Street Dogs find 'State of Grace'

Mike McColgan (center) and Street Dogs (Credit: Bryan Sheffield)

Boston-based punk outfit Street Dogs have dubbed their latest run of shows the Crooked, Drunken Sons Tour, and according to lead singer Mike McColgan, the hard-hitting road warriors are open to making the tour an annual occurrence.

"It's something I think that we would consider every year, having an annual Crooked, Drunken Sons run," McColgan said. "I mean, punk rock is ramshackle, rough and sometimes it avails itself to heavy drinking and barking at the moon. I think that's what we came up with when we went at the title, and I'm sure some of our fans can relate to it."

Street Dogs will be joined by Swingin' Utters, Shot Baker and Public Serpets when the Crooken, Drunken Sons tour rolls into Asbury Park for a show on Saturday (March 14) at the Asbury Lanes.

McColgan, who was first introduced to music fans as the original lead singer of Celtic punk stalwarts Dropkick Murphys and later served in both the U.S. Army and the Boston Fire Department, recently spoke to Metromix Jersey Shore.

On Saturday, you guys are coming back to Asbury Park.  Do you have any memories from the previous times you played the city?
Well, when you're there, you can get and feel and see Bruce Springsteen's work make sense. Every time we're there, it just kind of starts to bounce around in your head, the songs and the feeling. We've been down there, like hanging out with the Bouncing Souls ... and it's an amazing place, and we feel really at home there. It's just like a very east coast town and people like their punk rock, people like to come out and have a good time, so yeah, it's an amazing place, for sure.

It seems like you guys are always on the road and you're really a band that's built its audience one show at a time. Can you tell me a bit about that, the importance of your live show?
Well, we've always done things to our own design. We do what we want and say what we want, play what we want, so to be on Hellcat Records and to be working with Stormy (Shepherd of Leave Home Booking) and do go out and play these sweaty, tight-knit shows, it's great.

Our thing from the beginning has been to play on the small stage, the big stage or whatever we're allotted or afforded, and we believe in earning our fans and giving them their money's worth. Now, more so than ever with the tough economy and lots of bad expectations and negativity and hopelessness, you want to really get down deep and give people 100 percent. We've always done that, but now it even means a little bit more than it ever has. I mean, we want to earn our fans live. I think that's the benchmark of any great band, what you can deliver or bring live to an audience, so we've always tried to do that.

Jumping back a bit, can you tell me a bit about the decision you made after stepping back from music for a while to start the Street Dogs and get back in the ring, musically?
Well, it started in late 2002, early 2003, just as poker night: me and (bassist) John (Rioux) and a couple of guys getting together, writing songs and recording. That manifested into a demo, the demo snowballed into our first record, "Savin Hill" (2003), that became a mountain with "Back to the World" (2004) and then "Fading American Dream" (2006) and now "State of Grace" (2008).

I think what happened (was) I made a conscious decision in September 2004 to just go for it. It was a snowy night in Connecticut, me and John were just coming out of a rest stop and I said, "Why don't we just do this full-time and go for it?" It was in our spirit; we had found music again and fell in love with it again. I think that's what's going on; I mean, we love, and we're grateful, to be in a band where we can say, play and do what we want, record, and play live and see the world. It's certainly a privilege and not a right.

Talking a bit about "State of Grace," how was it working with Ted Hutt producing again on this record? As a producer, what does he bring to the table?
I think Ted likes to get rid of preconceived notions for a project and he likes to deconstruct and work each song from every conceivable angle. His creativity and his vision are very wide-open and big and he forces us all to think outside of the box sometimes and he forced us to stretch what and who we are on songs like "Guns," songs like "San Patricios," even on "Mean Fist," to a degree.

I mean, sonically and stylistically he stretched us, so we owe a huge debt of gratitude to him, because he's made us a better band and better singers and players as a result of having worked with him on "Fading American Dream" and "State of Grace" more recently.

I read that one of the "State of Grace" tracks, "The General's Boombox," was a eulogy for Joe Strummer.
Correct.

Do you remember the initial impact that Strummer and the Clash had on you?
Well, it's an interesting thing. When I first listened to "Clash City Rockers" on the Clash's first self-titled record, every hair on my body stood up, every part of my being was totally blown away and I felt like, "Wow, I've never heard anything as powerful, forceful, mean, questioning and just straight ass-kicking," and from that moment on, I felt compelled to sing, to write and try to get involved.

I mean, we had "The General's Boombox" initially in the "Fading American Dream" sessions, it was a carryover track to "State of Grace" and it took on a new life during the "State of Grace" sessions and it's become a popular song. We tried to be as humble and as dignified and respectful when we did the song as possible; we didn't want to wear it on our sleeve too much, but we wanted to give credit where credit was due.

Lastly, St. Patrick's Day is coming up. What do you guys have planned for that day?
We're going to be in Buffalo, and I think we're looking at a sold out show for Buffalo with the Swingin' Utters, and I think there's going to be a couple of surprises in the set list and overall fun, and I'm sure there's going to be a lot of drunken revelers and ballyhoo and things of that nature.