I heard a couple good songs by these guys on the American Skathic compilations, so I was pretty excited to see if this was as good as what I heard, and it was! Their style is different than expected. The song that stuck out before hearing this was “When the Bough Breaks”, it’s on American Skathic 2, and also on this CD. I thought they were just a straight up 3rd wave ska band with good horns and a cool beat, but they are much more funky than I thought, which definitely isn’t a bad thing. “Madame Blavatsky” is an awesome ska influenced song, with a well played horn line, and a funk groove. The song titles themselves are funny: “Vinnie’s Hooch”, “If I Didn’t Have a Goiter”, “Long Live the Dead Guy” -those songs all have the great funk/ska feel to them, with great horns. “Bitch Stole My Hat” is not ska, it’s uh, interesting. It starts out really soft, and then the song changes into something that sounds like Helmet, with people screamin’ lyrics more fitting to the song title. “Boots to Ya’ Momma” is a total funk jam, no ska here! It does sound pretty cool when the horns kick in. 7 songs in all, weighing in for just over 30 minutes of music. Definitely something you should pick up if you like funk or if you just wanna hear something new. Their new album entitled “Full Trucker Effect” is coming out soon!
Johnny Socko!, P.O. Box 1612, Indianapolis, IN 46206
email:socko@johnnysocko.com
http://www.johnnysocko.com/
Derrick Morgan “Time Marches On” (HB153)
This is a great mixup of early traditional ska, rocksteady, and reggae.
There are extensive liner notes that give a good history of Jamaican music. This has tracks as old as 1959. The Skatalites do some of the backing, and Desmond Dekker does some vocals. This CD is much better than the previous Derrick Morgan CD on Heartbeat Records entitled “Ska Man Classics”. On that CD it sounded like a drum machine was being used, but this CD sounds alot better. These are the original versions. Tracks 1 through 6 are the ska years, tracks 7 through 14 are the rock steady years, my favorite , and 15 through 21 are the reggae years and the CD ends with a live version (recorded in 1996) of “Moon Hop”, one of my favorites. If you like the roots of ska and are unfamiliar with Derrick Morgan’s music, you definitely need to get your hands on this. If you aren’t real familiar with the roots, then what are you waiting for? You need to buy something like this.
Heartbeat Records, One Camp Street, Cambridge, MA 02140
http://heartbeat.rounder.com/heartbeat
The Siren Six! “The Voice with a Built in Promise” (KPR0005)
Holy cow! I was anticipating hearing this album, but I never would have thought it could be this good! From the second it starts playing until the second it stops, you get 40 minutes of incredible new age ska music. It starts off with “Get it Right”, one of the best songs I’ve ever heard! It’s so energetic recorded that I can’t imagine what it will be like live. Maybe that’s why they have been called America’s best live ska band. The communication between the drums and bass is excellent, along with great horns, keyboards, and Nate Bott’s voice. It all makes for one of my new favorite bands. Before I got this CD and you played “Kill Your Idol” , I would have told you it was The Police. Not only does the singer sound like Sting in this song, the music reminds me of some of the ska/reggae that The Police did. “Begin” is an incredible song, the progression is new, I swear noone ever used it, and that’s why I love it. The CD ends with “Nerver Thought Twice”, a great song. The band has former members of Stinkfish and The Pacers and here and there that is pretty evident, but The Siren Six! have a style all their own, and I’m not sure how to describe it. You are just going to have to go out and pick this one up and listen to it for yourself. I think S6! might be coming out with a new album soon and they are on tour, so watch for them. I know I don’t want to miss them. I’m going to see them in Philly at the church on August 13th.
The Siren Six!, P.O. Box 13316, Minneapolis, MN 55414
Easy Big Fella “Eat at Joey’s”(MR105)
Wow. Before I got this CD, I hadn’t heard Easy Big Fella. I hadn’t even heard of the band before MoonSka started talking about the record deal. Well, let’s just say this disc was a very pleasant surprise!
It’s Easy Big Fella’s third full length (first on MoonSka). Traditional sounding, 3rd wave ska with influences of jazz and swing present. Great horns, some of the horn lines are probably the most catchiest I’ve ever heard. Great use of keyboards. And lyrics that’ll make you wanna sing along all night! Songs like “Picture Show”, “Locked in a Chapel of Love”, “Regular Guy”, “Come Back to Me”, and “The Road Alone” are just brilliant! It was very hard for me to narrow it down to those songs being the best. The whole CD is incredible. I’d say it’s the best 1997 release that I’ve heard so far this year. (the first quarter of 1997) Many new moon releases just came out in May/June that I haven’t heard yet, so I can’t judge it as best so far this year, but it’s up there! If you haven’t heard of Easy Big Fella and don’t know what to expect, then I urge you to get this CD. If you’ve heard the other EBF releases and have liked them, then you should love this release, because everyone I’ve talked to said it’s their most mature and best release to date. Hopefully they’ll be coming out east soon, and I wouldn’t want to miss that show.
Easy Big Fella, 4505 University Way NE, Box 107, Seattle, WA 98105
email:bigfella@wolfenet.com
http://www.wolfe.net/~mikesha/ebf.html
Skarmageddon 3 “A new beginning” 2CD Compilation (MR101)
Another monster 2-disc ska compilation from MoonSka, and the biggest yet. 45 new ska bands not featured on past skarmageddons. If you don’t know about Skarmageddon, first let me explain. It was an idea originally thought of by Steve Shafer and Bucket. They were receiving many demos from good bands all over the country, yet they didn’t have the resources to put out discs by all these bands, so they decided to make big comps highlighting lesser known bands from all over the U.S. Many of the bands from the first two skarmageddons have gone on to lead the U.S. ska scene. So you may want to check out Skarmageddon 3 and hear the bands that will be getting big in the future. Check out Pennsylvania’s own 2000 Flushes (State College) and The Go-Go Rays (Erie). Bands on this comp that already signed to Moon Ska Satellite Records are Army of Juan, Buford O’Sullivan, The Go-Go Rays, Highball Holiday, The Robustos, and Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts. The Articles and The Skoidats just had CDs come out on MoonSka. 2000 Flushes are now on Jump Start Records. So as you can see, the bands are already starting to get bigger. The first disc is dedicated to Old-Skool/2Tone, featuring the sweet sounds of The Allentons and The Defactos, while the second disc has Post-2Tone, Ska-Punk & Beyond with bands like Hot Stove Jimmy, Big D and the Kids Table, Sgt. Scagnetti, and the GLG20’s. I tend to listen to the first disc more, because I’m usually in the mood for the more traditional styles of ska. Disc two is full of good ska/punk type songs. The overall quality of the album is much better than I expected. I really like the way Moon separated the discs musicwise, because something I did not like from the second of this series was the way Can’t Say followed The Stubborn All-Stars or The Bluebeats followed Less Than Jake. Over 148 minutes of American ska today. If you like ska compilations, all skarmageddons are for you! “Skarmageddon 3”...I only have one word to say about that. Nipples. -Noah Wildman, MoonSka
email: moonska@walrus.com
http://www.moonska.com
(Asian Man Records is a relatively new record company run by Mike “Bruce Lee” Park, ex Skankin’ Pickle, from the Bruce Lee Band, which is Mike backed by Less Than Jake, and The Chinkees, which is an all Korean band that is looking for a Korean drummer, if you know of one make sure he or she gets in the band. Mike’s music is some of the most fun music around!)
Link 80 “17 Reasons” (AM-005)
East Bay Punk Rock Ska! These kids know how to play it! They really are kids! The people in the band range in age from 16 to 18. Half the band is still in high school, yet they will still made it out east this summer. They played the First Unitarian Church in Philly on July 23rd, a friend of mine saw them and he said he was surprised-they were awesome and he hadn’t even heard of them before that show! The CD starts out with “Verbal Kint”, an awesome song. “Pretty Girls” just makes me want to jump around! “Nothing Left”, “Enough”, “Turn It Around”, “Up To The Top”, “Jennifers Cafe”, and “Nowhere Fast” are all great punk/ska songs. The whole CD is full of quality punk tunes chalk full of good catchy horns and some ska! I don’t think they sound like anyone in particular, but if you like bands like The Suicide Machines and Slapstick then I would say this band is for you! You should buy this CD at the low Asian Man price of $8 ppd. This release is also out on LP, for the same price from Asian Man through the mail, plus I think Asian Man is one of the fastest mailorders out there! If you want Link 80 to come play your town, let them know the all age venues in your area.
Link 80, P.O. Box 8124, Emeryville, CA 94662-8124
Misfits of Ska II Compilation (AM-006)
Mike Park really did it this time! This compilation was put together very well. I’d say this CD is 200 times better than the first of the series. Much better sound quality, 30 bands playing over 72 minutes of music, well worth the good prices Asian Man offers! There is not one band from Misfits of Ska 1 on this CD. You’ll find bands from all over the country and world playing all different kinds of ska ranging from the cool rockabilly ska sound of The Peacocks to the ska/punk of Against All Authority and Falling Sickness. Bruce Lee’s new all Asian band is on here, too. There are newer bands and more established bands like Thumper and The Aquabats. When I’m in the mood for this CD, I can put it in and listen to it over and over again for hours, that’s how good the quality of this CD is. If you’re a fan of ska/punk, then the Misfits of Ska series is for you.
Mealticket “Lisa Marie” (AM-010)
Before this, I only heard one Mealticket song, the one on Misfits of Ska 1, and I thought it was a decent song. But judging from this release I don’t think I was missing much. Sure the recording quality is better than what I heard before and they have gotten tighter, but I just can’t get into this. I don’t think they’re anything special. The band has a girl singer, her voice reminds me of Gwen Stefani’s of No Doubt. So imagine Gwen singing to a pumped up punk/ska song and there you have it...Mealticket. There are some good horns on this, but that is all I like about it. This CD only has 3 songs, under 7 minutes of music. I don’t think it’s worth it (of course this CD single is not the same price as a full length, but still). The band does have two prior full length CDs ($11 ppd each from address below) out and they just made it out east on a tour, so some people must like them.
Mealticket, 16161 Nordhoff St. #249, North Hills, CA 91343
Music.............................................................Cassettes
Skuba "Churraskada"
This band is from Brazil! Side 1 of the tape is sung in Portuguese, and side 2 is the same songs sung in English. Side 1 has a bonus track: “The Pink Panther Rude Theme”, it’s pretty cool! I would describe Skuba’s sound as horn driven ska/oi! “Stoppin’ Around” is incredible! This band must be pretty big over in their country, they are opening up for Offspring at the end of the summer. The band has changed some members: lead vocals, guitar and bass, but they told me they sound better than ever. They’ve been on many comps over in Brazil, and they should be on MoonSka’s Latin Ska Volume 3. They have a new CD coming out at the end of October/beginning of November, I’m sure you’ll hear more about these guys from me in my next zine. Get in touch with the band to see how much it would be to get this tape.
SKUBA, c/o Rodrigo Cerqueira, Rua Piaui 988 ap 7B,Curitiba, PR 80.220-240
email: skuba@super.com.br
(in Portuguese): http://www.super.com.br/~skuba
Go for Broke - demo
This is a pretty good demo of a ska/punk band from Atlanta. This tape has 8 songs on it, and on side 2 is a live set recorded last year. You can’t really appreciate the live side until you get to know the studio side, because the live side doesn’t sound too good (it’s the recording) unless you already know the songs. They remind me of LTJ, Op Ivy, and Slapstick. “Parking Lot” is a great song about going down to the parking lot, cause it’s real cool there and we won’t get caught if we try. Sounds like some people I went to school with (Blockbuster Video?). “Ska-Na-Na”, “Friday Night”, and “Eric likes Wool Socks” are my other favorites. If you’re looking for a good ska/punk band that looks to get big, then I’d check this out.
Go For Broke, P.O. Box 720011, Atlanta, GA 30358-2011
Eastern Standard Time “Take 5”
EST is DC’s finest and one of the east coast’s best traditional ska band. The tape starts off with “Tick Tock”, a pretty fast traditional song with a kickin’ horn line. Next is “Oh No!”, an incredible song. It starts out with a harmonica playing the horn line, then the horns actually kick in and the harmonica actually helps play the ska! The remaining 3 songs on the tape were not written by EST, and the last two songs were recorded live. Every song is just great. This is essential. They are ready to release a full length and are shopping around for a label-get this tape before they get huge! It’s $5 at a show so it’s probably $6 ppd.
