Mighty Mighty Bosstones Reunite for Hometown Throwdown

Published Oct 10 2007, 11:23 PM by Carly Carioli

Rumors have been circulating for a couple of years about the ska-core-est band of all time getting back together. And last week the chatter picked up again, although the band played it pretty close to the belt. Offending speculative message board posts were deleted. Everyone kept their mouths shut ... which is not an easy thing for Dicky Barrett to do, mind you.

This time it's official. The 'Tones announced a full-fledged Hometown Throwdown -- which in its day was the precursor to Dropkick Murphys' St. Paddy's Day homestand and Darkbuster's Hometown Throwup -- at the Middle East, December 26-30. Tickets go on sale October 19 at 10 am via Ticketmaster.

"We just kinda stopped playing, we kinda stoped doing it for a while," Dicky said in a radio interview a few minutes ago. "Six months ago Joe Gittleman called me and said, 'What do you think about doing a Throwdown?' Then he said, 'Who can we ge to sing?' I said, 'Joe, why don't you let me take care of it?' "

Truth be told, we loved the shit out of the Bosstones, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing those dudes wreck shop with Murphy's Law and Fishbone back in the day. If eventually they became a clownish plaid phenomenon, they never took themselves too seriously. The records may not hold up as well as they could have, but they were better songwriters than people gave 'em credit for -- Bosstones fans scoffed at No Doubt, but you sometimes wished they'd have found a way to be bigger than the genre they created. After it was over, Nate Albert looked back on the band's legacy and sighed. "Have you noticed," he once told us, "that on every comedy show, or every commercial that’s supposed to be funny, the soudtrack is ska-core? Have you noticed this? I was watching America’s Funniest Home Videos, and it's like the whole soundtrack is ska-core. And I'm thinking, 'Is this what we gave to the world?' "

Yes it was. But for a time it was a glorious thing. The first Bosstones record is less ska than most people remember -- the title track to Devil's Night Out contains one of the most brilliantly evil metal riffs of the early '90s -- and they could be a pretty fun punk band when they felt like it. Mostly we saw them at Sunday all-ages shows at the Paradise and the Channel, but once, in 1991, we ran into them at CollegeFest, where they performed a cover of Metallica's (then) new single, "Enter Sandman." They thought it would be funny to cover the song before its official release, and they very nearly succeeded.

By the time their big-time debut came out, they seemed like the longest shot in the world. Devil's Night Out was the record that made us fall for them, though their rise to local kingpins rested on their knack for goofy pop songs. Their first gesture on Mercury was to release an EP of covers: at the time, they proudly touted that it was the first time a Minor Threat song (let alone an SSD song) appeared on a major label. They promptly went back to goofy pop songs, and the rest is football-stadium history.

We're still waiting to hear exactly who's in the band, stay tuned.

Attachment: http://thephoenix.com/onthedownload/content/binary/bosstones.jpg

Filed Under: Middle East

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6 Comments

Ian said:

oh my God, I am so freaking excited about this

October 11, 2007 7:11 PM
mike said:

To paraphase: The bosstones are back, so girls dry your tears!

Oh man, I have such good memories of some of those shows and seeing people go crazy for "Dr. D". The first and only time I staged-dove was seeing them at Avalon in my 14-year-old glory. I hope they keep the material "More Noise" and earlier (or at least no later than "Don't Know How to Party") and throw in some classic covers like "Ain't Talking About Love".

October 11, 2007 7:28 PM
Trent Walker said:

What a complete BS review. FK you guys, no wonder nobody reads this crap anymore. You guys make me sick. I find it funny how easy it is for guys in your position to talk like this. The BossToneS have given more to more people than you'll ever have the chance to in the next 500 years.

October 12, 2007 11:11 AM
OTD said:

Trent: Perhaps we should have added a corollary: we like goofy pop songs. And the Bosstones. Perhaps that wasn't clear.

Mike: Though we can't say that our _first_ stage dives occurred at Bosstones gigs, we can certainly say that some of our best stage dives aoccurred at Bosstones gigs. At one of the aforementioned Tones/Murphy's Law gigs, stoned on Jimmy Gestapo's weed, even though he barely knew us. Heels over head over heels during "Do Something Crazy." Ah, memories.

October 12, 2007 1:57 PM
Steff said:

I can't frickin' wait! Time to break out the plaid and dust off the creepers!!!!

October 15, 2007 7:55 PM
JB said:

too bad the tix were completely snapped up by scalpers and brokers! I am so irritated.

October 22, 2007 5:24 PM