Street Dogs are a punk band primarily from Boston that has been around since 2002. They released their first album Savin Hill in 2003 and have released their fourth State of Grace this July. They are known as a hard-working, hard-rocking band, blue collar band with many songs in favor of unions and the working man.

Lead singer Mike McColgan, originally from the Dropkick Murphies, started the band after spending four years as a Boston firefighter. Prior to being a member of the Dropkick Murphies, he served the country in the Gulf War.

I had the chance to interview him at the Warped Tour in Cleveland, though I didn’t have a lot of time, so the final two questions don’t necessarily follow the rest of the interview.

MB: Big Boston sports fan, I presume?

MM: I have a lot of sympathy to um… How do I say this without sounding to pompous or too pumped up on the Boston Red Sox.

MB: Yeah, well, everyone already knows you’re a Boston sports fan, so you’re gonna be pompous and arrogant.

MM: The Indians had a rough go of it last year.

MB: Well we helped you by sweeping the Devil Rays [last week].

MM: I’m talking last year. Indians led three games to one [in the AL Championship Series] then the Sox came back and won it. Yeah, it was amazing.

MB: To me, Boston sports is not punk rock sports. You’ve got the Patriots cheating, the Sox with the second highest payroll in baseball, and the Celtics just trading for two All-Stars to win a title. How can you support them?

MM: A lot of people are gonna hate on Titletown. And, as Bostonians, we expect it, but it is Titletown nevertheless.

MB: Now you joined the military before the Gulf War. When, and why?

MM: I joined the army in 1989 and served for two years. I joined basically to get college money.

MB: You’ve been pretty vocally against the Iraq War. What are your thoughts on the first Gulf War?

MM: Looking back in retrospect, I have no misgivings about the nature of my service and being proud of it, yet I feel that, clearly fossil fuel was the nature of the conflict, and oil plays a part in all Gulf Wars.

MB: But we didn’t occupy Iraq after the first Gulf War, so if it was about oil, why wouldn’t we have occupied Iraq?

MM: Well, we expelled Iraq from Kuwait and then restored the correct balance to OPEC and the region and gave Kuwaitis back their nation. Just to make this clear, Kuwait also has oil, and we draw off that as well.

MB: You must have a lot of experiences from the war. What sticks out as you most about it?

The camaraderie and the sense of accomplishment in getting through tough times. I makes you mentally tougher. It makes you less of a complainer, and it just makes you more of a well-rounded person. Service adds a level of depth and character to your life.

MB: Were you in combat situations very often?

MM: The first Gulf War was four days of ground combat preceded by an air war. For four or five days, we were in combat adding fire support to infantry.

MB: Were there any times you thought your life was in danger?

MM: All the time in the Middle East, my life was in danger.

MB: How did you react in those situations?

MM: I just reacted how I was trained. I just did what I was told and followed orders. I didn’t get too negative. I stayed focused and did the best I could. That’s what I always do..

MB: You’re well known for your support of unions. Was your father involved in a union?

MM: My father was a union delegate for the Massachusetts Busing and Transit Authority Union. He was very active in that.

MB: You wrote the song “Don’t Preach to Me,” decrying celebrities who preach their political views too much, but now, singing songs about politics on stage, do you think that’s preaching?

MM: I don’t think I’m preaching. I’m just signing about things and how they affect my views. I’m not trying to indoctrinate anybody or force-feed anything to anybody. People can feel or think whatever they want. Clearly, that’s what a democracy gives people the right to do. But at the same time, we’re not going to sing about plain, stupid, trite, or useless things, like eighty percent of the bands here are doing.

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