EST, P.O. Box 65892, WDC 20035
The Middlemen - demo
This band is from Illinois. This demo is not available to fans, but they should be going into the studio this Spring to produce something to sell. The demo is a good mix of ska, big band, and swing. In some places it’s more ska than others; Sometimes there is no ska, and it’s pure swing or big band. When I listen to a couple of the songs on this tape, I could swear I am listening to Skavoovie & the Epitones. If you like bands like the Royal Crown Revue and Skavoovie, then I’d definitely check these guys out.
The Middlemen, 557 Windrift, Belleville, IL 62221
http://www.apci.net/~midlemen
Rathskeller - demo
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
Derrick Morgan “Time Marches On” (HB153)
This is a great mixup of early traditional ska, rocksteady, and reggae.
There are extensive liner notes that give a good history of Jamaican music. This has tracks as old as 1959. The Skatalites do some of the backing, and Desmond Dekker does some vocals. This CD is much better than the previous Derrick Morgan CD on Heartbeat Records entitled “Ska Man Classics”. On that CD it sounded like a drum machine was being used, but this CD sounds alot better. These are the original versions. Tracks 1 through 6 are the ska years, tracks 7 through 14 are the rock steady years, my favorite , and 15 through 21 are the reggae years and the CD ends with a live version (recorded in 1996) of “Moon Hop”, one of my favorites. If you like the roots of ska and are unfamiliar with Derrick Morgan’s music, you definitely need to get your hands on this. If you aren’t real familiar with the roots, then what are you waiting for? You need to buy something like this.
Heartbeat Records, One Camp Street, Cambridge, MA 02140
http://heartbeat.rounder.com/heartbeat
The Siren Six! “The Voice with a Built in Promise” (KPR0005)
Holy cow! I was anticipating hearing this album, but I never would have thought it could be this good! From the second it starts playing until the second it stops, you get 40 minutes of incredible new age ska music. It starts off with “Get it Right”, one of the best songs I’ve ever heard! It’s so energetic recorded that I can’t imagine what it will be like live. Maybe that’s why they have been called America’s best live ska band. The communication between the drums and bass is excellent, along with great horns, keyboards, and Nate Bott’s voice. It all makes for one of my new favorite bands. Before I got this CD and you played “Kill Your Idol” , I would have told you it was The Police. Not only does the singer sound like Sting in this song, the music reminds me of some of the ska/reggae that The Police did. “Begin” is an incredible song, the progression is new, I swear noone ever used it, and that’s why I love it. The CD ends with “Nerver Thought Twice”, a great song. The band has former members of Stinkfish and The Pacers and here and there that is pretty evident, but The Siren Six! have a style all their own, and I’m not sure how to describe it. You are just going to have to go out and pick this one up and listen to it for yourself. I think S6! might be coming out with a new album soon and they are on tour, so watch for them. I know I don’t want to miss them. I’m going to see them in Philly at the church on August 13th.
The Siren Six!, P.O. Box 13316, Minneapolis, MN 55414
Easy Big Fella “Eat at Joey’s”(MR105)
Wow. Before I got this CD, I hadn’t heard Easy Big Fella. I hadn’t even heard of the band before MoonSka started talking about the record deal. Well, let’s just say this disc was a very pleasant surprise!
It’s Easy Big Fella’s third full length (first on MoonSka). Traditional sounding, 3rd wave ska with influences of jazz and swing present. Great horns, some of the horn lines are probably the most catchiest I’ve ever heard. Great use of keyboards. And lyrics that’ll make you wanna sing along all night! Songs like “Picture Show”, “Locked in a Chapel of Love”, “Regular Guy”, “Come Back to Me”, and “The Road Alone” are just brilliant! It was very hard for me to narrow it down to those songs being the best. The whole CD is incredible. I’d say it’s the best 1997 release that I’ve heard so far this year. (the first quarter of 1997) Many new moon releases just came out in May/June that I haven’t heard yet, so I can’t judge it as best so far this year, but it’s up there! If you haven’t heard of Easy Big Fella and don’t know what to expect, then I urge you to get this CD. If you’ve heard the other EBF releases and have liked them, then you should love this release, because everyone I’ve talked to said it’s their most mature and best release to date. Hopefully they’ll be coming out east soon, and I wouldn’t want to miss that show.
Easy Big Fella, 4505 University Way NE, Box 107, Seattle, WA 98105
email:bigfella@wolfenet.com
http://www.wolfe.net/~mikesha/ebf.html
Skarmageddon 3 “A new beginning” 2CD Compilation (MR101)
Another monster 2-disc ska compilation from MoonSka, and the biggest yet. 45 new ska bands not featured on past skarmageddons. If you don’t know about Skarmageddon, first let me explain. It was an idea originally thought of by Steve Shafer and Bucket. They were receiving many demos from good bands all over the country, yet they didn’t have the resources to put out discs by all these bands, so they decided to make big comps highlighting lesser known bands from all over the U.S. Many of the bands from the first two skarmageddons have gone on to lead the U.S. ska scene. So you may want to check out Skarmageddon 3 and hear the bands that will be getting big in the future. Check out Pennsylvania’s own 2000 Flushes (State College) and The Go-Go Rays (Erie). Bands on this comp that already signed to Moon Ska Satellite Records are Army of Juan, Buford O’Sullivan, The Go-Go Rays, Highball Holiday, The Robustos, and Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts. The Articles and The Skoidats just had CDs come out on MoonSka. 2000 Flushes are now on Jump Start Records. So as you can see, the bands are already starting to get bigger. The first disc is dedicated to Old-Skool/2Tone, featuring the sweet sounds of The Allentons and The Defactos, while the second disc has Post-2Tone, Ska-Punk & Beyond with bands like Hot Stove Jimmy, Big D and the Kids Table, Sgt. Scagnetti, and the GLG20’s. I tend to listen to the first disc more, because I’m usually in the mood for the more traditional styles of ska. Disc two is full of good ska/punk type songs. The overall quality of the album is much better than I expected. I really like the way Moon separated the discs musicwise, because something I did not like from the second of this series was the way Can’t Say followed The Stubborn All-Stars or The Bluebeats followed Less Than Jake. Over 148 minutes of American ska today. If you like ska compilations, all skarmageddons are for you! “Skarmageddon 3”...I only have one word to say about that. Nipples. -Noah Wildman, MoonSka
email: moonska@walrus.com
http://www.moonska.com
(Asian Man Records is a relatively new record company run by Mike “Bruce Lee” Park, ex Skankin’ Pickle, from the Bruce Lee Band, which is Mike backed by Less Than Jake, and The Chinkees, which is an all Korean band that is looking for a Korean drummer, if you know of one make sure he or she gets in the band. Mike’s music is some of the most fun music around!)
Link 80 “17 Reasons” (AM-005)
East Bay Punk Rock Ska! These kids know how to play it! They really are kids! The people in the band range in age from 16 to 18. Half the band is still in high school, yet they will still made it out east this summer. They played the First Unitarian Church in Philly on July 23rd, a friend of mine saw them and he said he was surprised-they were awesome and he hadn’t even heard of them before that show! The CD starts out with “Verbal Kint”, an awesome song. “Pretty Girls” just makes me want to jump around! “Nothing Left”, “Enough”, “Turn It Around”, “Up To The Top”, “Jennifers Cafe”, and “Nowhere Fast” are all great punk/ska songs. The whole CD is full of quality punk tunes chalk full of good catchy horns and some ska! I don’t think they sound like anyone in particular, but if you like bands like The Suicide Machines and Slapstick then I would say this band is for you! You should buy this CD at the low Asian Man price of $8 ppd. This release is also out on LP, for the same price from Asian Man through the mail, plus I think Asian Man is one of the fastest mailorders out there! If you want Link 80 to come play your town, let them know the all age venues in your area.
Link 80, P.O. Box 8124, Emeryville, CA 94662-8124
Misfits of Ska II Compilation (AM-006)
Mike Park really did it this time! This compilation was put together very well. I’d say this CD is 200 times better than the first of the series. Much better sound quality, 30 bands playing over 72 minutes of music, well worth the good prices Asian Man offers! There is not one band from Misfits of Ska 1 on this CD. You’ll find bands from all over the country and world playing all different kinds of ska ranging from the cool rockabilly ska sound of The Peacocks to the ska/punk of Against All Authority and Falling Sickness. Bruce Lee’s new all Asian band is on here, too. There are newer bands and more established bands like Thumper and The Aquabats. When I’m in the mood for this CD, I can put it in and listen to it over and over again for hours, that’s how good the quality of this CD is. If you’re a fan of ska/punk, then the Misfits of Ska series is for you.
Mealticket “Lisa Marie” (AM-010)
Before this, I only heard one Mealticket song, the one on Misfits of Ska 1, and I thought it was a decent song. But judging from this release I don’t think I was missing much. Sure the recording quality is better than what I heard before and they have gotten tighter, but I just can’t get into this. I don’t think they’re anything special. The band has a girl singer, her voice reminds me of Gwen Stefani’s of No Doubt. So imagine Gwen singing to a pumped up punk/ska song and there you have it...Mealticket. There are some good horns on this, but that is all I like about it. This CD only has 3 songs, under 7 minutes of music. I don’t think it’s worth it (of course this CD single is not the same price as a full length, but still). The band does have two prior full length CDs ($11 ppd each from address below) out and they just made it out east on a tour, so some people must like them.
Mealticket, 16161 Nordhoff St. #249, North Hills, CA 91343
Music.............................................................Cassettes
Skuba "Churraskada"
This band is from Brazil! Side 1 of the tape is sung in Portuguese, and side 2 is the same songs sung in English. Side 1 has a bonus track: “The Pink Panther Rude Theme”, it’s pretty cool! I would describe Skuba’s sound as horn driven ska/oi! “Stoppin’ Around” is incredible! This band must be pretty big over in their country, they are opening up for Offspring at the end of the summer. The band has changed some members: lead vocals, guitar and bass, but they told me they sound better than ever. They’ve been on many comps over in Brazil, and they should be on MoonSka’s Latin Ska Volume 3. They have a new CD coming out at the end of October/beginning of November, I’m sure you’ll hear more about these guys from me in my next zine. Get in touch with the band to see how much it would be to get this tape.
SKUBA, c/o Rodrigo Cerqueira, Rua Piaui 988 ap 7B,Curitiba, PR 80.220-240
email: skuba@super.com.br
(in Portuguese): http://www.super.com.br/~skuba
Go for Broke - demo
This is a pretty good demo of a ska/punk band from Atlanta. This tape has 8 songs on it, and on side 2 is a live set recorded last year. You can’t really appreciate the live side until you get to know the studio side, because the live side doesn’t sound too good (it’s the recording) unless you already know the songs. They remind me of LTJ, Op Ivy, and Slapstick. “Parking Lot” is a great song about going down to the parking lot, cause it’s real cool there and we won’t get caught if we try. Sounds like some people I went to school with (Blockbuster Video?). “Ska-Na-Na”, “Friday Night”, and “Eric likes Wool Socks” are my other favorites. If you’re looking for a good ska/punk band that looks to get big, then I’d check this out.
Go For Broke, P.O. Box 720011, Atlanta, GA 30358-2011
Eastern Standard Time “Take 5”
EST is DC’s finest and one of the east coast’s best traditional ska band. The tape starts off with “Tick Tock”, a pretty fast traditional song with a kickin’ horn line. Next is “Oh No!”, an incredible song. It starts out with a harmonica playing the horn line, then the horns actually kick in and the harmonica actually helps play the ska! The remaining 3 songs on the tape were not written by EST, and the last two songs were recorded live. Every song is just great. This is essential. They are ready to release a full length and are shopping around for a label-get this tape before they get huge! It’s $5 at a show so it’s probably $6 ppd.
EST, P.O. Box 65892, WDC 20035
The Middlemen - demo
This band is from Illinois. This demo is not available to fans, but they should be going into the studio this Spring to produce something to sell. The demo is a good mix of ska, big band, and swing. In some places it’s more ska than others; Sometimes there is no ska, and it’s pure swing or big band. When I listen to a couple of the songs on this tape, I could swear I am listening to Skavoovie & the Epitones. If you like bands like the Royal Crown Revue and Skavoovie, then I’d definitely check these guys out.
