Mighty Mighty moments from nearly 30 years with the Bosstones
Mighty Mighty Bosstones' bass fiddleman" Joe Gittleman talks career highlights across the decades"
- Joelle Andres
- Joe Gittleman (left) and Ben Carr bring the rest of the legendary Mighty Mighty Bosstones back to Atlanta this weekend
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Since its humble beginnings as a Boston bar band in the early 1980's, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' signature fusion of ska, punk, and hardcore has taken the band around the world and back again. Spanning a nearly three-decade career, the Bosstones have been credited with helping define the ska punk genre and driving the crest of third wave ska through the 1990's, culminating financially with the platinum-selling 1997 release "Let's Face It."
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"But the Bosstones and similar bands had been touring for a longtime before that moment came, and continued touring for a longtime after that moment had sort of gone," founding Bosstoner and bassist Joe Gittleman said. "I think it's much more about the hardcore, kind of committed fans of ska music, as opposed to those who just came in contact with the Bosstones in the summer of '97."
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Today, members of the eight-piece — still active after coming off a more than three-year hiatus in 2007 — are spread out around the country and the globe. Singer Dicky Barrett is an announcer on the Jimmy Kimmel show, saxophonist Tim Burton moved to Florida to pursue a passion of boating, and other saxist Kevin Lenear transplanted to Helsinki, Finland.
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"We obviously don't tour like we used to, at least not in terms of dates on the road," Gittleman said, now a music professor at Lyndon State College in Vermont. "So when we get together it tends to be around a fun show, like playing the Masquerade."
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Before the band brings their legendary antics back to Atlanta this weekend, we caught up with Gittleman to talk about Metallica's Enter Sandman, Dicky pissing off his parents, and other career highlights from over the years.
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The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, with Soul Radics and Groove Stain. Sat., Nov. 3, 7 p.m. $22-$26. The Masquerade.