Ska Boom - An American Ska & Reggae Podcast

Welcome to 2 Tone Legacy a special 10-part audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the stories behind the songs that contribute to the enduring legacy of 2 Tone music and its ongoing impact on popular culture. In each episode, I'll be joined by Paul Williams, author of "You're Wondering Now: The Specials from Conception to Reunion" and lead singer of UK...

Welcome to 2 Tone Legacy a special 10-part audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the stories behind the songs that contribute to the enduring legacy of 2 Tone music and its ongoing impact on popular culture. In each episode, I'll be joined by Paul Williams, author of "You're Wondering Now: The Specials from Conception to Reunion" and lead singer of UK...

Welcome to 2 Tone Legacy a special 10-part audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the stories behind the songs that contribute to the enduring legacy of 2 Tone music and its ongoing impact on popular culture. In each episode, I'll be joined by Paul Williams, author of "You're Wondering Now: The Specials from Conception to Reunion" and lead singer of UK...

Welcome to 2 Tone Legacy a special 10-part audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the stories behind the songs that contribute to the enduring legacy of 2 Tone music and its ongoing impact on popular culture. In each episode, I'll be joined by Paul Williams, author of "You're Wondering Now: The Specials from Conception to Reunion" and lead singer of UK...

Welcome to Ska Boom Interviews, which is the audio companion to my book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History now available from DiWulf Publishing and Amazon.  The goal of this podcast is talk about ska with an emphasis on American ska history and the bands, musicians and people who have helped to create and influence a uniquely American version of ska and reggae that spans from the...

Welcome to Ska Boom Stories which is the audio companion to my book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History now available from DiWulf Publishing and Amazon.  The goal of the Ska Boom podcast is talk about ska with an emphasis on American ska history and the bands, musicians and people who have helped to create and influence a uniquely American version of ska and reggae that spans from...

Welcome to Ska Boom Stories which is the audio companion to my book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History now available from DiWulf Publishing and Amazon.  The goal of the Ska Boom podcast is talk about ska with an emphasis on American ska history and the bands, musicians and people who have helped to create and influence a uniquely American version of ska and reggae that spans from...

Welcome to Ska Boom Interviews, which is the audio companion to my book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History now available from DiWulf Publishing and Amazon.  The goal of this podcast is talk about ska with an emphasis on American ska history and the bands, musicians and people who have helped to create and influence a uniquely American version of ska and reggae that spans from the...

Welcome to “Punky Reggae Party” a special audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the historical origins and impact of reggae on popular music that will explore the phenomenon of punk and post-punk bands adopting the sounds of reggae. The musical development which ignited Danny Elfman’s interest in starting Oingo Boingo and inspired him to start writing his first conventio...

In honor of Black History Month and as part of my mission to share unique and often untold American ska stories, this episode of Ska Boom Stories is dedicated to John Spence the original lead singer of No Doubt. Spence often gets short shrift whenever the story of No Doubt is told and regrettably his contribution to the band has been somewhat overlooked and slightly scrubbed from No Doubt’s histor...

Welcome to “Punky Reggae Party” a special audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the historical origins and impact of reggae on popular music that will explore the phenomenon of punk and post-punk bands adopting the sounds of reggae. If any band deserves the title of punky reggae kings its Steel Pulse. They helped invent British reggae and their debut single "Ku Klux...

Welcome to “Punky Reggae Party” a special audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the historical origins and impact of reggae on popular music that will explore the phenomenon of punk and post-punk bands adopting the sounds of reggae. If any band could give the 2 Tone bands and The Clash a run for their money when it came to singing about the state of politics in the late...

Welcome to “Punky Reggae Party” a special audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the historical origins and impact of reggae on popular music that will explore the phenomenon of punk and post-punk bands adopting the sounds of reggae. On February 27, 1986, the Cosby Show, then the most popular TV show in America aired an episode that featured the music of Black Uhuru. Let...

Welcome to “Punky Reggae Party” a special audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the historical origins and impact of reggae on popular music that will explore the phenomenon of punk and post-punk bands adopting the sounds of reggae. I first became aware of Grace Jones late one night during the mid 80s when I happened upon her video for “My Jamaican Guy” on Friday Night V...

Welcome to Ska Boom Interviews, which is the audio companion to my book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History now available from DiWulf Publishing and Amazon.  The goal of this podcast is talk about ska and reggae with an emphasis on American ska and reggae history and the bands, musicians and people who have helped to create and influence a uniquely American version of ska and regga...

Welcome to “Punky Reggae Party” a special audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the historical origins and impact of reggae on popular music that will explore the phenomenon of punk and post-punk bands adopting the sounds of reggae. The Members were one of the prime movers in the era's cross-cultural mix of reggae and punk. The NME wrote of the band in 1978: “Of the...

Welcome to “Punky Reggae Party” a special audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the historical origins and impact of reggae on popular music that will explore the phenomenon of punk and post-punk bands adopting the sounds of reggae. So it was only a matter of time before I got around to talking about The Police and their embrace of reggae. If you are of a certain age --...

Welcome to Ska Boom Interviews, which is the audio companion to my book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History now available from DiWulf Publishing and Amazon.  The goal of this podcast is talk about ska with an emphasis on American ska history and the bands, musicians and people who have helped to create and influence a uniquely American version of ska and reggae that spans from the...

Welcome to Ska Boom Interviews, which is the audio companion to my book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History now available from DiWulf Publishing and Amazon.  The goal of this podcast is talk about ska with an emphasis on American ska history and the bands, musicians and people who have helped to create and influence a uniquely American version of ska and reggae that spans from the...

Welcome to “Punky Reggae Party” a special audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the historical origins and impact of reggae on popular music that will explore the phenomenon of punk and post-punk bands adopting the sounds of reggaeThe convergence of punk with reggae and ska in the late 70's and early 80's resulted in some significant musical developments leadin...

Welcome to “Punky Reggae Party” a special audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the historical origins and impact of reggae on popular music that will explore the phenomenon of punk and post-punk bands adopting the sounds of reggaeThough drum and bass rhythms drive the various eras of ska, rocksteady, reggae, 2-Tone, dancehall and beyond, drums and drummers have defined...

Welcome to “Punky Reggae Party” a special audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the historical origins and impact of reggae on popular music that will explore the phenomenon of punk and post-punk bands adopting the sounds of reggaeThe convergence of punk with reggae and ska in the late 70's and early 80's resulted in some significant musical developments leadin...

Welcome to the first episode of “Punky Reggae Party” a special audio documentary series of the Ska Boom podcast that focuses on the historical origins and impact of reggae on popular music that will explore the phenomenon of punk and post-punk bands adopting the sounds of reggae The convergence of punk with reggae and ska in the late 70's and early 80's resulted in some significant music...

Welcome to a special edition of the Ska Boom podcast which is the audio companion to my book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History. I was very sad to hear that Astro, the vocalist and DJ for UB40 and later the splinter group UB40 featuring Ali and Astro passed away at the age 64 on Saturday November 6th. This episode is a tribute to him and the iconic role he and UB40 have played in...

Welcome to Ska Boom Interviews, which is the audio companion to my book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History now available from DiWulf Publishing and Amazon.   In this episode, I’m speaking with  Brendan Tween the guitarist and vocalist who co-founded Mephiskapheles along with drummer Mikal Reich. The two now play together in the New York-based ska band Barbicide Mephiskapheles star...