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| The Mighty Mighty BossTones |
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Fueled
by a potent mix of ska, funk, punk, pop and metal, The Mighty
Mighty BossTones cut its teeth on the college circuit, where
its energetic live shows and good-time party atmosphere won
the band a loyal following. For our first Ask the Artists
interview, StarPolish talked to Dicky Barrett about keeping
a band together, constantly touring, and the right way to
find a manager.
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StarPolish: You guys have been together for a long time
-- how did you put the band together in the early days, and how
do you keep a band together for the long run?
Dicky Barrett: Through the years
the band has embraced the concept of building a fan base and keeping
it growing. It is important to just get out there, travel city to
city and deliver a great show every time. We definitely had the
horse before the cart. We were traveling warhorses long before we
were major-label recording stars. If you build a fan base, then
no one can ever take that away from you -- if people want to see
you, then it doesn't matter how many records you sell, or what your
label thinks of you. You can't deny success when people want to
go to your shows.
StarPolish: So you think the fans helped to keep the band
together?
Dicky: I think that being in
a band in theory is fun -- it should be a good time. If you're not
having a good time doing it then you should move on to something
else. I think that what keeps the band together is the fact that
we enjoy each other's company and [our] love of playing. However,
it would be a lot less fun if no one came to see us.
StarPolish: In terms of building the fan base in the early
days, do you think touring is the best way to do that?
Dicky: Touring is the answer!
Go load into any vehicle you can find, travel to cities, find a
show to play, and deliver! As tiring or as much work that touring
is, it's the only way to do it.
StarPolish: We received a lot of questions regarding touring.
Do you have some advice for bands that are just getting started
and that want to begin touring?
Dicky: I think that young bands
now have an advantage that we did not have starting out: the Internet.
Now you can get access to clubs and promoters right at the tip of
your fingers instead of spending time and money on the phone as
we did when we were starting out.
StarPolish: You guys take a lot of younger band out on
the road with you. Do you enjoy giving back to the smaller artist
circuit?
Dicky: We have no choice --
all bands are younger bands; Aerosmith aren't going to open up for
us.
StarPolish: When you were starting out, did you find that
the bands that came before you gave you the opportunity of exposure
by taking you out with them?
Dicky: Yes, I give a lot of
credit to bands like Murphy's Law and Fishbone, who took us on the
road and taught us a lot about touring.
StarPolish: You guys are champions of gig swapping with
other bands -- do you think that that's a good way to get started?
Dicky: Absolutely. I don't think
that there is any one way to get started. In order to become successful,
try everything!
StarPolish: StarPolish fans asked about your thoughts
on playing smaller clubs versus larger venues. What thoughts go
into balancing artistic consideration with economic considerations?
Dicky: We're actually heading
out on a tour now that is going to be multiple nights, which will
allow us to play smaller venues. It would be a lot of fun to go
play the small club in every town and call that a tour, but in doing
that you are leaving people out in the cold. You have to take that
into consideration. The tour we're on now is multiple nights in
small venues, which is kind of like the your town throw-down . We're
going to hit a bunch of cities and do two, three or four nights
-- it will be fun. That's a way to get us to play small clubs, and
yes, we do prefer to play the smaller, more intimate venues - that's
fun for us…it's where we came from.
StarPolish: So, the town throw-down is basically a tour
in which you'll play a bunch of nights at smaller venues in each
market?
Dicky: Exactly. We'll be playing
in about 10 markets.
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