American Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys have released a new animated music video for their single “L-EE-B-O-Y.” The song is from their new album Turn Up That Dial, which was released at the end of April with Born and Bred Records.
The video was illustrated and animated by Adam Murphy and edited by Oliver Riley-Smith, the same duo that created the video for “Mick Jones Nicked My Pudding.” The video depicts an animated version of the bagpipe player, Lee Forshner, who the single is about, acting in the ways that the lyrics describe throughout the song. The purpose is to portray him as a fun, strong, comfortable presence. Check it out below:
Forshner recorded his parts separately from the rest of the band with little knowledge of how it would turn out, the title or even that it would be about him. It’s a playful, upbeat tribute to the band member as a show of appreciation. The lyrics both compliment his music skills and describe his positive personality attributes, including that he “tells it like it is,” “has class” and is a “hell of a guy.”
About Forshner, the band’s founder and co-lead vocalist Ken Casey said, “Lee is just the BEST guy ever and we felt like he deserved a song. Bagpipers are larger than life characters, and we wanted to make a fun, over-the-top song and video about our guy Lee.”
Dropkick Murphys is made up of Al Barr (lead vocals), Tim Brennan (guitars, tin whistle, accordion, piano, vocals), Jeff DaRosa (guitars, banjo, mandolin, vocals), Ken Casey (lead vocals), Matt Kelly (drums, percussion, vocals), James Lynch (guitars, vocals), Kevin Rheault (touring bassist) and Lee Forshner (touring bagpipe player).
Turn Up That Dial was their fourth album to make the Billboard top 10 album debut. They are now looking forward to European tour in 2022, as well as appearances in the fall at Riot Fest in Chicago and Aftershock in Sacramento. In March, the band performed a St. Patrick’s Day livestream event, and in May, joined with The Boston Pops to perform a Mother’s Day tribute titled “To Our Darlin’ Mothers.”
Photo credit Boston Lynn Schulz
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