In Defense of Ska

Enter to win tickets to Supernova Ska Fest 2024 by filling out our  entry form  ( https://bit.ly/supernovaska ), following and leaving a review on  Apple Podcasts , and/or subscribing to the  In Defense of Ska   Patreon . There will be winners selected from each entry method and the contest ends September 9th, so hurry and enter now for your chance to win! Ska might seem like a somewhat insular sc...

Enter to win tickets to Supernova Ska Fest 2024 by filling out our  entry form  ( https://bit.ly/supernovaska ), following and leaving a review on  Apple Podcasts , and/or subscribing to the  In Defense of Ska   Patreon . There will be winners selected from each entry method and the contest ends September 9th, so hurry and enter now for your chance to win! On this episode of  In Defense of Ska , S...

In Defense of Ska 's latest bonus episode is a LIVE podcast! Listen now. Enter to win tickets to Supernova Ska Fest 2024 by filling out our  entry form  ( https://bit.ly/supernovaska ), following and leaving a review on  Apple Podcasts , and/or subscribing to the  In Defense of Ska   Patreon . There will be winners selected from each entry method and the contest ends September 9th, so hurry an...

Enter to win tickets to Supernova Ska Fest 2024 by filling out our  entry form  ( https://bit.ly/supernovaska ), following and leaving a review on  Apple Podcasts , and/or subscribing to the  In Defense of Ska   Patreon . There will be winners selected from each entry method and the contest ends September 9th, so hurry and enter now for your chance to win! On this week's episode, w hile much o...

Enter to win tickets to Supernova Ska Fest 2024 by filling out our  entry form  ( https://bit.ly/supernovaska ), following and leaving a review on  Apple Podcasts , and/or subscribing to the  In Defense of Ska   Patreon . There will be winners selected from each entry method and the contest ends September 9th, so hurry and enter now for your chance to win! On t his week on  In Defense of Ska , The...

There is little dispute that  Operation Ivy  are one of the greatest ska bands to ever do it. This week on  In Defense of Ska , the crew sits down with the legendary outfit's drummer Dave Mello to chat about their history and legacy. Listen to the conversation. Mello discusses the early days of the band, touching on what made the act so special and why they decided to bring it to an end. He re...

This week on  In Defense of Ska , the crew takes a look at the Native Nations punk and ska scenes in the southwest. To help them out, Lo Cash Ninjas' Jordan Steele joins the conversation to talk about the homegrown music communities in the area. Listen now. Touring punk and ska bands have been playing DIY venues in Native Nations cities as long as DIY touring has been a thing. As a result, the...

There are a lot of great punk festivals these days: Punk Rock Bowling, Fest, No Values, just to name a few. Most of them book at least a few ska bands, but one of the best — Mosswood Meltdown — has held out. This week on  In Defense ofSka , the hosts take a field trip to the Oakland event to ask attendees if ska would be a welcome addition to next year’s lineup. Listen to their findings. This year...

Of the '90s bands that incorporated ska and reggae influences into their music, you don't get much bigger than  311 . On this episode of  In Defense of Ska , 311 frontman Nick Hexum chats about the band's legacy, playing with Fugazi, and the infamous  Eric Andre Show  bit. Listen now. Hexum launches into a conversation about his personal relationship with ska music, as well as how such...

Did you know that some of our friends are also podcasters? For this month’s bonus episode, we wanted to bring on the fine folks from the Bothering The Band podcast. Their format is this: They bring on musicians and comedians and then proceed to BOTHER them with weird and silly questions. It’s a lot of fun. They’ve even had host, Aaron Carnes on one episode. So, we brought on Ryan and Abby and then...

This week,  In Defense of Ska  becomes  Song Exploder ... or, rather,  SKA Exploder . The Kilograms' Sammy Kay and Joe Gittleman (also of  The Mighty Mighty Bosstones ) join the hosts to dissect songs from their respective catalogues. Listen now. Firstly, the gang breaks down Gittleman’s song "Chores," which is taken from his brand new solo album  Hold Up . Then, the group launches int...

This week on  In Defense of Ska ,  Frank Turner  joins in to discuss growing up with UK skacore, finding a balance between his punkier and folkier tendencies, and his new album  Undefeated . Listen now. The English artist joins the  In Defense of Ska  crew to chat about both his presence in punk circles and singer-songwriter circles. He also, of course, gives his take on ska -- and as it turns out...

