The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
are an American third wave ska band from Boston, Massachusetts.
Formed in 1983, [1] the Bosstones are credited with the creation of the ska-core genre, a form of music that mixes elements of third wave ska and hardcore punk. The band released seven full-length albums, three EPs and a live album while touring continuously before their announcement of a hiatus in December 2003. They reunited in the fall of 2007 and performed together for the first time in four years at Boston's Middle East club. The band has continued to tour and record since.
In December 2007, the band released a compilation album, Medium Rare
, their first release since the band reunited earlier that year. The band is scheduled to release their first studio album, in seven years, in late 2009.
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THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES TICKETS
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History
Early history (1983–1988)
The band's roots lay in the
hardcore scene of the early 1980s along with a strong influence from the British
2 Tone ska scene of the 1970s. Bassist
Joe Gittleman played with local hardcore band
Gang Green, while vocalist
Dicky Barrett was a member of Impact Unit and, later on, the Cheap Skates. The Cheap Skates lineup changed continually and would feature members of
Gang Green on occasion. It was through the Cheap Skates that a lineup coalesced around a core of Barrett, Gittleman,
Tim Burton (saxophone),
Nate Albert (guitar), Josh Dalsimer (drums), Tim Brideswell (trumpet) and Ben Carr (a ubiquitous, dancing non-musician onstage presence, later credited as "Bosstone"). The group decided on the name, "the Bosstones" as a reference to their hometown. While some of the band members were influenced by bands such as
AC/DC,
Social Distortion,
Motörhead,
The Clash and
Stiff Little Fingers, Barrett had become enthralled with
2 Tone ska, which was in the tail end of its existence.
"For me, having grown up...going to shows in the Boston scene, they were the first band to take...in my eyes, from my personal experience... to take ska music, punk rock and hardcore and mold it all together. And the shows were frenetic, sweaty and communal, everybody was united, there was stage diving, massive circle pits, walls of death. Easily one of the best shows I've ever seen."
- Mike McColgan in an interview featured on the "Road to the Throwdown" mini series.
In 1987, the Bosstones made their recorded debut when they were featured on the
Mash It Up
ska compilation. The Bosstones' contribution was "The Cave." Another early recording, "Drums and Chickens," appeared on the 1989 ska compilation
Mashin' Up The Nation.
By the time
Mashin' Up The Nation
was released, the Bosstones had temporarily disbanded in order for Albert and Gittleman to finish high school. After their graduation, the band reunited. Around this time, it was brought to the band's attention that an
a cappella group,
The Bosstones, had already used the name during the 1950s. A bartender friend arbitrarily suggested that they become the "Mighty Mighty Bosstones", in order to avoid any possible legal hassles, to which the band agreed.
Taang! years (1989–1992)
Despite not having a large draw at their live shows (outside of Boston, where they were routinely selling out such venues as The Channel and
The Rathskeller in
Kenmore Square), the
Taang! record label gave the band a record deal which would result in the
Devil's Night Out
album, produced by
Paul Q. Kolderie. The album was released to positive local and lukewarm national reaction during a time when
ska was struggling to move out of the American underground. The band found resistance from ska purists who did not like that the band were not playing traditional ska while
hardcore fans were against the ska and heavy metal elements in the music. Despite the initial reaction,
Devil's Night Out
has gone on to become one of the band's most popular albums.
It was during this time that the band's trademark
plaid clothing came to be. After a show where Barrett wore plaid, fans started to show up wearing it as well. It was noticeable enough that the band was approached by the
Converse sneaker company to promote their new line of
Chuck Taylor sneakers. The band accepted the proposal and were seen in several television commercials promoting the sneakers.
By this time, Tim Bridewell had left the band only to be replaced by
Dennis Brockenborough (trombone) and Kevin Lenear (saxophone). The band's next release was an EP entitled
Where'd You Go?
. The EP featured the title track as well a cover versions of
Aerosmith's "
Sweet Emotion",
Metallica's "
Enter Sandman",
Van Halen's "
Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love" and a new version of "Do Somethin' Crazy", originally featured on
Devil's Night Out.
