"Mighty" Rockstar is "Boss" at LSC

It's not every college that has a certified rock star on the payroll. When Lyndon State got serious about their Music Business and Industry program it was clear that a seasoned musician who's toured the world, played for thousands of screaming fans and written and recorded a number one hit single would be an essential asset to the program. Lucky for them one had offered his services and the MBI program was smart enough to snatch him up.

Joe Gittleman is the bass player and songwriter for one of the biggest bands to ever come out of New England, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. He is one of those rare musicians who has actually been instrumental in creating a genre of rock music, Ska-Core.

Anyone who has taken one of Joe's classes can tell you that he's not just a badass bass player; he's also a damn fine teacher. I recently sat down with Joe to talk about The Bosstones, the music biz and teaching at LSC.

When asked how he started playing music Gittleman said, "It's just what you do with pals. You know, somebody gets a guitar for Christmas and then the next thing you know someone's asking for a drum set for their birthday. I was probably twelve years old when I started bangin around on instruments… I ended up settling as a bass player because everybody needed one.

"During high school I started working for bands. I started roadying… I took that job really seriously… After I graduated high school I was invited to go on a full US tour [with the band Gang Green]… It was an education."

After working as a roadie for Gang Green Joe was asked to join the group on bass. They made a few records and Joe continued to gain valuable experience.

"I said, ‘I'm gonna take what I learned with that band and apply it to the Bosstones.' Now I knew how to tour, I knew people, I could get us shows in New York City, I understood the process of being a band," said Gittleman.

It wasn't long before things really started happening for the Bosstones.

"If I was to tell you the moment when things went from high school kick around to, ‘there might be something here' [it would be] the very first time we played an all ages show in Boston opening up for a band that could draw 400  people… it was off the rails…within the span of three months we went from opening up our first all ages show to selling out our first headline show at the Paradise Club in Boston… I remember, I asked the sound guy ‘what's the capacity here?' and he said ‘why do you care?' as if to say ‘you're never gonna fill this place.'"

Well they did fill it, and many more venues to come. A fan of the band financed their first album and they were on their way. Eventually the Bosstones were signed to Mercury Records

"The guy who produced our first Mercury record… had engineered AC/DC's Back in Black and he also had recorded Bob Marley… and things continued to grow," said Gittleman.

After touring and touring and drinking and making more records and more touring, The Bosstones were not selling tons of records and growing unhappy with their record company. Mercury records weren't exactly thrilled with The Bosstones either.

Gittleman said, "Basically…[Mercury executives said] ‘There's the door. If you guys want to bail go ahead. We were kind of knocked back by that. So that's when we regrouped and said ‘Alright, let's really spend time making the right record for the next one. We spent a year making demos; we started really studying music, song construction. We started asking ‘what really makes a song connect with people?' …We had a team of people who really believed in the band and the times had changed. Things started getting played on the radio that were more like us… and so we just had the right song at the right time."

That song was "The Impression That I Get" the biggest hit that the Bosstones would produce to date. It hit number one on the billboard charts. At that point things really took off for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

"The pressure was just on," said Gittleman. "The promotions and touring schedule was brutal. There was no such thing as a day off: we did Saturday Night Live, Conan, David Letterman twice, we opened up the Video Music Awards for MTV."

Things may have slowed down a bit for the Bosstones but they are still a very popular attraction playing major festival tours around the world and drawing more than 8,000 fans each year at their annual Christmas show in Boston.

 Joe and his wife have been visiting Vermont for years and eventually decided to settle in the Northeast Kingdom. He's getting his degree while he's teaching at LSC.

"The thing about Lyndon is there's a real emphasis on experience," said Gittleman. "They value their instructors experience in the real world. It's not any institution that's going recognize the value my experience and give me an opportunity to teach. So I'm lucky in that way."

To hear my interview with Joe Gittleman in it's entirety (and if you ask me it is essential listening for any MBI student) check out The Critic Multi Media page on Lyndonunderground.com