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TromBonus - 60 - In Defense Of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
365 Plays4 months ago
Don't be scared by the title! In light of the controversies surrounding Bosstones singer Dicky, Rob makes an impassioned plea to reconsider the scene contributions of the bands legacy. First, Rob and Engineer Joey pick it up with a conversation about he carnival and IMAX movies before doing a shallow dive on the Coles Notes history of MMB from their heavy metal early days to the coining of the term Skacore to their blockbuster success. All the while, Rob plays clips, shares some historical context and champions the real stars of the band from Joe Gittleman to Johnny Vegas to Ben Carr. Let's call it: IDOMMB!
Hosts: Rob and Joey
Engineer: Joey
Editor: Joey
Skassociate Producer: Chris Reeves of Ska Punk International
Merch: www.checkeredpast.ca/merch
Patreon: www.patreon.com/checkeredpast
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Transcript
Introduction to Checker'd Past
00:00:00
Speaker
bla wp or It's another trombonus episode. It's just Rob, engineer Joey in a pocket full of dreams as we make a case for the brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
00:00:21
Speaker
It's What up, Checkerheads? Welcome to Checker'd Past, the Scottcast with Selen and Rob. The show where a Pinpoints and Guinness Irish Ska-Outs and a Maxmin Rock Maximum Maximum Rock and Roll Magners Irish Ska-Eider explore the history and impact of a different band each episode and hope to bring in new fans along the way. I'm Rob, and this is my co-host with the most toast, Engineer Joey.
Separation and Parenting
00:01:05
Speaker
Okay. The second one I got, I think, but I don't know if I got any of the first one.
00:01:12
Speaker
ah It's a reference to the band that we're talking about. It's one of their albums. Okay. But it's also Guinness Irish Scott Outt. Okay. I thought you would appreciate that as a Guinness drinker. but Maybe I was just paying more attention to the second one. I was more locked in on the second one, I feel like. On Scott Ider. Yeah.
00:01:36
Speaker
Locked in on Scott Eider. That one really was, I was vibing with it. How's going engineer Joey? Ah, it's okay. It's good. For those for those listening, you you can tell from our voices that we're not in the same room for the first time in a long time. Yeah. The CPSC crew is separated. Yeah. And neither of us have COVID. covid rates not Not COVID related. No. Parenting related. Yeah. And also just convenience, convenience related. Honestly, you know what? Minus a couple technical snafus, situation normal all fucked up. I, uh, this would be super convenient because I would just like roll in here and just get all clicked in and I'm ready to rock. It works out pretty darn good. I mean, it's fun to be in the same room, but also like we can be like eight blocks away from one another. We got options. Yeah. We got
Edmonton Festival Experiences
00:02:30
Speaker
options. Hey, you want to pick it up where we left off? I sure do.
00:02:39
Speaker
So, it's the festival city's festival season. It's fest time. And so, it's fest time. ah We're not the city of champions, haven't been for a long time. And definitely not after this last episode. Up, on, am I right? Real runner up town over here. um the ah So in Edmonton, we get so many festivals roll through in the summer. And so I took in a shitload of them this last week. So I did Taste of Edmonton. o Dope. Highly recommended. ah And I did K-Dayz. Wow. And K-Dayz was awesome. K-Dayz is a real fun are like carnival.
00:03:21
Speaker
when there's rides and stuff fair fair carnival carnival fair thing yeah yeah honestly you know what like i feel like as will gets older uh it's more fun to take him to k days like he's more locked in on the ride experience i did the mouse roller coaster for the first time in a long time i love the mouse roller coaster because you stay still but the car moves and then it'll like kind of swivel you. Like that's fun, right? I don't know if I bit on that one. Oh, the mouse. Yeah. Highly recommended. For a roller coaster, like, what do you want to call it? I would want a novice, I guess. Like I was too scared by the roller coaster in Vegas. Right. Yeah, yeah. That was too much for me. But the mouse I can handle. I can handle the mouse.
Amusement Rides and Preferences
00:04:12
Speaker
OK. Will hated it. Absolutely despised it.
00:04:16
Speaker
Tilt a whirl though? Oh man. Tilt a whirl though is a winner. Tilt a head over there. Tilt a head? Yeah. Just a little tilt a head. He's got it, yeah. but How many times did you tilt? Just the once, but then we went on the Ferris wheel right after, because the Ferris wheel is always a good time. I'm a Ferris wheel freak. so so you're on my top four So you like the ones, like the more boring rides is what you're saying. Yeah, I'm like, I can handle a vertical G more than a horizontal G. That's fair. You know what I mean? Yeah. A horizontal G, like if I'm spinning, I feel puke-y. Yeah. But if I'm going up and down, I'm okay. Except I can't do the big drop. If I can't do it, I mean, I haven't done it. Yeah, I'm not going to. There's nothing for me there. I don't mind the spin.
00:05:06
Speaker
but like i don't like uh like a like being close to the center of the spin spin like i like i don't mind like a bigger one that sort of spins around where you sort of get squished squished back into your seat i like that like kind of a tilt a whirl thing but like when it's more sustained those are fun i don't mind that thing that like tilts upwardly while you're spinning it's kind of scary but it's like pretty fun but uh Yeah, no, I don't know.
Concerts and Cinema Adventures
00:05:32
Speaker
Ferris wheels, it's gotta be a pretty fucking big ferris wheel for me to be interested. You know what I mean? Pretty big at the, at the KD's. That's true. KD's one probably is pretty big, but like, you know what I mean? Like I, a ferris wheel, like I like the idea of it, but unless it's like a big ass ferris wheel, then I'm like, if it's just a little like one in a parking lot, I'm not, I don't give a shit about 24 foot ferris wheel.
00:05:56
Speaker
You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. I feel you, dog. But I'd be on the London Eye in like a second. Last time me and you went, we did the one where you spin around in the centrifugal force, like, shoots you to the side. Yeah. That one was pretty fun. I like that. Yeah. It's like a fast car racing around a circle. Yeah. Yeah. I dig it. And there was loud like that boney M or something playing a soup. No, I feel like it was less cool. No, I'm like, I feel like is I'm pretty sure we were at Rasputin at least one time. I mean, if it was, I would have been pretty excited about that. That song is a banger. Hell yeah. Undisputed banger. Undisputed. Soon as those opening riffs of
00:06:37
Speaker
And I don't even care that that's a fake band with fake music by a fake guy. I'm like, this is the best fake shit I've ever heard. No, it's so good. What's new with you, Joey, picking it up? Uh, I Uh, I enjoyed it very much. Uh, and then like, I literally walked out of, okay. So I played a show the night before. ah And it was just a one-night gig, but it was still on a Friday night. So I was up at 6 a.m. Went to work Went home grabbed my stuff for the show played the show got home at like 2 30 or whatever ah Wound down went to sleep. Usually when I do that I like got to try and force myself to stay in bed till like noon so I get like a proper sleep You know what I mean? Cuz I'm yeah sleep till usually like 3 30 or 4 cuz yeah wind down after you get home and all that kind of stuff and
00:07:32
Speaker
I gotcha. So, I bought my movie ticket for 1 p.m. I was like, oh, I'll get up around noon, grab a quick shower, go right to the movie, eat popcorn for breakfast, hell yeah, it'll be great. I woke up at about 9, 9 and some change and one of the dogs crawled into bed with me and it was very cute and I was like, hell yeah, and I went back to sleep thinking that I would absolutely just get up at the same time i always get up when i play these shows and then i woke up and looked at my phone and it was one fifteen
00:08:05
Speaker
And I was like, it fuck, it's like I can't even rush to the theater at this point. like It's 15 minutes into the start time already.
