Dropkick Murphys Ken Casey back at UMass Boston to earn his degree

The Dropkicks’ Ken Casey is shipping back to college.

He’s vowing to finish what he started decades ago at UMass Boston. And, if that isn’t enough on his to-do list, his band released their first album in four years on Friday titled, “Turn Up That Dial.”

The pandemic took him off the road and got him to thinking maybe it was time to wrap up that degree.

“Plus my oldest is a freshman at Stonehill and I’m not going to let my kids graduate before me,” the dad of three told the Herald. “I want to finish, but I also want to go back to work.”

The Dropkick Murphys are everything the pandemic is not. They’re synonymous with screaming fans, good times, live music, stomping your feet, and cheering for the Red Sox. The band was the musical soul of the city when their hit “Tessie” was the rallying cry for the Red Sox in 2004 when the team broke the Curse of the Bambino and won the World Series.

Now Casey, at 52, is hitting the books, taking four classes and hoping to graduate next winter. Like so many others, his life came to a sudden halt — along with his restaurant and band businesses — but he used the downtime to pivot.

“This is such a trip. What a change from when I was in school before,” he said Friday of college life in 2021. “Even if we go back on the road, I’ll be able to take online courses.”

His American Studies professor is inviting the co-frontman to take over the Social History of Popular Music class Monday.

“We have brought in a bunch of guest lecturers to class including Boston-area rap legend Akrobatik … and now Ken Casey, coming to talk about how the Dropkick Murphys adjusted to pandemic realities,” said Professor Jeffrey Melnick.

Melnick says Casey has jumped back into classes “with total grace, humility, and great energy.”

If you’ve been lucky enough to see one of his shows, Casey’s energy is a trademark.

“In some ways he is a pretty typical UMB student — totally devoted to his learning but also balancing lots of other life circumstances,” Melnick added.

The teacher added he’s not quite sure all the 80-plus students in class realize just who Casey is. They’ll find out Monday.

Casey said he had completed three years at the University of Massachusetts Boston when a friend approached him about joining a band being put together. Casey said he was studying to become a special needs teacher and working part-time as a bartender at Symphony Hall when he took up that challenge and never looked back.

“I told them to keep my job open as a bartender, but I never needed to go back,” he said. Unlike in his hit “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” he never had to go back.

As for a post-pandemic rebirth, Casey said he’s hoping for a repeat of the “Roaring Twenties” when America left a war and Spanish Flu pandemic behind and lived life to the fullest.

“There’s such a desire for live entertainment again,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll all make it out and wrap this up.”

The Dropkick Murphys have a live-stream album release party Saturday at 8:30 p.m.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2ShQdu5