Street Dogs founder and vocalist Mike McColgan (formerly of Dropkick Murphys) recently did an interview with Dying Scene in which he announced that the band’s brief hiatus is rapidly coming to a close.

“Yeah, we’re back,” McColgan says. “We tried to take a break, but we just had too much on our plate, you know, new songs that we’ve completed that we’re getting ready to put out with our new label that we chose to be on, Pirates Press.”

After touring almost nonstop for the past several years, Street Dogs announced their hiatus about six months ago, and shortly thereafter, in November, guitarist Tobe Bean announced he was leaving the band.

“Tobe needed a break too, and wanted to pursue other opportunities that he was being offered. We wish him well and we love him like a brother still. It was definitely an amicable departure, no hard feelings or problems,” McColgan says.

Possibly the biggest news — other than the fact that McColgan doesn’t live in Boston anymore, but actually in California — is that Darkbuster’s Lenny Lashley may be joining the group:

“We’re going to tour as a five-piece. Right now we’re in talks with Lenny Lashley from Darkbuster come on board and, at least temporarily be a part of the group. Personally, I would prefer him to permanently be part of the group because he’s a great songwriter. He’s a great person first and foremost. He’s someone that I’ve always looked up to as a performer, a singer, a writer and a person, both inside the scene and outside of it. He stated an interest to do tours with us and we’re looking to take him out for the next two tours that we have and we’ll see where that takes us. But it’s exciting to possibly have him in the mix.”

Street Dogs released their last album, which was self-titled, in 2010. They contributed a track to Oi! This Is Streetpunk, Vol. 2, on Pirates Press recently, and 2013 will continue to be a busy year: the band has a seven-inch single forthcoming, as well as live album and a DVD, and will begin touring in July.

To read the entire interview, visit DyingScene.com. Watch below for Verbicide’s footage of Street Dogs at Punk Rock Bowling 2012.