The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2010) |
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones | |
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Background information | |
Also known as |
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Origin | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Genres | |
Years active |
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Labels | |
Past members | Dicky Barrett Tim Burton Ben Carr Joe Gittleman John Goetchius Lawrence Katz Chris Rhodes Leon Silva Joe Sirois Nate Albert Tim Bridwell Dennis Brockenborough Josh Dalsimer Roman Fleysher Kevin Lenear |
Website | www |
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (informally referred to as The Bosstones and often stylized as The Mighty Mighty BossToneS) were an American
The Bosstones are often credited as one of the progenitors of the genre of
On January 27, 2022, the band announced their disbandment.[6][7]
History
Early history (1983–1988)
The band's roots lie in the hardcore punk scene of the early 1980s, along with a strong influence from the British
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", and "Ugly". 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 consistently drawing large crowds at their live shows, the Taang! record label gave the band a recording contract which would result in the Devil's Night Out album, produced by Paul Q. Kolderie.[8] 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.[citation needed]
It was during this time that the band's trademark
By this time, Tim Bridewell had left the band, to be replaced by Dennis Brockenborough (trombone) and Kevin Lenear (saxophone). The band's next release was an EP titled Where'd You Go?. The EP featured the title track as well as 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.[8]
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 June 1992.[8] 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 was not finished until a few years after it was recorded.
During this era, the band published a newsletter for their fans titled 737.
Mainstream success and Big Rig Records (1993–2001)
The band signed to their first major label when they joined the
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 released it 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 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.
The band released their fourth album,
After touring as part of the 1996
Capitalizing on the band's popularity, Mercury released the band's live album,
In 2000, the band released
SideOneDummy and hiatus (2002–2006)
The band 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.
After the hiatus announcement, several members went on to work on other projects and bands. Barrett became the announcer on
Before the hiatus announcement, Gittleman had already formed a side project band named Avoid One Thing featuring members of Darkbuster, the Raging Teens and Spring Heeled Jack. The band released two albums for SideOneDummy before announcing their own hiatus in 2005.
Sirois recorded and toured with Nate Albert's next band, Kickovers, and also played drums for the
Rhodes went on to play with The Toasters until his departure in 2006. Rhodes had just joined Bim Skala Bim before the Bosstones' hiatus came to an end and left Bim Skala Bim as a result. He 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
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 formed a band named Resistant. Katz has also played guitar on several motion picture soundtracks including
Reunion and breakup (2007–2022)
Because 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
On October 11, 2007, on Boston Radio Station
After the 2007 Throwdown, the Bosstones played a few shows every couple of months. At two of the March shows in
On May 15, 2008, it was reported that the Bosstones would be embarking on a short United States tour in July with the Dropkick Murphys.[12] During the tour, the Bosstones made three stops at Boston Red Sox minor league ballparks. On October 20, 2008, their website announced that they would return to the Middle East in Cambridge to play an eleventh Hometown Throwdown on December 26–29. In late 2008, the game Rock Band 2 was released and featured a re-recorded version of "Where'd You Go?" that the band had recorded earlier in the year. On November 4, 2008, a MySpace blog announced the recording of a new album, and streamed two new songs, "The Impossible Dream" and "Next to Nothing". On July 29, 2009, the band announced the completion of tracking for the album. On October 16, 2009, the album title was announced to be Pin Points and Gin Joints and a free download of the song "Graffiti Worth Reading" was made available. The release date was later stated as December 8, 2009.
The band continued to tour through the summer of 2009 with shows in
In August 2011, Chris Rhodes posted a Facebook update stating that The Mighty Mighty Bosstones had begun work on their next album.[13] The album, titled The Magic of Youth, was released on December 6, 2011.
March 2017 saw the release of their first recording in six years with a limited edition vinyl 7" featuring a cover version of the Burt Bacharach song, "What the World Needs Now Is Love" backed with the track "I Won’t Go Out Like That". In the time between releases, the lineup saw the addition of former Cherry Poppin' Daddies keyboard player, John Goetchius in 2008 and Leon Silva in 2016 to replace Kevin Lenear who had departed the band for a second time earlier that same year.
