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 Toastersreturn 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.
If you follow this site, you know by now that we are sponsoring a big ol’ release party featuring 2 brand new releases from MNSKA bands The Dropsteppers and The Prizefighters on Friday, October 21st at The Nomad World Pub. To get you geared up for their special edition vinyl LP, The Prizefighters are streaming 3 brand new songs on their website, each of which can be found on the upcoming release.
Here’s what the band had to say:
We are proud to announce our release of the Follow My Sound special edition vinyl LP on Jump Up Records! Almost a year ago, we put 5 years of writing, rehearsing, performing and overall hard work into our debut album Follow My Sound. To commemorate that effort and to show our lovely fans a hint of things to come, we have recorded new bonus tracks and reworked old favorites with our new band members to put forth a special vinyl edition of our debut album.
As a treat for you all, you can check out our music player and stream 3 new songs from the special edition LP! “Moonlight” is a previously unreleased rocksteady tune we wrote a long time ago that we dusted off and improved with our new members. “Take More Time” is an instrumental horn version of our song “Take Some Time” written by our horn players Courtney Klos and Ryan Peterson. “Fibber’s Dub” is dub version of our song “Truth And Lies” created by our friend Anthony Abbinanti (The Drastics, Deal’s Gone Bad).
You can check out the hot new tracks as well as videos of their recent performances HERE
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.
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Nic & Vic “Saoul” SOUL OF PUM PUM (GROVER)
JAMAICA 69 “Nostalgia Del Ayer” 7″ (Steady Beat)
Los Bullets “Crystal Ball” 7″ (Steady Beat) THE PRIZEFIGHTERS “Take Some Time” FOLLOW MY SOUND (JUMP UP)
KING HAMMOND “Reggae Movemnet” FLOORSHAKER (JUMP UP)
MR T BONE “Then I Saw You” NOTHING TO LOSE (JUMP UP)
DELERIANS “Move Around” 7″ (Steady Beat)
BABYLOVE & THE VAN DANGOS “Taxman Ska” MONEY & THE TIME (JUMP UP)
VOID UNION “The Revenge” HIGHER GUNS LP (JUMP UP)
ONE DROPPERS “The Upbeat” THE BIG ONE (Rockin’ Steady)
RATAZANAS “Mission Apollo 11″ LICK IT BACK (Grover)
HOLLIE COOK “Body Heat” S/T (MR BONGO)
AGGROLITES “Trial & Error RUGGED ROAD (YOUNG CUB)
INTENSIFIED Heart “Heart Stoping” LUNAR CITY GROOVE (Rockers Revolt)
You can download this episode of Everything Off Beat Radio HERE
MNSKA band The Prizefighters have been in regular rotation the past week at Radio K (100.7 FM – Twin Cities), the college radio station at the University Of Minnesota. This morning, the weekly Top 7 was announced and coming in at #1 was the song “Truth and Lies” from The Prizefighters’ debut album Follow My Sound. Big ups! It’s worth noting that there were 2 Jamaican-inspired bands in the Top 7; the song “Donna Donna” by The Caroloregians from their Funkify Your Reggay album came in at #3!
If you would like to see The Prizefighters stay in the Top 7, go ahead and vote for them HERE. You can win a Stuck on AM compilation from Radio K!
Fall 2011 is looking to be a solid season for MNSKA! There are going to be a whole truckload of new releases from bands in the MNSKA community. Let me give you a run down of what you can look forward to:
Rocksteady Breakfast will be releasing their new CD on Saturday, September 3rd at The Rat Hole in South Minneapolis. The band has spent the past year and a half working on this album. It is a must-have for fans of raw energetic underground punk-ska! Details for the release show can be found HERE
The Prizefighters have been busy this past year putting together a special-edition vinyl LP of their recent release Follow My Sound via Jump Up Records. Along with songs from the album, side B of the vinyl will include new unreleased songs, instrumental versions, and even a dub from Anthony Abbinanti (The Drastics). The band will be releasing the album at special double release show with MNSKA band The Dropsteppers on Friday, October 21st at The Nomad World Pub in Minneapolis. The Dropsteppers spent the early part of 2011 in the studio to create their debut full-length CD Get Up In It via Megalith Records.
Veteran third-wave ska band 3 Minute Hero recently announced their triumphant return to the Twin Cities music scene. To commemorate being back in the saddle, they are hard at work on a new release that should be out this Fall. Stay tuned to MNSKA.comfor more details!
Long-time Twin Cities reggae band Dred I Dread will be releasing their much anticipated follow-up to 2009′s Tribulation sometime in early 2012. The band previewed some of their new songs at the recent Jamaican Independence Day party at The Red Sea.
It’s an early-reggae throwdown! Two of the biggest MNSKA bands on one stage, bringing the best rough and tough sounds around!
The Dropsteppers are fast-rising stars in the world of reggae and rocksteady. Influenced by the Northern Soul artists of Motown and the Jamaican sounds of early reggae and ska artists like The Upsetters, The Dropsteppers bring an authentic and unique sound, honed in their Nordeast Minneapolis rehearsal space. They have a 7″ and a full-length album due out this year on Megalith Records. Perfect band to dance and groove to!
The Prizefighters have been getting noticed around the Midwest for their traditional ska and authentic scorching reggae sound. Complete with a full horn section, this band has studied the artists of the past and made their own mark on that hot Jamaican sound. They have their full-length debut album Follow My Sound on CD via Jump Up Records, but be sure to check out the special-edition vinyl coming later this summer which will feature bonus tracks, new songs, and red hot versions of their original tunes.
MNSKA heavy-hitters The Prizefighters had a busy weekend that involved several shows with Chicago’s Deal’s Gone Bad and Milwaukee’s Something To Do. Last Friday, the band played in Milwaukee at the Bay View Brew Haus and debuted a brand new version of their song “Take Some Time.” As you can tell from the video, this is a horn-driven instrumental version and it will appear on the vinyl release of Follow My Sound, coming out in a couple months on Jump Up Records.
MNSKA band The Prizefighters had the privilege to open for legendary ska band The English Beat last night at The Cabooze in Minneapolis, MN. Here’s a video from their set, with the band performing their songs “Storms” and “Brujeria.”
You can pick up The Prizefighters latest album Follow My Sound on Amazon.com or through Jump Up Records.
MNSKA band The Prizefighters have just been added to The English Beat show at The Cabooze in Minneapolis, MN on Sunday, April 3rd. You still have until Friday to win a pair of tickets to the show by emailing mnskanews@gmail.com with ‘The English Beat’ in the subject line. This show is 21+ with doors opening at 7 pm and music starting around 7:30 pm.
As reported earlier, The Prizefighters have a distribution deal with Jump Up Records, who will be releasing the vinyl version of their debut album Follow My Sound in the coming months. For those who don’t know, they are a 7-piece band featuring saxophone, trombone, and organ supplementing the guitars and drums that combines heavy soul with real 60s Jamaican ska and early reggae.