In 1991, the band set out on their first full American tour. It was during the first leg of touring that drummer Josh Dalsimer would leave the band to pursue a college education. He would be replaced by
Joe Sirois, who Barrett met at
Bunker Hill Community College. Sirois would immediately join his new bandmates in the recording studio to start work on the band's second album.
Once again produced by
Paul Q. Kolderie,
More Noise and Other Disturbances
was released in 1991. The band would film a video for the song "Where'd You Go?" which had previously been available on the EP of the same name (though the band had also recorded a video for "Guns and the Young", the video wasn't finished until a few years after it was recorded).
Mainstream success and Big Rig Records (1993–2001)
The band signed to their first major label when they joined the
Mercury Records roster and soon recorded the
Ska-Core, The Devil, and More
EP. Released in 1993, it was largely a collection of
cover songs. Four of the seven tracks paid homage to the band's influences:
The Angry Samoans' "Lights Out",
Minor Threat's "Think Again",
SSD's "Police Beat" and
The Wailers' "
Simmer Down". Three live tracks were included as well. The EP contained one new studio track "Someday I Suppose," which would later appear on the band's third full-length album.
Produced by Tony Platt, the band's third LP,
Don't Know How To Party
contained a cover of
Stiff Little Fingers' song "Tin Soldiers" as well as a vocal appearance by Daryl Jennifer of
Bad Brains. A video was also filmed for "Someday I Suppose" and it received minor airplay on
MTV. Though the footage was originally intended to serve as a promo for the Bosstones debut on Mercury, the label liked the footage and turned it into a single. The band would also appear on the 1994
Kiss My Ass
tribute to
Kiss album, covering "Detroit Rock City".
Mercury Records was so impressed by the track that it was released as a single, appearing on 7-inch green vinyl and backed by the original Kiss version of the song. Soon after, the band found themselves personally invited by fellow Bostonian
Steven Tyler, to open up for
Aerosmith at their
New Year's Eve concert in Boston. While it was not the most successful show the Bosstones had played, it ensured that the Bosstones started 1994 on the road as they had intended.
Big Rig Records started when the band wanted to release their records on vinyl. While Mercury showed no interest at first, they eventually allowed the band to start their own
vanity label. Mercury continued to handle the conventional CD and cassette versions of the albums while Big Rig would focus on the vinyl editions. The new label immediately issued re-releases of
Don't Know How To Party
and
Ska-core, the Devil and More
on colored vinyl. Later releases would also include re-releases by Barrett's former hardcore band, Impact Unit.
The band released their fourth album,
Question the Answers,
in 1994. The album featured production work by the Butcher Brothers,
Paul Q. Kolderie and Ross Humphrey. The Big Rig vinyl version of the album contained "Pirate Ship" as an extra track. Besides touring, the band found itself making their network television debut on
The Jon Stewart Show and hosting
MTV's 120 Minutes. They also contributed a new version of "
Where'd You Go?" to the
Alicia Silverstone movie
Clueless
. The band also made an appearance in the film, performing the songs "Where'd You Go?" and "Someday I Suppose" during a college party scene. On top of their TV and film appearances, the band was added to the main stage of the 1995
Lollapalooza tour. Mercury set about repromoting
Question the Answers
by adding a second disc with five
B-side tracks. The EP was titled
Here We Go Again
and it was compiled by Barrett at the request of Mercury.
After touring as part of the 1997
Warped Tour, the Bosstones began work on their next studio album. Released later that year,
Let's Face It
, would prove to be the band's biggest break, mostly due to the first single "
The Impression That I Get," which charted at number one on the Billboard charts. The album was followed by
Video Stew
, a
VHS compilation of the band's twelve music videos. The mainstream exposure led to the band's appearance on
Sesame Street's
Elmopalooza
album and television special. In it, the band performs the song "The Zig Zag Dance" with the classic
Muppet,
The Count. The band also made their
Saturday Night Live debut performing "The Impression That I Get". Capitalizing on the band's new found popularity, Mercury released the band's live album,
Live From the Middle East
in October 1998. The album was recorded live in Cambridge, Massachusetts at
The Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub during the band's annual end-of-the-year "Hometown Throwdown" from 1997. In 1999, the band contributed their cover version of the song, "Rudie Can't Fail," to the
Burning London
Clash tribute compilation. Shortly after all of these releases, Kevin Lenear quit the band to work on his own material and was replaced by Roman Fleysher. Founding member Nate Albert also left in order to obtain a degree in
political theory from
Brown University. His next musical venture would be as a member of
Evan Dando’s re-formed
Lemonheads before forming
The Kickovers, which focused more on a 1970's punk sound than ska. Albert eventually became involved in band management, handling bands such as
Bayside and
Lost City Angels. Albert's replacement on guitar was Lawrence Katz.
