watching us, people coming into the back and everything, it was good. Really hot, but a good time nevertheless; we got a lot of good feedback.
AAM: You guys get any reaction from any bitter Lakers’ fans, being that you’re guy’s team (the Boston Celtics) won the championship?
MM: We mentioned it on stage and I took the high road. I didn’t twist the screw and rub it in. I was sportsman-like, but I had to mention it, you know.
JR: Surprisingly not a lot of haters, I thought we would encounter a little more hostility towards green, but it wasn’t the case.
AAM: What’s one of the main differences, being from Boston and now coming to the west-coast, being that the tour is known as a West Coast tour, and you’re playing with a lot of west-coast bands?
MM: Well, I mean, certainly there are bands from the West Coast on the tour, but all said, there’s a slew of bands on this tour from all over the place. You’re talking about the Boston scene, how it is and how it stands, it’s pretty salt-of-the earth, people being true and shooting from the hip, not being pretentious, or you know, not thinking of themselves as celebrities. They just fucking go for the throat and rip it up and play as hard as they can. So we try to carry that ethos and that tradition on, wherever we go, whether it’s the Warped Tour or our own shows or playing with other bands. We go full blast, you know.
J: I mean, you know, obviously being from the East Coast, I’m a huge advocate of Boston punk rock and Boston hardcore, and stuff like that, but one thing I do have to say about the West Coast punk rock scene and the West Coast scene in general, is that, it really is more diverse, musically, then we have. Proof is on the Warped Tour, you have a band like The Aggrolites, and then you have a band like The Bronx. In Boston it’s a little different.
AAM: Many of your songs are very message based, very proletariat message based. You often sing about the war, or unions. What do you hope fans take from that, and what do you usually see them take from that? Is there a lot of social conscience, or is it mostly them just having a good time?
MM: What we sing about isn’t premeditated or by design, it’s just a by-product of what I’ve been through, what the guys in the band have been through, life experience. Like work, labor, relationships, you know. Always having strong opinions about issues that affect us, and not shoving it down people’s throats or telling them to feel the same way we do. I mean, people have the right to exercise, have the right to feel the way they want. We just use music to let out of ourselves what’s inside of ourselves. That’s what we do, and if people can identify or relate to that, or if it helps them out, that’s great. We don’t expect to change the world or start a revolution. We just want to play, say, and do whatever we want to do.
AAM: What are you guys planning to do after this? You guys have a tour of your own?
JR: September 10th or 11th I believe, we start our headlining tour all over the U.S., and we’re really, really looking forward to that. ‘Cause for the last year, year and a half, we’ve been part of packages, exporting and stuff like that, and doing anywhere from thirty to forty-five minutes worth of music. But we have four records. So I think the last time we did a head-lining tour was exactly a year ago, and so we’re long over-due to do a proper ninety minute set, play as much of our music as we can. We’re super, super looking forward to that, and looking forward to the new record coming out July 8th
