Here's what music critic Brett Milano says about Mickey Bones in the Boston Phoenix;
Probably a short list of rules for musicians who want to play authentic New Orleans sounds. First, you oughta be funky. You should eat a mess of crawfish and have your Professor Longhair down pat. Most of all you shouldn't come from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Drummer/bandleader Mickey Bones has broken that last rule, but he's been behind most of the home grown bands who've played Crescent City music with any degree of credibility - starting with the Boogaloo Swamis whom he founded in the early 80's. Currently he leads no fewer than five bands, four of which make their recorded debut on the just-released Swamptone Sampler (on the Swamptone label, which Bones and his musical partner Joe Pete Wetherbee run from deep in the bayous of West Somerville).
Over coffee at the Middle East last week, Bones explained the real secret of of being a Louisiana-flavored drummer. "I call it the slop factor." he said. "You keep a steady beat and throw in these little rolls, (flams and) what they call ruffs. It's also knowing where the (music) came from; a lot of the New Orleans sound comes from the combination of West African beats and European melodies. Before I went to New Orleans, I was thinking too much about speed, putting that before the groove. Down there you learn that being fast doesn't mean it's groovy. I think the humidity makes people play that way. You don't learn it; you're forced into it by the weather conditions."
Bones learned his slop from the source, having temporarily moved to New Orleans in 1989 and spent two years commuting between jazz bands in the French Quarter and R+B acts uptown. During days he played street corners in the Quarter, and he saw an approach to live music that one doesn't find at home. "I was playing blues on Royal Street with a guy named Augie Jr., and thats where I learned how to work the street if you're gonna play. You have to get right in peoples faces and get them to put money in the box. I mean, Augie used to chase people down the street if they hadn't put anything in the box. One time a transient street guy was trying to play flute with the band. The first time Augie told him not to do it; the second time he smashed his head against a fire hydrant. Fortunately the guy didn't die and Augie didn't get arrested."
Leading bands in Boston is presumably a more mellow gig. There's a wide variety of music on Bone's sampler CD. The Hot Tamale Brass Band do a high spirited take on Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin' " and an original "New Cambridge March". Sticky Chicken are the oddest entry; they do unlikely versions of American folk songs (their version of "Buffalo Gals" is almost as weird as Malcolm Mclaren's hip-hop version a couple of years back). "That's my inspirational band," Bones says. "I'm attempting to bring this to schools and direct it to the unsuspecting children - giving them the traditional songs they hate so much, but with new verve and different beats."



Morphine
Willie Alexander
"Members of the Doors"
Devo
Treat Her Right
Dr. John
Aaron Neville
John Fogerty
Los Lobos
Roomfull of Blues
Guitar Junior
Billy Joe Shaver
Johnny Copeland
Debbie Davies
Pinetop Perkins
Hubert Sumlin
Clifton Chenier
Boozoo Chavis
Townes Van Zant
David Bromberg
Richard Thompson
the Del Feugos,
Violent Femmes
the Village People
G - Love and Special Sauce
Tex and the Horseheadst
Los Lobos
C. J. Chenier,
Buckwheat Zydeco
Evan Jones and the H - Bombs
Sleepy Labeef
the Paladins
the Tailgators
James Cotton
Koko Taylor,
Lonnie Mack
Steve Riley & Mamou Playboys
George Thorogood
Roy Bookbinder
the Phister Sisters
Michael Hurley
Black Uhuru with Sly and Robbie
Bo Diddley
Rockin’ Sidney
Rick Danko (from The Band)
Pine Top Perkins
Van “Piano Man” Walls
Kenny Neal
D.L. Manard
Catie Curtis
Little Queenie
John Mooney
Wayne Bennett
Jim Kweskin
Rockin’ George Ley
Bryan Lee
“Sax” Gordon Beadle
Boogaloo Swamis
Hot Tamale Brass Band
Screaming Coyotes
Spitwhistle
the Hubcaps
Shanachee
Green Linen
Philo
Flying Fish
Rounder
Dreamworks
Tone Cool
Morphine
Chris Ballew
Jill Sobule
Jim Kweskin
Four Piece Suit
Danny Kootch
Bob Franke
Michael Hurley
David Maxwell
the Breeders (demos)
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic
Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish
Pale Brothers w/Mark Sandman
Jimmy Ryan and Wooden Leg
David Maxwell
David Lindley (demos)
Boogaloo Swamis
Screaming Coyotes
Played Drums Live With
He Has Recorded With
He Has Recorded on These Record Labels
Mickey Bones Has Toured Europe
Thirty-Three Shows in France
Twelve sold out shows shows in Norway and Sweden
Twenty-Eight Sold Out Shows in Germany and Austria
He Has Appeared in Two Major Motion Pictures As An Extra
JFK - Oliver Stone. He was in a scene with Kevin Bacon, Joe Pesci
and Tommy Lee Joness
And
The 2004 Version of Fever Pitch as the drummer for the Hot Tamale Brass Band in which they also used one of their songs
Notable Bands Mickey Bones Has Opened Up For