Movie Experiences and Humor
00:08:15
Speaker
Oh yeah, of course not. Yeah, so I ended up ah getting a ticket for 4.30 that day. Then I took the dogs for a walk and hung out. but ah it So it sucked to have to pay for it twice, I'm trying to say. but It was very good, and ah it was a lot of fun. i really don't want to like It's kind of one of those movies where like everything's a spoiler.
00:08:38
Speaker
so sure it's just like it's all it's like it's cameos in jokes you gotta be exactly yeah raunchy jokes and sick action and it's great but a huge hackman's great uh all of the characters that they bring back i really highly enjoyed it's uh it's a very good time as far as marvel flicks go i would imagine it's one like i feel like deadpool was on the peripheral Anyways, because it wasn't technically MCU, so like people who were like, man, the MCU is stupid. I hate it, Disney. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We're still like, but Deadpool's OK. You know what I mean? And I i think this is like an oh, like I think even those people would enjoy this and not complain about it.
00:09:24
Speaker
You know when Deadpool would have made the most money ever and it wouldn't even be close? 2002. Oh yeah, or like 2006. Or 2006. As much as it's nice to have these movies now, like 15 years ago when our movies were like the biggest movies, like they would have crushed. It would have been uncontestable. And pop culture jokes in 2006, oh man, forget about it. That's a big one. They
IMAX and Edutainment
00:09:52
Speaker
would have been printing twice as much money. It would be on the same time as Community. like really really quick before we get into the content of this the last movie I saw was a dinosaur IMAX movie at the Telus world of science and I'm gonna say this movie fucking rule it was so good it was so good it was so winky like they did this bit in it
00:10:14
Speaker
where they were like uh because we're going through like the history of tyrannosaurs like different kinds or and they're like and they named them like the lineup of the greatest heavy metal uh show ever and then they would show like the name of the dinosaur and like heavy metal font and have this like crazy animated sequence where it looked like i don't know like judas priest or something that's sick and it was so good You know I forgot that like edutainment IMAX movies are kind of sick like it was really good. plus Plus movies like that that are made specifically for the IMAX make use of the IMAX they aren't just like oh we just made this movie extra big it's like they always like yeah make a point to really like show things in scale so that the IMAX makes it look
00:11:04
Speaker
Fucking bananas right like yeah, like absolutely. It's it's been a while since I've seen an IMAX movie, but I seem to recall the last couple like Movie movies that I went to were in IMAX I was like this is a waste of money like I just don't need it to be this big but anytime I've ever gone to like a Specifically like an edutainment one. I'm always like yeah ah Whoa, look how big that dolphin is. Yeah,
Introduction to Mighty Mighty Bosstones
00:11:30
Speaker
totally, right? Like, our planet is crazy. I'm floating in space, you know? Like, it's wild. Absolutely. All right, let's do it. Let's talk about the episode today. Okay, so I need a little bit of background. Okay. So, um you may be wondering, as a listener, why, like, one of the biggest ska bands ever
00:11:54
Speaker
is getting like a trombonus episode and the reason why is because actually we wanted to do this band for heptember and what ended up happening was every like at least 50% of the guests we asked said hell no we're not doing that and usually i'm gonna say this down to toot my own horn and people don't say no to coming on this show very often because it's kind of silly and fun like we're pretty silly and fun um but this is just like hard for people to touch now if you don't know and i i imagine you do if you're listening to this podcast but just for background the reason why mighty mighty boss tones is who we're talking about is kind of
00:12:38
Speaker
a bit of a pariah right now is because the singer Dickie Barrett went off the rails in COVID and became a huge vax denier and kind of started putting in with some questionable um political figures to say the least. He got fired from his job at Jimmy Kimmel. The Boston's full on broke up as soon as he started to say his piece. ah He made a new band called The Defiant with multiple other like-minded individuals. Who are also in similar situations yeah generally.
00:13:17
Speaker
Correct. And so because of that, a lot of people have sort of written the boss tones off. Now that is fair. And I'm not here to kind of tell people where to draw the line when it comes to their musicians. Um, but because the heptember thing didn't work out, I want to instead put it out here. And this is what I like to call in defense of the mighty, mighty boss tones, not in
Band Members' Talent vs. Controversy
00:13:43
Speaker
defense of Dickie Barrett. I have to be ultra, ultra clear. Yes. This is in defense of literally everybody else in that band. ah Because I actually think that they're an incredible, they're they're incredibly important to the development of the genre, of course. But when you think about like the talent in there, Joe Gittelman, Nate Albert, Johnny Vegas, John Cirois, Dennis Brokenbrough, Chris Rhodes, ah Ben Carr, you know, the Boston. um
00:14:13
Speaker
It's just there's so much embedded talent. They're so good at what they do. They don't have the questionable politics. I mean, as far as I know, definitely Joe Gittleman doesn't. That's why he's doing all this stuff with Bad Time. His solo album just came out. Right. um And I think we can go back to the boss tones with a different lens for sure. And I'm going to try to make a make my case to defend why I still love the Ballstones in spite of everything that Dickie has done and why I think they're still important. And maybe it's just one of those things where you can acknowledge and appreciate why and never listen to them and I appreciate that as well. But I feel like there's room for me to make a make an argument, make a case. he yeah Anyway, that's the point. That's what we're doing. yeah And I would also say we're going up to a certain period of time because in my mind, this is where
00:15:06
Speaker
ah the boss tone stopped being as good but basically we're gonna go from their debut which is devil's night out in 1990 to pinpoints and gin joints um which came out around 2007 i don't have it in front of me but around then and i would say past the 2010s i'd say it kind of weakens up in terms of how good they still were. I mean, there's some arguments to be made, but I think that their core is that 30 year period where they were putting out some- Only those 30
Bosstones' Music and Personal Stories
00:15:36
Speaker
years? 20 years. Not 30, 20 years. Only those 20 years. Yeah, 20 years where the Bostones were the smallest, then the biggest, then kind of the band that was still around and you're like, really, Bostones still putting out music? That's crazy.
00:15:52
Speaker
Yeah. So I'm going to kick it off. I believe the first song I have is, Oh, that song. Yeah. Or something like that. Yeah. Zero. That song. I think I've heard this one before. This is not the biggest charting Boston's art. This is the biggest charting Boston song. Not the biggest charting Scott song. Yeah. It's just more recognizable as a one hit wonder. And hilariously, I remember this song from when that one-hit wonder show was on much music. Oh, really? close Yeah. You know what? I do remember seeing the video a lot. so I'm just trying to think of, like, I feel like it would have been in the zeitgeist though before. No, what year was this? 96, 97, for sure. Like, part of the year. Yeah, I would have been on it immediately then, because i would it does that's like,
00:16:47
Speaker
those were the years that I was really watching much music and shit so yeah I probably would have caught it like as soon as it was gaining popularity that for sure I would have been just a smidge too young because when this song was big I was about 9 or 10 and that wouldn't have been really watching much music I don't think so. Maybe it was, I don't remember. Yeah, I got really into much music kind of around 96, 97, I think, and then pretty solid through, you know, till midway through high school when I started getting more into punk rock and stuff. So where do you stand at the Boston? So I've made my kind of opinion, but where where are you with it? So I had ah the CD with Royal Oil on it.
