The psychology behind a musician's “second time around” band is always a capricious beast. When a player (or singer) who already cut his teeth or made his name in another band that enjoyed some fame strikes out on his own, he's left with a choice of how he wants to approach his music: he can hedge his bets and play off the strengths he established in the public eye before, or he can try and throw some distance between himself and the previous image he cast. Either way, there are no guarantees for a glowing reception because fans may complain that the singer/player has either left them behind or is “just doing the same old thing” as easily as they embrace him at his return. Such was the game of Russian roulette that singer Mike McColgan entered when he founded Street Dogs in 2003 after having left Dropkick Murphys in 1998. Perhaps aware that some naysayers would be waiting for a cheap, “Piledriver McKenzies”-style knock-off, McColgan deliberately steered Street Dogs another way; he focused his new band on his Boston street punk beginnings and left any obvious cliches to be played out by the Murphys. Fans responded well to 2003's Savin Hill album and, as Street Dogs have grown in the seven years and three albums since, the band has grown more comfortable with where they're standing. That comfort is what has made Street Dogs' self-titled fourth album possible; Street Dogs encapsulates just exactly who the band has always been but, now, they're feeling secure enough to show it.
Longtime Murphys fans will get a knowing little smirk as they listen and “Formation” sets the tone as well as the uniquely “Boston” vibe for Street Dogs with a chorus of Scottish pipes and a battalion of snare drums. It's a sound that every fan knows, but not one they've heard from the Street Dogs before; pulses start racing chests inflate and, at the last moment, the band explodes into “Rattle And Roll” ferociously.
…And from that point on, there is no looking back. After “Rattle And Roll” gets audiences moving, Street Dogs never backs down.
What separates this band from the rest of the punk crowd isn't its' sounds, it's the band's viewpoint on the world. Where most modern punk bands tend to be steadfastly anti-establishment and will shake listeners to coax them into action, Street Dogs takes a very different tack as it sings the praises of labor unions (“Up The Union”) and gives good-natured calls to arms for togetherness' sake in punk (check out lines like “I want that good feeling – push and shove/I want that good feeling – burning in my blood/I want that good feeling – on the open road/I want that good feeling – gonna lose control” from “Rock And Roll”). Such themes and sentiments aren't at all common in punk and never have been but, here, they hammer listeners as potently and genuinely as any other. Elsewhere, McColgan treads a little further into Murphys' territory (“The Shape Of Other Men,” “Bobby Powers,” “Harpo”) with a bit of rough and tumble fighting Irish fare, asks for a little more simplicity for sanity's sake (“Too Much Information”) and even shoots for some old-school hardcore (in “Freedom”) for good measure, and it works out surprisingly well for them but, through it all, the band doesn't try to veil what it's aiming for and keeps the lyrics as direct as possible. Here, the Street Dogs don't put their hearts on the line, they put their hearts, souls, past and (what they hope will be) their future on display for listeners to examine and decide if they want to get behind. In that way, that Street Dogs is self-titled seems apt. In calling the album Street Dogs, the band has essentially established this material and the themes in it as the core and heart of what they're about, and every note is an extension of each bandmember. That sort of belief is admirable, but even better here is the courage and plain-spoken manner with which it's presented; on this album, Street Dogs stand up to be counted for all that they are.
Artist:
www.street-dogs.com/
www.myspace.com/streetdogs
Album:
Street Dogs is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
