Well, yes - for stupid reasons having little to do with quality.
Fortunately for Ireland's long-running and wondrous rock band, the Saw Doctors, fame has never been either a goal or a factor. They've certainly become successful over the course of 20 years and nine stirring albums of energized melody and archival Irish flavor, but being rock musicians is simply what they do.
"If we postured as rock stars around here, that wouldn't work. We'd be ridiculed," laughs Leo Moran, the band's co-founding guitarist/songwriter. He's calling from Galway shortly before the Doctors head to the States on a tour that brings them tonight to the Mohegan Sun Wolf Den. "I live in the same house I always have, I have the same friends, and there's no rock 'n' roll lifestyle to it. We've written a few songs that some people like, and it's enabled us to play a few places. We've been lucky."
On their lastest record, last fall's "The Further Adventures of the Saw Doctors," this attitude is beautifully reflected through the prism of musicans who've reached middle age and have matured in several respects. Tunes like "Someone Loves You," "Indian Summer," "Friday Town," "Goodbye Again" and "Songs and Stars" are glorious vignettes of life and characters, mellowly filtered with wistfulness and even melancholy.
"Well, yes, I suppose we've gotten older," Moran reflects. "You can't keep doing the same thing over and over again. At the same time, we're very harsh on ourselves. We started this album four different times. I think we did the best we could and I like the songs, but it becomes hard to judge."
If there is very little of the punk energy that typified iconic earlier albums like "If This is Rock 'n' Roll, I Want My Old Job Back" or "All the Way From Tuam," the adhesive hooks and Irish-hometown flavor of "Adventures" is stronger than ever. Moran is asked if two earlier bands, The Waterboys and Big Country - groups who pioneered the fusion between indigenous ancestral sounds and modern rock - influenced the Saw Doctors.
"It's funny you should mention them," Moran says. "I did an interview a few days ago on my old college radio station and got to play a few records. I chose the Waterboys and Big Country. Really special bands - and, yes, they impressed us greatly."
Given the Saw Doctors' proud Irish heritage, Moran says touring internationally is invaluable. Not only does it get the word out about the band and enable them to connect with and perform for fans, but being on the road also has an interesting creative effect.
"Being in the States, for example, is a very different experience," he says. "We love it, and after a day or two you get used to the changes, but when you return and settle back in, there's a very fresh perspective that maybe you'd overlooked before you went away. It definitely helps the writing process."
The Saw Doctors,
8 tonight, Mohegan Sun Wolf Den; free; 1-888-226-7711, mohegansun.com.
03/03/11 >> 