The Middlemen, 557 Windrift, Belleville, IL 62221
http://www.apci.net/~midlemen
Rathskeller - demo
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
Heartbeat Records, One Camp Street, Cambridge, MA 02140
http://heartbeat.rounder.com/heartbeat
The Siren Six! “The Voice with a Built in Promise” (KPR0005)
Holy cow! I was anticipating hearing this album, but I never would have thought it could be this good! From the second it starts playing until the second it stops, you get 40 minutes of incredible new age ska music. It starts off with “Get it Right”, one of the best songs I’ve ever heard! It’s so energetic recorded that I can’t imagine what it will be like live. Maybe that’s why they have been called America’s best live ska band. The communication between the drums and bass is excellent, along with great horns, keyboards, and Nate Bott’s voice. It all makes for one of my new favorite bands. Before I got this CD and you played “Kill Your Idol” , I would have told you it was The Police. Not only does the singer sound like Sting in this song, the music reminds me of some of the ska/reggae that The Police did. “Begin” is an incredible song, the progression is new, I swear noone ever used it, and that’s why I love it. The CD ends with “Nerver Thought Twice”, a great song. The band has former members of Stinkfish and The Pacers and here and there that is pretty evident, but The Siren Six! have a style all their own, and I’m not sure how to describe it. You are just going to have to go out and pick this one up and listen to it for yourself. I think S6! might be coming out with a new album soon and they are on tour, so watch for them. I know I don’t want to miss them. I’m going to see them in Philly at the church on August 13th.
The Siren Six!, P.O. Box 13316, Minneapolis, MN 55414
Easy Big Fella “Eat at Joey’s”(MR105)
Wow. Before I got this CD, I hadn’t heard Easy Big Fella. I hadn’t even heard of the band before MoonSka started talking about the record deal. Well, let’s just say this disc was a very pleasant surprise!
It’s Easy Big Fella’s third full length (first on MoonSka). Traditional sounding, 3rd wave ska with influences of jazz and swing present. Great horns, some of the horn lines are probably the most catchiest I’ve ever heard. Great use of keyboards. And lyrics that’ll make you wanna sing along all night! Songs like “Picture Show”, “Locked in a Chapel of Love”, “Regular Guy”, “Come Back to Me”, and “The Road Alone” are just brilliant! It was very hard for me to narrow it down to those songs being the best. The whole CD is incredible. I’d say it’s the best 1997 release that I’ve heard so far this year. (the first quarter of 1997) Many new moon releases just came out in May/June that I haven’t heard yet, so I can’t judge it as best so far this year, but it’s up there! If you haven’t heard of Easy Big Fella and don’t know what to expect, then I urge you to get this CD. If you’ve heard the other EBF releases and have liked them, then you should love this release, because everyone I’ve talked to said it’s their most mature and best release to date. Hopefully they’ll be coming out east soon, and I wouldn’t want to miss that show.
Easy Big Fella, 4505 University Way NE, Box 107, Seattle, WA 98105
email:bigfella@wolfenet.com
http://www.wolfe.net/~mikesha/ebf.html
Skarmageddon 3 “A new beginning” 2CD Compilation (MR101)
Another monster 2-disc ska compilation from MoonSka, and the biggest yet. 45 new ska bands not featured on past skarmageddons. If you don’t know about Skarmageddon, first let me explain. It was an idea originally thought of by Steve Shafer and Bucket. They were receiving many demos from good bands all over the country, yet they didn’t have the resources to put out discs by all these bands, so they decided to make big comps highlighting lesser known bands from all over the U.S. Many of the bands from the first two skarmageddons have gone on to lead the U.S. ska scene. So you may want to check out Skarmageddon 3 and hear the bands that will be getting big in the future. Check out Pennsylvania’s own 2000 Flushes (State College) and The Go-Go Rays (Erie). Bands on this comp that already signed to Moon Ska Satellite Records are Army of Juan, Buford O’Sullivan, The Go-Go Rays, Highball Holiday, The Robustos, and Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts. The Articles and The Skoidats just had CDs come out on MoonSka. 2000 Flushes are now on Jump Start Records. So as you can see, the bands are already starting to get bigger. The first disc is dedicated to Old-Skool/2Tone, featuring the sweet sounds of The Allentons and The Defactos, while the second disc has Post-2Tone, Ska-Punk & Beyond with bands like Hot Stove Jimmy, Big D and the Kids Table, Sgt. Scagnetti, and the GLG20’s. I tend to listen to the first disc more, because I’m usually in the mood for the more traditional styles of ska. Disc two is full of good ska/punk type songs. The overall quality of the album is much better than I expected. I really like the way Moon separated the discs musicwise, because something I did not like from the second of this series was the way Can’t Say followed The Stubborn All-Stars or The Bluebeats followed Less Than Jake. Over 148 minutes of American ska today. If you like ska compilations, all skarmageddons are for you! “Skarmageddon 3”...I only have one word to say about that. Nipples. -Noah Wildman, MoonSka
email: moonska@walrus.com
http://www.moonska.com
(Asian Man Records is a relatively new record company run by Mike “Bruce Lee” Park, ex Skankin’ Pickle, from the Bruce Lee Band, which is Mike backed by Less Than Jake, and The Chinkees, which is an all Korean band that is looking for a Korean drummer, if you know of one make sure he or she gets in the band. Mike’s music is some of the most fun music around!)
Link 80 “17 Reasons” (AM-005)
East Bay Punk Rock Ska! These kids know how to play it! They really are kids! The people in the band range in age from 16 to 18. Half the band is still in high school, yet they will still made it out east this summer. They played the First Unitarian Church in Philly on July 23rd, a friend of mine saw them and he said he was surprised-they were awesome and he hadn’t even heard of them before that show! The CD starts out with “Verbal Kint”, an awesome song. “Pretty Girls” just makes me want to jump around! “Nothing Left”, “Enough”, “Turn It Around”, “Up To The Top”, “Jennifers Cafe”, and “Nowhere Fast” are all great punk/ska songs. The whole CD is full of quality punk tunes chalk full of good catchy horns and some ska! I don’t think they sound like anyone in particular, but if you like bands like The Suicide Machines and Slapstick then I would say this band is for you! You should buy this CD at the low Asian Man price of $8 ppd. This release is also out on LP, for the same price from Asian Man through the mail, plus I think Asian Man is one of the fastest mailorders out there! If you want Link 80 to come play your town, let them know the all age venues in your area.
Link 80, P.O. Box 8124, Emeryville, CA 94662-8124
Misfits of Ska II Compilation (AM-006)
Mike Park really did it this time! This compilation was put together very well. I’d say this CD is 200 times better than the first of the series. Much better sound quality, 30 bands playing over 72 minutes of music, well worth the good prices Asian Man offers! There is not one band from Misfits of Ska 1 on this CD. You’ll find bands from all over the country and world playing all different kinds of ska ranging from the cool rockabilly ska sound of The Peacocks to the ska/punk of Against All Authority and Falling Sickness. Bruce Lee’s new all Asian band is on here, too. There are newer bands and more established bands like Thumper and The Aquabats. When I’m in the mood for this CD, I can put it in and listen to it over and over again for hours, that’s how good the quality of this CD is. If you’re a fan of ska/punk, then the Misfits of Ska series is for you.
Mealticket “Lisa Marie” (AM-010)
Before this, I only heard one Mealticket song, the one on Misfits of Ska 1, and I thought it was a decent song. But judging from this release I don’t think I was missing much. Sure the recording quality is better than what I heard before and they have gotten tighter, but I just can’t get into this. I don’t think they’re anything special. The band has a girl singer, her voice reminds me of Gwen Stefani’s of No Doubt. So imagine Gwen singing to a pumped up punk/ska song and there you have it...Mealticket. There are some good horns on this, but that is all I like about it. This CD only has 3 songs, under 7 minutes of music. I don’t think it’s worth it (of course this CD single is not the same price as a full length, but still). The band does have two prior full length CDs ($11 ppd each from address below) out and they just made it out east on a tour, so some people must like them.
Mealticket, 16161 Nordhoff St. #249, North Hills, CA 91343
Music.............................................................Cassettes
Skuba "Churraskada"
This band is from Brazil! Side 1 of the tape is sung in Portuguese, and side 2 is the same songs sung in English. Side 1 has a bonus track: “The Pink Panther Rude Theme”, it’s pretty cool! I would describe Skuba’s sound as horn driven ska/oi! “Stoppin’ Around” is incredible! This band must be pretty big over in their country, they are opening up for Offspring at the end of the summer. The band has changed some members: lead vocals, guitar and bass, but they told me they sound better than ever. They’ve been on many comps over in Brazil, and they should be on MoonSka’s Latin Ska Volume 3. They have a new CD coming out at the end of October/beginning of November, I’m sure you’ll hear more about these guys from me in my next zine. Get in touch with the band to see how much it would be to get this tape.
SKUBA, c/o Rodrigo Cerqueira, Rua Piaui 988 ap 7B,Curitiba, PR 80.220-240
email: skuba@super.com.br
(in Portuguese): http://www.super.com.br/~skuba
Go for Broke - demo
This is a pretty good demo of a ska/punk band from Atlanta. This tape has 8 songs on it, and on side 2 is a live set recorded last year. You can’t really appreciate the live side until you get to know the studio side, because the live side doesn’t sound too good (it’s the recording) unless you already know the songs. They remind me of LTJ, Op Ivy, and Slapstick. “Parking Lot” is a great song about going down to the parking lot, cause it’s real cool there and we won’t get caught if we try. Sounds like some people I went to school with (Blockbuster Video?). “Ska-Na-Na”, “Friday Night”, and “Eric likes Wool Socks” are my other favorites. If you’re looking for a good ska/punk band that looks to get big, then I’d check this out.
Go For Broke, P.O. Box 720011, Atlanta, GA 30358-2011
Eastern Standard Time “Take 5”
EST is DC’s finest and one of the east coast’s best traditional ska band. The tape starts off with “Tick Tock”, a pretty fast traditional song with a kickin’ horn line. Next is “Oh No!”, an incredible song. It starts out with a harmonica playing the horn line, then the horns actually kick in and the harmonica actually helps play the ska! The remaining 3 songs on the tape were not written by EST, and the last two songs were recorded live. Every song is just great. This is essential. They are ready to release a full length and are shopping around for a label-get this tape before they get huge! It’s $5 at a show so it’s probably $6 ppd.
EST, P.O. Box 65892, WDC 20035
The Middlemen - demo
This band is from Illinois. This demo is not available to fans, but they should be going into the studio this Spring to produce something to sell. The demo is a good mix of ska, big band, and swing. In some places it’s more ska than others; Sometimes there is no ska, and it’s pure swing or big band. When I listen to a couple of the songs on this tape, I could swear I am listening to Skavoovie & the Epitones. If you like bands like the Royal Crown Revue and Skavoovie, then I’d definitely check these guys out.
The Middlemen, 557 Windrift, Belleville, IL 62221
http://www.apci.net/~midlemen
Rathskeller - demo
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
Holy cow! I was anticipating hearing this album, but I never would have thought it could be this good! From the second it starts playing until the second it stops, you get 40 minutes of incredible new age ska music. It starts off with “Get it Right”, one of the best songs I’ve ever heard! It’s so energetic recorded that I can’t imagine what it will be like live. Maybe that’s why they have been called America’s best live ska band. The communication between the drums and bass is excellent, along with great horns, keyboards, and Nate Bott’s voice. It all makes for one of my new favorite bands. Before I got this CD and you played “Kill Your Idol” , I would have told you it was The Police. Not only does the singer sound like Sting in this song, the music reminds me of some of the ska/reggae that The Police did. “Begin” is an incredible song, the progression is new, I swear noone ever used it, and that’s why I love it. The CD ends with “Nerver Thought Twice”, a great song. The band has former members of Stinkfish and The Pacers and here and there that is pretty evident, but The Siren Six! have a style all their own, and I’m not sure how to describe it. You are just going to have to go out and pick this one up and listen to it for yourself. I think S6! might be coming out with a new album soon and they are on tour, so watch for them. I know I don’t want to miss them. I’m going to see them in Philly at the church on August 13th.
The Siren Six!, P.O. Box 13316, Minneapolis, MN 55414
Easy Big Fella “Eat at Joey’s”(MR105)
Wow. Before I got this CD, I hadn’t heard Easy Big Fella. I hadn’t even heard of the band before MoonSka started talking about the record deal. Well, let’s just say this disc was a very pleasant surprise!
