Our first Album Of The Week of 2017 was 11 Short Stories Of Pain & Glory, the new one from the veteran Celtic punks Dropkick Murphys. One of the cool things about the album was how huge and arena-ready the thing sounded, and as we find out on the new edition of the Song Exploder podcast, we learn that this was no accident. On Song Exploder, musicians get deep into the writing process of their songs, and on their episode, Murphys members Tim Brennan and Ken Casey talk about “Blood,” the album’s first single. Guitarist Brennan explains that “Blood” was engineered to sound good in the Boston sports venues where the band’s songs are often played, and Brennan discusses the song’s lyrics. It’s a quick, fun listen, and you can hear it below.

11 Short Stories Of Pain & Glory is out now on the band’s own Born & Bred label. Electronic bagpipes!