LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!  The 1st Annual Ska-POW! Battle of the Bands is going down TOMORROW NIGHT at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis, MN, hosted by emcee Ben Crew from local hardcore band In Defence.  The throwdown is going down at 8 pm and the cover at the door is $5.  The show is 18+ and Tallgrass Brewing will be there with beer specials (with ID).  The winner of the Battle will win the coveted title belt (see pic) and bragging rights for the year.

WHO ARE THE CONTENDERS?

Rocksteady Breakfast
Liquor Beats Winter
Blue Waffle
Stop Drop

The bands will be playing a 3-song set (Original, Instrumental, Cover) and a 4-song set of Band Favorites.  In the halftime between the sets, there will be a crowd-participatory Skank Dance Off judged by Koo Koo Kanga Roo and DJ’ed by Aaron Porter.

Show off your dance skills, win prizes, drink on the cheap, and enjoy some high-caliber local ska!

Since I’m not that great of a writer and I’m a bit lazy, I’m letting Jordan Porter write this show announcement.  Let’s face it, he’s better than I am:

This, my friends, is the stuff of legends. Pure solid gold. Absolute, 5-Airhorns-a-blazin’ lunacy. On February 11, New York City Ska seminal skankers The Toasters return for a 31st year of enlisting 15 year old kids into the 2-Tone Army (a-hey! a-hey!). Helping these elder statesmen out in the department of heavy hitting monster reggae will be two scorching local groups ready to turn your hips into jelly.

The Dropsteppers, fresh off their 2011 Megalith Records debut “Get Up in It!”, will supply you with their trademark soulful lamentations, with that added Perez Bros kick to take it up two notches.

The Prizefighters, having just released their vinyl-only special edition of “Follow My Sound” on Jump Up! Records, will make you about half an inch shorter from all the cartilage-grinding your knees will joyfully succumb to.

Saturday, February 11th
Triple Rock Social Club
9:00 PM, 18+
$10 adv./$12 door

Check out MNSKA for all the latest details, happenings, goings-ons, reviews, discussions, and best-dressed lists.

You can get your advance tickets HERE

I’m pleased and excited to announce the next big SKA event: the 1st Annual Ska-POW! Battle of the Bands on February 2nd (Groundhog Day!) 2012 at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis, brought to you by Tallgrass Brewing and supported in part by mnska.com!  There are 4 bands competing for the coveted Ska-POW! title belt: Rocksteady Breakfast, Liquor Beats Winter, Blue Waffle, and Stop Drop.  Our special guest emcee for the night will be Ben Crew from local Hardcore band In Defence and he’ll be overseeing this night of ska-infused mayhem.

For the 1st half of competition, each band will perform an original song, an instrumental, and a cover song.  The 2nd half, the bands will play a 4-song set of “band favorites.”  They will need to convince the panel of judges that they have what it takes to be #1.

During halftime, concert-goers can enter the Skank Dance Off and show off their sweet dance moves to the Jamaican ska tunes spun by DJ Aaron Porter (The Prizefighters).  The Skank Dance Off will be judged by locals Koo Koo Kanga Roo.  If dancing is not your thing, you can spin the wheel (for a small donation) to win some pretty cool prizes!  There will be specials on Tallgrass beer all night long!

Big thanks to Jeff Bockenhauer and the boys in Rocksteady Breakfast for putting on this event!

You can RSVP this event on Facebook HERE

1st Annual Ska-POW! Battle of the Bands
featuring
Rocksteady Breakfast
Liquor Beats Winter
Blue Waffle
Stop Drop

Triple Rock Social Club
629 Cedar Ave, Minneapolis, MN
February 2, 2012
Doors 8pm | 18+ | $5

MNSKA supergroup Secondhand Ska Kings have announced they will be ringing in the New Year in South Minneapolis!  The show is Saturday, December 31st at the Driftwood Char Bar (4415 Nicollet Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN) and has absolutely NO COVER.  You’d be hard pressed to find a NYE party with no cover in this day-and-age, but this one is completely FREE.  The show will start out with James Loney and the Midnight Troubadours from 9-10:30 and the Secondhand Ska Kings will take over until the ball drops and 2012 begins!

You can RSVP for this event on Facebook HERE

MNSKA band and Jump Up Records artists The Prizefighters will be playing this Friday night in Minneapolis at Nick & Eddie (1612 Harmon Place).  The band will be playing first at 9:30 pm, followed by Kill Me Kare-Bare, Badgermen, and Beyond The Element (featuring former Prizefighter member Josh Thomas).  This 21+ show has a $5 cover.

You can RSVP this show on Facebook HERE

Constant touring partners Reel Big Fish and Streetlight Manifesto are making a stop in Minneapolis on Thursday, December 8th at The Cabooze.  The show is the rare 16+ variety, with doors at 6pm and music starting at 7pm.  The bill also includes guests Lionize, Rodeo, and Ruby Love.  Tickets are $20 in advance and $23 at the door.  Rude Radio (Radio K) is sponsoring this event, so listen at radiok.org for your chance to win tickets!

