In Defense of Ska

Oh, wait a minute! We have one more episode. Three-time IDOS guest Sammy Kay couldn’t let us walk away from the podcast without doing a proper exit interview. So this week, Sammy asks Adam and Aaron a bunch of questions about the podcast, what we think our legacy is, and gets some hot takes on ska from us.  This is for reals the final episode. Until the next final episode. And the next next final...

Well, folks, this is it. You’ve made it to the end of the  In Defense of Ska  podcast. Nobody can say it wasn't a great four-and-a-half-year run of interviews, discussions, laughs, and hard-hitting ska journalism. Hosts Aaron Carnes and Adam Davis certainly had a blast, so join them as they celebrate the end of the series with special guest Mike Park. Listen now. Will there ever be more episod...

Are Fishbone the greatest band of all time? Perhaps. But no matter how great any single person thinks the group is, it’s a fact that Fishbone is a super important, very original band. And they still matter in the year 2025. To discuss this point, we bring on a Fishbone superfan, comedian W. Kamau Bell! W. Kamau Bell has been a hardcore Fishbone fan since the early ’90s. And he remains a fan to thi...

Comedian Felipe Esparza may have won Last Comic Standing in 2010 and is currently touring theaters. But probably the most important thing to know about him is that he loves ska. We’re talking Madness, The Skatalites, Los Skarnales, Toots and the Maytals and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs.  We talk about all these bands with Felipe. But the group we spend the longest time on is Voodoo Glow Skulls. Felipe...

There were a lot of ska-punk bands in the ’90s. Perhaps, none were more out there than Northern CA’s Janitors Against Apartheid: A wild group that played hyper-fast ska and had a singer who sang about Punky Brewster and Little Caesar’s in a demented Kermit the Frog voice. And the stage show was completely unhinged. Usually, stuffed animals were getting destroyed.  This week, we talk to the sax pla...

They said it couldn’t be done, but  In Defense of Ska   laughs in the face of such faithlessness. It's with great pride and honor that the crew unveils this week's episode -- a lengthy discussion and breakdown of the  infamous mozzarella stick ska meme  that has come to define the genre's culture across the internet. Listen now. Join the  In Defense of Ska  investigation team as they d...

Eras of ska are, in part, defined by the ska labels. This week on  In Defense of Ska , the crew chats with the head of one of those labels helping make the modern age of the genre -- Chris Reeves, owner/operator of Ska Punk International. Listen now. With Reeves' business and artistic insight,  In Defense of Ska  explores the bands that helped the label carve out its ethos, as well as its cont...

New Orleans had a surprisingly big ska scene in the late 2000s. This caught the attention of  In Defense of Ska  host Aaron Carnes after he wrote the first edition of his book on the genre (also called  In Defense of Ska) . Today on the podcast, Carnes recaps and re-airs a recent panel he hosted in New Orleans about the era, touching on the bands o the time, the impact of Katrina, and more. Listen...

In England, two-tone ska was absolutely huge -- but only for a brief time. By the early ’80s, the country had moved on to other sounds in pop music, and most of the two-tone bands broke up or moved on to play non-ska tunes. But in this vacuum, a band called Potato 5 formed. This week on  In Defense of Ska , the band's four original members jump on the horn to chat about the unlikely story of P...

This week on  In Defense of Ska , the gang travels to the ska-loving country of Japan to interview the amazing ska-punk group Hey Smith. Listen to the band's singer and primary songwriter Shu and trombonist Ume (also of Kill Lincoln) chat about the band's growth, music, and more now. The  In Defense of Ska  crew, Shu, and Ume discuss everything from the band's origins to their most rec...

This week on  In Defense of Ska , host Adam Davis takes the spotlight to detail his time touring with his ska band Omnigone. The act hit the road back in March, and along the way he interviewed a whole bunch of interesting and notable characters, all in the name of seeing what life is like when you're on the road playing ska music. Listen now. Having returned from the Omnigone tour, Davis tell...

There’s a piece of Gilman (the legendary underground venue) lore that involves a huge fight between punks and nazis in the late '80s. Thankfully and expectedly, the punks kicked the nazis' butts. So much so, in fact, that the latter never showed their faces at Gilman again. Such is the tale now used as inspiration for the new film  Freaky Tales , which features the likes of Pedro Pascal an...

At the moment, Dubioza Kolektiv are one of the biggest ska bands in Europe. The Bosnia-based group melds ska, reggae, hip-hop, and alt-rock, fusing it all with traditional Balkan elements. This week on  In Defense of Ska , the band joins the podcast to talk about their sound, their story, Eurovision, and more. Listen now. Dubioza Kolektiv chat about the time they almost made it on Eurovision, what...

