Early history (1983–1988) The band's roots lie in the hardcore punk scene of the early 1980s, along with a strong influence from the British
2 Tone ska scene of the 1970s. Bassist
Joe Gittleman played with local hardcore band
Gang Green, while vocalist
Dicky Barrett was a member of Impact Unit and, later on, Cheapskates. The Cheapskates lineup went through frequent changes and would feature members of Gang Green on occasion. It was through Cheapskates that a core lineup coalesced around Barrett, Gittleman,
Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton (saxophone),
Nate Albert (guitar), Josh Dalsimer (drums), Tim Bridwell (trumpet) and Ben Carr (a dancing non-musician often credited as "Bosstone"). Before the hiatus announcement, Gittleman had already formed a side project band named
Avoid One Thing featuring members of
Darkbuster, the Raging Teens and Spring Heeled Jack. The band released two albums for SideOneDummy before announcing their own hiatus in 2005. Sirois recorded and toured with Nate Albert's next band, Kickovers, and also played drums for the
Street Dogs and
Frank Black. Rhodes went on to play with
The Toasters until his departure in 2006. Rhodes had just joined
Bim Skala Bim before the Bosstones' hiatus came to an end and left Bim Skala Bim as a result. He also performed with former Spring Heeled Jack bandmate Rick Omonte in The Mountain Movers and as a fill-in trombonist for
Less Than Jake,
Reel Big Fish, and
NOFX. Fleysher continued his pursuit of a professional pilot's license. In 2005, after taking classes near his home in South Florida and working as a flight instructor in his spare time, he was hired as an airline pilot for
CommutAir, a Continental Airlines regional affiliate based in
Plattsburgh, New York. After a short stint with the company, he began flying as a charter pilot in
Los Angeles,
California. Burton and his family moved to Los Angeles where he became active in the movie business. Besides working for a Hollywood agent, he wrote several scripts and developed projects for television. He also contributed saxophone for a
Cypress Hill song. In 2007, he appeared in the film
Crazy, which was inspired by the life of
Hank Garland. Katz formed a band named Resistant. Katz has also played guitar on several motion picture soundtracks including
Aquamarine,
The Good Night and
London, the latter recorded in collaboration with
The Crystal Method.
End of hiatus and breakup (2007–2022) in 2011. L-R: Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton, Kevin Lenear, Dicky Barrett, Ben "The Bosstone" Carr Because the band left the possibility of playing together again open, rumors and speculation frequently circulated that a reunion was inevitable. The hiatus of Joe Gittleman's band, Avoid One Thing, fueled further speculation of such a reunion. During an
Alternative Press Acoustic Session, members of fellow Boston area
ska band
Big D and the Kids Table hinted that the Bosstones were in fact reuniting for another Hometown Throwdown. Jerry Mattes, the creator of the band's bulldog mascot, also acknowledged the chances of a reunion and announced that he was designing a new logo for the band. On October 11, 2007, on Boston Radio Station
WBCN,
Dicky Barrett confirmed what he called "the worst kept secret in Boston": the announcement that the Bosstones would indeed play a tenth official Hometown Throwdown at Cambridge's famed
Middle East club on December 26–30, 2007. Barrett would not confirm any long-term plans for the band. Soon after Barrett's announcement, Gittleman declared that the band intended to record three new songs to be included on an upcoming collection of unreleased material and vinyl
B-sides. The album, titled
Medium Rare, was released on December 18, 2007. The three new songs marked the first new material recorded since the 2002 release of
A Jackknife to a Swan. After the 2007 Throwdown, the Bosstones played a few shows every couple of months. At two of the March shows in
Las Vegas and Los Angeles,
Jimmy Kimmel served as a guest star on
bass clarinet during "The Impression That I Get". Former saxophonist Lenear rejoined the band, replacing Fleysher, whose job prevented him from being able to play with the band. Despite the activity, the Bosstones remained non-committal on whether they would record and release a studio album. They did make it known that they would no longer tour at the frequency they were known for in the past. On May 15, 2008, it was reported that the Bosstones would be embarking on a short United States tour in July with the
Dropkick Murphys. During the tour, the Bosstones made three stops at
Boston Red Sox minor league ballparks. On October 20, 2008, their website announced that they would return to the Middle East in Cambridge to play an eleventh Hometown Throwdown on December 26–29. In late 2008, the game