If you just want to order tickets now, you can buy them HERE

Culture Cry Wolf are proud to announce their brand new CD Dia De Los Muertos, which is being released by the band at their CD Release Show on Saturday, November 5th at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis.  Doors for this 18+ show are at 9 pm.  You can get advanced tickets for $8 at Fifth Element and Electric Fetus in Minneapolis.  You can check out more information about the release show HERE

As a treat for fans, you can stream their song “Day Of The Dead” from the new album HERE

The album art for the CD is shown above.  Here is the official tracklisting:

01. Day of the Dead
02. Sweet Marie
03. Guest List
04. Me, Myself, and I
05. Second Wind ( ft. Sims of Doomtree )
06. Romeo
07. Open Up Your Lies
08. Record Deal
09. Angry on the One Count
10. Mike’s Rap Debut
11. All that I’ve Come to Believe

MNSKA veterans 3 Minute Hero are throwing a party to celebrate their first musical release in over 10 years, F-Minus: Uncollected Works.  The show will be on Friday, October 28th at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis.  Doors are at 8pm and fellow MNSKA band The Dropsteppers will be opening.  To get you geared up for the new music, we posting an exclusive track from the new album:

“Happy” by 3 Minute Hero from F-Minus: Uncollected Works

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Here’s what the band had to say about their upcoming show and release:

“3 Minute Hero – isn’t that the band that…” Yes, yes, yes: public urination – but that is all in the past, like so many other things. First, let us dispose of the third person introductions. The 3 Minute Hero Show is back after a stint in our creative chrysalis and ready to emerge like the tantalizingly lurid butterfly that we are. We could tell you about our throbbing rhythm section, our undeniably handsome horn section, and our non-stop frontal assault on the banality of live music, but that tells you nothing. Come closer. Smell that? It’s electricity, and sweat, and liquor, and laughter, and possibly hair product. It’s the smell of you at our next show – and you smell great.

3 Minute Hero will be debuting their completely unexpected and unnecessary musical response to 9/11, the new album “F Minus: Uncollected Works.” Each album is numbered and features original, uninspired lino-cut art on the cover,  as well as containing a one-of-a-kind band photograph (which may or may not contain the band and will undoubtedly be out of focus &/or irrelevant). In addition to this, there will be a shiny disc with music on it – terrible music – from a touching ballad of pant-wetting  to a butchered Duke Ellington cover to a chalupa-induced hallucination. This promises to be the least earnest, most bullshitty,  fleeting,  uneven, and incomprehensible album of 2011. It’s also awesome as hell. You’re welcome.

MNSKA band 2 Tone Runts are back after their extended hiatus.  The band is playing a show Friday, October 7th at The Whole Music Club inside Coffman Union at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, sponsored by Amnesty International at the U of M.  The cover charge is $5 with a $1 reduction if you bring a non-perishable food item ( per item, shoot for healthy).  Pizza (including vegan) will be provided.  The cover charge money will go to Sisters’ Camelot, and we will be donating the food items to the Brian Coyle Center.

Set times:
9pm : Vaudeville – http://www.facebook.com/vaudevillemn
10pm: 2 Tone Runts – http://www.facebook.com/2tonerunts
11pm: SoundColor Theory – http://www.facebook.com/SoundcolorTheory

The month of  October is a gigantic one for MNSKA.  Just look at the show calendar below…it’s crazy!  Let me highlight some of the shows that you, the MNSKA faithful, should be at.  This Sunday, the infamous crusty ska-punk heroes Leftover Crack will be playing at the Triple Rock Social Club with MNSKA band Rocksteady Breakfast.  A couple days later at the First Ave Mainroom is legendary Ziggy Marley.  Arizona surf/ska/punk band Authority Zero is bringing it to the 7th Street Entry on Sunday October 16th.  Looking ahead to that weekend, check out Thursday October 20th where the mighty Aggrolites are bringing their dirty reggae to the 7th Street Entry!  The next night is an all-out MNSKA Double Release Party at the Nomad World Pub.  On Friday, October 21st you can dance to the boss tunes from MNSKA’s The Dropsteppers, who are releasing Get Up In It! on Megalith Records, and The Prizefighters, who are releasing their special-edition vinyl of Follow My Sound on Jump Up Records.  The show opens up with the epic return of long-running two-tone massive known as Umbrella Bed!  But the month is not over yet, because the superhuman ska force known as 3 Minute Hero is playing a release show at the Fine Line Music Cafe on Friday, October 28th.  The band is only releasing a limited number of their new music collection, so you should make it your bee’s wax to be at that one!

Whew!  Tons of ska shows to attend.  Which shows will we see you at?  Be sure to continue to check our SHOWS page for updates.