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The Mighty Mighty Bosstones on Fax! faxed by MIREILLE SILCOTT
Hello, who are you? Dennis Brockenborough--trombonist and backing vocalist for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones How old are you? 27 And what do you do? I make music, art and other creative expressions. Where are you now? In Dayton, Ohio If you weren't doing what you are doing now, what would you be doing? I would be creating in some manner--be it music, art, food, fashion design or what have you. Excuse our ignorance, but what exactly is a Boss-tone? A Bosstone is one who cares about everything around them. A witty, compassionate and committed group of men. We are all that. So I think a Bosstone must have all those qualities. The Bosstones are said to be a very "Boston" breed of band. Why? Because the scene in Boston is very open, you can fuse different kinds of music together... People also go to see live music in Boston, which makes bands work a little harder. Would you ever use hockey sticks as a prop in your live show? No, because it has been done by a Boston band called Slapshot.
What is the stupidest thing you have done onstage? My belt broke during a set and my pants fell right to my knees, and seeing as how I don't wear underwear onstage, it was pretty bad. We recently ran a "Ska Fashion Forum" in our paper, and it turns out that not everyone is so enamoured with plaid. Why are you? We love fashion, and for a while we wore plaid. But like all things, you MUST allow change. Ever thought of creating your own tartan? No We are aware of your hatred for the police. Please list the three main reasons you despise them so. We don't hate anyone. We see so many stories of police coming down on the wrong people and we care about that. We also care about the good cops who are doing the right thing and say, "keep on!" Please compose a short, rhyming poem on what you would do to a cop, if you encountered one in a dark alleyway. Run!! When was the last time you were in Montreal? I don't recall. I think it was three years ago [ed's note: actually, it was this past August, at the Warp Tour] And what were your main impressions of the city? Very historic, rough borders, good bars. Word association. Please write down the first thing that comes to mind about the following: Touring: Second nature Roots rock: Reggae Japanese Ska: Rude Bones (band in Japan) Teenage girls: Love The Skatalites: Roots No Doubt: No Doubt Fake breasts: Why? "Candle in the Wind '97": -- What are you listening to now? 1. Radiohead, Earth, Wind & Fire, Bill Evans What is you favourite record of all time? There are too many to list: John Coltrane's Giant Steps; Miles Davis's Kind of Blue; Dinosaur Jr.'s [You're] Living All Over Me... If your record label offered you one million dollars to become a hair metal band, would you do it? No way, I like not over-doing it with masculinity. What would you call yourselves? The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Any last words? Question everything! Question your teachers, your parents, everything! With Dropkick Murphys, Amazing Royal Crowns and Bim Skala Bim at the Spectrum, Wednesday, Oct. 22. 7:30pm, $18.50 + t./s., all ages
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When our fax interviews don't get sent back to us blank (Radiohead did that), usually the bands we question take them in good, goofy jest and come up with some pretty clever, ironic and often witty responses. But the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the fathers of skacore now basking in the success of their latest crossover smash, Let's face It, seemed (at least to us) to take our fax interview rather seriously. But then, who are we to say that police-bating ska boys in full plaid suits can't title themselves makers of "creative expressions"? After all, we still haven't figured out if they were employing some deeper form of sarcasm here, and if the joke's on us this time around.
Please draw a three-frame cartoon of what exactly the Bosstones would do onstage with hockey sticks.