In Defense of Ska

The Slackers formed in New York in 1991. The band, fronted by Vic Ruggiero, played a bit of everything. But eventually, Vic realized that they needed to focus, and suggested they stick with the ska and reggae tunes and drop the other stuff. It suited the band. Though The Slackers signed with Moon Ska and then Hellcat Records, they were always a smaller band during the 90s Ska Boom. That changed in...

Austrian ska-metal band Russkaja came to the US for the first time in 2022 and opened for Flogging Molly. Every night on that tour, they blew tons of minds. The band, who formed in 2005, is a blend of many influences. They mix intense metal with ska, polka and Russian folk music. They sing in multiple languages and have members from Ukraine, Italy, Germany, Russian and Austria. The group is well-k...

Is 2023 the year ska comes back? Oh I know, you've heard that one before. But it does seem like there's some great things happening in ska in 2023, and we thought we'd talk to one of the leaders of the new ska scene ( JER of Skatune Network and We Are The Union !) about what this all means for the future of ska! To listen to the entire episode, sign up for the In Defense of Ska Patreon...

Supernova International Ska Festival started in 2013 as a house show that got so big, it was moved to a local brewery. Though it took a few years before it got the name Supernova, and that first show wasn't even a festival; just a kick-ass show with Chris Murray and King Django. Every year, Supernova has grown. 2023 is looking to be the biggest and best version of the festival to date with act...

Actor John Ross Bowie is best known for playing Barry Kripke on the hit TV show Big Bang Theory as well as Jimmy DiMeo on Speechless. But when he sat down to write his memoir, No Job For A Man (released in 2022), he focused a lot more pages to his formative shows going to punk, hardcore and ska bands in New York's vibrant live music scene than he did being on the set of these hit shows. Today,...

Indie rock band Minus The Bear created a unique sound that blended a multitude of genres: math rock, emo, pop, prog, and yes, ska. Well, at least, the bass lines were informed by ska and reggae. Bassist Cory Murchy grew up obsessed with ska music. And when it came time to write interesting and moving bass lines, he often drew inspiration from the bass masters in reggae and ska bands. Besides, who...

While still quite young and headstrong, Sammy Kay dove headfirst into the ska scene, doing touring work for The Skatalites, King Django, The Slackers and Westbound Train . He later played in trad ska/rocksteady group The Forthrights and then fronted his own group (featuring future members of Catbite ): Sammy Kay and The Fast Four. In that time, he accumulated a lot of stories!  Today we bring on S...

World/Inferno Friendship Society was not a ska band. However, their punk cabaret sound was similar in spirit and they played with a fair amount of ska bands. They even toured with Blue Meanies and The Independents. Accordion/Keyboardist Franz Nicolay WAS a ska fan. When he moved to New York in the 90s, he saw many brilliant ska shows at The Wetlands. Later when joined indie rock group The Hold Ste...

We've released over 100 episode of In Defense of Ska! For this month's bonus episode , we recap our first 100 episodes with our number one fan, Mike Park!  Mike offers his opinions on episodes, we figure out which guests talked about Mike Park and which DID NOT. And if you listen long enough, Mike offers his email and specific instructions for YOU to follow! To listen to the full episode,...

The Uptones made big decisions--spontaneously. This is how guitarist Eric Din describes the group's career. Formed in 1981 in Berkeley, California as young teenagers in love with all things 2 Tone ska, The Uptones took the bay area by storm IMMEDIATELY with packed shows with lines out the door. They got their songs into heavy rotation on the radio by walking into the station and handing the DJ...

Walt Jabsco, the iconic dancing ska guy logo that came to symbolize the Specials and 2 Tone ska, was inspired by a photo of Peter Tosh from his '60s ska years. The Beat Girl, which the English Beat created as a logo for their band (though also came to symbolize 2 Tone ska) was inspired by a photo of a woman dancing with Prince Buster in 1964. Very little was known about the woman in this photo...

Metal-heads know that Kyle Shutt is a shredder. It's clear in his band, The Sword's music. Even non-metal-heads that played Guitar Hero knows that he can shred, and have likely played along to his guitar licks on "Freya." But Kyle also has ska roots. At age 15, he played trombone in the Hobbs, New Mexico Christian ska band Ten Betty Zane. When he was 17, he took a 24 greyhound bus...