In September 2017, Tim Burton announced in a post Riot Fest interview that the band was working on a new album set for release in early 2018. According to guitarist Lawrence Katz and producer Ted Hutt's Instagram accounts, recording started on Friday, November 17 at Kingsize Soundlabs in Los Angeles, California. The new album's title was announced to be While We're at It.[14]
While We're at It, the band's tenth album, was released on June 15, 2018. It is the final part of a musical trilogy that began with Pin Points and Gin Joints in 2009 followed by The Magic of Youth in 2011.
On January 25, 2021, it was announced that the Mighty Mighty Bosstones had signed a new record contract with Hellcat Records. In conjunction with the announcement, the band released a new single titled, "The Final Parade" which features guest appearances by Jamaican singer Stranger Cole and members of Rancid, The Interrupters, Fishbone, Stiff Little Fingers, The Suicide Machines, Less Than Jake, Murphy's Law, H2O, Goldfinger, Sonic Boom Six, The Toasters, Bim Skala Bim, Big D and the Kids Table, Doped Up Dollies, The Aggrolites, Dance Hall Crashers, The Aquabats, Buck-O-Nine, The Porkers, The Pietasters, Los Skanarles, Buster Shuffle, Kemuri, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and The Specials.[17]
In March 2021, the band announced their first album since signing to Hellcat Records, When God Was Great, would be released on May 7, 2021, and released the album's second single "I Don't Believe in Anything".[18] The album's third single, "The Killing of King Georgie (Part III)", a song about the murder of George Floyd,[19] was released on April 21, 2021.
On January 27, 2022, the band announced that they had split up. The statement shared by the band reads: "After decades of brotherhood, touring the world and making great records together we have decided not to continue on as a band. Above all, we want to express our sincere gratitude to every single one of you who have supported us. We could not have done any of it without you. Love Always, The Mighty Mighty BossToneS."[7] Although the band chose to keep their reasoning for the split private, speculation suggested that it was over Barrett's stance on COVID-19 vaccines[20] and his participation in the production of a video promoting the "Defeat the Mandates" anti-vaccination mandate rally held by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.[21] In February 2022, Barrett was a guest on The Highwire with Del Bigtree podcast where he confirmed that it was his anti-vaccination views that had made the rest of the band uncomfortable.[22]
Big Rig Records
Big Rig Records started as a vanity label in 1993 due to the band's desire to release their records on vinyl. While the band wanted to release their albums on vinyl, the label had ceased pressing albums in that format. A partnership between Mercury and the band resulted in the label continuing to handle the conventional CD and cassette versions of the albums while allowing the band's Big Rig label to 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.
Besides the band's own albums, additional releases include the first CD release of Dicky Barrett's previous band Impact Unit, as well as Vow Of Poverty by the Boston punk band Mung, and
Musical style
The band has been typically aligned with
Band members
Final lineup
- lead vocals(1983–2004, 2007–2022)
- backing vocals(1983–2004, 2007–2022)
- Ben Carr – dancer, backing vocals, percussion, tour manager and "Bosstone" (1983–2004, 2007–2022)
- Joe Gittleman – bass, backing vocals (1983–2004, 2007–2022)
- percussion(1991–2004, 2007–2022)
- Lawrence Katz – guitar, backing vocals (2000–2004, 2007–2022)
- Chris Rhodes – trombone, backing vocals (2000–2004, 2007–2022)
- John Goetchius – keyboards (2008–2022)
- Leon Silva – alto saxophone, backing vocals (2016–2022)
Former members
- Tim Bridewell – trombone (1983–1991)
- Josh Dalsimer – drums (1983–1991)
- Dennis Brockenborough – trombone (1991–2000)
- Kevin Lenear – alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones (1991–1998; 2008–2016)
- Nate Albert – guitar, backing vocals (1983–2000, 2015 live only, 2020–2022 studio only)
- Roman Fleysher – alto saxophone (1998–2004, 2007–2008; sporadic appearances 2018–2021)
Additional personnel
- Peter Wasilewski - saxophone (touring member)
- Davey Holmes – keyboards
- Brian Dwyer – trumpet
- Kevin P. Stevenson – guitar
- Dave Aaronoff – keyboards
- Sledge Burton – trumpet
- Jon Nash – guitar
Timeline
Discography
- Devil's Night Out (1990)
- More Noise and Other Disturbances (1992)
