Boss Martians

No less a luminary than “Little” Steven Van Zandt — radio host, E Street Band guitarist and Sopranos mobster Silvio Dante — has been hyping Seattle retro punks Boss Martians. Van Zandt even featured the band’s “I Am Your Radio” during the “Coolest Song in the World” segment of his Underground Garage cult radio program. Unleashing walls of distortion, blazing guitar licks, a tuneful melody and enough snottiness to shut down a Kleenex factory, the song embodies all the qualities that make Boss Martians endearing. And Little Steven isn’t the only one noticing. The Martians have landed tunes on everything from video games (Splashdown II) to prime-time TV shows (the WB’s One Tree Hill). With that kind of cred, it’s only a matter of time before the Martians leave the underground for the stratosphere.