It’s Easy Big Fella’s third full length (first on MoonSka). Traditional sounding, 3rd wave ska with influences of jazz and swing present. Great horns, some of the horn lines are probably the most catchiest I’ve ever heard. Great use of keyboards. And lyrics that’ll make you wanna sing along all night! Songs like “Picture Show”, “Locked in a Chapel of Love”, “Regular Guy”, “Come Back to Me”, and “The Road Alone” are just brilliant! It was very hard for me to narrow it down to those songs being the best. The whole CD is incredible. I’d say it’s the best 1997 release that I’ve heard so far this year. (the first quarter of 1997) Many new moon releases just came out in May/June that I haven’t heard yet, so I can’t judge it as best so far this year, but it’s up there! If you haven’t heard of Easy Big Fella and don’t know what to expect, then I urge you to get this CD. If you’ve heard the other EBF releases and have liked them, then you should love this release, because everyone I’ve talked to said it’s their most mature and best release to date. Hopefully they’ll be coming out east soon, and I wouldn’t want to miss that show.
Easy Big Fella, 4505 University Way NE, Box 107, Seattle, WA 98105
email:bigfella@wolfenet.com
http://www.wolfe.net/~mikesha/ebf.html
Skarmageddon 3 “A new beginning” 2CD Compilation (MR101)
Another monster 2-disc ska compilation from MoonSka, and the biggest yet. 45 new ska bands not featured on past skarmageddons. If you don’t know about Skarmageddon, first let me explain. It was an idea originally thought of by Steve Shafer and Bucket. They were receiving many demos from good bands all over the country, yet they didn’t have the resources to put out discs by all these bands, so they decided to make big comps highlighting lesser known bands from all over the U.S. Many of the bands from the first two skarmageddons have gone on to lead the U.S. ska scene. So you may want to check out Skarmageddon 3 and hear the bands that will be getting big in the future. Check out Pennsylvania’s own 2000 Flushes (State College) and The Go-Go Rays (Erie). Bands on this comp that already signed to Moon Ska Satellite Records are Army of Juan, Buford O’Sullivan, The Go-Go Rays, Highball Holiday, The Robustos, and Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts. The Articles and The Skoidats just had CDs come out on MoonSka. 2000 Flushes are now on Jump Start Records. So as you can see, the bands are already starting to get bigger. The first disc is dedicated to Old-Skool/2Tone, featuring the sweet sounds of The Allentons and The Defactos, while the second disc has Post-2Tone, Ska-Punk & Beyond with bands like Hot Stove Jimmy, Big D and the Kids Table, Sgt. Scagnetti, and the GLG20’s. I tend to listen to the first disc more, because I’m usually in the mood for the more traditional styles of ska. Disc two is full of good ska/punk type songs. The overall quality of the album is much better than I expected. I really like the way Moon separated the discs musicwise, because something I did not like from the second of this series was the way Can’t Say followed The Stubborn All-Stars or The Bluebeats followed Less Than Jake. Over 148 minutes of American ska today. If you like ska compilations, all skarmageddons are for you! “Skarmageddon 3”...I only have one word to say about that. Nipples. -Noah Wildman, MoonSka
email: moonska@walrus.com
http://www.moonska.com
(Asian Man Records is a relatively new record company run by Mike “Bruce Lee” Park, ex Skankin’ Pickle, from the Bruce Lee Band, which is Mike backed by Less Than Jake, and The Chinkees, which is an all Korean band that is looking for a Korean drummer, if you know of one make sure he or she gets in the band. Mike’s music is some of the most fun music around!)
Link 80 “17 Reasons” (AM-005)
East Bay Punk Rock Ska! These kids know how to play it! They really are kids! The people in the band range in age from 16 to 18. Half the band is still in high school, yet they will still made it out east this summer. They played the First Unitarian Church in Philly on July 23rd, a friend of mine saw them and he said he was surprised-they were awesome and he hadn’t even heard of them before that show! The CD starts out with “Verbal Kint”, an awesome song. “Pretty Girls” just makes me want to jump around! “Nothing Left”, “Enough”, “Turn It Around”, “Up To The Top”, “Jennifers Cafe”, and “Nowhere Fast” are all great punk/ska songs. The whole CD is full of quality punk tunes chalk full of good catchy horns and some ska! I don’t think they sound like anyone in particular, but if you like bands like The Suicide Machines and Slapstick then I would say this band is for you! You should buy this CD at the low Asian Man price of $8 ppd. This release is also out on LP, for the same price from Asian Man through the mail, plus I think Asian Man is one of the fastest mailorders out there! If you want Link 80 to come play your town, let them know the all age venues in your area.
Link 80, P.O. Box 8124, Emeryville, CA 94662-8124
Misfits of Ska II Compilation (AM-006)
Mike Park really did it this time! This compilation was put together very well. I’d say this CD is 200 times better than the first of the series. Much better sound quality, 30 bands playing over 72 minutes of music, well worth the good prices Asian Man offers! There is not one band from Misfits of Ska 1 on this CD. You’ll find bands from all over the country and world playing all different kinds of ska ranging from the cool rockabilly ska sound of The Peacocks to the ska/punk of Against All Authority and Falling Sickness. Bruce Lee’s new all Asian band is on here, too. There are newer bands and more established bands like Thumper and The Aquabats. When I’m in the mood for this CD, I can put it in and listen to it over and over again for hours, that’s how good the quality of this CD is. If you’re a fan of ska/punk, then the Misfits of Ska series is for you.
Mealticket “Lisa Marie” (AM-010)
Before this, I only heard one Mealticket song, the one on Misfits of Ska 1, and I thought it was a decent song. But judging from this release I don’t think I was missing much. Sure the recording quality is better than what I heard before and they have gotten tighter, but I just can’t get into this. I don’t think they’re anything special. The band has a girl singer, her voice reminds me of Gwen Stefani’s of No Doubt. So imagine Gwen singing to a pumped up punk/ska song and there you have it...Mealticket. There are some good horns on this, but that is all I like about it. This CD only has 3 songs, under 7 minutes of music. I don’t think it’s worth it (of course this CD single is not the same price as a full length, but still). The band does have two prior full length CDs ($11 ppd each from address below) out and they just made it out east on a tour, so some people must like them.
Mealticket, 16161 Nordhoff St. #249, North Hills, CA 91343
Music.............................................................Cassettes
Skuba "Churraskada"
This band is from Brazil! Side 1 of the tape is sung in Portuguese, and side 2 is the same songs sung in English. Side 1 has a bonus track: “The Pink Panther Rude Theme”, it’s pretty cool! I would describe Skuba’s sound as horn driven ska/oi! “Stoppin’ Around” is incredible! This band must be pretty big over in their country, they are opening up for Offspring at the end of the summer. The band has changed some members: lead vocals, guitar and bass, but they told me they sound better than ever. They’ve been on many comps over in Brazil, and they should be on MoonSka’s Latin Ska Volume 3. They have a new CD coming out at the end of October/beginning of November, I’m sure you’ll hear more about these guys from me in my next zine. Get in touch with the band to see how much it would be to get this tape.
SKUBA, c/o Rodrigo Cerqueira, Rua Piaui 988 ap 7B,Curitiba, PR 80.220-240
email: skuba@super.com.br
(in Portuguese): http://www.super.com.br/~skuba
Go for Broke - demo
This is a pretty good demo of a ska/punk band from Atlanta. This tape has 8 songs on it, and on side 2 is a live set recorded last year. You can’t really appreciate the live side until you get to know the studio side, because the live side doesn’t sound too good (it’s the recording) unless you already know the songs. They remind me of LTJ, Op Ivy, and Slapstick. “Parking Lot” is a great song about going down to the parking lot, cause it’s real cool there and we won’t get caught if we try. Sounds like some people I went to school with (Blockbuster Video?). “Ska-Na-Na”, “Friday Night”, and “Eric likes Wool Socks” are my other favorites. If you’re looking for a good ska/punk band that looks to get big, then I’d check this out.
Go For Broke, P.O. Box 720011, Atlanta, GA 30358-2011
Eastern Standard Time “Take 5”
EST is DC’s finest and one of the east coast’s best traditional ska band. The tape starts off with “Tick Tock”, a pretty fast traditional song with a kickin’ horn line. Next is “Oh No!”, an incredible song. It starts out with a harmonica playing the horn line, then the horns actually kick in and the harmonica actually helps play the ska! The remaining 3 songs on the tape were not written by EST, and the last two songs were recorded live. Every song is just great. This is essential. They are ready to release a full length and are shopping around for a label-get this tape before they get huge! It’s $5 at a show so it’s probably $6 ppd.
EST, P.O. Box 65892, WDC 20035
The Middlemen - demo
This band is from Illinois. This demo is not available to fans, but they should be going into the studio this Spring to produce something to sell. The demo is a good mix of ska, big band, and swing. In some places it’s more ska than others; Sometimes there is no ska, and it’s pure swing or big band. When I listen to a couple of the songs on this tape, I could swear I am listening to Skavoovie & the Epitones. If you like bands like the Royal Crown Revue and Skavoovie, then I’d definitely check these guys out.
The Middlemen, 557 Windrift, Belleville, IL 62221
http://www.apci.net/~midlemen
Rathskeller - demo
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
Easy Big Fella “Eat at Joey’s”(MR105)
Wow. Before I got this CD, I hadn’t heard Easy Big Fella. I hadn’t even heard of the band before MoonSka started talking about the record deal. Well, let’s just say this disc was a very pleasant surprise!
It’s Easy Big Fella’s third full length (first on MoonSka). Traditional sounding, 3rd wave ska with influences of jazz and swing present. Great horns, some of the horn lines are probably the most catchiest I’ve ever heard. Great use of keyboards. And lyrics that’ll make you wanna sing along all night! Songs like “Picture Show”, “Locked in a Chapel of Love”, “Regular Guy”, “Come Back to Me”, and “The Road Alone” are just brilliant! It was very hard for me to narrow it down to those songs being the best. The whole CD is incredible. I’d say it’s the best 1997 release that I’ve heard so far this year. (the first quarter of 1997) Many new moon releases just came out in May/June that I haven’t heard yet, so I can’t judge it as best so far this year, but it’s up there! If you haven’t heard of Easy Big Fella and don’t know what to expect, then I urge you to get this CD. If you’ve heard the other EBF releases and have liked them, then you should love this release, because everyone I’ve talked to said it’s their most mature and best release to date. Hopefully they’ll be coming out east soon, and I wouldn’t want to miss that show.
Easy Big Fella, 4505 University Way NE, Box 107, Seattle, WA 98105
email:bigfella@wolfenet.com
http://www.wolfe.net/~mikesha/ebf.html
Skarmageddon 3 “A new beginning” 2CD Compilation (MR101)
Another monster 2-disc ska compilation from MoonSka, and the biggest yet. 45 new ska bands not featured on past skarmageddons. If you don’t know about Skarmageddon, first let me explain. It was an idea originally thought of by Steve Shafer and Bucket. They were receiving many demos from good bands all over the country, yet they didn’t have the resources to put out discs by all these bands, so they decided to make big comps highlighting lesser known bands from all over the U.S. Many of the bands from the first two skarmageddons have gone on to lead the U.S. ska scene. So you may want to check out Skarmageddon 3 and hear the bands that will be getting big in the future. Check out Pennsylvania’s own 2000 Flushes (State College) and The Go-Go Rays (Erie). Bands on this comp that already signed to Moon Ska Satellite Records are Army of Juan, Buford O’Sullivan, The Go-Go Rays, Highball Holiday, The Robustos, and Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts. The Articles and The Skoidats just had CDs come out on MoonSka. 2000 Flushes are now on Jump Start Records. So as you can see, the bands are already starting to get bigger. The first disc is dedicated to Old-Skool/2Tone, featuring the sweet sounds of The Allentons and The Defactos, while the second disc has Post-2Tone, Ska-Punk & Beyond with bands like Hot Stove Jimmy, Big D and the Kids Table, Sgt. Scagnetti, and the GLG20’s. I tend to listen to the first disc more, because I’m usually in the mood for the more traditional styles of ska. Disc two is full of good ska/punk type songs. The overall quality of the album is much better than I expected. I really like the way Moon separated the discs musicwise, because something I did not like from the second of this series was the way Can’t Say followed The Stubborn All-Stars or The Bluebeats followed Less Than Jake. Over 148 minutes of American ska today. If you like ska compilations, all skarmageddons are for you! “Skarmageddon 3”...I only have one word to say about that. Nipples. -Noah Wildman, MoonSka
email: moonska@walrus.com
http://www.moonska.com
(Asian Man Records is a relatively new record company run by Mike “Bruce Lee” Park, ex Skankin’ Pickle, from the Bruce Lee Band, which is Mike backed by Less Than Jake, and The Chinkees, which is an all Korean band that is looking for a Korean drummer, if you know of one make sure he or she gets in the band. Mike’s music is some of the most fun music around!)
