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Crave: Alright, then, let’s get things started! How long have you been with the Street Dogs? Mike: 2 ½ years I’ve been with the Street Dogs, it’s been very, very good! Crave: You’ve released two albums in that time, correct? Mike: Yeah, knocking on the door of three years now we have two albums out, Savin Hill our first and the one we’re out supporting on the road Back to the World. Crave: How did you get on this tour with Tiger Army? Mike: We actually heard that they were going out and the road and we submitted a request to go on the tour as direct support, and I guess the like us because they picked us to go out on the road with them. It’s been a really great tour for all of us, 12 Step Rebels, Street Dogs and Tiger Army, you know? Crave: Are you all from Boston? Mike: Myself, John, and Joe are all from the Boston music scene. Toby and Marcus on guitars are from Texas, so you get the whole Texas meets Boston thing when we play. Crave: Does that create for a baseball rivalry? Red Sox vs. who? The Rangers? Mike: All of us except Toby root for the Red Sox, he’s a Houston Astros fan, which is just a waste of time in my opinion. Rooting for a train wreck, you know? Red Sox are playing unbelievably, four straight wins and the last two games have been walk off homers by Millar and Varitek! The Yankees have been playing well too, unfortunately, so it looks like the rivalry is getting ready to reset itself, you know? Crave: So the “Yankees Suck!” cheer that I heard in Seattle, is that a nightly thing for the Street Dogs? Mike: Well, you know, we get it going in any city that has a ball club because a lot of people don’t like the Yankees and how perrenial and entitled and money-grubbing the Yankees are so it always goes over well. Crave: Exactly. So, you were with the Dropkicks for a while. Mike: Yes. From 96 to 98 I was in DKM, I’m on the Boys on the Docks E.P. and the Do or Die CD. I’m proud of my time there and I have no regrets. It’s part of my life, part of my past, and I like it. Crave: After that you were a Boston Firefighter for a bit? Mike: Yeah, for four years. I realized a boyhood dream of applying for the job, taking the test, going through the rigorous process, and finally getting hired. It’s a rewarding experience. When you show up in a fire suit people are usually pretty happy to see you because usually the shit’s hitting the fan. Crave: So ideally then you would be doing both the fire and the music? Mike: Well, right now the Street Dogs are so inundated with tour offers and commitments and things of the like that I can only do this full time, so the firefighting thing I’ve put on hiatus with a long-term leave of absence. This Street Dogs thing doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, you know? Crave: Two albums and lots of touring… Mike: Yeah, lots of touring. Toured with Flogging Molly in the US and Europe, Social D in the US, Millencollin in Europe, our own tour in Europe, various festivals in the US and in Europe, so now getting on tour with Tiger Army is awesome, then going on a few dates with the Briefs and a headlining tour in the fall. Crave: Any more recording coming up or are you just focusing on touring for now? Mike: I think we’re tentatively slated to get back in the studio in January of February. We might do a couple tracks for a split or something, but other than that we don’t have any recording plans, we’re trying to support Back to the World on tour. Crave: Is that Joe Strummer on your arm? I have him on my back. Mike: Yeah, actually a friend of mine Dicky Barrett, who used to be in the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, has a radio show in Los Angeles on Indie 103.1 and he has this feature called tattoo Tuesdays where he has someone in a musical group come on and get a tattoo, and I was the first on to ever go on. I got this tattoo of Joe Strummer playing his Telecaster on my arm, this is from the back cover of his final album Streetcore. I can honestly say if there wasn’t a Joe Strummer, if there wasn’t a Clash, there wouldn’t be a Street Dogs. That’s how big the influence is, you know? Crave: Oh yes, I know. I have him on my back. Mike: Beautiful! Crave: Have you done any other projects besides the Dropkicks and the Street Dogs? Mike: A long time ago before DKM there was this infamous and notorious cover band called the Snots in Boston, around for a couple months, a trainwreck. A couple months of helter skelter gigs and got booted out of clubs. Ridiculously mean-spirited and just too punk to be alive, you know? Crave: So, Johnny was in the Bruisers, one of the bands mentioned in the interlude of Barroom Heroes. Mike: Yeah yeah yeah, that’s shoutouts to some of the guys me and Ken used to know from 656 Adams Street, so that’s all giving praise to some old friends. On the 7” we do the bands, the Ducky Boys, All Systems Down, Showcase Showdown. 30 Seconds over Tokyo, the Unseen, Blood for Blood…the scene was really vibrant and powerful back then. A lot of the bands have gone to do well for themselves, justifiably so because they put in a lot of hard work, you know? Crave: How many times have you played in Portland, do you know? Mike: I believe this is the second time, possibly the third, that the Street Dogs have played in Portland. I know on Flogging Molly tour we played here, I think maybe on the Social D tour we played here. Crave: What’s your favorite place to play besides Boston? Mike: Besides Boston? Without a doubt it’s the best, that’s where it all started. San Francisco and Los Angeles have been good to the Street Dogs, as have Seattle, D.C., Toronto, Montreal, San Diego. We’ve been really fortunate that every city we’ve gone in has given us a warm reception, I don’t really want to single any one place out other than Boston, though. Crave: You’re setting up a show for any five bands, past or present, who’s playing? Mike: Street Dogs, The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Sex Pistols, the Jam. Crave: Have you played with any of them before? Sorry, dumb question… Mike: Ha! No! Unfortunately not. Crave: With your connections to DKM and the Bruisers, do you get along with Al Barr at all? You two friends? Mike: I get along fine with him. As a matter of fact, when we did Savin Hill, there’s a song Stand Up and I remember saying I think we need to get some others in here to sing backgrounds on the second verse, I think it would elevate the song. We called up Kenny, called up Al, had coffee and donuts and talked for a bit, they banged that out and there was no…contract to be signed or any bullshit like that, they just helped us out. I remember on the Street Dogs first European tour we had a day off and the Dropkicks were in Luxembourg on the Blackout tour, so we went and hung out with those guys there. Ken and Al have always been supportive to the Street Dogs and stuff like that. One of the most unfortunate things about the internet and some less-than-credible zines is that they try to create blank drama that’s not really there and you know, if there was any drama they wouldn’t have been on our first record. There’s a mutual respect and a fraternal link, you know? Crave: So the Boston scene is all in it together? Mike: Absolutely! Just recently there was a band Far From Finish that was in a motor vehicle accident. They got their van and all of their equipment destroyed, but fortunately all of the members were okay physically which is more important than a fucking van and all that shit. What you’re seeing in Boston now is a lot of bands coming together and playing benefits and forfeiting their money to Far From Finish so they can get new gear and stuff like that. It’s been a scene from the start that’s always been in it together, you know? Crave: Anything else that you want to say to Portland? Mike: To Portland? If you come down to one our shows, just make sure that you get down in the barricade, ‘cause that’s where we’re gonna stick it and push it and punch it with our music because it’s high energy and we give 100%, so every ounce of sweat of energy will be left on the deck. Crave: That’s all for me, thank you very much! Mike: Thank you, I enjoyed it! |
