The Bosch
surf rock for skateboard punks
by Tom O'Connell

The Bosch boil down elements of punk rock, surf rock, and 90s alterna-pop into a simple and stripped down mantra: Rock the Fuck Out.  They seem to have taken to heart the memorable advice from Spinal Tap keyboardist Viv Savage, “Have a good time all the time.”  Their debut album, Buy One, Get One was released in late 2005.

What is The Bosch, and how did it form?

Matt: One way to think about The Bosch is to recognize how different Holt's father and mine are.  Holt's Dad is an airline pilot who owns twelve firearms.  Mine is an art curator with an alternative lifestyle.   Interestingly, they both have moustaches; perhaps they represent the two sides of the mustache dialectic?   Anyway, if we get famous enough, I think those two ought to have a TV show where they drive around Virginia in a van, solving mysteries.
But that's a good way to think about the band's aesthetic – no, really.  You have Holt and Brett's commitment to blasting away and keeping it accessible, but while Andrew and I want that too – we want you to have a great time at our shows, goddammit – we might indulge a Brian Wilson instinct, or figure out a horn arrangement, and so on.

There’s a powerful Beach Boys influence on songs like "Teenage Symphony", while "Back to the Laboratory" seems to touch on Dick Dale-style surf rock.

We all like the simplicity and power of punk rock.  If Brett had his druthers he would travel back in time and be in the Modern Lovers when they recorded "Roadrunner," for example.   I dig the song too – the sheer adrenaline rush of driving around suburban Massachusetts late at night, celebrating the banality of the Stop and Shop, all the while rocking this simple Velvet Underground riff?  Awesome.
As for the surf guitar, I happened to be listening to Man… Or Astro-Man? when I was 15 and learning the guitar.  It's still the way I approach a lot of my playing.
And in terms of the Beach Boys take the song "Be My Little Baby," by the Ronettes, or the album "All Your Summer Songs" by Saturday Looks Good to Me.   I love anything that sounds like it was recorded in an underground fish tank.
Bottom line, we admire bands that aren't afraid to be eclectic and have a sense of humor.  Ween comes to mind.

File sharing: unstoppable technological progress or taking food out of the artist's mouth?

Holt: My two cents: If you buy a record, I think you've bought the rights to lifetime use of the album or single. So let's say 10 years ago you bought that Harvey Danger record with "Flagpole Sitta" on cassette. You paid ten bucks for one song, put money in the pockets of the record store, label, and a little bit in the band's hand.  Suddenly you are reminded of the song, but you lost that record.  I think you have the right to download it to your heart's content. The Chumbawamba song "Tub-Thumping" is always cited on PBS as the hot-button on this topic. I say let's give those poor Limeys a break.

Brett:  Bands should give away two or three songs and people can buy the rest.  Also I had Apple in-ear headphones for my iPod and they broke.  It took me close to two months at the apple "genius" bar to get them replaced.  $&#* Apple.

Tour plans in the works?  Is a follow up already in progress?

Matt:  Woxy.com has featured us twice on their "Unsigned" program which is great.   It's just going to press and specialty radio now. Not thinking about the follow-up yet, although I'd love to cut like 2 or 3 tracks for a short EP.   Too soon for that at the moment, though.

Tell me one of your darkest secrets or most embarrassing moments.

Holt: Are you at all familiar with the Ben Stiller comedy vehicle "Along Came Polly?" The talented Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays a character who refers to something happening in your pants that involves two unfortunate and indiscreet biological functions combining... Been there.
Brett: I used to tell my mom I was eating my vitamins but really I just hid them under the microwave.