Dropkick Murphys tour announces new U.S. dates for ‘The Meanest of Times’

Celtic punk rockers the Dropkick Murphys have announced plans to keep the tour bus rolling through November. The Boston-based band, who already completed separate spring and summer tour legs in the U.S. as well as several European stints, launch the next leg of the tour on November 6 at the University of Maine’s Hutchins Concert Hall in Orono, ME.

The 16-date trek includes almost nightly performances through the November 22 closing show at Coyote’s Music and Dance Hall in Louisville, KY. Highlights include two House of Blues performances — first on November 7 in Atlantic City, NJ, and later on November 13 in New Orleans, LA.

“We’re excited to be going to some cities we haven’t been to in a while,” the band said in a statement on their official Web site. “There will more details about the shows, including the support bands, in a few days.”

The seven-man band is touring in support of their 2007 release “The Meanest of Times,” which peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard 200 — the band’s highest chart placement to date. The album, which featured different bonus tracks for its various format and region releases, was reissued in March as a limited edition disc with the European and iTunes bonus tracks, as well as an original recording on “(F)lannigan’s Ball.”

Founded in 1996, Dropkick Murphys combine elements of traditional Irish music, hardcore and punk rock. The band’s albums often include modern interpretations of traditional Celtic tunes, while the Murphys’ original material often employs bagpipes, accordians, mandolins and other instruments to add an old world twist to their hardcore punk sound.

“We started playing in the basement of a friend’s barbershop and our goal was to blend the musical influences we had grown up with (Punk Rock, Irish Folk, Rock, and Hardcore) into one loud, raucous, chaotic, and often out of tune mix that we could call our own,” the band members commented on their site. “To our surprise people seemed to like it and we began to record music and tour constantly.”

In their native Boston, the Dropkick Murphys are known for their support of the Boston Red Sox. In 2004, the band reworked the team’s anthem “Tessie,” a song thats original version was credited with helping the Boston Athletics win the first World Series in 1903. The Murphys’ version went on to become the unofficial song of the Red Sox’s winning run of the 2004 World Series.

Dropkick Murphys itinerary:
(Dates subject to change.)