The Boss Hoss: Welcome to Trashville
ЯR Oktober’s Official Band: The Boss Hoss ЯR
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After 15 years of playing and recording in rock ‘n’ roll bands, and another 3 writing about rock ‘n’ roll bands, it’s tempting to say that I’ve pretty much seen all the weirdness you could ascribe to rock ‘n’ roll bands, but then I saw The BossHoss…
The Boss Hoss plays a raucous, countrified style of punk-a-billy rock. Nothing new there. Cow-punk had its day 20 years ago with X and Lone Justice. Fair enough. What about the fact that most of their repertoire consists of bizarre hick-rock covers of popular songs like Nelly’s “Hot in Heere”, Ministry’s “Jesus Built my Hotrod” and Cameo’s “Word Up”. To make it still more intriguing, they somehow convinced one of the world’s biggest record labels to get on board with them. Oh, and they’re not from Nashville or Bakersfield–they’re from Germany!
Ja. Dieser band kommt aus Deutschland, y’all.
Looking at it all on paper, this could either be total fucking win or the absolute worst band ever to disgrace a stage. Well, you need only listen to their medley of AC/DC’s “TNT” and Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” to know the answer here! They don’t just sound the part, either. Clad in Stetson hats, white wife-beaters and jeans (denim is a kind of religion for the band) and brandishing vintage Fender Telecasters, upright basses and (sometimes) washboards, the BossHoss look like the house band at a joint that has cockfights in the back room. Onstage, they drink from whiskey flasks and talk in Southern U. S. slang. (They even do this in Germany, where they deliberately mangle German phrases to be true to their characters. They once described an audience’s lukewarm response as ‘Scheissen-Hausen’ — pidgin for ‘Shit House’.)
Word Up!
The BossHoss formed in 2004 by vocalist “Boss Burns” and vocalist/guitarist “Hoss Power” out of remnants of defunct bands in the Berlin punk/goth scene. With fellow members Hank (mandolin, washboard), Frank (Drums), Russ (bass), Guss (lead guitar), and Ernesto (percussion), BossHoss became a big local draw, leading to a European record contract with Universal Music imprint Motor Music (Home of Krazy Krauts Rammstein, among others). The following year they released Internashville Urban Hymns to critical and commercial success. Rodeo Radio followed in 2006. The ersatz cowboys have certified Gold sales in their Vaterland and countries like The Netherlands and have played some of the biggest festivals in Europe.
Hot in Herre
Right now, the only way to get a BossHoss CD is via import
I Say a Little Prayer 4U
thebosshoss.com - myspace.com/thebosshoss - youtube - Amazon
Previous Band of the Month winners:
- Dead 50s: Wasted, Unfaded, Semi-educated
- Cover your eyes, it’s Sullivan!
- Craptain Jack and the Shmees
- Future entries will be filed here
As an ex-pat living in Berlin I can telling you these guys are really sweeping up like Ronald Macdonald at a rodeo in Germany and broke through with a TV commerical for an ice cream.
Don’t forget Europe has a tradition for screwing with country going all the way back to the Rednex…. who are busily making a comeback of their own right now.
Paul B.
10 Oct 07 at 6:03 pm
Yeah, it’s a long trip from Can and Kraftwerk to this, but I’ve always kept an ear cocked toward The Continent, especially Germany. The Scorpions, Peter Schilling, Kreator, Helloween, Culture Beat, La Bouche (RIP: Melanie Thornton) and Waterdown are just some of the great musical acts Germany has given us. Sweden’s Rednex were just not for me.
I sure wanna go back to Germany soon. It’s a great place to spend a couple of weeks! Vielen Dank für’s Blogfreundschaft!
Soylent Ape
10 Oct 07 at 6:49 pm
The only German band I’ll listen to is Rammstein. These guys ain’t got nothing on them.
Honestly, I think country is just an American thing. I haven’t heard any non-Southern band sing well about beers, dead dogs, and trucks.
Cody
11 Oct 07 at 1:54 am
@ Cody: I love some Rammstein. I was just watching the video for “Ich Will” when I came over to read this. (One of the greatest promo videos in the history of the medium, IMHO.) Former East German art students + Pyrotechnics = Awesome. Every single time.
Soylent Ape
11 Oct 07 at 2:11 am
Hahahahahahaha
Gay Bar is hilarious!
bagel of everything
11 Oct 07 at 9:53 am
Soylent:
If things don’t work out w/Bagel and my marriage ends up crumbling in some sort of homicidal event, we should totally do the meet-n-greet. Your posts = WIN.
stepher
11 Oct 07 at 2:36 pm
Stepher: Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.
bagel of everything
11 Oct 07 at 3:25 pm
@ Stepher: Consider it our “continuation of government plan”. I’d say that between the two of us, we could have a virtual John Cleese film festival. Thanks for the great complements on my posts!