00:17:33
Speaker
Let's face it. So I had that one. And I remember it was just one of the like CDs that I had. You know what I mean? Like it was I don't recall why I got it probably just because probably because I saw an impression that I get or something on TV. It was like, all right, um that's cool. um But i I honestly, I don't think I was that into it. I remember really enjoying Royal Oil, but that's the only song off that album that really sticks with me. And then I got the live in the Middle East CD and ah I listened to it a few times and it never really grabbed me either but I think
00:18:16
Speaker
Personally, at that time, I was really trying to branch out with my CD buying, and I bought a bunch of live albums, and in my teens, i it turned out I did not like live albums. Fair enough. And now, like now i I do like a good live album. The one that sticks with me that I i do that i did like back then and still now is the ah No Use for a Name Live in a Dive. That's my favorite one. But I think I just didn't like live albums, and then I like didn't really I just kind of peripherally heard the boss tones from that point on. I never really tried to seek them out. So like they were always a band that I knew was like, like, you know, yeah you hear songs here and there and you know that they're like a big band in the scene, but in like, like I never really put any energy into listening to them really after that point. And you were there when we saw them live at punk rock bowling, I think. ah They played the main festival and did that after show, right?
00:19:13
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And i would I would have seen them in the main festival during the day. You saw them on the main stage. Yeah. Which was a fucking awesome show. yeah the The show after was even better yeah because they played this album, this first one, Devil's Night Out in Full, which was bananas. It was so cool. And the English beat opened for them, that which was
Early Albums and Hardcore Influences
00:19:35
Speaker
crazy. What was capacity at that place? like fifteen hundred It was in like this little like sand pit. So yeah, it was like a few hundred people. oh like it was ah It was a club show. It was one of the outdoor ones, like where we saw the Gimme Gimme's. Kind of like that thing. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. So not a big group. And I mean, I think a lot of people were like, Oh, I've already saw the Boston's. I don't have to see them again. But anybody who was like a fan was there. Yeah. And that was kind of rad. And yeah and those sand so things are like very fun to dance in.
00:20:03
Speaker
Oh, super fun. That was the best part. It just was just kicking up sand everywhere. That's why it was always fun. out Like, as much as it sucked to be so sandy at Warp Tour, I did enjoy being able to dance in the sand. Like, that's actually kind of a lot of fun. Yeah, yeah, totally. Like, low-key. um So let's play a song from the first record so Devil's Night Out um So I queued up for Joey just so everybody knows like 20 songs. I don't plan on playing that many ah I'm gonna watch time and make sure I don't play 20 songs I don't think you have time for that and I don't either ah But we got at the very least play off this first record so background about Boston's is they're from you'll never guess Boston whoa
00:20:41
Speaker
And ah their first record, ah first couple records were with Tang, which was like a Boston hardcore label. That's where Gangrene, it was on. um And it was produced by a guy named Paul Koldary that produced the Pixies. So they actually had a pretty big name to start off with. And and this record was in 1990. So really nobody was sounding like this and you'll see from this first song so let's play devil's night out i think that gives you the best and idea of what they sounded like so the first thing you'll notice it's like metal yeah
00:21:31
Speaker
dive bomb? Big yeah. Pantera's just kicking it right now.
00:21:48
Speaker
Still no ska at all. Just metal riffs. Just riffs. Just riffing bro. But they're like big fans of like kiss and stuff like that so you can kind of hear that in the way they riff too. Yeah. Nate Albert's the guitar player. That's just his style. And then the ska, baby. And then the ska. Just going.
00:22:25
Speaker
A little sax solo over the metal.
00:22:31
Speaker
I was going to say though, it does kind of share a little bit of, uh, like Sonic space as, um, Fishbone, to be honest. Yes. Like it, like especially around this time. Yeah. It doesn't sound the same per se, but it, it definitely is like, uh, it has a lot of similarities to what Fishbone was kind of doing. They are 100% the east coast version of Fishbone. Like in as many ways as you're like, well, the toasters were like the popular east coast band at this time. Yeah. It's like, but the toasters were like two tone, but like in terms of like a heavy ska band, like the boss tones filled that niche more. For sure.
00:23:18
Speaker
like the Because Fishbone played with like metal and hardcore, but they were like kind of funky. Yeah, totally. And I would never accuse the Bostones of being funky. I don't think they have a funk bone in their body. No. Not a lot of slapping and bobbing. No, and I think you know the reality is, like for the influences they'd be pulling from at this time, so like I said, it'd be the metal bands like Kiss, or even thrash bands. They'd have been big thrash bands, because East Coast thrashes is like like Anthrax. Yeah, I was going to say they seem like Anthrax guys, for sure. Yeah, because that's like any, or but East Coast hardcore, like Boston hardcore, straight edge hardcore, like Gorilla Biscuits yeah would be a big influence on them. And so like there's nobody for them to,
00:24:00
Speaker
be influenced by, maybe Fishbone, like maybe, but like the Ska bands they would have been listening to were two-tone bands, almost an egg exclusively. Yeah, so this version of Ska and Metal being smashed together is like, is their sound. it's it There wasn't anything for them to be copying it from at the time. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And like, it wasn't until later that like ska core became kind of used to describe them. That kind of happened a little bit later. And then the voodoo glow skulls would come along and that label would be applied to them and say, Oh, they're one of the ska core bands like the boss tones.
Lyrical Themes and Ska-Core Style
00:24:39
Speaker
Like it was the only two bands that got that label before 95.
00:24:45
Speaker
Right? That's wild. Like before the blue meanies were coming along and they'd get the same name. But like in the 92, 93, who else was doing this? Nobody. Yeah, totally, right? Yeah. And so I know, and I don't like to be like that guy that's like, well, you have to context the music in order to understand. Um, but I think context is important. Like obviously if it doesn't hold up, it doesn't hold up. Well, and especially when you're talking about the like I mean, we are kind of talking about the how how the genre grows and how the genre grew, right? So the context that is important in that sense, right? um But yeah, I'd say so this is a short record. It's only like 10 songs long in terms of the lyrics like The lyrically the boss tones focus on a couple of things number one ah Bar culture like
00:25:34
Speaker
either getting drunk, going to the bar, or hanging out with weirdos at the bar. They love to talk about that. right There's a lot of wordplay. That's a big part of their sort of lyrical content. Some of it's inscrutable, it makes no sense, like in the impression that I get. But some of it is just like like really quick like turns of phrases or a lot of alliteration and stuff like that. um One of the things you'll notice like if you listen to a bunch of boss tone stuff is they don't write songs about girls. There's like maybe four like that I can think of like in their whole career. It's just not lyrical content for them. right um They like to focus, even when they're they're doing like kind of goofier songs, like, hope I never lose my wallet.