Link 80 “17 Reasons” (AM-005)
East Bay Punk Rock Ska! These kids know how to play it! They really are kids! The people in the band range in age from 16 to 18. Half the band is still in high school, yet they will still made it out east this summer. They played the First Unitarian Church in Philly on July 23rd, a friend of mine saw them and he said he was surprised-they were awesome and he hadn’t even heard of them before that show! The CD starts out with “Verbal Kint”, an awesome song. “Pretty Girls” just makes me want to jump around! “Nothing Left”, “Enough”, “Turn It Around”, “Up To The Top”, “Jennifers Cafe”, and “Nowhere Fast” are all great punk/ska songs. The whole CD is full of quality punk tunes chalk full of good catchy horns and some ska! I don’t think they sound like anyone in particular, but if you like bands like The Suicide Machines and Slapstick then I would say this band is for you! You should buy this CD at the low Asian Man price of $8 ppd. This release is also out on LP, for the same price from Asian Man through the mail, plus I think Asian Man is one of the fastest mailorders out there! If you want Link 80 to come play your town, let them know the all age venues in your area.
Link 80, P.O. Box 8124, Emeryville, CA 94662-8124
Misfits of Ska II Compilation (AM-006)
Mike Park really did it this time! This compilation was put together very well. I’d say this CD is 200 times better than the first of the series. Much better sound quality, 30 bands playing over 72 minutes of music, well worth the good prices Asian Man offers! There is not one band from Misfits of Ska 1 on this CD. You’ll find bands from all over the country and world playing all different kinds of ska ranging from the cool rockabilly ska sound of The Peacocks to the ska/punk of Against All Authority and Falling Sickness. Bruce Lee’s new all Asian band is on here, too. There are newer bands and more established bands like Thumper and The Aquabats. When I’m in the mood for this CD, I can put it in and listen to it over and over again for hours, that’s how good the quality of this CD is. If you’re a fan of ska/punk, then the Misfits of Ska series is for you.
Mealticket “Lisa Marie” (AM-010)
Before this, I only heard one Mealticket song, the one on Misfits of Ska 1, and I thought it was a decent song. But judging from this release I don’t think I was missing much. Sure the recording quality is better than what I heard before and they have gotten tighter, but I just can’t get into this. I don’t think they’re anything special. The band has a girl singer, her voice reminds me of Gwen Stefani’s of No Doubt. So imagine Gwen singing to a pumped up punk/ska song and there you have it...Mealticket. There are some good horns on this, but that is all I like about it. This CD only has 3 songs, under 7 minutes of music. I don’t think it’s worth it (of course this CD single is not the same price as a full length, but still). The band does have two prior full length CDs ($11 ppd each from address below) out and they just made it out east on a tour, so some people must like them.
Mealticket, 16161 Nordhoff St. #249, North Hills, CA 91343
Music.............................................................Cassettes
Skuba "Churraskada"
This band is from Brazil! Side 1 of the tape is sung in Portuguese, and side 2 is the same songs sung in English. Side 1 has a bonus track: “The Pink Panther Rude Theme”, it’s pretty cool! I would describe Skuba’s sound as horn driven ska/oi! “Stoppin’ Around” is incredible! This band must be pretty big over in their country, they are opening up for Offspring at the end of the summer. The band has changed some members: lead vocals, guitar and bass, but they told me they sound better than ever. They’ve been on many comps over in Brazil, and they should be on MoonSka’s Latin Ska Volume 3. They have a new CD coming out at the end of October/beginning of November, I’m sure you’ll hear more about these guys from me in my next zine. Get in touch with the band to see how much it would be to get this tape.
SKUBA, c/o Rodrigo Cerqueira, Rua Piaui 988 ap 7B,Curitiba, PR 80.220-240
email: skuba@super.com.br
(in Portuguese): http://www.super.com.br/~skuba
Go for Broke - demo
This is a pretty good demo of a ska/punk band from Atlanta. This tape has 8 songs on it, and on side 2 is a live set recorded last year. You can’t really appreciate the live side until you get to know the studio side, because the live side doesn’t sound too good (it’s the recording) unless you already know the songs. They remind me of LTJ, Op Ivy, and Slapstick. “Parking Lot” is a great song about going down to the parking lot, cause it’s real cool there and we won’t get caught if we try. Sounds like some people I went to school with (Blockbuster Video?). “Ska-Na-Na”, “Friday Night”, and “Eric likes Wool Socks” are my other favorites. If you’re looking for a good ska/punk band that looks to get big, then I’d check this out.
Go For Broke, P.O. Box 720011, Atlanta, GA 30358-2011
Eastern Standard Time “Take 5”
EST is DC’s finest and one of the east coast’s best traditional ska band. The tape starts off with “Tick Tock”, a pretty fast traditional song with a kickin’ horn line. Next is “Oh No!”, an incredible song. It starts out with a harmonica playing the horn line, then the horns actually kick in and the harmonica actually helps play the ska! The remaining 3 songs on the tape were not written by EST, and the last two songs were recorded live. Every song is just great. This is essential. They are ready to release a full length and are shopping around for a label-get this tape before they get huge! It’s $5 at a show so it’s probably $6 ppd.
EST, P.O. Box 65892, WDC 20035
The Middlemen - demo
This band is from Illinois. This demo is not available to fans, but they should be going into the studio this Spring to produce something to sell. The demo is a good mix of ska, big band, and swing. In some places it’s more ska than others; Sometimes there is no ska, and it’s pure swing or big band. When I listen to a couple of the songs on this tape, I could swear I am listening to Skavoovie & the Epitones. If you like bands like the Royal Crown Revue and Skavoovie, then I’d definitely check these guys out.
The Middlemen, 557 Windrift, Belleville, IL 62221
http://www.apci.net/~midlemen
Rathskeller - demo
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
Wow. Before I got this CD, I hadn’t heard Easy Big Fella. I hadn’t even heard of the band before MoonSka started talking about the record deal. Well, let’s just say this disc was a very pleasant surprise!
It’s Easy Big Fella’s third full length (first on MoonSka). Traditional sounding, 3rd wave ska with influences of jazz and swing present. Great horns, some of the horn lines are probably the most catchiest I’ve ever heard. Great use of keyboards. And lyrics that’ll make you wanna sing along all night! Songs like “Picture Show”, “Locked in a Chapel of Love”, “Regular Guy”, “Come Back to Me”, and “The Road Alone” are just brilliant! It was very hard for me to narrow it down to those songs being the best. The whole CD is incredible. I’d say it’s the best 1997 release that I’ve heard so far this year. (the first quarter of 1997) Many new moon releases just came out in May/June that I haven’t heard yet, so I can’t judge it as best so far this year, but it’s up there! If you haven’t heard of Easy Big Fella and don’t know what to expect, then I urge you to get this CD. If you’ve heard the other EBF releases and have liked them, then you should love this release, because everyone I’ve talked to said it’s their most mature and best release to date. Hopefully they’ll be coming out east soon, and I wouldn’t want to miss that show.Easy Big Fella, 4505 University Way NE, Box 107, Seattle, WA 98105
email:bigfella@wolfenet.com
http://www.wolfe.net/~mikesha/ebf.html
Skarmageddon 3 “A new beginning” 2CD Compilation (MR101)
Another monster 2-disc ska compilation from MoonSka, and the biggest yet. 45 new ska bands not featured on past skarmageddons. If you don’t know about Skarmageddon, first let me explain. It was an idea originally thought of by Steve Shafer and Bucket. They were receiving many demos from good bands all over the country, yet they didn’t have the resources to put out discs by all these bands, so they decided to make big comps highlighting lesser known bands from all over the U.S. Many of the bands from the first two skarmageddons have gone on to lead the U.S. ska scene. So you may want to check out Skarmageddon 3 and hear the bands that will be getting big in the future. Check out Pennsylvania’s own 2000 Flushes (State College) and The Go-Go Rays (Erie). Bands on this comp that already signed to Moon Ska Satellite Records are Army of Juan, Buford O’Sullivan, The Go-Go Rays, Highball Holiday, The Robustos, and Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts. The Articles and The Skoidats just had CDs come out on MoonSka. 2000 Flushes are now on Jump Start Records. So as you can see, the bands are already starting to get bigger. The first disc is dedicated to Old-Skool/2Tone, featuring the sweet sounds of The Allentons and The Defactos, while the second disc has Post-2Tone, Ska-Punk & Beyond with bands like Hot Stove Jimmy, Big D and the Kids Table, Sgt. Scagnetti, and the GLG20’s. I tend to listen to the first disc more, because I’m usually in the mood for the more traditional styles of ska. Disc two is full of good ska/punk type songs. The overall quality of the album is much better than I expected. I really like the way Moon separated the discs musicwise, because something I did not like from the second of this series was the way Can’t Say followed The Stubborn All-Stars or The Bluebeats followed Less Than Jake. Over 148 minutes of American ska today. If you like ska compilations, all skarmageddons are for you! “Skarmageddon 3”...I only have one word to say about that. Nipples. -Noah Wildman, MoonSka
email: moonska@walrus.com
http://www.moonska.com
(Asian Man Records is a relatively new record company run by Mike “Bruce Lee” Park, ex Skankin’ Pickle, from the Bruce Lee Band, which is Mike backed by Less Than Jake, and The Chinkees, which is an all Korean band that is looking for a Korean drummer, if you know of one make sure he or she gets in the band. Mike’s music is some of the most fun music around!)
Link 80 “17 Reasons” (AM-005)
East Bay Punk Rock Ska! These kids know how to play it! They really are kids! The people in the band range in age from 16 to 18. Half the band is still in high school, yet they will still made it out east this summer. They played the First Unitarian Church in Philly on July 23rd, a friend of mine saw them and he said he was surprised-they were awesome and he hadn’t even heard of them before that show! The CD starts out with “Verbal Kint”, an awesome song. “Pretty Girls” just makes me want to jump around! “Nothing Left”, “Enough”, “Turn It Around”, “Up To The Top”, “Jennifers Cafe”, and “Nowhere Fast” are all great punk/ska songs. The whole CD is full of quality punk tunes chalk full of good catchy horns and some ska! I don’t think they sound like anyone in particular, but if you like bands like The Suicide Machines and Slapstick then I would say this band is for you! You should buy this CD at the low Asian Man price of $8 ppd. This release is also out on LP, for the same price from Asian Man through the mail, plus I think Asian Man is one of the fastest mailorders out there! If you want Link 80 to come play your town, let them know the all age venues in your area.
Link 80, P.O. Box 8124, Emeryville, CA 94662-8124
Misfits of Ska II Compilation (AM-006)
Mike Park really did it this time! This compilation was put together very well. I’d say this CD is 200 times better than the first of the series. Much better sound quality, 30 bands playing over 72 minutes of music, well worth the good prices Asian Man offers! There is not one band from Misfits of Ska 1 on this CD. You’ll find bands from all over the country and world playing all different kinds of ska ranging from the cool rockabilly ska sound of The Peacocks to the ska/punk of Against All Authority and Falling Sickness. Bruce Lee’s new all Asian band is on here, too. There are newer bands and more established bands like Thumper and The Aquabats. When I’m in the mood for this CD, I can put it in and listen to it over and over again for hours, that’s how good the quality of this CD is. If you’re a fan of ska/punk, then the Misfits of Ska series is for you.
Mealticket “Lisa Marie” (AM-010)
Before this, I only heard one Mealticket song, the one on Misfits of Ska 1, and I thought it was a decent song. But judging from this release I don’t think I was missing much. Sure the recording quality is better than what I heard before and they have gotten tighter, but I just can’t get into this. I don’t think they’re anything special. The band has a girl singer, her voice reminds me of Gwen Stefani’s of No Doubt. So imagine Gwen singing to a pumped up punk/ska song and there you have it...Mealticket. There are some good horns on this, but that is all I like about it. This CD only has 3 songs, under 7 minutes of music. I don’t think it’s worth it (of course this CD single is not the same price as a full length, but still). The band does have two prior full length CDs ($11 ppd each from address below) out and they just made it out east on a tour, so some people must like them.