- 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)
- Pin Points and Gin Joints (2009)
- The Magic of Youth (2011)
- While We're at It (2018)
- When God Was Great (2021)[18]
References
- ^ "Guitar World | Mighty Mighty Bosstones". December 20, 2002. Archived from the original on December 20, 2002. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
- ^ "Mighty Mighty Bosstones Tickets, 2011 Mighty Mighty Bosstones Schedule". AceTicket.com. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
- ^ "The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – Upcoming Shows & Performances". Zvents. November 12, 2008. Archived from the original on October 1, 2011. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
- ^ Lavin, Lauren (July 14, 2020). "The Bizarre History Of Ska Music". Grunge.com. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
- ^ Punknews.org (December 8, 2003). "Bosstones on hiatus / side projects update". www.punknews.org. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
- ^ Johnston, Maura. "The Mighty Mighty Bosstones couldn't have been from anywhere else". Boston Globe. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
- ^ a b Sacher, Andrew (January 27, 2022). "The Mighty Mighty Bosstones break up". BrooklynVegan.
- ^ ISBN 1-84195-017-3.
- ^ Reed, Mack. "Dicky Barrett Speaks: 'I Was Fired that Day'" Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, LAVoice.org, March 24, 2006.
- ^ "Alternative Press MEDIA". Alternative Press. Archived from the original on January 14, 2010.
- ^ "Mighty Mighty Bosstones to record new music for upcoming collection". Punknews.org. October 26, 2007. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
- ^ "Dropkick Murphys / The Mighty Mighty Bosstones". Punknews.org. May 15, 2008. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
- ^ "Mighty Mighty Bosstones working on new album". Punknews.org. August 16, 2011. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
- ^ "Dicky Barrett Says the New Bosstones Album Will Be Angry". diffuser.fm. January 10, 2018. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
- ^ "Mighty Mighty BossTones to Release New Album 'While We're At It' « The Pier Magazine". January 24, 2018.
- ^ "Tim Burton of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones". www.qromag.com. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
- ^ "The Mighty Mighty BossToneS sign with Hellcat, share new song featuring members of Rancid, The Interrupters". kerrang.com. January 26, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
- ^ a b Chesler, Josh (March 3, 2021). "The Mighty Mighty BossToneS Announce When God was Great, Release 'I Don't Believe in Anything'". Spin. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
- ^ "The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Have Reached a Towering Achievement in the Field of "No."". Esquire.com. May 14, 2021.
- ^ "What we know about the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' breakup – the Boston Globe". The Boston Globe.
- ^ "The Mighty Mighty BossTones are very, very broken up". The A.V. Club. January 28, 2022.
- ^ "Episode 255: The Mighty Mighty Brave Ones".
- ^ Uitti, Jacob (March 15, 2021). "The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Premiere New Video for "I DON'T BELIEVE IN ANYTHING"". American Songwriter. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
- ^ Hughes, Josiah. "Mighty Mighty Bosstones At Work On New Material". exclaim!. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
- ^ Trapp, Philip (January 28, 2022). "THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES HAVE BROKEN UP". Loudwire. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
- ^ Fiorello, Vinnie (July 14, 2015). "The 10 best ska-punk bands of the '90s". Louder Sound. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
- ^ Korrs, Ivan. "Ska Punk Band The Mighty Might Bosstones Split: What Could Be The Cause?". Music Times. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
- ^ Considine, J.D. (December 25, 1993). "The Mighty Mighty Bosstones: Plaid to the Bone : Pop music: The clothes, which came before the Mercury deal, are meant to reflect the band's diversity". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
- ^ Perez, Gregory (June 26, 1993). "Those Mighty Mighty Men". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
- ^ Huey, Steve. "The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
- ^ Purcel, Kerry (September 21, 2007). "Mighty Mighty Bosstones Biography". Boston Herald. Retrieved January 29, 2022.