00:26:17
Speaker
But even then there's like almost this element of like kind of sadness. Like songs are always like a little sad. And I think that's like part of the, the scar, the scar whole ethos is like you read a happy song. That's kind of got this underpinning of sadness or depression. And I think the boss tones really fit that. It was like, and the one that song on here is how I was how I am, which, um, I didn't queue up, but it's a song about how he doesn't talk to his dad enough. And it was on their first record and it's like kind of sad and you're like, Jesus, like real, kind of an adult song for a song that, for an album that starts with a big party song about a guy that just drinks all the time. Right. Yeah. I guess that's showing some versatility right off the hop, right? Yeah. Um, again, maybe I shouldn't give it too much credit, but yeah, go ahead. Uh, lyrically is it.
00:27:07
Speaker
Uh, were they collaborative lyric writers or is it, was it all Nicky? No. So yeah. So if you want to talk about like what the difference between the different band members are. So at about this time, so, so Joe, Joe sir was the drummer. He's been the drummer for like most of their career. Nate Albert plays guitar during sort of their heyday, like from here, mostly up till pay attention in 2000, our friend from Joe effects zone. Yeah, Joe Gittleman plays bass the entire time. Joe Gittleman is the sound engineer of the band. The Boston to Sound comes from Joe Gittleman, the bass fiddleman, who also later would be the house producer for Side One Dummy. So one of the reasons why the Side One Dummy records all sound really good is because Joe Gittleman's a crazy good producer as well. cool But the lyrics come from Dickie. And so,
00:27:56
Speaker
You know, take it with a grain of salt. It's not saying he was probably like talking about vaccines in the nineties, but I don't know, maybe. Yeah. What do I, what do I know? Yeah. It's possible his brains turned to mush later. ah was Yeah. process You know, if you want to put context, I don't know. Let's, let's give him the benefit of doubt. He was 20 when he recorded devil's night out, maybe 21 cause he was drinking. Yeah. Let's fast forward to 2022. That's 32 years later. He would be mid fifties, late fifties. Yep. I don't know. Right. Yeah, man. Like whatever was cool to him in the eighties, maybe it didn't evolve with the times. I certainly possible can identify with that. There are some conversations with my cover band where I'm just like,
00:28:45
Speaker
That may have been cool in the 80s or 90s, dudes, but that sounds like something I want to have nothing to do with now.
00:28:54
Speaker
All right, so I'm going to move to the next record. So yeah, I am skipping around a little bit. I probably overdid it with the amount of songs I queued up. So the next record they put out is called More Noise Than Other Disturbances, which is also on Tang. Same producer, Paul Kildare. And this one has a bunch of live favorites on it, like Where'd You Go and He's Back are on this, which are pretty famous songs. The song I think you should play, though, is Dr. D. Got it.
00:29:24
Speaker
um
00:29:27
Speaker
That's a sick intro right
00:29:34
Speaker
And it's about the guy that they practiced, ah like whose house they practiced at. Oh, And he's like a dentist or something, he's down Dr. D, and the song's about how cool he is. That's sweet. But it's like hard as fuck.
00:29:58
Speaker
There aren't often many of these songs that are like, complimentary of the individual they're about. Yeah. You know what I mean? A lot of bands that do these types of songs are really like, usually shitting on the people they're singing about. Yeah.
00:30:24
Speaker
Complimenting his wife? Yeah. so nice so that's the template of ska core right there dr.d that's sick that's it that's what it is fucking rips I know, that's ah that's an undeniable banger of a song, I love it. This is the the album, like, okay, so the one thing, other thing about the boss tones in this era is they did not wear suits. Do you remember what they wore, Engineer Joey? What their costume was. I feel like when you say it, I'm gonna be like, ah, and it'll be a real head smacker, but I cannot think of what it was.
00:31:08
Speaker
They wore a shitload of plaid. the oh Yeah, that's right. And all the logos on all the CDs were all plaid. Everything was plaid. Yeah. And that cover, the cover of more noise and other disturbances is like. To quote that the kids, cringe as fuck. It is real creepy looking. Cause they're all like in like dad plaid. It's bananas. Like, and then you listen to it. You're like, wow, this has got to be like a lounge band. And then you listen to it and you're like, oh, it's like a hardcore Scott record. Like I could, I can't tell where the irony and the like the legitimacy ends. Like you just can't tell.
00:31:50
Speaker
Well, it was the 90s, so I think it was it would there was very murky. Fair point. Fair point. Honestly, fair point. like nowadays Nowadays, you have to have ah a certain amount of baked in irony, or else people won't get it. But back then, who knows where that line was? Who knows? So in the interest of time, we'll move past that record. I do like that that record a lot. Worth a listen. Again, another short one. um But after their time with Tang, they got signed to Mercury, which was obviously a bigger label.
00:32:27
Speaker
um I don't want to play Someday I Suppose because that's kind of like that's the other big hit like behind impression that I get Someday I Suppose is a clueless
Transition to Mercury Records
00:32:37
Speaker
song. Yeah, that was like what broke boss tones up like out like they went from a regional band to a big band by getting on clueless and having Someday I Suppose on the radio. Yeah um And if you haven't heard it before, I mean, go listen to it. It's it's a good song. It's fine. It's very impression that I get adjacent. like It's a big pop song. They sound yeah like there's a reason both of them were the radio hits. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. But the album that it came from, ah Don't Know How to Party, is it's pretty fun. It is some people's favorite. It's kind of more of like a rock record. Like the metal influences are kind of downplayed.
00:33:17
Speaker
um But it's also like, I don't know, some of the songs are just more cleverly written. Like I think you're starting to actually see like songwriting being a bigger deal. And I think Joe Gittelman was way more involved in that process. So ah this is a friend of the pod. Kaylee's song of choice is holy smoke.
00:33:41
Speaker
The horn sounds so good. Yeah.
00:33:55
Speaker
I don't know why they have him sounding like he's in like a steel tank, but aside from that it sounds really good.
00:34:09
Speaker
The guitar sounds great. Nate Albert sounding so good. It sounds like a bigger label. Like the mix is like a, I don't want to say major label sound, because I don't know if Mercury was a major, but it sounds like a bigger label sound. Yeah. Oh yeah, that's the majors. Yeah. And Johnny Vegas is the sax bandleader, along with Dennis Parkenborough, the trombone player. So lots of sax, lots of trombone. Sounds awesome.
EP Review: Ska Core the Devil and More
00:34:56
Speaker
that was a super riff horn thing yeah that song is super fun um and it's it's anthemic pretty like a big song you know what I mean like to your point big label yeah making it sound big and and like you said it was more it definitely sounds more rock a little less metal a little more right I want to say radio rock but more ah closer to the rock that was on the radio at the time, you know? Yeah. Not to say they were trying for that sound, it just kind of, that's how it shook out, I think, you know? Yeah, and we're in 1993 now, so if we're keeping up at home. um And for those on Plaid Watch, ah still wearing Plaid. Okay.