John DeDomenici has played the bass in many bands. But most notably Jeff Rosenstock 's solo band and Bomb the Music Industry. He also played a whole variety of instruments in Arrogant Sons of Bitches. Today, we bring on John and throw every random and obscure question we can think at him. We talk about catching Covid in England, getting his own dressing room at the Gaslight Anthem Jersey show,...

"Everything I do is out of necessity," Jay Vance tells us. He grew frustrated playing with Blue Meanies , then Skankin Pickle , and realized that the only way he was going to have a successful band with longevity is if he no longer played with other humans. So he built his own band called Captured! By Robots, where he is the only human member and the rest are robots. Today, Jay tells us ab...

For November's BONUS episode we talk about Fest. Specifically how it became SO ska. To do that, we speak with the man that books most of the Bad Time Records bands AND got Against All Authority to reunite: Brent Friedman   To listen, sign up for the In Defense of Ska Patreon If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our  Patreon !  I...

The Aggrolites have zero ska songs. Sure they play with a lot of ska bands, but their genre is REGGAE, specifically "Dirty Reggae." That means it was influenced by late 60s skinhead reggae, and given a modern, aggressive punk rock edge. The band formed in 2002, immediately appealing to the hardcore skinhead and rudeboy crowd. But in 2007, when they appeared on Yo Gabba Gabba (And performed...

Five days after Ryan Seaman graduated from high school, he hit the road. His gig: drumming for The Eyeliners on Warped Tour 2002. This was just the beginning for Ryan. He'd go on to play in Fairview, Falling In Reverse, I Am Ghost, and I Don't Know How By They Found Me. That last band played Ellen and Jimmy Kimmel. But before any of this, Ryan was a ska-punk kid going to as many shows in S...

The Chris Gethard Show was supposed to start like normal, but the audience had their own idea. They shouted "Eat More Butts" at Chris to a degree that he couldn't start his show. The musical guest, Jeff Rosenstock , even gave them a musical accompaniment. For 15 minutes, the show descended into madness. But Chris also didn't fight it because he knew that this would be great TV. Hav...

New York's Stop The Presses were all set to hit the road hard in March 2020. The day they scheduled to leave, New York went into lockdown. So instead, they hunkered down and made an excellent pandemic record, Got It , released on September 29 on Jump Up Records. The group showcases their uniquely dreamy and washy ska-pop sound, rooted in an aesthetic that takes its vibe from the 1960s-1980s, i...

For October's Patreon exclusive bonus episode, we talk about SKA BAND NAMES. You know, that thing that everyone makes fun of. Well, over here at In Defense of Ska, we decided it was time to have an impartial evaluation of every major ska band's name.  We brought on our editor, Chris Reeves for this conversation. And we even judge our own band names too, just to be fair.  Sign up to the IDO...

In 1995, promoter Kevin Lyman launched The Warped Tour. The first year's lineup was an eclectic mix of bands from the 90s (including No Doubt and Sublime). In subsequent years, it gained a reputation as a punk rock festival, though the lineups always remained diverse. And ska was always a component, even during the 2000s and 2010s. Some years, Lyman booked a bunch of ska bands. 1998 included T...

In 2006, Boston ska band Westbound Train played the Summer of Ska tour, followed by the Fall of Ska tour. Between the two tours, they played with Suburban Legends, Big D & The Kids Table , Voodoo Glow Skulls, Reel Big Fish and Streetlight Manifesto--all ska-punk bands. Westbound Train plays traditional ska, rocksteady and early reggae, with a hint of soul. The group, which formed in 2001 in Bo...

Gogol Bordello plays a mix of different genres (Punk, Romani folk, Latin rock, polka), though hints of ska can be found all over their songs. Frontman Eugene Hütz calls it "ska without doing ska" and says he almost doesn't think about the ska elements since he sees ska as so closely linked to punk music.  But on Gogol Bordello's latest album, Solidaritine , the ska elements are mor...

The Matches played catchy pop-punk in the 2000s, a time when catchy pop-punk bands could be top 40 pop stars. They worked their asses off, were courted by major labels, but never reached pop stardom. Though the band did mean a lot to a ton of people. They built community around their music and made sincere connections with their fans. And they have ska roots.  The band formed in 1997 as The Locals...

The first official In Defense of Ska tour was a huge success. We traveled along the west coast with Mustard Plug , Buck-O-Nine and Omnigone . Aaron Carnes opened the show with a reading from his book, In Defense of Ska. We got to meet many of YOU wonderful people and dance to SKA music every night! We also kept an audio diary of the tour. Listen now! But THIS is just a teaser. If you'd like to...