Bands

Boston, Cambridge, and Allston are home to some of the greatest ska bands in the states, to include those who helped pioneer the American ska sound, and those up-and-comers who continue to make this scene what it is.

Five Dollar Bill: An Intimate Evening in Cambridge with Members of The New Limits and of Westbound Train and The Pomps

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Rogue 617 and Middlesex Lounge in Cambridge will host a semi-acoustic evening with some of the best talent and musicianship in the Boston ska scene

VIDEO: Full Mighty Mighty Bosstones Live Set from 1991

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bosstones more noise and other disturbances cover art

Saturday night internetting led me to video of a complete Mighty Mighty Bosstones set dated January of 1991, posted by YouTuber Skibs778. The sound and video aren’t perfect, but it’s good enough to enjoy what was not just an intimate gig, but one early on in the band’s career. One commenter claims “[t]he video was filmed with a Sony Video 8 camcorder at The Apocalypse Club that used to be on college street in Toronto.” Setlist.fm agrees if you go by the track list. I should note it’s not quite the complete set as song 7, a cover of Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion,” has been removed, probably at the request of their label.

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The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Premier “They Will Need Music” Video on Alternative Press

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The Mighty Mighty Bosstones They Will Need Music video pays homage to their HomeTown ThrowDown | Alternative Press

Boston ska stalwarts The Mighty Mighty Bosstones have made a music video for “They Will Need Music” and Alternative Press has the exclusive premier. The Bosstones announced the video’s release on Facebook yesterday, saying:

[quote]This video is our love letter to the HomeTown ThrowDown which is our yearly love letter to the City of Boston and the people that support our band, The Mighty Mighty BossToneS[/quote]

The video includes great footage from the 2013 Hometown Throwdown, the Meet and Greet at McGreevy’s, and the sledding event held at Frozen Fenway. Intentional or not, I love that the sledding scenes look like home video footage circa the 1970s. If you attended any of these events, look closely and you just might see yourself! Yours truly makes a cameo at about the 1:54 mark! No one could ever claim that the Bosstones didn’t care about their fans. The video itself was made local filmmaker Mark Higgins who is also responsible for the Music video for “The Daylights” (see below) and Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” music video, among others.

UPDATE 2/17/14 8:45AM: The video is no longer exclusive to Alternative Press. Here it is on YouTube:

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