In Defense of Ska Ep 125: Joe Gittleman (The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Avoid One Thing, Gang Green, SideOneDummy Records

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones had the biggest ska-punk hit of the '90s. Their song "The Impression That I Get" was huge and made them legit stars for a while. But they were a band that earned it. They got their start in the 80s, signed to Taang Records in 1989, got a major label deal in 1993 and released several records before hitting it big with their 1997 record Let's Face It. Not to mention, they were a huge influence on the sound of US ska-punk in the 90s. 

Today, we talk to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones' bassist Joe Gittleman (aka the Bass Fiddleman). He tells us stories from the Bosstones year, working at SideOneDummy in the 2000s, producing Big D and the Table's "Strictly Rude" record, playing in Gang Green and he gives us his side perspective regarding The Bosstones' breakup last year. 

He also talks about playing Lollapalooza in 1995, quitting drinking, and Bouncing Souls covering his song "Lean On Sheena" from his other band Avoid One Thing, and how the song ended up being one of the Souls most popular songs. We talk about Brian Fallon and Gaslight Anthem's landmark record The 59 Sound, playing Warped Tour and the significance of seeing Fishbone play in the 80s. 

Plus we talk about Joe's upcoming Wavebreaker release on Bad Time Records with the great Bad Operation. You're going to want to grab a copy ASAP! 

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon! 

If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music. 

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024. 

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023. 

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

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