Rock Band 2 was released and featured a re-recorded version of "Where'd You Go?" that the band had recorded earlier in the year. On November 4, 2008, a MySpace blog announced the recording of a new album, and streamed two new songs, "The Impossible Dream" and "Next to Nothing". On July 29, 2009, the band announced the completion of tracking for the album. On October 16, 2009, the album title was announced to be
Pin Points and Gin Joints and a free download of the song "Graffiti Worth Reading" was made available. The release date was later stated as December 8, 2009. The band continued to tour through the summer of 2009 with shows in
Buffalo, New York,
Providence, Rhode Island,
Asbury Park, New Jersey,
Seattle, Washington,
San Francisco, California,
Anaheim, California,
Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, and
Victoria, British Columbia where they performed at the
Victoria Ska Fest with
Voodoo Glow Skulls,
The Slackers and
Chris Murray. The band toured during the summer of 2010 with
Teenage Bottlerocket and
the Flatliners. They also hosted their annual Hometown Throwdown festival over three nights in December 2010. In August 2011, Chris Rhodes posted a Facebook update stating that The Mighty Mighty Bosstones had begun work on their next album. The album, titled
The Magic of Youth, was released on December 6, 2011. March 2017 saw the release of their first recording in six years with a limited edition vinyl 7" featuring a cover version of the
Burt Bacharach song, "
What the World Needs Now Is Love" backed with the track "I Won’t Go Out Like That". In the time between releases, the lineup saw the addition of former
Cherry Poppin' Daddies keyboard player, John Goetchius in 2008 and Leon Silva in 2016 to replace Kevin Lenear who had departed the band for a second time earlier that same year. In September 2017, Tim Burton announced in a post Riot Fest interview that the band was working on a new album set for release in early 2018. According to guitarist Lawrence Katz and producer Ted Hutt's Instagram accounts, recording started on Friday, November 17 at Kingsize Soundlabs in Los Angeles, California. The new album's title was announced to be ''
While We're at It''. ''While We're at It'', the band's tenth album, was released on June 15, 2018. It is the final part of a musical trilogy that began with
Pin Points and Gin Joints in 2009 followed by
The Magic of Youth in 2011. For the initial 2018 tour dates supporting the album, Silva could not participate due to his commitments performing with
Justin Timberlake. To temporarily fill in for Silva, the band brought in Roman Fleysher and
Peter "JR" Wasilewski of
Less Than Jake to play saxophone on select dates. On January 25, 2021, it was announced that the Mighty Mighty Bosstones had signed a new record contract with
Hellcat Records. In conjunction with the announcement, the band released a new single titled, "The Final Parade" which features guest appearances by
Jamaican singer
Stranger Cole and members of
Rancid,
The Interrupters,
Fishbone,
Stiff Little Fingers,
The Suicide Machines,
Less Than Jake,
Murphy's Law,
H2O,
Goldfinger,
Sonic Boom Six,
The Toasters,
Bim Skala Bim,
Big D and the Kids Table, Doped Up Dollies,
The Aggrolites,
Dance Hall Crashers,
The Aquabats,
Buck-O-Nine,
The Porkers,
The Pietasters, Los Skanarles, Buster Shuffle,
Kemuri,
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and
The Specials. In March 2021, the band announced their first album since signing to Hellcat Records,
When God Was Great, would be released on May 7, 2021, and released the album's second single "I Don't Believe in Anything". The album's third single, "The Killing of King Georgie (Part III)", a song about the
murder of George Floyd, was released on April 21, 2021. On January 27, 2022, the band announced that they had split up. The statement shared by the band reads: "After decades of brotherhood, touring the world and making great records together we have decided not to continue on as a band. Above all, we want to express our sincere gratitude to every single one of you who have supported us. We could not have done any of it without you. Love Always, The Mighty Mighty BossToneS." Although the band chose to keep their reasoning for the split private, speculation suggested that it was over Barrett's stance on
COVID-19 vaccines and his participation in the production of a video promoting the "Defeat the Mandates" anti-vaccination mandate rally held by
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In February 2022, Barrett was a guest on
The Highwire with Del Bigtree podcast where he confirmed that it was his anti-vaccination views that had made the rest of the band uncomfortable.
After the breakup and potential reunion (2022–present) Since the split, the members have pursued other careers or moved forward with new bands with Barrett forming
The Defiant, Gittleman forming the Kilograms with Sammy Kay, and Rhodes returning to Spring Heeled Jack while also performing shows with the Skatalites and the Toasters. In December 2025, Barrett stated that he is working on reuniting the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. ==Big Rig Records==