![\"the-real-mckenzies-20151\"](\"http:\/\/www.stylusmagazine.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/the-real-mckenzies-20151-500x428.jpg\")
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By Kaitlyn Emslie-Farrell<\/strong><\/p>\n The Real McKenzies aren\u2019t a new topic of conversation for Canadian punk lovers. They\u2019ve been written about, talked about, and danced to. But if you\u2019re really experiencing The Real McKenzies, you\u2019re drinking to them. Vancouver based Celtic punk rockers aren\u2019t strangers to Winnipeg either. I spoke with front man Paul McKenzie and he told me many stories including one about our own wind spot on Portage and Main.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d get drunk and stand there at a 45 degree angle. Until one of us got run over by a bus and then we stopped. It\u2019s all fun and games till someone gets run down by a bus. It was the first time I ever saw anybody get busted,\u201d says McKenzie.<\/p>\n McKenzie is celebrating 25 years of the band\u2019s life. He puts it into perspective for us. \u201cIf I murdered someone instead of being in a band I\u2019d be out by now.\u201d Being in a band can be a true life sentence. \u201cAnd probably rehabilitated,\u201d he adds. Just McKenzie though, as the remaining bandmates seem to circulate often. \u201cThe alumni of this band is over a hundred men. We\u2019ve destroyed the lives of a hundred men.\u201d Well, that\u2019s okay. It happens I guess?<\/span><\/p>\n The band is still releasing new albums consistently. They\u2019re currently writing one and have another lined up. Some of the music will be live and some studio recorded, but even then, that\u2019s not the end of it. McKenzie has big plans, although some might find that impossible, but not for this Scotsman. \u201cAnd then we\u2019re going to wait till I\u2019m old and do a dead album. A live dead album,\u201d says McKenzie. \u201cI\u2019m just going to hang a mic in the middle of the room with my dead body and it\u2019s just going to be nothing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Jokes aside, the job is a tough one. I asked McKenzie if he has to work as hard now that the band has solidified a reputation over the years. \u201cWay harder. It used to be easier before hip hop and spoken word and electro,\u201d says McKenzie. \u201cI suppose the people that aren\u2019t into it for the passion of it go out and go to school and get a job and live happily ever after, but we\u2019re not like that. We love to suffer.\u201d I think anyone involved with music can understand this mentality. But they would also understand that it\u2019s not really a choice when you\u2019re passionate about something. And of course there\u2019s good that comes along with it. \u201cWe\u2019ve really changed people\u2019s lives with our music and you can\u2019t put a price on that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t be fooled by the band\u2019s success. This is still the music industry we\u2019re talking about. \u201cThe band doesn\u2019t really pay the bills,\u201d says McKenzie. Jobs suck because pants are required at most of them, which is conflicting with Scottish traditional clothing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The formation of Celtic punk is a natural occurrence. McKenzie gives me a history lesson to emphasize this. \u201cCeltic music, the good stuff has always been rebel music. The celts have been oppressed by the English so they were always rebelling against the monarchy and stuff. And that\u2019s punk.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the end they love what they do and they\u2019re excited to come back to Winnipeg. \u201cWe\u2019re happy to be playing in the same club,\u201d says McKenzie. \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to having a really good time in Winnipeg and we wanna see you all. And don\u2019t be shy, come up and say hello cause we\u2019re all very personable and we love our Winnipeg fans.\u201d The Real McKenzies are playing at The Windsor on March 24<\/span>th<\/span>. Buy them some beer. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Kaitlyn Emslie-Farrell The Real McKenzies aren\u2019t a new topic of conversation for Canadian punk lovers. They\u2019ve been written about, talked about, and danced to. But if you\u2019re really experiencing The Real McKenzies, you\u2019re drinking to them. Vancouver based Celtic punk rockers aren\u2019t strangers to Winnipeg either. I spoke with front man Paul McKenzie and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}