Ska Boom - An American Ska & Reggae Podcast

My forthcoming book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History will feature 19 chapters that tell the stories of important bands  -- some well known, others not so much -- who deserve credit for giving birth to a uniquely American version of ska and reggae.  The stories of each band are intrinsically linked to the songs they wrote and performed and in this episode I tell the story of The...

Those of you of a certain age may remember that during Memorial Day weekend of 1997, MTV set up shop at an abandoned aquatic park outside Los Angeles and converted it into the set for the “Motel California”. The network used the beachfront location that whole summer to broadcast a mix of hair metal, grunge and hip hop which then ruled their video programming.  They also aired a one time show they...

As I worked on researching and writing Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History, two films were mentioned by many of the musicians I interviewed: one was the 1972 Jamaican crime drama “The Harder They Come” staring Jimmy Cliff.  The other was the 1981 2 Tone concert film "Dance Craze". They both play an important role in the development of a uniquely American version of ska an...

On this episode of the Ska Boom podcast, I tell the untold story of how a band of reggae obsessed kids from New Jersey  --The Terrorists -- backed a Jamaican ex-pat saxophonist who had helped found The Skatalites  -- Roland Alphonso. Together they helped create a short-lived but important ska and reggae scene at Max’s Kansas City, which for a time was the punk rock club rival to CBGBs located less...

In this episode of Ska Boom I speak to Matt Wixson, who is a singer, songwriter, musician, podcaster, and improviser from Ferndale, MI.  We discuss the current state of American ska (what's the deal with Streetlight Manifesto and are they ska?) and have a lively intergenerational conversation– Gen X to Millennial -- about our different takes on what is and isn't American ska. Since 2005,...

I’m excited to share part two of my two-part interview with Lynval Golding of The Specials. In part one, Lynval shared his take on the final days of The Specials and the events that led him, Terry Hall and Neville Staple to leave the band and start the Fun Boy ThreeIn part two, Lynval shares interesting facts, stories and anecdotes about the Fun Boy Three, how they came to be and breaks down the s...

I’m excited to share part one of a two-part interview I conducted with Lynval Golding for the Ska Boom podcast.  Lynval is best known as the rhythm guitarist and vocalist with the The Specials.  He later went on to co-found the Fun Boy Three with his bandmates Terry Hall and Neville Staple and later joined the Special Beat a super group featuring members of The Specials and The English Beat who to...

In this episode of Ska Boom I speak to Phil DeJean, (AKA: Checker Phil) who is a New York City ska icon. If you've been to a big NYC ska show then you've seen Phil. He's hard to miss with his  slightly modified take on Don King's hairstyle. There is no denying that along with a number of key bands, Phil has been responsible for keeping the ska flame burning in the Big Apple sin...

The spirit of The Specials hover over nearly every chapter of my forthcoming book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History. The band's two star-crossed tours of America in 1980 and 1981 may well have broken them, but their impact and influence -- particularly their incendiary performance on Saturday Night Live in 1981 on the embryonic  American ska scene  -- is incalculable. On thi...

In this episode of Ska Boom I speak to Wayne Lothian, who is a musician and producer and has played bass for the Special Beat, General Public and Dave Wakeling's version of The English Beat. I've been lucky to know Wayne for 25 years.  I first met him when we both lived in New Brunswick, NJ and he gave me bass lessons! He would also occasionally came to shows my band Bigger Thomas played...

Despite 2 Tone’s chart-topping success in the UK from 1979 through 1981, it was largely a commercial flop in the United States, as 2 Tone’s parent label Chrysalis had no idea how to market these bands and their music within a racially segregated American rock music industry. Yet, The Specials, The Selecter, The Beat, and Madness all managed to reach and convert enough fans on the underground, new...

I'm Marc Wasserman! Welcome to the very first episode of the Ska Boom podcast, which is the audio companion to my forthcoming book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History that will be published by DiWulf Publishing in early 2021.While the book is in production, I like the idea of sharing some of the stories and fantastic music featured in its 19 chapters. I did interviews with a f...