Today is about renewing strength and energy. About standing up in the face of adversity, oppression, and fear. It’s a personal need to stand up and charge forward for the sake of health and family. It’s a societal need to rise against terror.

“Stand Up” by the Street Dogs conveys such a message on a few levels. The back story to the three vocalists you hear in the song represents, on a small-scale, the ability to overcome differences and coming together.

Mike McColgan, the lead singer of the Street Dogs, was the lead singer for and a founding member of the Dropkick Murphys along with Ken Casey. McColgan’s left the band in 1998 to join the Boston Fire Department, though he started forming the Street Dogs in 2002. The next year they recorded their first album, Savin Hill, which includes “Stand Up” with vocals by Dropkick Murphys vocalists Ken Casey and McColgan’s replacement Al Barr.