Mealticket, 16161 Nordhoff St. #249, North Hills, CA 91343
Music.............................................................Cassettes
Skuba "Churraskada"
This band is from Brazil! Side 1 of the tape is sung in Portuguese, and side 2 is the same songs sung in English. Side 1 has a bonus track: “The Pink Panther Rude Theme”, it’s pretty cool! I would describe Skuba’s sound as horn driven ska/oi! “Stoppin’ Around” is incredible! This band must be pretty big over in their country, they are opening up for Offspring at the end of the summer. The band has changed some members: lead vocals, guitar and bass, but they told me they sound better than ever. They’ve been on many comps over in Brazil, and they should be on MoonSka’s Latin Ska Volume 3. They have a new CD coming out at the end of October/beginning of November, I’m sure you’ll hear more about these guys from me in my next zine. Get in touch with the band to see how much it would be to get this tape.
SKUBA, c/o Rodrigo Cerqueira, Rua Piaui 988 ap 7B,Curitiba, PR 80.220-240
email: skuba@super.com.br
(in Portuguese): http://www.super.com.br/~skuba
Go for Broke - demo
This is a pretty good demo of a ska/punk band from Atlanta. This tape has 8 songs on it, and on side 2 is a live set recorded last year. You can’t really appreciate the live side until you get to know the studio side, because the live side doesn’t sound too good (it’s the recording) unless you already know the songs. They remind me of LTJ, Op Ivy, and Slapstick. “Parking Lot” is a great song about going down to the parking lot, cause it’s real cool there and we won’t get caught if we try. Sounds like some people I went to school with (Blockbuster Video?). “Ska-Na-Na”, “Friday Night”, and “Eric likes Wool Socks” are my other favorites. If you’re looking for a good ska/punk band that looks to get big, then I’d check this out.
Go For Broke, P.O. Box 720011, Atlanta, GA 30358-2011
Eastern Standard Time “Take 5”
EST is DC’s finest and one of the east coast’s best traditional ska band. The tape starts off with “Tick Tock”, a pretty fast traditional song with a kickin’ horn line. Next is “Oh No!”, an incredible song. It starts out with a harmonica playing the horn line, then the horns actually kick in and the harmonica actually helps play the ska! The remaining 3 songs on the tape were not written by EST, and the last two songs were recorded live. Every song is just great. This is essential. They are ready to release a full length and are shopping around for a label-get this tape before they get huge! It’s $5 at a show so it’s probably $6 ppd.
EST, P.O. Box 65892, WDC 20035
The Middlemen - demo
This band is from Illinois. This demo is not available to fans, but they should be going into the studio this Spring to produce something to sell. The demo is a good mix of ska, big band, and swing. In some places it’s more ska than others; Sometimes there is no ska, and it’s pure swing or big band. When I listen to a couple of the songs on this tape, I could swear I am listening to Skavoovie & the Epitones. If you like bands like the Royal Crown Revue and Skavoovie, then I’d definitely check these guys out.
The Middlemen, 557 Windrift, Belleville, IL 62221
http://www.apci.net/~midlemen
Rathskeller - demo
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
Another monster 2-disc ska compilation from MoonSka, and the biggest yet. 45 new ska bands not featured on past skarmageddons. If you don’t know about Skarmageddon, first let me explain. It was an idea originally thought of by Steve Shafer and Bucket. They were receiving many demos from good bands all over the country, yet they didn’t have the resources to put out discs by all these bands, so they decided to make big comps highlighting lesser known bands from all over the U.S. Many of the bands from the first two skarmageddons have gone on to lead the U.S. ska scene. So you may want to check out Skarmageddon 3 and hear the bands that will be getting big in the future. Check out Pennsylvania’s own 2000 Flushes (State College) and The Go-Go Rays (Erie). Bands on this comp that already signed to Moon Ska Satellite Records are Army of Juan, Buford O’Sullivan, The Go-Go Rays, Highball Holiday, The Robustos, and Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts. The Articles and The Skoidats just had CDs come out on MoonSka. 2000 Flushes are now on Jump Start Records. So as you can see, the bands are already starting to get bigger. The first disc is dedicated to Old-Skool/2Tone, featuring the sweet sounds of The Allentons and The Defactos, while the second disc has Post-2Tone, Ska-Punk & Beyond with bands like Hot Stove Jimmy, Big D and the Kids Table, Sgt. Scagnetti, and the GLG20’s. I tend to listen to the first disc more, because I’m usually in the mood for the more traditional styles of ska. Disc two is full of good ska/punk type songs. The overall quality of the album is much better than I expected. I really like the way Moon separated the discs musicwise, because something I did not like from the second of this series was the way Can’t Say followed The Stubborn All-Stars or The Bluebeats followed Less Than Jake. Over 148 minutes of American ska today. If you like ska compilations, all skarmageddons are for you! “Skarmageddon 3”...I only have one word to say about that. Nipples. -Noah Wildman, MoonSkaemail: moonska@walrus.com
http://www.moonska.com
(Asian Man Records is a relatively new record company run by Mike “Bruce Lee” Park, ex Skankin’ Pickle, from the Bruce Lee Band, which is Mike backed by Less Than Jake, and The Chinkees, which is an all Korean band that is looking for a Korean drummer, if you know of one make sure he or she gets in the band. Mike’s music is some of the most fun music around!)
Link 80 “17 Reasons” (AM-005)
East Bay Punk Rock Ska! These kids know how to play it! They really are kids! The people in the band range in age from 16 to 18. Half the band is still in high school, yet they will still made it out east this summer. They played the First Unitarian Church in Philly on July 23rd, a friend of mine saw them and he said he was surprised-they were awesome and he hadn’t even heard of them before that show! The CD starts out with “Verbal Kint”, an awesome song. “Pretty Girls” just makes me want to jump around! “Nothing Left”, “Enough”, “Turn It Around”, “Up To The Top”, “Jennifers Cafe”, and “Nowhere Fast” are all great punk/ska songs. The whole CD is full of quality punk tunes chalk full of good catchy horns and some ska! I don’t think they sound like anyone in particular, but if you like bands like The Suicide Machines and Slapstick then I would say this band is for you! You should buy this CD at the low Asian Man price of $8 ppd. This release is also out on LP, for the same price from Asian Man through the mail, plus I think Asian Man is one of the fastest mailorders out there! If you want Link 80 to come play your town, let them know the all age venues in your area.
Link 80, P.O. Box 8124, Emeryville, CA 94662-8124
Misfits of Ska II Compilation (AM-006)
Mike Park really did it this time! This compilation was put together very well. I’d say this CD is 200 times better than the first of the series. Much better sound quality, 30 bands playing over 72 minutes of music, well worth the good prices Asian Man offers! There is not one band from Misfits of Ska 1 on this CD. You’ll find bands from all over the country and world playing all different kinds of ska ranging from the cool rockabilly ska sound of The Peacocks to the ska/punk of Against All Authority and Falling Sickness. Bruce Lee’s new all Asian band is on here, too. There are newer bands and more established bands like Thumper and The Aquabats. When I’m in the mood for this CD, I can put it in and listen to it over and over again for hours, that’s how good the quality of this CD is. If you’re a fan of ska/punk, then the Misfits of Ska series is for you.
Mealticket “Lisa Marie” (AM-010)
Before this, I only heard one Mealticket song, the one on Misfits of Ska 1, and I thought it was a decent song. But judging from this release I don’t think I was missing much. Sure the recording quality is better than what I heard before and they have gotten tighter, but I just can’t get into this. I don’t think they’re anything special. The band has a girl singer, her voice reminds me of Gwen Stefani’s of No Doubt. So imagine Gwen singing to a pumped up punk/ska song and there you have it...Mealticket. There are some good horns on this, but that is all I like about it. This CD only has 3 songs, under 7 minutes of music. I don’t think it’s worth it (of course this CD single is not the same price as a full length, but still). The band does have two prior full length CDs ($11 ppd each from address below) out and they just made it out east on a tour, so some people must like them.
Mealticket, 16161 Nordhoff St. #249, North Hills, CA 91343
Music.............................................................Cassettes
Skuba "Churraskada"
This band is from Brazil! Side 1 of the tape is sung in Portuguese, and side 2 is the same songs sung in English. Side 1 has a bonus track: “The Pink Panther Rude Theme”, it’s pretty cool! I would describe Skuba’s sound as horn driven ska/oi! “Stoppin’ Around” is incredible! This band must be pretty big over in their country, they are opening up for Offspring at the end of the summer. The band has changed some members: lead vocals, guitar and bass, but they told me they sound better than ever. They’ve been on many comps over in Brazil, and they should be on MoonSka’s Latin Ska Volume 3. They have a new CD coming out at the end of October/beginning of November, I’m sure you’ll hear more about these guys from me in my next zine. Get in touch with the band to see how much it would be to get this tape.
SKUBA, c/o Rodrigo Cerqueira, Rua Piaui 988 ap 7B,Curitiba, PR 80.220-240
email: skuba@super.com.br
(in Portuguese): http://www.super.com.br/~skuba
Go for Broke - demo
This is a pretty good demo of a ska/punk band from Atlanta. This tape has 8 songs on it, and on side 2 is a live set recorded last year. You can’t really appreciate the live side until you get to know the studio side, because the live side doesn’t sound too good (it’s the recording) unless you already know the songs. They remind me of LTJ, Op Ivy, and Slapstick. “Parking Lot” is a great song about going down to the parking lot, cause it’s real cool there and we won’t get caught if we try. Sounds like some people I went to school with (Blockbuster Video?). “Ska-Na-Na”, “Friday Night”, and “Eric likes Wool Socks” are my other favorites. If you’re looking for a good ska/punk band that looks to get big, then I’d check this out.
Go For Broke, P.O. Box 720011, Atlanta, GA 30358-2011
Eastern Standard Time “Take 5”
EST is DC’s finest and one of the east coast’s best traditional ska band. The tape starts off with “Tick Tock”, a pretty fast traditional song with a kickin’ horn line. Next is “Oh No!”, an incredible song. It starts out with a harmonica playing the horn line, then the horns actually kick in and the harmonica actually helps play the ska! The remaining 3 songs on the tape were not written by EST, and the last two songs were recorded live. Every song is just great. This is essential. They are ready to release a full length and are shopping around for a label-get this tape before they get huge! It’s $5 at a show so it’s probably $6 ppd.
EST, P.O. Box 65892, WDC 20035
The Middlemen - demo
This band is from Illinois. This demo is not available to fans, but they should be going into the studio this Spring to produce something to sell. The demo is a good mix of ska, big band, and swing. In some places it’s more ska than others; Sometimes there is no ska, and it’s pure swing or big band. When I listen to a couple of the songs on this tape, I could swear I am listening to Skavoovie & the Epitones. If you like bands like the Royal Crown Revue and Skavoovie, then I’d definitely check these guys out.
The Middlemen, 557 Windrift, Belleville, IL 62221
http://www.apci.net/~midlemen
Rathskeller - demo
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
East Bay Punk Rock Ska! These kids know how to play it! They really are kids! The people in the band range in age from 16 to 18. Half the band is still in high school, yet they will still made it out east this summer. They played the First Unitarian Church in Philly on July 23rd, a friend of mine saw them and he said he was surprised-they were awesome and he hadn’t even heard of them before that show! The CD starts out with “Verbal Kint”, an awesome song. “Pretty Girls” just makes me want to jump around! “Nothing Left”, “Enough”, “Turn It Around”, “Up To The Top”, “Jennifers Cafe”, and “Nowhere Fast” are all great punk/ska songs. The whole CD is full of quality punk tunes chalk full of good catchy horns and some ska! I don’t think they sound like anyone in particular, but if you like bands like The Suicide Machines and Slapstick then I would say this band is for you! You should buy this CD at the low Asian Man price of $8 ppd. This release is also out on LP, for the same price from Asian Man through the mail, plus I think Asian Man is one of the fastest mailorders out there! If you want Link 80 to come play your town, let them know the all age venues in your area.
