BOSS 302

I recently caught up with BOSS 302 before they hit the stage at Whiskey Tango in Philadelphia. On this particular night the band were being given the first printing of their self-titled debut CD. Years of practicing, playing shows, writing, and recording has led up to this point and I was surprised at how the band, Larry Lerro (bass and vocals), John Modugno (guitar and vocals), and Mike Lerro (drums and percussion) handled seeing their first cd for the first time. They waited. Not one of the guys dare take a look at the cd until all three band members were present. We sat down at a table, opened a case of cds, and the band relished in what they saw. John held up a copy of the cd and told me “these songs here are all Larry’s…honestly”. Handshakes and pats on the back led us into our interview.

BOSS 302 is a rock band that formed out of an idea Larry had for recording some of his songs. “I had been writing songs and recording them on my own with a drum machine backing me” Larry tells me. He eventually wanted to bring in some friends and record a few of his songs for a demo. John and Mike had been in a band with Larry when they were all in high school together.

After high school the three friends went in different directions and in Larry’s case “I must have played with a ton of bands, but none of them really felt right”. But 14 years after the three musicians quit performing together Larry called on his old band mates to come in to the recording studio and help him record. “I only came in to do solos” John said, but once the guys started getting in to the songs and laying down a few tracks it felt like they were back in high school again. As Mike put it “Once we started playing Larry’s songs it was easy for us to take what he had and make everything come together”. Although 14 years had past, musically it had felt like the band were still together. What was intended to be a recording session of a few songs grew into what is now BOSS 302.

The band pulls their musical influences from Queens of the Stone Age, Motorhead, Helmet, and Black Sabbath although one thing specifically sets them apart and makes their music unique. “We play music we like and music that we feel good playing” John told me. He added “We don’t set out to write a song or album for a particular age group or even to specifically get on the radio. We really write and play music that we like”. Mike added that he “listens to the BOSS 302 songs over and over and really is a fan of the music”. I have to agree with him. When I first got the master copy of this album I played it for about two weeks straight. From the bad ass intro of a friend’s BOSS 302 engine revving to the band’s single “Highway” to the song “No Overdose”, which is a tune that started with a riff John came up with, the album is a really good one to hit the highway and just step on the gas! After the intro, this BOSS 302 album has 9 songs and that was done intentionally. Larry told me it’s because “we have so many songs written or partially written and when it came time to record this album we didn’t want any filler songs. So many bands will put 8-9 really good songs on a cd and add 2-3 filler songs. We feel these 9 songs are strong and just didn’t want to put out an album with 13 tracks and have a few songs on there just because”.

Now that BOSS 302 is having their songs played on Toil Rock Radio and Gashouse radio (they were the featured artist on Gashouseradio.com last week) I asked the guys how it feels to hear their music on the radio. “It’s surreal” Larry told me. Mike said that he listened to a recent airing of Toil Rock Radio and heard a Queens of the Stone Age song followed by “Highway” then a tune by Clutch after that and “there really was no sound difference between the three songs. Our song held up with the Queens song and the Clutch song”.

When BOSS 302 plays these songs live the like to keep it simple. “We try and play the songs live true to how they are on the album. I mean, we may change up the ending to a song once in awhile but we really want the live audience to hear the songs as they hear them on the album”.

We wrapped up our interview by discussing future plans for BOSS 302. Larry said “I’m always writing. I probably have two more albums of stuff ready to go now. We’ll sit down and play through some songs and they may make it on the next album or they may sit and wait until it all comes together and is used on a future album”.

I left the interview with BOSS 302 feeling that this band really is a brotherhood (literally in the case of Mike and Larry!!). The three guys were so amped at seeing their album printed and ready to be sold. Mike and John were thanking Larry for giving them the opportunity to write and record his songs and Larry couldn’t mention enough that this product is a result of all their hard work. As excited as the ban - Toil Rock Report