They expanded their schedule to include national and international tour dates, and began a tradition of yearly St. Patrick's Day week shows, held in and around Boston.

Dropkick Murphys were originally formed in 1996 in Quincy, Massachusetts,[11] initially consisting of lead vocalist Mike McColgan, bassist/vocalist Ken Casey, guitarist Rick Barton, and drummer Jeff Erna (who was replaced the next year by Matt Kelly).

In 2005, Dropkick Murphys released Singles Collection Volume 2, featuring covers, B-sides, and other material that didn't make it onto previous albums, and the band contributed a recording of "We Got the Power" to Rock Against Bush, Vol.

The Warrior's Code also featured a re-recorded version of "I'm Shipping Up to Boston", a song originally recorded for the band's "Fields of Athenry" single.

The song was featured in the 2006 Academy Award-winning film The Departed, Martin Scorsese's adaptation of the Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs.

Two videos, one with and one without footage from The Departed, were made due to overwhelming response to the song, which became one of the band's biggest hits to date and helped introduce Dropkick Murphys to an even bigger mainstream audience thanks to the film and soundtrack.

Orrell said of his departure "I'm very grateful for everything playing with DKM has brought me and I'm sad to be going but I feel like the time has come for me to try working on different styles of music and some of my own projects, I'm ready to spread my wings as they say."

On April 22, 2009, the Dropkick Murphys joined Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band on stage in Boston for his Working on a Dream Tour, playing "Glory Days" and "American Land".

Ken Casey gave an interview that same month to alt porn website Burning Angel announcing that the band would be hitting the studio in the summer or early fall of 2010 to record their next album.

The album was produced by Ted Hutt, and features guest appearances by Bruce Springsteen, Fat Mike, Chris Cheney, and Lenny Clarke.

The opening bands on that tour included Chuck Ragan, the Mahones, the Parkington Sisters, various local acts and boxer Mickey Ward giving boxing demonstrations.

The band kicked off the Celtic Invasion Tour in March 2015, which ended with five shows at the House of Blues in Boston for their annual St. Patrick Day performances.

In October 2014, the band gave a special nine-song performance aboard the USS Constitution during its final voyage of 2014 and in honor of the historic ship's 217th birthday.

He was hit in the head by a beer can, causing blood to appear on his face, though he stayed on stage and finished the concert while the involved fan was escorted from the building.

[56] On August 22, 2020, the band performed a special virtual live streaming acoustic set on Facebook in support of Joe Kennedy III and his run for U.S.

[68][69] When they wrote their first song, Barroom Hero, they were surprised to hear how much the vocal melody sounded like those from old Irish music they heard as children, something the band-members at one time tried to reject.

The band shot a promotional music video in 2008 for their song "Tomorrow's Industry", which supported the United Healthcare Workers East and hospitals of Massachusetts who were fighting for free and fair union elections so their voice could be heard in the workplace and would provide a better future for their families and communities.

[83] The band has said that they are all Democrats,[84] and during the 2004 United States presidential election were part of Punkvoter,[85] a political activist group dedicated to defeating George W. Bush.

[87][88] In January 2015, Republican governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker used the band's song "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" when he took to the stage at the Iowa Freedom Summit.

A Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senate candidate and crony of anti-Union Governor Scott Walker using a Dropkick Murphys song as an intro is like a white supremacist coming out to gangsta rap!

In January 2017, guitarist Tim Brennan was asked about the band's longtime support for unions and workers' rights and the possible effect President Donald Trump will have.

If he brings more middle-class jobs to America and tries to rid us of the draconian National Defense Authorization Act, that would be a big thumbs-up from me but I highly doubt he'll even touch that but then again, what does he have to lose?

"[91] Al Barr in a 2017 interview discussed his views on the 2016 election and the band's political stance by saying "I was a Bernie Sanders guy, and when (Donald) Trump won, I wasn't surprised at all.

[92] In February 2020, drummer Matt Kelly was asked about President Donald Trump, the current state of America and said "Employment is up, so that's good... and that's about it... screw him and his opponents on the other side of the aisle.

[97] On March 23, 2022, the band got into a social media feud on Twitter with the local Massachusetts Neo-Nazi group NSC-131, who used their song "The Boys Are Back" in a promotional video.

These people are the f**king rich, the billionaires, they don’t give a s**t!” A clip of Casey's comments were shared throughout social media and was viewed over 3 million times on Twitter alone.

Ken Casey explained the song by saying "“For nearly a decade, the division between red and blue, right and left, has grown deeper, darker and uglier — dividing families, and ending friendships.

They love it when we fight amongst ourselves, because their biggest fear is us joining together to come after them…THE REAL ENEMY.”[103] In 2005, the band released a two-song CD single for the family of Andrew K. Farrar Jr., a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps who was killed on January 28, 2005, in Al Anbar, Iraq, during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Farrar, who was a big fan of the Murphys, made a request to his family that if he did not survive his tour of duty, he wanted "The Fields of Athenry" to be played at his funeral.

On October 19, 2014, the band played a special surprise performance at the memorial ceremony for Maj. Michael Donahue, who was from Whitman, Massachusetts, and was killed during combat in Afghanistan the previous month.