Michigan ska-punk band We Are The Union were involved in a car accident over the Labor Day weekend as their van collided with a moose in Saskatchewan early Saturday morning.  Our friends at Punknews.org were the first to break the story and vocalist/guitarist Reed Wolcott posted a comment on the article to explain what happened:

“Well, right after the wreck, the moose was in the right lane and we were in the shoulder. We sat there for 1 or 2 minutes in disbelief, then after seeing two cars and a semi hit the carcass and almost wipe out, Matt grabbed a flashlight and started signaling cars to get over into the left lane. We managed to get everyone to move over and slow down until the pickup came along. Matt tried to signal it with a flashlight to get over and slow down, but they must have been going 20 over. They hit it and spun 180 degrees, slid across both lanes, hit the grass median and started rolling. Some of the other guys saw two bodies fly from the truck. A bunch of us ran over to see if they could help, I grabbed a flashlight and spent the next 20 minutes trying to convince myself that the screams I was hearing from the wreck weren’t coming from a person, signaling cars to get in the right lane until the police showed up to block the freeway.

We appreciate everyone helping us out with donations to get us back on our feet and the sympathy, but the only tragedy here is the two people who lost a family member this morning. We’re all okay, trying to figure out a way to continue the tour. Don’t worry about us. Worry about them.”

We at MNSKA offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the victim of this accident.  We Are The Union plan on continuing their tour with Strung Out and Rufio.



Our friend Bryan over at SkaPunkPhotos.com shot some amazing pics of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones at their show at Irving Plaza in New York City, NY on August 24th.  The Bosstones rarely tour the US anymore, but have hit the road this month in support of last year’s Pin Points and Gin Joints.

Check out all the pretty pictures HERE

Free music never sounded so good!  Our friends over at Community Records are hosting their 4th annual Download Day where you can download the latest releases for free!  That includes ska bands such as A Billion Ernies and the new album from Maddie Ruthless and The Secret Affair.

You can go see what all the ruckus is about HERE

The hottest reggae band in La Crosse, WI and recent guests of the Flyover Ska Show, T.U.G.G. were the house band on WKBT-Channel 8 (CBS affiliate) Morning Show with Jennifer Livingston and Bill Graul yesterday.  The crew played a few songs and talked about their new album Come Sunrise… and the recent loss of their friend Andy Revels.

You can watch the entire video HERE

You can hear Andy from T.U.G.G. on the Flyover Ska Show HERE

Interesting factoid: Jennifer Livingston’s brother is Ron Livingston (Swingers, Office Space)

Our friends over at Flavorpill have posted a very interesting article that touches on the etymology of 10 musical genres, including ska and reggae.  According to the blog:

Ska: We know ska first appeared in ’50s Jamaica, but we’re still not sure who coined the term. Various musicians claim that it 1) refers to the “skat! skat! skat!” sound a guitar makes, 2) came about in 1959, when bassist Cluett Johnson told guitarist Ernest Ranglin to “play ska, ska, ska,” 3) that it evolved from Johnson’s typical slang greeting “skavoovie”, and 4) that musician an producer Byron Lee made it up.

Reggae: By the time Toots & the Maytals, who are credited with originating the term “reggae” in 1968 first named a song “Do the Reggay,” it was already known in Kingston as a slower version of rocksteady. It is thought to have evolved from rege-rege, which in its literal form means “ragged clothes” but also came to mean “a quarrel, protest.”

You can check out the entire article HERE

Over at Amazon.com, you can play samples of 2 songs by Boston ska group Big D and the Kids Table.  These songs will be on their side of a 7″ split with Brunt Of It as part of the upcoming Ska Is Dead 7″ series.  This series will be out on Asbestos Records this year.

To hear samples of the songs “Lash Out” and “Not Our Fault”, go HERE

Jonathan Fischer over at T Magazine has blogged about the evolution of the Japanese Reggae scene.  Fischer details everything from the musical styles to the fashion trends of the thriving reggae and dancehall scene over in Okinawa.  Here he talks about how the Japanese relate to reggae music:

Japanese practitioners, he says, often identify with reggae out of a shared sense of “blackness” — some channel anxieties over Western monoculturalism; others are of Korean descent and identify with the nationalist, anticolonial message of the genre. Still others are drawn to reggae’s messianic themes.

You can read the whole article HERE

MNSKA rocksteady heroes The Prizefighters have unveiled their brand new website.  The new site was designed by Miss Upsetter and can be found at http://theprizefighters.net.  You can preview a new recording of their song “Karma” and keep up to date on their upcoming shows.

Third-wave ska darlings Reel Big Fish have detailed an upcoming greatest hits album which is due out on July 20, 2010 exclusively through Best Buy.  Entitled A Best Of Us For The Rest Of Us, the album includes 22 tracks chosen by the fans.  All of the tracks will be re-recorded for this album since Jive Records owns the master recordings of some of their older songs.

A couple years ago, Jive Records attempted to put out a Reel Big Fish Greatest Hits album without the band’s consent, a move which lead singer Aaron Barrett called a way to “cash in” on the band’s music due to the popularity of their self-released LIVE album.

A Best Of Us For The Rest Of Us will also include a separate 14-track “skacoustic” disc.

Check out the track listing after the jump.

(more…)

Coming this summer as a joint effort from Asbestos Records, Underground Communique Records, and the nice folks at Skaisdead.com will be an amazing little project that combines our obsession with dead genres and dead formats. Each series will be a set of 6 split 7”s from some of our favorite bands that **gasp** have the audacity to still play ska, and ska influenced punk rock in the year 2010. Available by subscription only, every other month you will receive two brand spanking new 7” records featuring both established, and up and coming acts including Reel Big Fish, Mustard Plug, Big D & the Kids Table, Bomb the Music Industry!, The Slackers, Sonic Boom Six, and more! So get out your dad’s old suit, and your mom’s old turntable and get stoked for the best 7” club of the year!

Please Note: this is a PRE-ORDER and your first installment will not ship out until late July/Early August.

You can PRE-ORDER the series HERE.