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

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.

After several technical difficulties, I was finally able to sit down with  Dave Kirchgessner to talk about all things ska.  For those who don’t know, Dave is not only the frontman for Mustard Plug, he is also the architect of the popular Ska Is Dead tour, the founder of Dashiki Clout Records, and the manager of Deal’s Gone Bad.  Strap in for a nice, hour-long conversation filled with funny stories about the Warped Tour, the ska boom and bust, and the importance of supporting the local music scene.

Track of the Day: “Hit Me! Hit Me!” by Mustard Plug from the album In Black And White

This episode is brought to you by the Fancy Pants Gangsters, a Twin Cities netcast network and MNSKA, Minnesota’s Ska Community.  If you are in a ska or reggae influenced band and would like to be featured on the show, email Courtney at MSM@fancypantsgangsters.com

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If you would like to download this episode or subscribe to this podcast via iTunes, please CLICK HERE

Tip The Van are the up-and-coming  female-fronted ska-pop group from Connecticut.  They have appeared on the Ska Is Dead compilation and have played many shows with bands like Less Than Jake and Big D and the Kids Table.  This video is a behind-the-scenes look at how they made their music video for the song “Cherry Red.”

To get you all geared up for the big Toasters show on Thursday, we’ve decided to post an interview conducted by our friend Steve at the Duff Guide To Ska with Robert “Bucket” Hingley, the frontman for The Toasters and founder of Moon Ska Records and Megalith Records.  Bucket describes the current touring Toasters lineup, what the state of ska music is in the US, and why he continues to tour after 28 years.

You can check out the interview after the jump.

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Dave from Mustard Plug takes fans what life is like behind the scenes on the Ska Is Dead IV tour.  The footage is taken at the Denver tour date during the Deal’s Gone Bad set.  The second leg of the tour will start up again in Fall 2009.

The Ska is Dead Tour is BACK!  The wildly popular international ska tour is around for a fourth installment.  This time around, the tour will feature The Toasters, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Deal’s Gone Bad, Mustard Plug, Buck-O-Nine, Monkey and MORE!

The first block of dates have already been announced and another leg of the tour has been promised.  Check out the dates after the jump.  So far, there aren’t any midwest shows but we’ll keep you posted if there are any Twin Cities dates.

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