00:35:43
Speaker
Yeah, so Plaid Watch, I'll tell you when to stop Plaid Watch and when they don't wear Plaid anymore, but don't know how to party? So wearing Plaid. Buy black suits? You're correct. That was the next phase, is wear black and white suits. Maybe they spent like a bunch of their advance on something dumb and they were like, oh, we can't afford Plaid suits now. New Plaid suits, we'll just save our money and get black ones, you know? All right, I think we should take a break. We're gonna get back. More ballstones!
00:36:25
Speaker
Welcome back to Checker Pass. It's engineer Joey here and Rob and we're talking about the mighty mighty Bostones. So let's listen to the EP, Skokor the Devil and more, where the term Skokor was coined. And it was a 90, I don't remember, 92, 93, right around the time that don't know how to party came out. So this is a cover. It's called Lights Out.
00:37:05
Speaker
and this is the entire
00:37:15
Speaker
but both folk out
00:37:24
Speaker
And this is the entire song.
00:37:36
Speaker
So, no Ska. No Ska. Just a straight-up hardcore song. That's fun. So, Ska Core the Devil and More is a weird EP. It starts with Someday, I suppose. Then it has three hardcore covers. Then it has, like, Minor Threat, Angry Simones, which just lights out, and SSD. And then a cover of Simmer Down by Bob Marley. but Okay. And then two live songs.
00:38:02
Speaker
Cool. It's where the term Skokor, I guess, came from. This is the first time it was coined, was in this EP. Or at least around this time. And it doesn't make sense. The EP makes no sense. Yeah, that is a collection of songs. But it has some rippers on it. It's like, yeah. I can see why they said, Scott Core, The Devil and more because they literally just took seven tracks. They are just lying around and they're like, these don't belong on a record. Let's just throw them out. Also, we should put on Someday I Suppose because it's a it's a popular song. I mean, that that will, if you put the, it's basically like putting out a single, but with a bunch of stuff that you know the people who only want the single are going to hate on it.
00:38:46
Speaker
You know what I mean? 100%. Yeah. It's, it's probably like one of the most like, honestly, like kind of legit, like releases that they had. It's got so much like hardcore and like an old school whalers, like Rocksteady classic on it. Like, it's like, Oh yeah. These guys know what they're talking about. But to bury the well is to but to bury the lead with the clueless song, that's pretty good. That's pretty trolly and good. bananas yeah good for them yeah i guess so let's zip ahead to their next full album on mercury was uh what some people will refer to as a giant whiff uh which was question the answers um it's a weird record i re-listened to it in preparation for this
00:39:29
Speaker
And I used to love this album. This was like the first full Boston's record I ever listened to when I was getting into Ska. And so I listened to it a lot because I was like, wow. It has a whole big segment on this show. There's a reason for that. There's a reason why the segment's called question the answers is because I listened to this damn album so much.
Success of Let's Face It Album
00:39:49
Speaker
And then I hadn't listened to it in like probably a decade. I just listened to it again and I'm like, wow, it's not that good.
00:39:56
Speaker
that laugh video
00:40:01
Speaker
It just really isn't that good. um And so 1994, we're in now. Plaid check, we're still in plaid territory. um But we'll listen to Hell of a Hat. OK. Another full-blown Scott Kors song. Hell yeah.
00:40:24
Speaker
I'm trying to steer away from like the radio songs a little bit. Try to get us in the deep cuts. Yeah. On the radio songs, there's a Boss Stones playlist somewhere for you. Guess what? I made one. Sweet. Of the radio songs. No, not just of the radio, of everything. I have i have an In Defense of Mighty Mighty Boss Stones playlist that will get shared with the release of this episode. Excellent.
00:40:51
Speaker
I like this little breakdown. It's like smooth.
00:40:59
Speaker
yeah this is sweet a lot of this is on this record like they really did a lot of like croonery almost kind of stuff yeah it's kind of weird some of it works some of it not this part's cool though
00:41:26
Speaker
The guitar tone is weird though. Yeah. I don't like that. I do like a song about a guy that's wearing a cool hat. But he's got a gun. You don't have to wear that gun. You got a cool hat on. Yeah. That's what the song's about. Okay. But i yeah, i just ah it'd be fine if it was just about the guy's hat, to be honest.
00:41:50
Speaker
The gun is inconsequential, in my opinion. Listen, don't put it past the Boston's, just write a song about a hat. Did you hear that song about the dentist whose basement they played in? Yeah, he has a beautiful wife. Very, very weird mix of like, the lyrics can sometimes be like, you're like, wow, they really like did something clever with this song. And then they'll do something where you're like, wow, this is like the lamest shit I've ever heard.
00:42:18
Speaker
i like like I love the song, let's face it, on like on the next record, on let's face it, it's like a fun song. But when you like break the lyrics down and you're like, this is like the most PG, let's all get along anti-racist songs that could ever be written on the biggest ska record of the 90s. Really weird, like we weird choice. Yeah, yeah. Anyways, what's what do we got next? ah yeah Let's talk about, let's face it. Do you want to talk about it? Sure, yeah. If you're on Platt, OK, 1997, March of 1997, this is the one. This is the one that had the big songs on it. They brought back Paul Q. Koldary to produce this one from their first two records. So yeah, Devil's Night Out and More Noise and Other Disturbances has the same producer as their biggest record of all time. Wow. Which is so weird. it's a You would never know. They don't sound alike at all. Do you know what he was doing in the meantime?
00:43:16
Speaker
Yeah, producing like the fucking Pixies and shit. Oh yeah, I guess that's E.I.A. Right. Yeah, he went on to like, I can, he also produced, let's see, Uncle Tupelo, Dinosaur Jr., Radiohead. Oh wow. Like, he was huge. Yeah. Like in the 90s, he went from producing the Boss Tones to producing like the biggest indie rock records of the time. Like, he was a big fucking deal. And this, this album, Side A is truly spectacular. Truly spectacular. Still holds up to this day, I think. You put on Side A of Let's Face It and you're like, this is just top down some of the best third wave scholar songs ever written. Like, it's just the songwriting is perfect. The lyrics are... serviceable, mostly pretty good, like nothing totally crazy, but like from ah Noise Brigade and then Rascal King, which I didn't queue up, but Rascal King is like close to a perfect ska song, yeah like just perfectly written about a gangster, so perfect. Then Royal Oil, the forementioned Royal Oil, right? Good good weed smoking and song, yep impression that I get, let's face it, then that bug bit me and then you're done.
00:44:29
Speaker
And every song, except for the impression that I get, every song is sub three minutes.
Songwriting Contributions
00:44:34
Speaker
And it's a great listen. Side B doesn't hold up nearly as much. It does end in 128. However, Side B has my favorite Boston song of all time, um which is another drinking song, which I have queued up. So that should be the next one we play. potion
00:44:59
Speaker
And so this is the end part of the song. And it starts as a dub song. big me ba And so this is it transitioning out of the dub portion. oh
00:45:19
Speaker
Yeah, this is a good song. You know what though?
