Guitars, Drums, Tones, and Saxophones

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/xraphiex/

So here we are, wrapping up twenty-aught-nine, and once again, Boston’s own ska-core heroes The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are throwing their annual (minus some years in there) Hometown Throwdown. HTTD XII took place at Boston’s House of Blues for the first three nights, and wrapped up with a final show at the Middle East downstairs. And now the boys are playing in support of the recently-released Pin Points & Gin Joints. With a pair of reunions opening (Darkbuster on night 2, and Bim Skala Bim on night 3), this Throwdown certainly ranks up with the best that the ‘Tones have played.

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The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Pin Points & Gin Joints

2009 closes out with a new release from one of my all-time favorite bands, the one and only Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Boston’s plaid-clad crew returned from hiatus in late 2007 to bring a handful of new songs (on the b-side compilation Medium Rare) and play another of their legendary end-of-year stands, the Hometown Throwdown. Now, we have an 14 all-new (15 if you bought the vinyl) songs from the boys. The songs they’ve released so far post-hiatus have been solid. How does this stack up to their impressive catalog?

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The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

This is a somewhat unconventional post (for GDTS anyway), since it’s not a review of an album per se, it’s a review and recap of the shows I went to from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ holiday tradition, the Hometown Throwdown. This year, Throwdown 11, found the lads in plaid playing four shows at Cambridge, MA’s Middle East Nightclub, one night at Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT (the so-called Rhodestown Throwdown, in honor of trombonist Chris Rhodes, who hails from New Haven), and a New Year’s Eve show at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel, in Providence, RI.

I was able to attend nights 1, 3, and 4 at the Middle East. The Bosstones have been kicking out their unholy, unruly blend of ska, punk, hardcore, reggae, metal, and whatever else, for many, many years; since 1983 according to Wikipedia. They spent years making a name for themselves with their energetic, raucous live shows. Their first LP, Devil’s Night Out, was released on Taang!! Records in 1989. Since then, they’ve played more live shows than you can imagine, had a hit single with “The Impression That I Get,” off their 1997 album Let’s Face It, and took a 4-year hiatus, beginning in 2003. At this point, many fans of the band considered them gone, so when, one morning in October 2007, singer Dicky Barrett announced Throwdown 10 on WBCN (Boston), it sent excited shockwaves through the ska kids around the world who still held onto the plaid dreams of the band.

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The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Don't Know How to Party

Welcome back! I hope that whatever holidays you celebrate (if any) were pleasent.

In honor of the fact that I’m going to three of the six Hometown Throwdown shows the Mighty Mighty Bosstones perform in (and now around- what’s up New Haven and Providence!) Boston, I’m going to take a look at a Bosstones album. So here goes a look at their first major label LP, Don’t Know How to Party.

If you don’t know the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, you’ve probably at least heard “The Impression That I Get” (aka “that ‘knock on wood’ song”) at some point in your life. It was pretty popular back in ’97. The Boston-based band spent years perfecting their blend of ska, hardcore, metal, and anything else the Boston music scene could assimilate. They had become pretty well known for their raucous live shows, and partying mentality. After a pair of albums on Taang! Records, they were signed by Mercury and, after dropping the Ska-Core, The Devil, and More EP, unleashed Don’t Know How to Party in 1993.

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