Mighty Mighty Bosstones Interview (Big Cheese Issue 102)

Boss Tuneage

After a five year hiatus the Bostonian kings of original American skacore the Mighty Mighty Bosstones are back, back, back!

When the badly kept secret of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones reuniting to play the Hometown Throwdown in Boston around Christmas 2007 was uncovered, it became news that their longtime fans were longing for. The Bosstones had fully recharged their batteries and were ready to take over the world once again.

“It feels really good. Now it doesn’t feel like not so much time has gone by. It feels a little more familiar than I thought. I certainly wouldn’t have pushed to get it going if I wasn’t looking forward to it,” said bassist Joe Gittleman, about the band reuniting, minutes before they play their first Los Angeles show since 2003, headlining a sold out Hollywood Avalon.

Coming together in 1985, the Bosstones created'ska-core', a sound that fused ska with a punk and hardcore edge Influenced by a wide array of music from 2-tone ska to bands like AC/DC, Motorhead, the Clash and Stiff Little Fingers, the Bosstones slowly created a following that many bands wished they could have. From their early years on the 'Mash It Up!' compilation and their debut release, 'Mashing Up The Nation!' through the Taang! Records era and through the major label years, the band has a following that has stood up strong for over two decades.

While the likes of 'The Impression That I Get' rocketed up the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, the Bosstones also contributed 'Where'd You Go?' to the 1994 Alicia Silverstone movie 'Clueless', as well as recording a cover of KISS's 'Detroit Rock City' for the 1994 tribute CD 'Kiss My Ass'. They also made appearances on the 1997 Vans Warped Tour and the 1995 Lollapollooza tour, as well as opening for Aerosmith on New Year's Eve in Boston in 1994.

After recording seven full length records, three EPs, a live record and countless seven inch singles released across the globe, one thing was clear, the Bosstones had transcended trends and scenes. “We were packing places. We had a lot of people supporting the band long before ska was popular,” remembers Gittleman: “When we were touring in 1990 to 1994, there were some metal years in there. There was Nirvana in there. Being a ska band wasn’t an easier or popular thing to be. I feel like we’ve been immune to it because we never really wanted to do anything but what we wanted to do, and didn’t really care. There was a summer there or two summers when a lot of people liked ska music. Now a lot of the people obviously don’t. But the people who supported the Bosstones from the beginning still do. It’s a good position to be in where you have people who are willing to put energy into the thing you like to do.”

The Mighty Bosstones recorded three new songs and compiled a number of B-sides and unreleased tracks onto a new CD called 'Medium Rare' through their own label Big Rig Records, giving long-time fans songs that were previously available on hard-to-find import seven inch singles or on assorted compilations. “When we left the major label we were on, we wrote it into our agreement that we could release a bunch of those songs. A lot of those songs had been on vinyl or a lot of people had shitty versions of them. We didn’t have the rights to release all of the extra songs, but we had it to release a bunch. We picked our favorites of those and recorded a few new songs, and even though it had been recorded over ten years, we tried to turn it into a cohesive thing as we could. Working on new tunes was fun. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to do more of that.”

Prior to the LA show, they played five shows at the Middle East in Boston and a New Years Eve show in Providence, Rhode Island. These were their first shows in a few years, and they quickly became reacquainted to the vibe again. “It was weird. The first night felt like it had been a long time. By the second night, it felt like it was the same routine. The same jokes still apply. You fall back into the groove of playing the songs. It was pretty easy to get comfortable with it.”

During the hiatus, each member moved onto different projects. The most public was Barrett, who briefly had his own morning radio show on LA’s Indie 103.1 FM from 2005 to 2006. He is also the announcer on the popular late night US television show 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' Gittleman fronted Avoid One Thing, which released two CDs through SideOneDummy Records. He also tour managed Flogging Molly, as well as worked at SideOneDummy as in house producer and A & R. “Joe Sirois [drums] played in the Street Dogs for a number of years. Ben Carr had a son, works and lives in Providence, Rhode Island. Tim Burton [saxophone] lives up in Florida and does some movie production stuff. Chris Rhodes [trombone] hangs out in Connecticut and played with the Toasters,” adds Gittleman.

Their return was not planned as most would speculate. While nearly half of the band relocated to Los Angeles from their native Boston, they began contacting members about starting the band up again. “I did a lot of the pushing for it. It wasn’t long before everybody was excited and involved. I started talking to Dicky [Barrett] about it probably about a year before we did it. There was a lot of planning and getting everybody on the same page and ready to go.”

Around the time they released their last studio record, 2003’s 'A Jackknife to a Swan', internal burnout from consistent touring was felt and priorities shifted towards other projects amongst each member of the band. “By that point, it had been ten solid years of touring or more -thirteen years,” said Gittleman: “I think it’s not something that we should do if we’re not enjoying or able to put everything into it. Out of respect for what we had created, it felt like a good time to put it aside. We never talked about how long it would be. Everybody started doing other things. One year turned into two, three, four and five. Then it seemed like it would be a good time to revisit it and see the guys again.”

As for a new full length release, Gittleman did not have a definite answer towards whether that would definitely happen. “It’s not really discussing it at all. It’s definitely something I’d like to see us do. It takes a lot of time, finding the time, and having it is something that we’d give our all to.”