Mighty Mighty Bosstones

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are an American ska/punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, who formed in 1983. The band is comprised of lead vocalist Dicky Barrett, bassist Joe Gittleman, tenor saxophonist Tim “Johnny Vegas” Burton, dancer Ben Carr, drummer Joe Sirois, saxophonist Kevin Lenear, guitarist Lawrence Katz, and trombonist Chris Rhodes. The band's debut album, “Devil's Night Out” appeared in 1989, which the band followed up with a year of extensive touring. The touring paid off as the band's fan base grew from city to city and state to state; taking their music to wider audiences allowed the band to develop a strong and loyal following. The band is unique in their ability to make ska music cross over to mainstream music and become popular. The band have released seven studio albums throughout their long career, took a hiatus 2003, and reunited in 2007 to pick up where they had left off.

The band's musical style was heavily influenced by the 2 Tone Ska movement of 1970s England with bands like The Beat, The Specials, Madness, and Bad Manners, in addition to the hard rock and punk sounds of AC/DC, Social Distortion, Motörhead, The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers. The Taang! record label signed the band and put out their debut album. “Devil's Night Out,” which was met with warm responses at best: ska music was still considered an underground movement in American at the time, and the Bosstones were finding it hard to break out into the mainstream spotlight. The band went through a number of lineup changes over the next few years, and another extensive tour across America. 1992 marked the release of their seconding offering, “More Noise and Other Disturbances,” which prompted an offer from Mercury Records in 1993. With the backing of a major label to promote the band's third album, “Don't Know How to Party,” the band saw more air play on national radio and their video for the single, “Someday I Suppose” went into rotation on MTV. The attention that the band began to attract led to opening up for Aerosmith at their New Year's Eve concert in Boston.

Around this time the band started its own record label, Big Rig Record, while still being signed to Mercury. The band's fourth album, “Question the Answers” (1994), began to put the band on the map. A song off the album was featured in the movie, “Clueless” and more air play came their way. 1997 saw the band on the line-up for the Warped Tour, and begin work on their next studio album. “Let's Face It” was released later that same year and spawned the hit single, “The Impression That I Get,” which peaked at #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Singles Chart. 2000 saw the release of “Pay Attention,” which failed to chart well, and the band parted ways with Mercury Records. The band then signed with indie label, SideOneDummy Records and released “A Jackknife to a Swan” in 2002. However, the band were exhausted and decided to take a break.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones reconvened in 2007 at Cambridge's famed Middle East Club in Boston to play a show. The band hit the road again in 2008, and went back into the studio to write material for their 2009 album “Pin Points and Gin Joints.” Another tour kicked off later that year through to the summer of 2010. 2011 marked the release of “The Magic of Youth.” The band are currently working on their own side/solo projects as well as performing and writing together as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.