The band released their debut album, "the Real McKenzies" in 1995, a cheeky collection of short punky originals, interspersed among celtic classics, & deeply tongue-in-cheek, punk-infused covers like "My Bonny", "Pliers" (Jimi Hendrix's "Fire"), "Kilt" (Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias's "Kill"), and "Outta Scotch" (the Pointed Sticks's "Outta Luck").

Their 1998 follow up Clash of the Tartans popularized Scottish-Canadian punk-rock, with solid singles "Thistle Boy", "Pagan Holiday", "Mainland", "Kings O' Glasgow", & the old celtic classic "Wild Mountain Thyme".

In 2012, they delved deeper into covering songs from popular Canadian singer-songwriter Stan Rogers with their version of "Barrett's Privateers" appearing on their album Westwinds.

In September 2014 the band announced they would be recording their next album for Fat Wreck Chords at Motor Studio in San Francisco.

The band covered Stan Rogers a second time for their 2017 album Two Devils Will Talk with the song "Northwest Passage".