'Sing Loud, sing proud' with Boston hardcore band, then party at Vixen

Amelia Calvert, reno.com
March 11, 2008

Looking for the best event in Reno/Sparks this week? I can tell you where I’ll be dropping my hard-earned duckets. My clan and I will celebrate the Irish a little early, dancing my own jig among the all-ages moshers and skankers with Boston’s best, the Drop Kick Murphys, down at the New Oasis, 2100 Victorian Ave., in Sparks.

Hang with your homeys, sing, dance and drink a few brews at Dropkick Murphy’s official afterparty up the road at Vixen, 906 Victorian Square.

Don’t be duped
Although some sources report the show is sold out, the official DKM site doesn’t say so. Ads on the Web are offering a pair of tickets for $125. Don’t be a chump. Get down to Recycled Records University, 812 N. Virginia St. (322-4644) where as of Feb. 26 they reported having 100-150 left for $28 each.

If you can score tickets, cool, if you already have some, even better, and if you can’t make the show – come to the afterparty where no doubt, everyone will “Sing Loud, Sing Proud,” until the wee hours of the morn’ with Karaoke and performances by the band.

Openers for DKM are Big D and The Kids Table, Everybody Out, and Maximum The Hormone from Japan. Doors open 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30. The show is open to all ages, but the afterparty is not.

Who are the DKM?
For those of you who haven’t heard of the DKM: Here’s the scoop: This Boston band cropped up in 1996 when a bunch of droogs who wanted to make music and have some fun picked up their instruments and mined their punk, Irish Folk, rock and hardcore influences for material. The sound they concocted incorporates bagpipes, mandolin, accordion, and whistles with the meanest of the hard and heavy, earning the DKMs a loyal international fan base. Dare to resist the mug-swinging sing-along sound when the driving all-for-one energy kicks in.

Where have I heard them?
The song I'm Shipping Up To Boston was on the 2006 soundtrack for Martin Scorsese’s Oscar winner, The Departed and Red Sox fans may recognize DKMs version of Tessie a song recorded for the 2004 World Series Run used in the rom-com flick Fever Pitch with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore.

The mission behind DKM’s music, as defined in the bands bio on their website is this: “Bringing people together for a good time, we hope to share some of our experiences and beliefs in working-class solidarity, friendship, loyalty and self- improvement as a means to bettering society…”

Well, I’ll drink to that…