The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones

by Jennifer Stones

New technology. New radio rotation. New video film stock. And a new genius every week. It's a pressure cooker, that business of making music. But don't ask the Mighty Mighty Bosstones to explain the the complexities of the industry. With the release of Let's Face It, their fifth full-length album in eight years, the octet from Boston still doesn't give a shit.

If it seems as though it's raining ska in mainstream music these days, it is only fitting to point the finger at the Bosstones. Past tunes like "Someday I Suppose" and "Simmer Down" sent skank waves through commercial radio stations everywhere. The Bosstones, however, don't care. They maintain that they've done absolutely nothing to bring the genre to the forefront of the current music scene.

They are and have always been a feel-good combination of ska and punk. The Bosstones began in the '80s with vocalist Dicky Barrett, a then 13-year-old guitarist named Nate Albert, sax man Tim Burton, a hardcore bassist named Joe Gittleman, and "Bosstone" Ben Carr. Since then, drummers have changed, the horn section has expanded, labels have shifted, and attendance at their live shows has increased. As their communicable current single, "The Impression That I Get," spreads out across the nation, the Bosstones remain indifferent.

"Trends have come and trends have gone... and we'll still be the Bosstones on the other side of it," says Barrett, as he discusses his charmed life in the most resilient of Ska bands.

SLAMM: Five albums later. That kind of says longevity doesn't it?

Barrett: Says nothing better to do.

SLAMM: Eight years ago, you were experimenting with punk and ska Ñ a unique hybrid that wasn't exactly safe. Where did you think your style would take you?

Barrett: Eight years ago we were fucking around. We wanted to hang out, meet other bands, drink for free and meet girls. We never set out to accomplish anything. We were doing everything we wanted to do and it was a blast. There was no bad time. No painful journey. We ate Ramen [noodles] and we liked it. It didn't suck being poor because we were playing music and having a good time. Exactly what we wanted to do.

SLAMM: You've been able to meander from classic ska using elements of punk and heavier guitar. Is ska a limited realm for you?

Barrett: I can't speak for ska. I can only speak for us. It's all of the elements together that make us who we are. That's us. We're not a genre. We're just the Bosstones.

SLAMM: But how much of a role has ska played throughout the evolution of your music?

Barrett: It's the core, yes. The earlier stuff you could say is edgier. More raw. But we've always done what's felt right to us. Our sound is not a formula, so naturally it's going to change.

SLAMM: Let's Face It is definitely diverse. "Nevermind Me" sounds like HŸsker DŸ. "Royal Oil" is straight ska and the first single is your trademark fusion. Take me through the formative stages of such a varied album.

Barrett: We never set out to make it that way. We didn't say, "Oh, time for a punk song. Time for a metal song. Time for ska." We really took our time with this album and recorded a lot of songs. Maybe 30 or something. First and foremost, it's important that a song sound good to us. It has to be pleasing to me. We like different styles of music that end up, a lot of the time, thrown together in the same song. For this album, we didn't want to release it before we felt like it was done.

SLAMM: And how does a guy like [producer] Sean Slade help you? He's gotten very popular, especially after helping bands like Hole and Radiohead.

Barrett: He's been with us since the beginning and he and [producer] Paul Kolderie have evolved along with us. They know the history, so they have an understanding of things.

SLAMM: How does Let's Face It compare with your Taang! releases?

Barrett: Anything on Taang! sucks because just the fact that it's on Taang! taints it. They are the most evil, crooked people in the music industry.

SLAMM: What about the music?

Barrett: Oh, the music is good. I'd say it's accidentally gotten better.

SLAMM: "The Impression That I Get" is played every hour on the hour on radio here in San Diego. It's always your hybrid songs like "Someday I Suppose" or "Where'd You Go?" that seem to end up on the radio. Why is that?

Barrett: I don't know. Other people choose the single, not me. We didn't set out to make it radio friendly. We'd have surely fucked it up then. There are people at Mercury who will jump out windows if it doesn't do well, but you know what, and I can't stress this enough, it only matters if I like it. If other people like it then that's nice. If a deejay likes it and they want to play it all day, then that's great too. But, I've got to like [the songs] and that's all that matters.

SLAMM: But social consciousness matters to the band too right? Radio listeners and television viewers might think of you guys as this plaid party band with the large dancing guy, but your lyrics talk a lot about racism and sexism and homophobia. The Bosstones even released a compilation album to benefit family planning clinics. So it seems you are sending a message to people.

Barrett: We're not idiots. It's not done to wave a flag or to get attention. We don't do it because we want to save everybody or tell them how to live. It's not important to our careers. It just feels good to us. It's more of who we are and less of a message to people. We use our hearts and our heads and we're making the music we want to make. That will always stay the same.