In 2000, the band released
Pay Attention
which failed to meet expectations set by the previous album. One single, "So Sad To Say," was released but it never reached a position higher than twenty-two on the Billboard charts. Ultimately, the album did not sell as well as their previous release. This was to be the band's last album with Mercury Records, who along with
Island Records,
Def Jam Records and
Polygram, had become part of the
Universal Music Group who subsequently merged
Island Records and
Def Jam Recordings forming the new
Island Def Jam label. The band, unhappy with the way the newly formed label had been handling them, asked for a release from their contract, to which the label agreed. "Pay Attention" was also the last album for Dennis Brockenborough who had already formed his own band, Chubby, for which he sang and played guitar. Brockenborough's replacement was former
Spring Heeled Jack member, Chris Rhodes. Spring Heeled Jack had broken up in 2000 and Rhodes had recently taken a vacant trombone position with
Bim Skala Bim when he received the invitation to join.
Return to the independents (2002–2003)
The band soon announced their return to an independent label when they signed with
SideOneDummy Records. In July 2002, the band released
A Jackknife to a Swan
and from it the song "You Gotta Go!" was released as a single and video. The band continued to tour but in December 2003, they announced their decision to go on a hiatus and were forced to forgo that year's Hometown Throwdown. One contributing factor was that several band members were reported to already be busy with other bands and side projects. Another factor was that the band had been touring, almost non-stop, since 1991, and some of the band members desired a break.
Hiatus (2004–2006)
After the hiatus announcement, several members went on to work on other projects and bands. Barrett became the announcer on
ABC's
Jimmy Kimmel Live
late night talk show. In 2005, he became the host of the
Mighty Morning Show
on
Los Angeles radio's
Indie 103.1 FM. In March 2006, he was dismissed from the radio station.
[2]
Before the hiatus announcement, Gittleman had formed a second band named
Avoid One Thing. The band released two albums on SideOneDummy before announcing their own hiatus.
Sirois recorded and toured with Nate Albert's next band, Kickovers, and also played drums for the
Street Dogs and
Frank Black. In 2008, Sirois became the new drummer for
Jackson United.
Rhodes went on to play with
The Toasters until his departure in 2006. Rhodes also performed with former
Spring Heeled Jack bandmate Rick Omonte in The Mountain Movers and as a fill-in trombonist for
Less Than Jake,
Reel Big Fish, and
NOFX.
Fleysher continued his pursuit of a professional pilot's license. In 2005, after taking classes near his home in South Florida and working as a flight instructor in his spare time, he was hired as an airline pilot for
CommutAir, a Continental Airlines regional affiliate based in Plattsburgh, NY. After a short stint there he began flying as a charter pilot in Los Angeles, CA.
Burton and his family moved to Los Angeles where he became active in the movie business. Besides working for a Hollywood agent, he wrote several scripts and developed projects for television. He also contributed saxophone for a
Cypress Hill song. In 2007, he appeared in the film
Crazy
, which was inspired by the life of
Hank Garland.
Katz has since formed a new band called Resistant. Katz has also played guitar on several motion picture soundtracks including
Aquamarine,
The Good Night and
London, the latter recorded in collaboration with
The Crystal Method.
Reunion and the future (2007–present)
Due to the fact that the band left the possibility of playing together again open, rumors and speculation frequently circulated that a reunion was inevitable. The hiatus of Joe Gittleman's band, Avoid One Thing, fueled further speculation of such a reunion.
During an AP Acoustic Session, members of fellow Boston area
ska band
Big D and the Kids Table hinted that the Bosstones were in fact reuniting for another Hometown Throwdown. Jerry Mattes, the creator of the band's bulldog mascot also acknowledged the chances of a reunion and announced that he was designing a new logo for the band.