@ Bagel: Now-now, dear. ;O)
Soylent Ape
11 Oct 07 at 3:53 pm
[...] as a gunslinger. Screw Big and Rich - these guys got it goin’ onnnnnn (thanks to the guys at Ration Reality for bringing this to my dwindling middle-age attention [...]
I really don’t know which is better, so hell, I like ‘em both! « Frontier Former Editor
12 Oct 07 at 10:55 pm
Okay, and they even make Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharacket sounds like cardboard. I gotta get this CD!
Frontier Former Editor
12 Oct 07 at 11:54 pm
German guys in Stetsons and boots covering a song called “Gay Bar”? It’s Brokeback Hügel!
Soylent Ape
13 Oct 07 at 2:32 am
Ok. Word Up was already a bad song. But the thing about it was it and Cameo were awesomely bad. And that’s why we loved it. Could that be the gimmick here?
Arm Jerker J.
14 Oct 07 at 6:04 pm
@ Arm Jerker: Everyone is entitled to an opinion and here’s mine: Cameo were the band that kept funk music relevant in the 80s. They’re actually one of my favorite recording groups ever. I love “Word Up” no matter who covers it. (There have been at least 8 covers by artists on major labels.
“Awesomely bad”? In my mind, simply “awesome” works just fine.
Oh, and these weird covers are certainly “gimmicks”. However, gimmickry is not always a bad thing. The music business is more cutthroat than ever and I can forgive a talented artist(s) for doing something cheap, but memorable to be recognized.
Soylent Ape
15 Oct 07 at 9:39 am
AJJ: I think you hit a nerve.
bagel of everything
15 Oct 07 at 10:26 am
Ah. Bagel, I know. Whoa. Soylent is sticking up for the codpiece band!
Arm Jerker J.
15 Oct 07 at 1:41 pm
Soy: I think it’s time to tell your Cameo concert story.
bagel of everything
15 Oct 07 at 1:53 pm
‘Word up’ beats ‘word to yo mutha’ any day of the week and twice on Sunday
Frontier Former Editor
15 Oct 07 at 2:25 pm
Chill
Be cool
Frontier Former Editor
15 Oct 07 at 2:25 pm
@ Bagel: I was gonna save it but…okay.
Are you sure right now is the best time? Wouldn’t you rather save this for another time? I mean, it’s golden!
Soylent Ape
15 Oct 07 at 11:25 pm
@ Arm Jerker J: Codpiece band? Psssh! I’ll have you know that the codpiece has a long and storied history in popular music. From 70s art/prog rockers like Jethro Tull and Queen up through The Darkness and Electric Six.
Members of Kiss have been known to wear codpieces (often studded or spiked and, during the 80s, brightly neon-colored). Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. wore a tiger-striped codpiece with a protruding rotary saw blade capable of shooting sparks and flames.
Soylent Ape
16 Oct 07 at 8:50 am
Tell the story, Soy. Tell it.
TELL IT
bagel of everything
16 Oct 07 at 11:35 am
Ah geez Soy, now the codpieces. Tell me what you AREN’T sensitive about!
How about chokers or those spiked bracelets? Or what about crucifix medallions?
And let’s not forget scarves twisted around microphone stands.
Arm Jerker J.
17 Oct 07 at 3:00 am
@ AJJ: I’m not uptight about that stuff. To each his (or her) own.
Soylent Ape
17 Oct 07 at 6:18 am
It just hit me - these guys should be singin’ Deutschland uber Y’alles
Frontier Former Editor
17 Oct 07 at 12:25 pm
That was a good one, FFE!
Soylent Ape
18 Oct 07 at 6:10 am
Tell me this isn’t cool:
Dusseldorf-based pizza chain Hallo Pizza offered the band a chance to custom-design their own pizzas for a special “BossHoss” menu: The “BOSSHOSS”, the “GUSSRUSS” and the “FRANKHANK”! (Ernesto gets his own spicy chicken nugget snack.) If you live in Germany, you can enter a contest for free Hallo Pizzas and a chance to meet the band.
Soylent Ape
20 Oct 07 at 1:40 pm
Soy - wanna split a schnitzel und anchovie?
Frontier Former Editor
20 Oct 07 at 9:24 pm
If I can pick off the schnitzel and anchovies, then blot all the oil off with a paper towel, sure!
Soylent Ape
20 Oct 07 at 11:47 pm
[...] The Boss Hoss: Welcome to Trashville [...]
Move Ziggy’s for Great Justice « Ration Reality
26 Nov 07 at 8:28 pm