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

Orange County, CA’s long-running third wave ska group Reel Big Fish, who are about to resume their US/Europe tour, released an official announcement today:

We have some bittersweet news to officially announce that some have already known or figured out regarding Scott Klopfenstein, trumpet player and background vocalist of Reel Big Fish. He and his wife are expecting their first child and he has decided to retire from touring to dedicate his life to raising a family. Out of respect, to allow a solid decision we felt it was best to hold off on sharing the news until Scott was ready to give a full statement. We all wish him and his family happiness and continued success.

This leaves only 2 founding members of Reel Big Fish left in the current version of the band: frontman Aaron Barrett and trombonist Dan Regan.

Orange County ska superheroes The Aquabats have a brand new 3 song EP dropping on November 9, 2010.  The EP is entitled Radio Down and the band has posted the title track on their MySpace page.  The band will be touring the country to promote the EP with Reel Big Fish, Suburban Legends and the quirky MN duo Koo Koo Kanga Roo!  Unfortunately, the tour will NOT be heading through Minnesota.

You can listen to “Radio Down” HERE

More Vans Warped Tour 2010 footage from Canterbury Park in Shakopee, MN!  This one is of the perennial ska-pop all-stars Reel Big Fish playing the song “In The Pit” from their album Why Do They Rock So Hard? According to our own Pit Reporter, Patrick Larson, the crowd at the Main Stage to watch RBF was one of the largest of the day.  Big thanks to Patrick for shooting this video!

You can check out the video on YouTube HERE

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.

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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.

“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.

MNSKA.com is proud to present our latest contest courtesy of Rock Ridge Music.  The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies have released a brand new full length album Susquehanna and a compilation of all of their ska tunes called Skaboy-JFK.  In honor of this occasion, MNSKA.com and Rock Ridge Music are giving away both albums, along with an out-of-print signed 7″ vinyl split with Reel Big Fish entitled Vacationing In Palm Springs!

To enter the contest, simply email us at mnskanews@gmail.com and include Cherry Poppin’ Daddies Contest in the subject line.  When you enter the contest, you will also be added to the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies mailing list to keep you up to date on upcoming tour dates and events!

Grand Prize: A signed 7″ vinyl split with Reel Big Fish Vacationing In Palm Springs, Skaboy-JFK CD, and Susquehanna CD

Second Prize: Skaboy-JFK CD, signed Cherry Poppin’ Daddies poster, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies T-Shirt

Third Prize: Susquehanna CD, assorted Cherry Poppin’ Daddies pins and stickers

On February 1st, I will randomly select the winners.  What are you waiting for?  You gotta play to win!  Best of luck!

We barely have our ass in the door for 2010 and we already have a number of bands confirmed for this summer’s Vans Warped Tour.  Typically there are the token punk vets on the bill (from Fat Wreck Chords or Epitaph) and in recent years there have been a growing number of ska bands on the tour.  This batch of confirmed bands has hardly any bands from column A or column B.  The only confirmed ska-influenced bands on the list so far are Deal’s Gone Bad, Reel Big Fish, Chase Long Beach, and Tip The Van (apparently 3 word ska bands are all the rage).  The good news is that there are even more bands yet to be confirmed.  We at MNSKA.com will keep you up to date with the latest confirmations.

The Vans Warped Tour is coming to Minnesota on Sunday August 1st at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, MN.  The only confirmed ska bands for that tour date is Deal’s Gone Bad and Reel Big Fish.  A current list of confirmed bands (and the dates they are appearing) can be found after the jump.

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Part 1: Reel Big Fish

I recently discovered that someone has uploaded an out of print VHS called The Best of 3rd Wave TV.  It features these fine US ska bands: Reel Big Fish, Mobtown, Let’s Go Bowling, Skankin Pickle, Easy Big Fella, Isaac Green and the Skalars, The Toasters, Big Rude Jake, Ruder Than You, Blue Meanies, and engine 54.

You can check out the ENTIRE 16 part series after the jump.

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