Link 80, P.O. Box 8124, Emeryville, CA 94662-8124
Misfits of Ska II Compilation (AM-006)
Mike Park really did it this time! This compilation was put together very well. I’d say this CD is 200 times better than the first of the series. Much better sound quality, 30 bands playing over 72 minutes of music, well worth the good prices Asian Man offers! There is not one band from Misfits of Ska 1 on this CD. You’ll find bands from all over the country and world playing all different kinds of ska ranging from the cool rockabilly ska sound of The Peacocks to the ska/punk of Against All Authority and Falling Sickness. Bruce Lee’s new all Asian band is on here, too. There are newer bands and more established bands like Thumper and The Aquabats. When I’m in the mood for this CD, I can put it in and listen to it over and over again for hours, that’s how good the quality of this CD is. If you’re a fan of ska/punk, then the Misfits of Ska series is for you.
Mealticket “Lisa Marie” (AM-010)
Before this, I only heard one Mealticket song, the one on Misfits of Ska 1, and I thought it was a decent song. But judging from this release I don’t think I was missing much. Sure the recording quality is better than what I heard before and they have gotten tighter, but I just can’t get into this. I don’t think they’re anything special. The band has a girl singer, her voice reminds me of Gwen Stefani’s of No Doubt. So imagine Gwen singing to a pumped up punk/ska song and there you have it...Mealticket. There are some good horns on this, but that is all I like about it. This CD only has 3 songs, under 7 minutes of music. I don’t think it’s worth it (of course this CD single is not the same price as a full length, but still). The band does have two prior full length CDs ($11 ppd each from address below) out and they just made it out east on a tour, so some people must like them.
Mealticket, 16161 Nordhoff St. #249, North Hills, CA 91343
Music.............................................................Cassettes
Skuba "Churraskada"
This band is from Brazil! Side 1 of the tape is sung in Portuguese, and side 2 is the same songs sung in English. Side 1 has a bonus track: “The Pink Panther Rude Theme”, it’s pretty cool! I would describe Skuba’s sound as horn driven ska/oi! “Stoppin’ Around” is incredible! This band must be pretty big over in their country, they are opening up for Offspring at the end of the summer. The band has changed some members: lead vocals, guitar and bass, but they told me they sound better than ever. They’ve been on many comps over in Brazil, and they should be on MoonSka’s Latin Ska Volume 3. They have a new CD coming out at the end of October/beginning of November, I’m sure you’ll hear more about these guys from me in my next zine. Get in touch with the band to see how much it would be to get this tape.
SKUBA, c/o Rodrigo Cerqueira, Rua Piaui 988 ap 7B,Curitiba, PR 80.220-240
email: skuba@super.com.br
(in Portuguese): http://www.super.com.br/~skuba
Go for Broke - demo
This is a pretty good demo of a ska/punk band from Atlanta. This tape has 8 songs on it, and on side 2 is a live set recorded last year. You can’t really appreciate the live side until you get to know the studio side, because the live side doesn’t sound too good (it’s the recording) unless you already know the songs. They remind me of LTJ, Op Ivy, and Slapstick. “Parking Lot” is a great song about going down to the parking lot, cause it’s real cool there and we won’t get caught if we try. Sounds like some people I went to school with (Blockbuster Video?). “Ska-Na-Na”, “Friday Night”, and “Eric likes Wool Socks” are my other favorites. If you’re looking for a good ska/punk band that looks to get big, then I’d check this out.
Go For Broke, P.O. Box 720011, Atlanta, GA 30358-2011
Eastern Standard Time “Take 5”
EST is DC’s finest and one of the east coast’s best traditional ska band. The tape starts off with “Tick Tock”, a pretty fast traditional song with a kickin’ horn line. Next is “Oh No!”, an incredible song. It starts out with a harmonica playing the horn line, then the horns actually kick in and the harmonica actually helps play the ska! The remaining 3 songs on the tape were not written by EST, and the last two songs were recorded live. Every song is just great. This is essential. They are ready to release a full length and are shopping around for a label-get this tape before they get huge! It’s $5 at a show so it’s probably $6 ppd.
EST, P.O. Box 65892, WDC 20035
The Middlemen - demo
This band is from Illinois. This demo is not available to fans, but they should be going into the studio this Spring to produce something to sell. The demo is a good mix of ska, big band, and swing. In some places it’s more ska than others; Sometimes there is no ska, and it’s pure swing or big band. When I listen to a couple of the songs on this tape, I could swear I am listening to Skavoovie & the Epitones. If you like bands like the Royal Crown Revue and Skavoovie, then I’d definitely check these guys out.
The Middlemen, 557 Windrift, Belleville, IL 62221
http://www.apci.net/~midlemen
Rathskeller - demo
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
Mike Park really did it this time! This compilation was put together very well. I’d say this CD is 200 times better than the first of the series. Much better sound quality, 30 bands playing over 72 minutes of music, well worth the good prices Asian Man offers! There is not one band from Misfits of Ska 1 on this CD. You’ll find bands from all over the country and world playing all different kinds of ska ranging from the cool rockabilly ska sound of The Peacocks to the ska/punk of Against All Authority and Falling Sickness. Bruce Lee’s new all Asian band is on here, too. There are newer bands and more established bands like Thumper and The Aquabats. When I’m in the mood for this CD, I can put it in and listen to it over and over again for hours, that’s how good the quality of this CD is. If you’re a fan of ska/punk, then the Misfits of Ska series is for you.
Mealticket “Lisa Marie” (AM-010)
Before this, I only heard one Mealticket song, the one on Misfits of Ska 1, and I thought it was a decent song. But judging from this release I don’t think I was missing much. Sure the recording quality is better than what I heard before and they have gotten tighter, but I just can’t get into this. I don’t think they’re anything special. The band has a girl singer, her voice reminds me of Gwen Stefani’s of No Doubt. So imagine Gwen singing to a pumped up punk/ska song and there you have it...Mealticket. There are some good horns on this, but that is all I like about it. This CD only has 3 songs, under 7 minutes of music. I don’t think it’s worth it (of course this CD single is not the same price as a full length, but still). The band does have two prior full length CDs ($11 ppd each from address below) out and they just made it out east on a tour, so some people must like them.
Mealticket, 16161 Nordhoff St. #249, North Hills, CA 91343
Music.............................................................Cassettes
Skuba "Churraskada"
This band is from Brazil! Side 1 of the tape is sung in Portuguese, and side 2 is the same songs sung in English. Side 1 has a bonus track: “The Pink Panther Rude Theme”, it’s pretty cool! I would describe Skuba’s sound as horn driven ska/oi! “Stoppin’ Around” is incredible! This band must be pretty big over in their country, they are opening up for Offspring at the end of the summer. The band has changed some members: lead vocals, guitar and bass, but they told me they sound better than ever. They’ve been on many comps over in Brazil, and they should be on MoonSka’s Latin Ska Volume 3. They have a new CD coming out at the end of October/beginning of November, I’m sure you’ll hear more about these guys from me in my next zine. Get in touch with the band to see how much it would be to get this tape.
SKUBA, c/o Rodrigo Cerqueira, Rua Piaui 988 ap 7B,Curitiba, PR 80.220-240
email: skuba@super.com.br
(in Portuguese): http://www.super.com.br/~skuba
Go for Broke - demo
This is a pretty good demo of a ska/punk band from Atlanta. This tape has 8 songs on it, and on side 2 is a live set recorded last year. You can’t really appreciate the live side until you get to know the studio side, because the live side doesn’t sound too good (it’s the recording) unless you already know the songs. They remind me of LTJ, Op Ivy, and Slapstick. “Parking Lot” is a great song about going down to the parking lot, cause it’s real cool there and we won’t get caught if we try. Sounds like some people I went to school with (Blockbuster Video?). “Ska-Na-Na”, “Friday Night”, and “Eric likes Wool Socks” are my other favorites. If you’re looking for a good ska/punk band that looks to get big, then I’d check this out.
Go For Broke, P.O. Box 720011, Atlanta, GA 30358-2011
Eastern Standard Time “Take 5”
EST is DC’s finest and one of the east coast’s best traditional ska band. The tape starts off with “Tick Tock”, a pretty fast traditional song with a kickin’ horn line. Next is “Oh No!”, an incredible song. It starts out with a harmonica playing the horn line, then the horns actually kick in and the harmonica actually helps play the ska! The remaining 3 songs on the tape were not written by EST, and the last two songs were recorded live. Every song is just great. This is essential. They are ready to release a full length and are shopping around for a label-get this tape before they get huge! It’s $5 at a show so it’s probably $6 ppd.
EST, P.O. Box 65892, WDC 20035
The Middlemen - demo
This band is from Illinois. This demo is not available to fans, but they should be going into the studio this Spring to produce something to sell. The demo is a good mix of ska, big band, and swing. In some places it’s more ska than others; Sometimes there is no ska, and it’s pure swing or big band. When I listen to a couple of the songs on this tape, I could swear I am listening to Skavoovie & the Epitones. If you like bands like the Royal Crown Revue and Skavoovie, then I’d definitely check these guys out.
The Middlemen, 557 Windrift, Belleville, IL 62221
http://www.apci.net/~midlemen
Rathskeller - demo
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
Before this, I only heard one Mealticket song, the one on Misfits of Ska 1, and I thought it was a decent song. But judging from this release I don’t think I was missing much. Sure the recording quality is better than what I heard before and they have gotten tighter, but I just can’t get into this. I don’t think they’re anything special. The band has a girl singer, her voice reminds me of Gwen Stefani’s of No Doubt. So imagine Gwen singing to a pumped up punk/ska song and there you have it...Mealticket. There are some good horns on this, but that is all I like about it. This CD only has 3 songs, under 7 minutes of music. I don’t think it’s worth it (of course this CD single is not the same price as a full length, but still). The band does have two prior full length CDs ($11 ppd each from address below) out and they just made it out east on a tour, so some people must like them.
Mealticket, 16161 Nordhoff St. #249, North Hills, CA 91343
Music.............................................................Cassettes
Skuba "Churraskada"
This band is from Brazil! Side 1 of the tape is sung in Portuguese, and side 2 is the same songs sung in English. Side 1 has a bonus track: “The Pink Panther Rude Theme”, it’s pretty cool! I would describe Skuba’s sound as horn driven ska/oi! “Stoppin’ Around” is incredible! This band must be pretty big over in their country, they are opening up for Offspring at the end of the summer. The band has changed some members: lead vocals, guitar and bass, but they told me they sound better than ever. They’ve been on many comps over in Brazil, and they should be on MoonSka’s Latin Ska Volume 3. They have a new CD coming out at the end of October/beginning of November, I’m sure you’ll hear more about these guys from me in my next zine. Get in touch with the band to see how much it would be to get this tape.
SKUBA, c/o Rodrigo Cerqueira, Rua Piaui 988 ap 7B,Curitiba, PR 80.220-240
email: skuba@super.com.br
(in Portuguese): http://www.super.com.br/~skuba
Go for Broke - demo
This is a pretty good demo of a ska/punk band from Atlanta. This tape has 8 songs on it, and on side 2 is a live set recorded last year. You can’t really appreciate the live side until you get to know the studio side, because the live side doesn’t sound too good (it’s the recording) unless you already know the songs. They remind me of LTJ, Op Ivy, and Slapstick. “Parking Lot” is a great song about going down to the parking lot, cause it’s real cool there and we won’t get caught if we try. Sounds like some people I went to school with (Blockbuster Video?). “Ska-Na-Na”, “Friday Night”, and “Eric likes Wool Socks” are my other favorites. If you’re looking for a good ska/punk band that looks to get big, then I’d check this out.
Go For Broke, P.O. Box 720011, Atlanta, GA 30358-2011
Eastern Standard Time “Take 5”
EST is DC’s finest and one of the east coast’s best traditional ska band. The tape starts off with “Tick Tock”, a pretty fast traditional song with a kickin’ horn line. Next is “Oh No!”, an incredible song. It starts out with a harmonica playing the horn line, then the horns actually kick in and the harmonica actually helps play the ska! The remaining 3 songs on the tape were not written by EST, and the last two songs were recorded live. Every song is just great. This is essential. They are ready to release a full length and are shopping around for a label-get this tape before they get huge! It’s $5 at a show so it’s probably $6 ppd.
EST, P.O. Box 65892, WDC 20035
The Middlemen - demo
This band is from Illinois. This demo is not available to fans, but they should be going into the studio this Spring to produce something to sell. The demo is a good mix of ska, big band, and swing. In some places it’s more ska than others; Sometimes there is no ska, and it’s pure swing or big band. When I listen to a couple of the songs on this tape, I could swear I am listening to Skavoovie & the Epitones. If you like bands like the Royal Crown Revue and Skavoovie, then I’d definitely check these guys out.