00:45:25
Speaker
side a being a banger and side b kind of falling off a little bit i had it on cd obviously but i bet you that's why i didn't really it didn't really hook me because i didn't i probably only liked the first half of the record and i probably got bored by the second half so i just never kept going you know what i mean yeah absolutely and Like if I'm going to look at the songwriters, so obviously Dickie's got like lyric credits on every song, but Noise Brigade, Rascal King, the impression that I get that song and 128 were all written by Joe Gittelman on the music side. So again, Joe Gittelman.
00:46:06
Speaker
write some a truly incredible music. A lot of the heavy lifting. Yeah. A lot of heavy lifting. Can't say enough good things about him. Nate Albert was writing great songs too, so Nate Albert's still the guitar player. like That like kind of more like rocked out sound Is because Nate Albert was like the metal guy and he brought the metal influences. And I think it's a key component. Even when they were at their poppiest, they still have, like I, I, so I argue impression that I get has more of an arena rock metal influence to it than it does a punk rat influence. Yeah. Like in a lot of ways, the boss tones are not that much of a Scott punk band, except when they were doing hardcore songs. Right.
00:46:48
Speaker
Yeah, they're they're they're closer to ah like a metal. their Their influences are more in the metal world than they are in the punk rock world. I i think so. yeah Personally, I actually think that there's a scum metal thing goes on with the Bostones and it's got punk. Yeah. Oh, for sure. I mean, maybe I'm splitting may i'm splitting hairs. I don't know that. that's I'll just say. I think that's a pretty big distinction. And it's it's specifically like an 80s metal type sound too so this so which also is like a pretty solid distinction like it's that's why those dive bombs were there on those first on that first out you know what i mean like they clearly the the metal they're pulling from is clearly like
00:47:28
Speaker
and Motley Crue, you know, like that type of stuff, and then into kind of the thrash world maybe a bit. You know what I mean? Like it's not- Yeah, we said like anthrax. Yeah. Yeah. Like absolutely. Yeah. Totally. When we were talking about like the flaming tsunamis who have a big metal influence, we're definitely pulling from converge in like earth crisis,
Live Performances and Albums
00:47:48
Speaker
right? Right. Like the metal that they were, Pantera, like the metal that they were thinking about, much different than the metal that the boss stones were thinking about. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. So let's go and talk about that song. I i teased it a little bit, but let's let's listen to 128, and this is from Live from the Middle East.
00:48:12
Speaker
See, now I'm like, this sounds great. Yeah. But when I was a teenager, I ate it live record. This is the opening track to this yeah record. And it sounds good. Yeah. And this is from Hometown Throwdown, which was a Boston thing, where they would do like a series of New Year's shows every year.
00:48:40
Speaker
I think there was like a write-up about the Hometown Throwdown in the CD jacket, if I recall. Yes. Because I also have this on CD. This, and let's face it on CD, Devil's Night, and More Noise on vinyl. Somewhere.
00:49:19
Speaker
Yeah, that fucking 15 or 16 year old Joey was a dummy that sounds great It's one of the it's one of the truly great Live ska records like it's up there with the specials and real big fish like it really does capture and this is a band at its power 1998 yeah, what better time capsule for a live record is the band that had like one of the biggest songs When they were still as popular as they ever were gonna be yeah playing like 19 of their
00:49:53
Speaker
biggest songs of the time and I honestly like if they never recorded anything after 1998 that still would be a greatest hits collection yeah true like and real it not only that but they also had the whole like the fact that it was the hometown throwdown which they had already done several years in a row so it was like About as off the fucking chain of a show to record as possible For that but percent time, you know what I mean? Like they were at the height of their power and they probably recorded it on like the third or fourth day of the fucking throwdown You know what I mean? It wasn't the first day definitely like it was definitely after the hype had built and whatnot, you know, I
00:50:34
Speaker
Yeah. Like, anyway, it's a great record and of anything. Give it, I encourage a listener to give it a listen. It's, it's quite something. It's great. yeah Um, so in 2000, they would circle back. Paul Q, cold area would be back in the producer chair. They're now with Island instead of Mercury. So they got. another major label, probably a slightly bigger major label, um but 2000 would be Death of Ska territory, so if you're guessing that this record had not that much Ska on it, You would be correct. And this is, and it's long as fuck. Holy shit. It has like 16 songs on it. Something like that. Too damn long. I'll say Boss Tones, pass the sniff test with Rob in terms of not having too long records. It's usually 12, 13 tracks. This is too fucking long.
Side Projects and Broader Connections
00:51:23
Speaker
yeah Stupid long. And I bet all the songs are like three or three and a half minutes or longer too, right?
00:51:28
Speaker
About three, yeah, they're pushing three. yeah And some songs are good. This record I re-listened to and then some songs I was like, actually there's some pretty good tracks on here, but it is too long. And some just are filler, honestly. But they did a weird ass song and it's called Ride on Broad Street and that was a song that I queued up. And Joey, you're not gonna be into this. Not a Joey song. Nope. No, it definitely isn't. I can be out already.
00:52:00
Speaker
Remember, they're from Boston. Yeah. Oh, there's the flute. Tin Whistle. Tin Whistle, whatever. A recorder. Dropkick Murphys were already out. Were the Murphys on this bad boy? or Was it a collab? No.
00:52:19
Speaker
No, this would have been before the Murphys did this kind of thing, though. This would have been when they were still a street punk band. Oh, okay. Yeah. People forget about that. The Dropkick Murphys didn't add the bagpipes and stuff until, like, after their third or fourth record. For that, they were just oi. Oi, oi, oi. um Yeah, this is not for me. Yeah, I like it. It's still pretty fun. I will say, OK, so speaking of drop, this is off topic. We're talking about Boston, but different Boston band Dropkick Murphy's.
00:52:52
Speaker
Um, if you've ever been to a dropkick Murphy show, like you always expect that it's like packed with like your rig pig guys, like baseball, cappy dudes, trucker hats, right? beards Because that's the kind of stuff they're like, Oh yeah, I remember this song from the departed, right? Those guys. Yeah. And then you would, you'd go to the shows and you'd see that. Like I've seen the dropkick Murphy's like 12 times, like it's stupid and and never on purpose. Like they were just always kind of there when I meant to see a different band. Yeah. ah And ah I would see those guys, right? I was like, oh yeah, cause they're super popular and like, it's kind of like, it's like Pennywise, it's just like a popular enough band. And bro-y. And then you would see, and then you would see skinheads and you'd be like, what are the skinheads doing here? Like, what are they doing? Like they can't, they can't connect with these guys. Somebody's going to get beat up. like And I remember asking Ariane about that. I'm like, why do the skinheads always that drop kick Murphy's in there? She's like, they're just waiting for them to play ballroom hero.
00:53:49
Speaker
One song. I was like, that just killed me. I was like, okay, yeah, just oh one song. Skinheads are showing up just near Barroom Hero. I mean, to be fair, the Skinheads are probably there to see some other band too. Probably.
