Bosstones make a good impression

In Boston, Christmas is the time for punk rock. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, a Boston ska-core band best known for the 90’s hit “The Impression That I Get,” hold an annual concert series during the days after Christmas called the Hometown Throwdown. This year, Hometown Throwdown #12 featured reunions by two Boston bands: Darkbuster and Bim Skala Bim. I went to Night II of the four-night event, a year to the day from the same show I attended in 2008. Because of money issues I was planning on skipping this year, but when my brother told me Darkbuster was getting together again to open for the Bosstones, I had to buy the ticket.

This year’s Throwdown was different than past years, because it was held at Boston’s new House of Blues rather than past year’s venue The Middle East, a local club which can hold less than 700 people. I was uneasy about the new House of Blues, because I was very fond of two of the clubs that it replaced, the Avalon and the Axis. However, I thought it was one of the best venues I had seen. First off, the place is huge; with 3 stories and a bigger dance floor than the Avalon and Axis combined. My brother and I were on the first floor, which was general admission, while the second floor was standing room only, and the third had seats. At first I thought it would be terrible to get stuck on the upper floor, but I realized that if you’re a fan of the music, but don’t like the rowdy crowd on the dance floor, it would be a great place to be. I honestly would like to be on the second floor with my camera, because it would give a great view of the stage. Last but not least, the huge stage let the Bosstones do a great stage setup. At the Middle East, they would hang up some Christmas lights; here they had a whole faux living room with a fireplace, stockings for each band member, and of course a Christmas tree.

Each show had two openers, and Night II had The Void Union and Darkbuster. Unfortunately The Void Union was the worst part of the show. It’s not that they were bad, but they were so incredibly out of place at the show. Darkbuster and the Bosstones are both ska-punk bands, with more punk in Darkbuster’s case and even some hardcore for the Bosstones. The Void Union was a really mellow, first-wave ska group. Ska has been divided into waves, with third-wave (Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, and others) being faster, with more influences from punk and pop, second-wave, which is something I’m completely unfamiliar with, and first-wave, which is almost reggae. Nobody in that audience wanted to sway to some feel-good almost-reggae, they wanted to run around and look like idiots. Needless to say, The Void Union wasn’t very well-received.

After that however, the show was all kinds of amazing. Fans were worried about Darkbuster, because during their hiatus their lead singer went into rehab and sobered up; the band has a lot of songs about alcohol, and there were questions about whether or not they would play their classics.  All fears were put aside however, and the band played a great set. The only thing I wish was that they were able to have a longer set list for their reunion, maybe if The Void Union weren’t there. I know the majority of the campus probably hasn’t heard of Darkbuster (or either of the other bands) but if you’re a fan of punk or ska, I cannot recommend them enough. Most of their songs are just plain silly fun, while some have deep meaning. Later in the night Dicky Barrett, the lead singer of the Bosstones, called them the “punkest (sic) band in Boston.”

Initially I have to admit that I was mostly excited to see Darkbuster, but on December 8, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones released their first album in seven years, “Pin Points and Gin Joints.” The CD was a lot different for the band, focusing mostly on ska songs similar to their hit “The Impression That I Get” rather than their punk and hardcore influences. Out of all the CDs I bought in 2009 (which is admittedly only four), I have to say that it was my favorite of the year. Almost every song on it is great, so I became very eager to see the band to see what new material they played, and they did not disappoint. While they didn’t play every song I wanted to hear from the new album (read: every single one of them), they did make a good selection. They also didn’t play a lot of what some fans would call staples of their live shows in favor of performing some new material and some old classics. In this case it was a song called “Toxic Toast” which the band does perform live, however this was the first time in years they could do it with a piano as it’s recorded because of the addition of a keyboard player to their lineup. It’s also important to note that if this review somehow encourages you to see the Bosstones, be aware that their manager is a member of the band, and his role is to dance on stage during the entire set.

For more information and music samples on the bands, visit their Myspace pages at www.myspace.com/thevoidunion, www.myspace.com/darkbuster,  www.myspace.com/themightymightybosstones Or the Mighty Mighty Bosstones homepage at www.bosstonesmusic.com