Believe it or not, back in the late '90s, Christian ska was all the rage. On this episode of  In Defense of Ska , the hosts tap into their inner musicologists and explore the bands, sounds, and culture of such a movement. Listen now. The gang takes a look at the 'big three' of Christian ska, examining the likes of Five Iron Frenzy, The Supertones, and The Insyderz. They also dial in on...

This week on  In Defense of Ska ,  Russian trad ska band Lollypop Lorry discuss covering Keith & Ken, collaborating with Inspector, and the Russian ska scene. Listen to the full chat. Formed in 2008, Lollypop Lorry are a Russian ska act that just played their biggest show ever... in Mexico. Suffice to say, it's been an interesting ride from their humble beginnings to finding international...

On this episode of  In Defense of Ska ,  '90s skacore legends Voodoo Glow Skulls chat about recording in Spanish, influencing Vampire Weekend, sampling Cheech & Chong, and more. Listen now. Founding members Eddie and Jorge Casillas join  In Defense of Ska  to chat about their irreverent sample choices, the story behind albums like  Who Is, This Is?  and  Firme , and taking influence from t...

For this month's bonus episode, we aim the spotlight at Tampa ska band Foolish Relics. Lead singer Dino Rustin tells us about his father's battle with pancreatic cancer and how he's written about the experience on their new song, "Forget About Tomorrow (Is This Hell?)" We also talk about Foolish Relics partnership with Project Purple, a pancreatic cancer foundation.  After our...

It's no secret that Los Angeles has a thriving, vibrant Latino ska scene. Frankly, it's one of the best pockets of ska music in the country. This week on  In Defense of Ska ,  the hosts chat with one of the bands that helped set the standard for what the community would become -- Matamoska. Listen now. Matamoska's Jose Padilla and Richard Sanchez sit down to discuss the origins of the...

Dr. Ring Ding joins  In Defense of Ska  to chat about the origins of the European ska scene, his own journey of falling in love with the genre, and the German ska bands he looks up to. Listen now. Initially popularized by two-tone bands like Madness, The Specials, and The Selecter, ska eventually made its way into different pockets of Europe. One of these pockets was Germany, where a young Dr. Rin...

So, there's this pretty cool ska band called  The Mighty Mighty Bosstones . Perhaps you've heard of them? On this episode of  In Defense of Ska ,  original Mighty Mighty Bosstones guitarist Nate Albert chats about the band's early years, the artists who inspired him, and how other scenes treated ska in the 1990s. Listen now. Albert runs through some of his early memories with the legen...

On this episode of  In Defense of Ska , Ceci Bastida chats about Tijuana No, the world of international ska in the '90s, and her new solo record  Everything Taken Away. Bastida takes listeners through the history of Tijuana No, one of the most important bands to come out of the Mexican ska movement. The vocalist and keyboardist runs through the act's early days, their attempts to break int...

Here's a question for all the rude boys out there: What's a non-ska band that had an incredible influence over an entire generation of ska artists? The answer is simple --  Mr. Bungle . On this episode of  In Defense of Ska , the hosts chat with Mr. Bungle bassist  Trevor Dunn  about the band's origins, their relation to ska music, and more. Listen  wherever you get your podcasts . Dun...

One of our favorite guests, Victor Rice , is back! He listened to our discussion with Daraka Larimore-Hall about whether third-wave ska deserves the backlash it got, and it got Victor thinking. He wanted to share his thoughts with us. So we went behind the curtain, so he could get comfortable and speak his mind.  Is Ska a four-letter word?  This is the conversation you've waited for. Sign up t...

In 1976, a couple friends got together and started a band. They called themselves the North London Invaders, but after quickly rethinking the branding, changed their name to  Madness , a reference to a Prince Buster song. Sixteen top-ten hits later, and the band is one of the most successful acts to come out of the two-tone era. This week on  In Defense of Ska ,  Madness' Suggs explores the ba...

This year’s Coachella belongs to ska. Or at least it’s the ska performances that are making all the headlines. And it makes sense. Sublime is back together. Jakob Nowell is fronting the band in place of his dad, Bradley Nowell. No Doubt played their first show in 9 years—and it leaned heavily into ska. Aquabats played a nearly 70% ska set. Even Vampire Weekend’s drummer was spotted sporting a Skan...

What drives a musician to play music overtly rooted in traditional ska and rocksteady? And how do they honor the roots while simultaneously giving it a contemporary flavor? This is the subject this week for our conversation with Jeremy Peña of the band The Bandulus. Their new record Tell It Like It Is dropped on March 8, 2024. It is both lush and raw; rickety and tight. Jeremy walks us through the...