00:54:10
Speaker
Cause the Dropkick Murphy's would bring like the business or something. Like it would always be like drop. They would bring some like serious fucking heavy hitters. And they were also, I think cause they're from Boston. So they probably had just a connect for like a Canada tour, but for like a long time, there's a venue in Edmonton called Reds. And that I feel like there was years where the goddamn Dropkick Murphy's were at Reds every four months. And they bring in big fucking bills with like four gigantic bands supporting them. Yeah. It was crazy, but yeah. And I just would be there because I'm like, oh yeah. Because he wants to see one of them. Good riddance is opening up. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, right? Yeah. Some band like that and you're just like 12.08. Yeah.
00:54:57
Speaker
Play pick the poison I think I saw that but one of them maybe it wasn't a dropkick show But it was one of those one of those shows yeah like that and I was like this bad rules So so for to the dropkick Murphy's credit They're on the good side of history with that as because they're always bringing along. Hell yeah like other like as much as you can not dig what they do because maybe that's played out a little bit, but they're They're legit in terms of bringing their scene with them. Yeah, they are definitely, uh, uh, the whole, uh, rising tide. Raise raises all ships. Raise all ships banned for 100%. Yeah. And it's Boston bands. Like they're just like, yeah, we're, that's their thing. We're Boston. So we bring a shitload of Boston bands with us. Yeah. Turns out Boston's got good bands, huh?
00:55:44
Speaker
the now i could yeah Yeah, it's kind of the whole thing of this in the show.
Label Changes and Releases
00:55:50
Speaker
ah So 2002, they were no longer ah allowed to be on a major label because they didn't want SCA bands anymore. So they went to yet, you'll you'll never guess, they went to Side One Dummy, okay yep where Joe Gittleman was house producer. I mean, that might've been an easy get. yep yep I don't think there's a whole lot of negotiating that happened there. But let's add another great ska record to the side one dummy roster, because this record is really good, and it's really fun. Nate Albert's gone, which is too bad. I would say that the replacement guitar player, um whose name is Lawrence Katz, I had to get the name, ah not quite as good, doesn't have as many songwriting credits, ah but they also got in Chris Rhodes on trombone ah from Springhill Jack. Oh, cool. And he's an incredible trombone and player. like Dennis Brockenborough is a great trombone player, so they got a they got a real win for another person. um but So this is a good record. I really recommend listening to it. It's it's quite a bit of fun. um so let's But the song I cued up is Everybody's Better, yeah which is a weed smoking song. Cool.
00:57:03
Speaker
They know their roots, man. Yep. They know how to play a good fucking, like, slow ska reggae song.
00:57:13
Speaker
This mix is really good. I mean, this is probably Joe Gittelman, like, producing this one. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It sounds like a side one record. yeah It's got that production quality. I said on a previous episode that every side one dummy record sounds great. Yeah. That's the one thing you're going to get out of it is a great sounding record. Totally. Yeah, the vocals sound like, usually Dickie's like way up front of all the other vocals. This is like much more, sounds more like a chorus than a one guy yelling with some gangs in the back, you know? Yeah.
00:57:56
Speaker
But again, he was probably, like, touted as... Like, he was the front man, but I don't know, maybe they wanted him to be the rock star. And I wouldn't say Dickie has, like, rock star quality, you know what I mean? Like, yeah I don't think anybody in the Boston... Like, Ben Carr doesn't have rock star quality. Yeah. No, he's got rock star quality. Yeah. That's who should have been the front man. a hundred He was. the The frickin' teller of the band, yeah. He he was the front man. He was the Boston. We didn't even talk about that. I can't believe we went this far. like It's like got almost an hour into recording and we didn't talk about Ben fucking Carr. So Ben Carr was in the band the entire time. For those who don't know, Ben Carr is quoted as the boss tone. He just dances on stage. And I shouldn't even say just dances. That may sound lame. If you've seen the boss tones live, it fucking rules. And honestly, if you've seen Kill Lincoln live, who also have a hype man, a person who like,
00:58:56
Speaker
you know, is on stage, you know, just jazzing the crowd up and dancing. It is cool to have that part of a show. It fucking rules. There's a reason why Flavor Flav has a fucking career, man. Like, that shit is cool as hell. Yeah. Like, yeah and Ben Carr does not do a traditional skank. Like, he's got his own fucking moves going, man. Like, it's cool. He's inventing shit. He's all over the place. he's Yeah. He's as creative as the songwriters are, but with dancing. That's right. Ben fucking Carr. And he was in that... Yeah, we stand Ben Carr around here. I stand Ben Carr. Absolutely. For sure. and Like, that's what we really should take away. And you know what? You don't have to listen to the records to enjoy Ben Carr. You put on a video on YouTube and play some other music and just watch Ben
Hiatus and Tribute Song
00:59:48
Speaker
Carr dance. Put it on mute and just watch Ben Carr dance and pretend like he's dancing to fucking sleep token. I don't care.
00:59:58
Speaker
like a People don't take clips out. They should take that out. That's funny. Um, okay So then the band goes on hiatus 2002 This is their first sort of big hiatus so that dickie could go on Jimmy Kimmel like right legit Yeah, that's when he got the job. Yeah, he's got a distinctive voice Like I don't begrudge him for taking a job like that. That makes a lot Okay, I Refused to watch Jimmy him because it sucked um but I did watch The Man Show because I was a dumb kid. I watched The Man Show when I was a kid, too. Yeah, sure. I watch i watched Wynn Benstein's Money a lot more. Yeah, i me too. Wynn Benstein's Money was pretty sweet. It sucks. that He sucks. But anyways, um they all suck. They all suck. It's all connected, man. It's all connected. ah well Where was I going with that? Now I can only think of Benstein's Money. I can only think of Benstein. Yeah, of course, right?
01:00:52
Speaker
You know what, actually Jimmy Kimmel wasn't, ah it was Adam Carolla that was like really fucking weird from The Man Show. So, The Man Show had the announcer guy, right? So is that, right so did Dickie, basically they were like, hey, now at a now we have a a late night show. Dickie replaced that announcer guy from the man show basically. Yeah. It's like Daryl Hannah or whatever. Yeah. I can't remember. That dude had a real distinctive voice too, but I mean, he was like super old, I think. Cause he was like for like an original sixties guy, I believe. But anyways. Yeah. Yeah. No, same idea. You got it. That's wild. but He was just like an announcer. ouncer I mean, yeah that's like, it wasn't on stage. Yeah. That it's just like,
01:01:36
Speaker
ah the The singer of a band that has a guy that just dances gets a job where he just announces. It seems weird. Yeah. Anyway, ah they came back in ah after that in 2007 with a B-Sides record and recorded a couple extra songs for it. One of the songs is Don't Worry Desmond Decker and we should listen to this. So this song is obviously was recorded because Desmond Deckard died in 2007.
01:02:11
Speaker
And I am not ashamed to admit when I first, I heard this song when it came out because I was fucking thunderstruck when Desmond Deckard died and this song made me cry.
Ska-Punk Comeback and Legacy
01:02:20
Speaker
Powerful man. Yeah.
