Eight men way out there: February 15, 1995

By Jeff Haas

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones shouldn’t exist. A reality in which a band can mix the influences of Motorhead, Madness, Marley and Metallica and come up with a sound that works is unbelievable. It just doesn’t seem possible.

The Bosstones’ sound is intense. It’s slightly punk, mostly ska, and entirely electrifying. If makes you NEED to mosh. That’s why saxophonist Tim Burton loves it.

I never have as much fun as I do when I’m playing with these guys. Their energy is just incredible,” says Burton.

The Bosstones emerged out of Boston’s punk rock scene in the early ’80s and wanted to try something a little new. “We were on the tail end of the punk movement,” says Burton, “and we thought it would be cool to add a bit of ska flavouring to the music we grew up with.” And what happened was they formed a loud, fast and aggressive dance band.

“We went through a lot of line-up changes over the years, but the eight of us are now together for the long run,” says Burton. The Bosstones just released their fourth album, Question The Answers, and are currently touring to support it. They plan tonight at the Phoenix Concert Theatre.

“We like touring, but it can’t be like a constant thing for a year or so,” says Burton. “We need to take the occasional month off and do something else.”

The Bosstones were recently invited to fly to Hollywood and appear in Clueless, a “teen-angst type of film,” according to Burton. They seemed to enjoy it, but the badn would rather spend time working on new music than acting.

“I think there’s a lot of potential in the band for development,” says Burton. “There aren’t any egos here and we all try everything that comes along. People bring in ideas and we work on them for a while. We always have works in progress and we are always growing as musicians.”

Question The Answers leaves no doubt about the musicianship of the eight guys who are The Bosstones. Their tunes are varied, some are ripe for a slow grind and others leave the listener with a desire to hurl their body rhythmically against another’s. Make no mistake—this is a good thing.