Let  In Defense of Ska introduce you to The Chains, a new ska band out hailing from Denmark. Their sound leans heavily into traditional ska, rock steady, and boss reggae, and they put out a killer album last year,  Crying on the Dancefloor . This week on the podcast, the band joins the crew to chat about the ska scene in Denmark, their new music, and more. Listen now. Ahead of their set at this ye...

This week on  In Defense of Ska , the crew asks a question that has been on everyone's mind: What the hell is crack rock steady? Along with author and fellow ska-enjoyer Jeff Burk, the crew discusses the subgenre in all of its glory. Listen now. The gang tackles everything from crack rock steady's unique musical elements to its aesthetic to its lyrical approach. Along the way, they chat ab...

When people say they want ska music to come back, what they’re really saying is that they want ska music to once again be a part of the pop music world. If that were to happen, though, it likely wouldn’t sound anything like '90s ska-pop (Reel Big Fish, Save Ferris, Mighty Mighty Bosstones). Simply put, pop music has changed. So, what kind of ska would fit into the current landscape of pop? To...

Back in the mid '90s, ska was on the rise in the United States. Ready to ride the wave, a new band formed in San Jose, California, that specialized in ska-punk and pop-punk tunes, and they called themselves  Smash Mouth . Of all the ska tunes on their debut album,  Fush Yu Mang , though, it was the non-ska single "Walking on the Sun" that became the hit. The band  hasn't played ska...

For most of his life, the legendary  Bob Marley  was actually something of a cult artist. After his death in 1981, though, his popularity only grew and grew. Now, he stands as a bonafide icon. On this episode of  In Defense of Ska , Bob Marley expert Roger Steffens joins the podcast to chat about where Marley's legacy stands in 2025. Listen now. From his hugely popular posthumous album  Legend...

Kayleigh “Kmoy” Malloy released The Precure Album in 2021. It’s a brilliant, ska concept album that could be described as “Laptop Ska.” That’s changed. Now Kmoy is a full band with guitars and drums. And it sounds incredible. But something else is happening in the world of Kmoy. The Precure Album is finally getting a vinyl release. You can pre-order it here ! This week we talk to Kayleigh (and Anj...

At this point in their career, perhaps it’s unfair to call Los Fabulosos Cadillacs strictly a ska act. The band blends the genre with reggae, wider rock, and various Latin rhythms. However, when they started in the mid-’80s, they were certainly a ska band. Good enough for us! On this episode of In Defense of Ska , Los Fabulosos Cadillacs founder and saxophonist Sergio Rotman joins the podcast to c...

It's no secret that the  In Defense of Ska  crew loves them some Mike Park -- the musician, ska aficionado, and Asian Man Records founder. So, this week, the gang invites Park's best friend onto the show -- Chris Candy. Listen to Candy discuss Park, his own band Chotto Ghetto, Vans Warped Tour, and more. Candy, the son of comedy legend John Candy, has a whole host of stories to share. Be i...

In 2008, when the  “Jesus Is a Friend of Mine” video  blew up on YouTube, it seemed almost too good to be true. An early '80s Christian ska video from public access television? Was this even real? The video is hilariously of its time, the lyrics are religious but also kind of silly, and the ska music at its core — incredibly — is actually good! On this episode of  In Defense of Ska , the gang...

The past few years have felt like something of a modern renaissance for hardcore music. There's Soul Glo, Scowl, Sunami, and other bands whose names presumably start with the letter "S." On this episode of  In Defense of Ska , the crew swaps out that "S" for a "Z" to chat with Braxton Marcellous, guitarist of  Zulu . Listen now. Marcellous chats about everything from hi...

We need more ska supergroups! Mutiny and Rude Girl Revue are both amazing. But today we reveal that Joan Jett the Blackhearts drummer Michael McDermott is in the ska group The Kilograms, which formed in 2023, along with Mighty Mighty Bosstones bassist Joe Gittleman, THEE Sammy Kay, Craig Gorsline and J Duckworth. After a handful of releases, on April 4, they release their debut LP, Beliefs and Thi...

Ska and reggae are global genres, but the specific region in which a band originates undeniably influences their sound. Case in point, the wonderful world of British ska. To explore the minutia of the subgenera, this episode of  In Defense of Ska  welcomes Josh Waters Rudge, guitarist and vocalist of  The Skints . Listen now. The ska scene our friends across the pond cultivated take from such spec...