[3]
On October 11, 2007, on Boston Radio Station
WBCN,
Dicky Barrett confirmed what he called "the worst kept secret in Boston": the announcement that the Bosstones would indeed play a 10th official Hometown Throwdown at Cambridge's famed
Middle East club on December 26-30, 2007. Barrett would not confirm any long-term plans for the band.
Soon after Barrett's announcement, Joe Gittleman declared that the band intended to record three new songs to be included on an upcoming collection of unreleased material and vinyl b-sides. The album, titled
Medium Rare
, was released on December 18, 2007.
[4] The three new songs mark the first new material recorded since the 2002 release of
A Jackknife to a Swan
.
After the 2007 Throwdown, the Bosstones played a few shows every couple of months. At two of the March shows in
Las Vegas and
Los Angeles,
Jimmy Kimmel served as a guest star on
bass clarinet during
The Impression That I Get. Former saxophonist Kevin Lenear rejoined the band, replacing Roman Fleysher, whose job prevented him from being able to play with the band. Despite the activity, the Bosstones were non-committal on whether they would record and release a studio album, at the time. They did make it known that they would no longer tour non-stop, year round again like they had been known for in the past.
On May 15, 2008, it was reported that the Bosstones would be doing a short
US tour in July with the
Dropkick Murphys.
[5] During the tour, the Bosstones made three stops at
Boston Red Sox minor league ballparks. These stops were in
Lowell, MA (July 10),
Portland, ME (July 11), and
Pawtucket, RI (July 12).
Recently, "Where'd You Go?" was featured as a playable song in
Rock Band 2. The version used is a rerecording done by the Bosstones in 2008.
On October 20, 2008, their website announced that they would play an 11th Hometown Throwdown on December 26–29 at the Middle East Club in Cambridge, MA, at
Toad's Place in New Haven, CT on December 30 (playfully titled the "Rhodestown Throwdown"- New Haven is trombonist Chris Rhodes' home town) and a New Year's Eve show at Lupo's in Providence.
On November 4, 2008, a MySpace blog announced the recording of a new album (their eighth, not counting
Medium Rare
), with two songs, "The Impossible Dream" and "Next to Nothing" streaming on the page. The band has since announced the completion of tracking on July 29.
[6] The album is expected to be released in 2009 but an official release date has yet to be announced.
The band has continued to tour through the summer of 2009 with shows in
Providence, Rhode Island,
Asbury Park, New Jersey,
Seattle, Washington,
San Francisco, California,
Anaheim, California,
Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, and
Victoria, British Columbia where they perfomed at the
Victoria Ska Fest with
Voodoo Glow Skulls,
The Slackers and
Chris Murray.
Band members
;Current lineup
- Dicky Barrett – lead vocals
- Joe Gittleman "the Bass Fiddleman" – bass guitar
- Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton – saxophone
- Ben Carr – manager, dancer and "Bosstone"
- Joe Sirois – drums and percussion
- Kevin Lenear – saxophone
- Lawrence Katz – guitar
- Chris Rhodes – trombone
;Former members and contributors
- Nate Albert – guitar
- Tim Bridewell – trombone
- Josh Dalsimer – drums
- Davey Holmes – keyboards
- Roman Fleysher – saxophone
- Dennis Brockenborough – trombone
- Brian Dwyer – trumpet
- Kevin P. Stevenson – guitar
- Dave Aaronoff – keyboards
- Sledge Burton – trumpet
- Jon Nash – guitar
Discography
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones have released the following studio albums:
- Devil's Night Out
(1989)
- More Noise and Other Disturbances
(1991)
- Don't Know How to Party
(1993)
- Question the Answers
(1994)
- Let's Face It
(1997)
- Pay Attention
(2000)
- A Jackknife to a Swan
(2002)
Notes
- Guitar World | Mighty Mighty Bosstones
- Reed, Mack. "Dicky Barrett Speaks: 'I Was Fired that Day'", LAVoice.org, 24 March 2006.
- Alternative Press MEDIA
- Punknews.org | Mighty Mighty Bosstones to record new music for upcoming collection
- Punknews.org | Dropkick Murphys / The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
- http://twitter.com/mmbosstones/statuses/2921310742