Ska-maniacs the Mighty Mighty Bosstones are thriving and surviving after
eight years and show that they are more than just another
party band with "Let's Face It."
by Jim Meyer

When you think Mighty Mighty Bosstones, you think loud! Boston's eight-man,horn-honking ska-rock band plays loud and looks even louder in their trademark tacky plaid. The ensemble's sweat-drenched stage moves and aggressive energy raises visions of an American answer to Bad Manners. But a closer look at the band's progress suggests thatthe band's rowdy, rude image is a relic from its more raucous early albums such as "Devil's Night Out" and "More Noise and Other Distractions." Nagged by put-downs that they just another sloppy party band, the Bosstones sobered up a little on "Don't Know How to Party" (1993) and wisened up on the political "Question the Answers'' (1994). With the release of its fifth album, "Let's Face It," the Bosstones continue their musical maturation into a groovier soul and ska mixture while the lyrics take a deeper, darker look at American culture. The album title asks for truth and announces to the world that the Bosstones will survive and thrive eight years into their run. We spoke with singer/songwriter Dicky Barrett about thriving and surviving as the Bosstones enter their eighth year together.

LIB: The first question is: Let's face what?

Dicky Barrett: Just what it means to be Bosstones, and what it means to be ourselves. We have a lot of people who really like the band, but it's never necessarily the cool thing, which is OK with me. But it's also something you run from and you begin to think, "Why are these lesser bands considered cooler?" After a while, you just come to grips with it. "We're Bosstones. Let's face it." Ultimately I'm very proud of it.

LIB: At this point, the Bosstones aren't the country's top-selling ska-rock band yet you've maintained a very loyal core audience, particularly on the road. How do you account for that?

DB: Because we're the guys who come to your town, and we have been for eight or nine years. We're not the guys who got on your TV, we're the people who really showed up. There are examples of bands--I don't think I have to name them--who showed up on [MTV's] Buzz Bin, then they tried to come to your city and people say "No. Who are you? I'm not going to think you're cool just because a handful of guys at MTV said you were cool. You're gonna have to court me a bit more." But we're the guys who took you out to dinner. We had a first, a second and a third date.

LIB: The lyrics of the song "Let's Face It" make a different point than the album title. What is it that made you take on the topic of racism?

DB: That kind of comes from the view of exhaustion, really. I'm not a brilliant man, but I'm smart enough to know you can't tell your enemies from the color of their skin or their sexual preference or religious beliefs. To judge somebody that way is just ridiculous. There are enough things we can direct our energy to, but hating someone you don't know is exasperating. Sometimes it seems like we haven't gotten anywhere on this issue. We're really far away from the segregation of the '60s and the Civil War, but some people still want to keep up these barriers. At some point you just have to say, fuck it. We're all equal.

LIB: Contrary to your nonstop party image, there are some pretty ominous songs on this album such as "The Impression That I Get" or "Break So Easily."

DB: "The Impression" is sort of about our generation having it a lot easier than generations past; thinking of Holocaust survivors and young men who went to Vietnam. We didn't have anything like that, and I'm not wishing it. When I examined it I realized I haven't dealt with much tragedy, god forbid, but I have friends who have. On "Breaks So Easily," our trombonist Dennis [Brockenborough], told me a story about being within 10 feet of someone who got shot in his neighborhood. It reminds you of how fragile life is and to come to grips with life right now because within a second, anything can just snuff you out.

LIB: But you've kept something of your lighter side on "Desensitized."

DB: Well, Johnny Vegas [saxophonist Joe Burton] is a huge conspiracy man. One of his stranger [conspiracies] is that country & western line dancing is a government conspiracy. It's that whole bread and circuses thing: Give them line dancing, keep them in line, have them dance, and all will be well. Line dancing isn't fun. No one likes it. The song isn't about that, but that's how far he'll go with some of this stuff.

LIB: Finally, how do you deal with ska as a popular music? It seems like it never goes away, but just fades in and out from time to time.

DB: When I started listening to ska music it was around the second wave of it. I liked punk rock and I liked its message, but ska had really talented people saying the same kind of things. There are ska bands that exist who are not getting the attention of some bands who aren't as good, or who certainly aren't as purely ska. The Stubborn All-Stars, the Pie Tasters, Bim Skala Bim and Hepcat are really good ska bands. I'm hoping that while it's in vogue or whatever, they get the attention they deserve. But whether it comes or goes, we're just trying to be the Bosstones and I think we stand a chance of being the best Bosstones ever. When the dust settles, I hope we're remembered for creating something, for being different, not being imitators. We may or may not achieve it, but that's our vision.