Great news coming out of Santa Cruz, CA today!  The new album from Dan P. and the Bricks Watch Where You Walk  is streaming over at Punknews.org.  For those who don’t know, the band features Dan Potthast from MU330 and members of the band Slow Gherkin.

You can stream the album HERE

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 friends over Punknews.org have posted a brand new track from Ann Arbor, MI’s own We Are The Union.  The punk/ska band will be releasing their upcoming full-length album Great Leaps Forward on Paper + Plastick Records at the end of March, which includes the song “Where’d You Go, Psycho Boy?”

You can stream the song HERE.

Seems like there’s a lot Fishbone news lately!  According to our friends over at Punknews.org, the band is currently the subject of a lawsuit for allegedly injuring a fan when lead vocalist Angelo Moore jumped into the crowd on February 23rd during a concert in Philadelphia. Forty-two-year-old Kimberly Myers, of Voorhees, NJ, claims a fractured skull, a broken collar bone and perforated eardrum when Moore jumped into the crowd The lawsuit is seeking damages in excess of $75,000.  You can read the entire news report HERE.

If you want to brave the stage-diving antics of Fishbone, you can go see them tonight at The Cabooze in Minneapolis, MN with The English Beat and Outlaw Nation for the Spring Skaward Tour.  I love a sense of danger, so you know that I’ll be there.

It seems that we might finally see the new Streetlight Manifesto album we’ve heard so much about.  According to Punknews.org, the band’s label Victory Records has set a release date of March 16th, 2010 for the much anticipated new record 99 Songs of A Revolution: Vol 1.  This is will be the first of 8 albums of the ambitious cover-song project that they announced in 2008.  The project will also involve other Streetlight-related bands, like Bandits Of The Acoustic Revolution and other unnamed artists.  The project will be the follow up to the ska-punk band’s 2007 release Somewhere in the Between.

“SPRING HEELED JACK IS BACK.”  These words were posted by Pete “JR” Wasilewski (Less Than Jake) on his blog (JR’S BLAHG).  After posting a brief history of the third-wave ska band from New Haven, CT, JR goes on to say that Spring Heeled Jack has a reunion show (or two) in the works for this year and they are currently beginning the booking process.  To celebrate this occasion, the band is re-releasing both of their albums, Static World View and Songs From Suburbia, on vinyl via Asbestos Records.

Spring Heeled Jack features members that have played in The Mighty Mighty  Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, and the Pilfers.  The band broke up in 2000 and played a benefit reunion show in 2002 to raise money for a scholarship fund in the name of their late drummer Dave Karcich.

Punk rock blog Punknews.org posted a mostly positive review of the MNSKA Mixtape Volume One, giving it a grade of 3.5/5 stars.  The album is a compilation  released in 2009 that contains songs from 20 different ska bands from Minnesota.  Here’s what he had to say about our ska scene:

Minnesota isn’t generally considered a hotbed of ska music by any means. Sure, we have one of the world’s foremost pop-punk scenes alongside Gainesville and Chicago, an illustrious history of hardcore, and one of the best crust communities this side of the West Coast, but there have been few acts to emerge from what is actually a fairly vibrant ska scene in the nation’s icebox. This compilation seeks to change that, or at the very least shed some light on what’s going on ska-wise in the Gopher state.

In retrospect, what really is a hotbed of ska these days? The biggest names in the genre are from all different parts of the country. Don’t believe me? Look: Reel Big Fish (Orange County), Less Than Jake (Gainesville), Mustard Plug (Grand Rapids), Streetlight Manifesto (New Jersey), the Slackers (New York), Bosstones (duh). If any city can field a release of 20 talented ska bands, it should be celebrated, and that’s exactly what this compilation does.

The wildly-talented genre-defying band Streetlight Manifesto have posted an update on their progress on their 99 Songs Of A Revolution project. The first volume is apparently completed, but a CD release is up in the air. The band explained:

We can’t announce [the release date] because we don’t know when it is. What we can say is this: some record labels (not naming names here, so it can’t be “libel”) are just plain horrendous. Seriously though, it’s a sad fact that the bullshit bands have to put up with from some labels isn’t worth the benefits (ha!) of being on said labels. That being said, it looks like Volume One will be released on vinyl via the Pentimento Music Company long before it comes out on CD or digitally.

We have no tours planned as of this very minute but we are planning our 2010 now. More importantly, though, we will be heading into the studio soon (as is a particular electricity deficient collective..) and we don’t plan on touring until we have a few records to release.

Big thanks to Punknews.org for alerting us of this story!

California’s Mad Caddies have long been known for their crazy range of styles and genres which feature two of the most talented horn players in the business.  The band is now on tour through the US and Canada.  Over at Punknews.org, Sean Jain spoke with lead singer Chuck Robertson to chat about the upcoming new album, their current tour, and what is the best beverage while roaming the Canadian countryside.

Check out the interview after the jump.

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Last December, we broke the news that the Motor City ska veterans Mustard Plug were releasing their first DVD Never Get Out Of The Van: The Story Of Mustard Plug.  Frontman Dave Kirchgessner exchanged some emails with Bill Jones (Pads and Panels) for an interview.

Thanks to Punknews.org for posting this interview.  You can check it out after the jump.

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