Dropkick Murphys announce ’This Machine Rising’ film

Dropkick Murphys have announced a film called This Machine Rising, exploring the band’s relationship with the songs of folk icon Woody Guthrie.

The Celtic punk outfit’s last two albums, 2022’s This Machine Still Kills Fascists and 2023’s Okemah Rising, featured newly recorded music accompanied by Guthrie’s previously unpublished lyrics and writings. Their signature song, “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” is also based around Guthrie’s lyrics.

“This Machine Rising tells the story of the acoustic songs we wrote around a pile of Woody Guthrie’s unpublished lyrics,” says Dropkick’s Ken Casey. “These songs get to the core of what the band believes in — and what we’ve always stood for.”

The film will also feature commentary from Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello, who remarks, “Music is a sledgehammer to fight for justice … Music, when done right by people like Woody Guthrie, is like the First Responders to spiritual crisis in people.”

This Machine Rising premieres Friday at noon ET on Dropkick’s YouTube channel.