01:02:41
Speaker
Were the B-sides kind of just from just scattered that they recorded along the way type of deal? And then they just recorded a couple of songs new? exactly Yeah, you got it. There's a lot of like, that there's three new songs. Um, and which are all good. Um, probably the best songs on there are the new songs. okay And then a lot of it was like, yeah, either a B-side from a single or like Japanese bonus tracks, that kind of a thing. okay yeah um Yeah, it's okay. yeah I wouldn't say it's like mandatory listening, but that song in particular is great. Don't worry, Desmond Decker. yeah
01:03:18
Speaker
ah Yeah, just really, really great song. But we're going to end in 2009 with the record Pinpoints and Gin Joints, which is their fli first full back album after like seven years away. It's produced by Ted Hut, who produced, ah according to this, Bouncing Soils, Flogging Molly, and the Gaslight Anthem. So it's all bands that were on Silent Dummy. Makes sense. Yeah. um And it's actually like, in terms of like a comeback record, it's basically was their attempt at writing a just straight up ska punk record. Like everything on here is just full blown ska punk, no bells, no whistles. So I got one of my favorite songs, Graffiti Worth Reading.
01:04:12
Speaker
That bass tone is nasty.
01:04:17
Speaker
Sounds great. Yeah. A lot of keyboard. The keyboard makes a big impact on this too. Yeah.
01:04:50
Speaker
I mean, that's pretty like classic Bostos. I also think it's got more of like a two-tone stomp to it. Yeah, definitely. Feels more like Ska Ska. Yeah. And not Ska with some stuff on it.
01:05:07
Speaker
And if you like that song, the whole record sounds that way, which is kind of cool. It's nice to have like a pretty like just, this is the way it sounds and it sounds that way the whole way through. Again, nice and short, 12 songs. They only have the one so album that has too many damn songs on it. They have two. I didn't pull tracks from their next three records. So Magic of Youth was the one that came out after this one. It's not good, I don't like it. um And then they took another hiatus, came back in 2018 with While We're At It, I also dislike it. And then three years after that, they would get their Hellcat debut in 2021 with When God Was Great. That's the one that
01:05:52
Speaker
right before the controversy sort of broke. um Again, it was really during COVID until 2021. And it was like a comeback for a lot of stuff because Nate Albert and Jonathan Katz were both the guitarists on there. Oh, wow. um Yeah, Anna had Chris Rhodes, Johnny Vegas, like it really had like a who's who. ah The final parade was like one of the lead in singles, which was like eight minutes long and had like 20 or 30 guest vocalists and guest performers on it. who All kind of pulled from Tim because Tim helped produce the record.
01:06:24
Speaker
um... and you know there's some people who are big fan of it and some people were like ooh it's a little off-putting uh... like that's where the killing of georgie that song was on uh... which was a real swing and a miss about the killing of george floyd and was a a little uh... mistimed and well-intentioned but poorly executed if you wanna put some words on it right and it was shortly after that that uh... the band broke up because of all the controversy that came out. So again, from 1990 to 2010, you got a really solid lineup of records. So all told, this is the, the boss tones. So Joey, how do you feel after all this? I mean, I, I wasn't listening to them before the controversy.
01:07:19
Speaker
and And I have not been listening to them since. um But at the same time, I had forgotten that like, like, although I haven't been actively listening to this band, a lot of the songs that you played, I absolutely recognize. And it's all it' good stuff. Like that was a good time when we saw them at punk rock bowling. They're a solid band. And I do like just about everything I've heard from the other members. Like that that Joe Gittleman record that came out was great. One of the other ones put, another member put out an album, did they not? I thought one of the other... Oh, perhaps. I know that a bunch of them have been on In Defense of Ska recently, which is also kind of cool. Yeah, totally. So like... I do recommend people listen to those. Yeah, and like, I don't know. It's a...
01:08:12
Speaker
it is ah It's a bummer. It's a bummer for the other people to get thrown under the bus too, but I feel like they're making their way out from under the bus. I hope so. You know what I mean? and i just i And it's one of those things where, again, I know I've said this multiple times in the podcast before, but it's not the brothers Johnson's fault that Michael Jackson sucks. I mean, you know you want to deprive four cents from these guys so that Dickie doesn't get his one cent, okay?
01:08:44
Speaker
Like, I think it's a it's a it's a fine hill to die on. item I'm not going to begrudge people from using their they're what little leverage they have to tell people how they feel. um But I think that there's a way to, you know, but might I suggest SoulSeek? How about a peer-to-peer sharing service? hop on a torrent, probably can find it, and they won't get a dime out of you and you can enjoy some of their records. And then when Joe Gilman puts out another record, just buy his record. And then, yeah, absolutely. You know what I mean? You know what? Cario. That was on the split. Yes. And it's a fucking awesome song. That song kicks ass.
Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up
01:09:20
Speaker
Yeah.
01:09:20
Speaker
as good as any Boston's record so give it a give it a spin. um Maybe in the future we'll do like a full breakdown and go through the whole history and this will just end up being this like Coles Notes version of it. It's just at this time there's just no interest for guests to come on and talk about it. The fire is still too hot. Yeah. And I want to still be able to talk about it in a way that makes a lot of sense and You know, I'm a little bummed that this controversy exists um for a band that's really important to me and that I grew up listening to and that I had a bit of a a magical moment when I saw them perform live twice. And i don't want that I don't want those moments to feel like sort of cheapened, I guess, because the one guy's an asshole. Yeah, totally, right? Yeah. i Anyway, that's me expressing my opinion. That's that's fair. And I mean, yeah. it's I mean, there aren't...
01:10:15
Speaker
there just aren't very many bands that are in that situation you know what i mean like there are other bands where uh... you know one of the members is problematic or whatever but you get you can support other members of the band or they they quit and they aren't really doing music anymore anyways or or whatever right but it's like there aren't very many big legacy bands where it's like you genuinely like these people anti-flag yeah right anti-flag may be the only other big one that's in a similar situation right yeah yeah where where it's like you genuinely like
01:10:50
Speaker
Like, one of these eight guys is a dick. You know what I mean? Like, that's... Yeah. It's an even bigger band. Like, Anti-Fly has half as many members. Yeah, right? Like, Boston's a huge band. Like, we joked when that happened that we're like, I hope... Yeah. I hope Chris Dose lands on his feet, I think is what we said. Yeah, hell yeah. Dude rips. Yeah. Anyway, that was the Boss Tones, in defense of the Money Money Boss Tones, the name of this episode. So thanks for listening to Checker Pass. Hit us up on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Checker Pass Pod or send us an email at checkerpasspod at gmail.com. Support the podcast so you can sign up for the Checker Head Patreon to get the episodes uncut in both audio or video format, or you can buy some merch at checkerpass.ca. Our trombonuses are engineered and edited by Joey. That's me.
01:11:35
Speaker
and our trombonist team was provided by Keelan, and I will share a playlist of some of my favorite Boston's records in support of this episode. Next week is TBD, I think, or, oh no, next week is the Heptember pre-show. I do know what we're doing, so the actual, this is like the Heptember almost pre-show. Yeah, this is what could have been. The Heptember that could have been, and next week you'll get the actual pre-show of what we are doing. Which is much sillier. ah yeah We went from something where we're like, wow, this is like a legit band with a lot of opinions that we all have to, a really dumb idea that that I came up with that apparently people are pretty excited for us to do. Yeah. So until next time, I'm Rob. I'm Joey. And in the mortal words of the Bostonones, we're a dime for a dozen if that's what you're after.