Interview w/ Dicky Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Dicky & The Bosstones hits St. Andrew's August 27th.

When you thought of ska in the 1990’s, the Boston collective known as the Mighty Mighty Bosstones was the biggest name of all of the groups that broke out. 1997 saw the band’s biggest moment, as their album “Let’s Face It” went platinum. The Bosstones went on hiatus in 2002, only to return a few years back to give each other another shot. Last year, the Bosstones released their first album in 7 years, as “Pin Points & Gin Joints” was released and the group have been putting together tour dates since the release.

During the band’s break, lead singer Dicky Barrett was anything but idle: Barrett hosted radio shows in Boston and L.A. and probably his best known non-Bosstones gig- being the announcer on “Jimmy Kimmel Live”. Before the band’s August tour, I had a chance to sit down and talk with Barrett about the band’s return and what sort of bribe he had to pay up on in order to tour with the Dropkick Murphy’s back in 2008.
Here’s my interview with Dicky:

AM: After a 7 year delay, how good was it to release “Pin Points & Gin Joints” late last year?
DB: I really enjoyed the whole experience, the process of making the album was a lot of fun and I always enjoy making new music. Once you get on in there, it’s like riding a bike. Well, riding a really sh—y bike that you really love (laughs).

AM: Did you feel the album was a re-introduction for the band?
DB: It’s an album of what we do and weren’t trying to reinvent the wheel with this album. I think it lets the listeners catch up to date on what the band is doing and what it sounds like. I don’t think it feels dated or anything, it’s really timeless music, timeless ska and punk music- whatever you want to call it. I sit back and listen to an album like (Rancid’s) “Out Come the Wolves”, and feel that is just as great to listen to today as it did when it first came out.

AM: How do you compare the material on the new album to the band’s material in the 90’s?
DB: We were probably in the same headspace that we were in the 90’s when we wrote this album. Some things just don’t change, the same convictions are there. We’re not necessarily smarter, but our thoughts are more well collected and probably have a better understanding of the music at this point. Whether the Bosstones are playing music or not, the members journey’s, past and present, are forever connected. We’ve traveled the world together, wrote music together and developed who we are and fused that all together.

AM: The band toured with the Dropkick Murphys in 2008, other than both being from Boston- how did the two bands hook up?
DB: A lot of people don’t know this, but Ken Casey from Dropkick is a massive L.A. Lakers fan. Being from Boston, people find it weird, but his three favorite sports teams are in this order: Boston Bruins, Boston Red Sox and L.A. Lakers- I know- go figure (laughs). Ken knew I was living in L.A. and if I could get him tickets to a Laker game, any Lakers game, that he would take us out on tour. We’ve known each other for 15 years, and as how the band Murphy’s Law took us out on tour when we weren’t big- we did the same thing for Dropkick Murphys when they were young puppies- we passed the torch to them. They are tremendous people and wanted us to come out on tour with them. So, needless to say- I got him those tickets…(laughs)

AM: You were quite busy during the band’s hiatus, but how did you end up with the announcing gig on “Jimmy Kimmel Live”?
DB: During the hiatus, I came out to L.A. to work and I really didn’t want to tour. I wanted to experience a different aspect of work that wasn’t related to tour. I was going to try and work in the record business, but as you know, the industry dismantled itself and that idea was out. When I got offered the idea for “Kimmel”, it sounded silly to me, kinda like “what the f— is this all about?”. But 6 years later, I’m still doing it and it’s a great way to spend your 40’s. A lot of times, you get a lot of the Hollywood a—hole crowd out here, but Jimmy is the same guy in person that you see on TV- very good guy to get along with. He’s gonna come out on a few dates with us, we’re referring to him as the “17^thth Beatle”- not bad company to be in. Bosstone”, it’s kinda like our version of the “5

AM: Is the band currently working on any new material?
DB: We are always considering writing, thinking and being creative. We will possibly be working on new material, but we’ve never been a band on the clock or on a calendar. I think we worked at our career the right way, by taking our time. It’s a blueprint that we’ve had and I wouldn’t want to do it any other way.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones play at St. Andrew’s Hall on Friday, August 27^th. Tickets are $20, and are available at www.livenation.com. Additional band info and tour dates can be found at www.bosstonesmusic.com.