The Middlemen, 557 Windrift, Belleville, IL 62221
http://www.apci.net/~midlemen
Rathskeller - demo
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
This band is from Brazil! Side 1 of the tape is sung in Portuguese, and side 2 is the same songs sung in English. Side 1 has a bonus track: “The Pink Panther Rude Theme”, it’s pretty cool! I would describe Skuba’s sound as horn driven ska/oi! “Stoppin’ Around” is incredible! This band must be pretty big over in their country, they are opening up for Offspring at the end of the summer. The band has changed some members: lead vocals, guitar and bass, but they told me they sound better than ever. They’ve been on many comps over in Brazil, and they should be on MoonSka’s Latin Ska Volume 3. They have a new CD coming out at the end of October/beginning of November, I’m sure you’ll hear more about these guys from me in my next zine. Get in touch with the band to see how much it would be to get this tape.
SKUBA, c/o Rodrigo Cerqueira, Rua Piaui 988 ap 7B,Curitiba, PR 80.220-240
email: skuba@super.com.br
(in Portuguese): http://www.super.com.br/~skuba
Go for Broke - demo
This is a pretty good demo of a ska/punk band from Atlanta. This tape has 8 songs on it, and on side 2 is a live set recorded last year. You can’t really appreciate the live side until you get to know the studio side, because the live side doesn’t sound too good (it’s the recording) unless you already know the songs. They remind me of LTJ, Op Ivy, and Slapstick. “Parking Lot” is a great song about going down to the parking lot, cause it’s real cool there and we won’t get caught if we try. Sounds like some people I went to school with (Blockbuster Video?). “Ska-Na-Na”, “Friday Night”, and “Eric likes Wool Socks” are my other favorites. If you’re looking for a good ska/punk band that looks to get big, then I’d check this out.
Go For Broke, P.O. Box 720011, Atlanta, GA 30358-2011
Eastern Standard Time “Take 5”
EST is DC’s finest and one of the east coast’s best traditional ska band. The tape starts off with “Tick Tock”, a pretty fast traditional song with a kickin’ horn line. Next is “Oh No!”, an incredible song. It starts out with a harmonica playing the horn line, then the horns actually kick in and the harmonica actually helps play the ska! The remaining 3 songs on the tape were not written by EST, and the last two songs were recorded live. Every song is just great. This is essential. They are ready to release a full length and are shopping around for a label-get this tape before they get huge! It’s $5 at a show so it’s probably $6 ppd.
EST, P.O. Box 65892, WDC 20035
The Middlemen - demo
This band is from Illinois. This demo is not available to fans, but they should be going into the studio this Spring to produce something to sell. The demo is a good mix of ska, big band, and swing. In some places it’s more ska than others; Sometimes there is no ska, and it’s pure swing or big band. When I listen to a couple of the songs on this tape, I could swear I am listening to Skavoovie & the Epitones. If you like bands like the Royal Crown Revue and Skavoovie, then I’d definitely check these guys out.
The Middlemen, 557 Windrift, Belleville, IL 62221
http://www.apci.net/~midlemen
Rathskeller - demo
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
This is a pretty good demo of a ska/punk band from Atlanta. This tape has 8 songs on it, and on side 2 is a live set recorded last year. You can’t really appreciate the live side until you get to know the studio side, because the live side doesn’t sound too good (it’s the recording) unless you already know the songs. They remind me of LTJ, Op Ivy, and Slapstick. “Parking Lot” is a great song about going down to the parking lot, cause it’s real cool there and we won’t get caught if we try. Sounds like some people I went to school with (Blockbuster Video?). “Ska-Na-Na”, “Friday Night”, and “Eric likes Wool Socks” are my other favorites. If you’re looking for a good ska/punk band that looks to get big, then I’d check this out.
Go For Broke, P.O. Box 720011, Atlanta, GA 30358-2011
Eastern Standard Time “Take 5”
EST is DC’s finest and one of the east coast’s best traditional ska band. The tape starts off with “Tick Tock”, a pretty fast traditional song with a kickin’ horn line. Next is “Oh No!”, an incredible song. It starts out with a harmonica playing the horn line, then the horns actually kick in and the harmonica actually helps play the ska! The remaining 3 songs on the tape were not written by EST, and the last two songs were recorded live. Every song is just great. This is essential. They are ready to release a full length and are shopping around for a label-get this tape before they get huge! It’s $5 at a show so it’s probably $6 ppd.
EST, P.O. Box 65892, WDC 20035
The Middlemen - demo
This band is from Illinois. This demo is not available to fans, but they should be going into the studio this Spring to produce something to sell. The demo is a good mix of ska, big band, and swing. In some places it’s more ska than others; Sometimes there is no ska, and it’s pure swing or big band. When I listen to a couple of the songs on this tape, I could swear I am listening to Skavoovie & the Epitones. If you like bands like the Royal Crown Revue and Skavoovie, then I’d definitely check these guys out.
The Middlemen, 557 Windrift, Belleville, IL 62221
http://www.apci.net/~midlemen
Rathskeller - demo
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
EST is DC’s finest and one of the east coast’s best traditional ska band. The tape starts off with “Tick Tock”, a pretty fast traditional song with a kickin’ horn line. Next is “Oh No!”, an incredible song. It starts out with a harmonica playing the horn line, then the horns actually kick in and the harmonica actually helps play the ska! The remaining 3 songs on the tape were not written by EST, and the last two songs were recorded live. Every song is just great. This is essential. They are ready to release a full length and are shopping around for a label-get this tape before they get huge! It’s $5 at a show so it’s probably $6 ppd.
EST, P.O. Box 65892, WDC 20035
The Middlemen - demo
This band is from Illinois. This demo is not available to fans, but they should be going into the studio this Spring to produce something to sell. The demo is a good mix of ska, big band, and swing. In some places it’s more ska than others; Sometimes there is no ska, and it’s pure swing or big band. When I listen to a couple of the songs on this tape, I could swear I am listening to Skavoovie & the Epitones. If you like bands like the Royal Crown Revue and Skavoovie, then I’d definitely check these guys out.
The Middlemen, 557 Windrift, Belleville, IL 62221
http://www.apci.net/~midlemen
Rathskeller - demo
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
This band is from Illinois. This demo is not available to fans, but they should be going into the studio this Spring to produce something to sell. The demo is a good mix of ska, big band, and swing. In some places it’s more ska than others; Sometimes there is no ska, and it’s pure swing or big band. When I listen to a couple of the songs on this tape, I could swear I am listening to Skavoovie & the Epitones. If you like bands like the Royal Crown Revue and Skavoovie, then I’d definitely check these guys out.
The Middlemen, 557 Windrift, Belleville, IL 62221
http://www.apci.net/~midlemen
Rathskeller - demo
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
This is a relatively new three horn, six piece ska band from western Philly. They describe they sound well when they say, “Rathskeller has a sound characterized by it’s flowing, melodic bass lines and traditional ska drum beats. Twisted horn melodies and pseudo-discordant progressions are evident as well as heart felt vocals...” The tape is free to anyone who requests it.
Rathskeller, 3200 Summer St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
email: Redcalvin@aol.com
Music.............................................................7 inches
The Upstanders “Two Left Feet”
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
I first saw this band in June 1996 and I was so impressed I bought their $5 tape (still available: $6 ppd). The songs were great, but the recording quality wasn’t the greatest. Well, this is their new 7” and believe it or not the songs are even better and the recording quality is great. They’ve also gotten so much better live. I’ve seen them many times since that first time and each time I see them they get better. I consider them one of the best ska bands in Pennsylvania. This 7” starts off with “Cheap Thrill”, an awesome up-tempo 3rd wave ska song with keyboards. Next is “Glamorize”, a more traditional song with great work on the horns. The 7” is rounded off with “Fits the Bill”, a song that starts off really slow, then suddenly gets much faster, and the words kick in. The band has a great diversity. They are now starting to plan to record a CD, so look for it in the future. You can order this blue vinyl 7” for $4 ppd from:
The Upstanders, P.O. Box 616, Westtown, PA 19395
The Royalties “Welcome To New Jersey”
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
The Royalties are formerly known as The Ska Skank Redemption. This NJ band is very much into DIY ethics. They have a good third wave ska sound. The 7” starts off with “SSR DIY”, just listen to the words, “Because we’re finding out what really matters, It’s the people in the scene. Because we’re finding out what really matters, forget your ego and put up the green.” The second song is “Avoid the Crime”, my favorite. Great horns in both songs. They have been playing all over the place in the NJ/NY/PA area, so watch for them. They also want to record a CD soon and they hope to release it in Spring. This 7” is $2 ppd.
The Royalties, P.O. Box 363, Belle Mead, NJ 08502
email: ssrnj@ix.netcom.com
http://eden-backend.rutgers.edu/~rhitt/
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
(Illumination Records is run by Mike Liu. He used to work with Dill Records mailorder, he was always the person I talked to through email for Dill Records, so when I heard he was starting his own label I got pretty excited! The Four 7” starts the label off different than many other indie labels. Mike wanted to start off this label by focusing on not only musical talent, but artistic talent as well. Five different artists, not known to the band (Four), were selected to draw up a cover to the sleeve. They had no knowledge of what Four was about. The artists were given a demo tape of this 7” and they went to work. When all was done, George Fraska (vocalist/guitarist of Four) selected the cover he liked most, which was created by Camille Perrin. Illumination will be releasing 7”’s in this ongoing 7” series from The Readymen and up next is Fullerton, CA’s Busrider. Illumination is now accepting demo’s from any female bands out there for a compilation in which proceeds will go to a non-profit breast cancer research organization. Support Illumination Records!)
Four (ILL-0001-7)
Four is a slightly ska-influenced punk band from Denver, CO that knows how to play with an attitude! This awesome 7” starts off with the incredible “At the Show”, which is also featured on Asian Man Records “Misfits of Ska II”. The band will also be featured on Dill Records comp “Dillinquents”, which will be out very soon. “Discipline” and “Me Minus You” are great punk rock songs. If you’ve heard the first song from the comp and like it and you like punk rock, then there’s no reason for you not to like this. The 7” was re-mastered by Mark Johnson at Workhouse San Jose, CA (Less Than Jake-Pezcore) The first pressing of this is on blue-colored vinyl and packaged in a special limited edition jacket with awesome art by Camille Perrin. Future pressings will be available on standard black vinyl with normal sleeve.
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
Four, 1720 E 84th Ave, Denver, CO 80229
Paper.............................................................Zines
Out -N- About Fanzine #1
A punk fanzine with lots of ads, pictures of bands, and music reviews. Includes an interview with The Halflings.
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
Out N About Fanzine, c/o Cory Brugger, 108 Mark Rd., Hazleton, PA 18201
Tall Guy Fanzine #1 ($1)
Writeups on “Life in General” and the “Perkins Experience”. Interviews with Velcro Mary, Bigwig, and Digger. Some ads, music reviews, and “Andy’s ska review”.
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
Tall Guy, 214 W. Samuels Ave., Hazleton, PA 18201
Ska’d For Life #7 ($1)
Interview with Easy Big Fella. Record reviews, zine listing, The following writeups: Philly ska update, Storytime with Egon, Dear Lorenzo, America’s Favorite Pastime (The Pooh Dollar!), The Future of Ska, Help Juan, and In the Spotlight. 16 packed pages on newsprint. #8 out now!
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
Ska’d For Life, 212 E. Benedict Ave, Havertown, PA 19083
The People’s SKA Annual #4 (SASE)
48 newsprint pages of ska, ska, and more ska. Way too much stuff is in this to list. The zine is done by Noah Wildman, of Moon Records.
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
TPSA, c/o Noah Wildman, P.O. Box 1418, NYC, NY 10276
Freefall Skazine #8 (2 Stamps)
48 pages on newsprint. Includes a debate with Noah from MoonSka, lots of music reviews, a big article on the Penn State Winter Ska Fest 1997, and interviews with Mobtown, Planet Smashers, Too Hectic, B-3’s, Johnny Too Bad & The Strikeouts, Spring Heeled Jack, Eastern Standard Time, GLG20’s, and Thumper.
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805
Freefall Skazine, Calder Square, P.O. Box 10296, State College, PA 16805