You can never sing out of tune if you don’t have a singer! Which brings me to our guests this week Bob Timm and Jacob WakeUp! from instrumental NYC reggae/roots/soul band The Hard Times. They tell Courtney the story about how the band was formed out of ska and reggae musicians from New York, Connecticut, and Florida. Living up to their name, a down economy has prevented the group from touring outside the five boroughs but thanks to veteran bands like The Slackers and The Toasters, the band is able to take advantage of playing in a rich musical community. Make sure to check out their hot new EP Two Bucks For Bob(which is oddly available for 3 bucks).
If you’re in the Minneapolis area, be sure to check out our first live event at The Red Sea, featuring performances by Green Room Rockers, The Pinstripes, The Dropsteppers and Secondhand Ska Kings. Head to mnska.com for more information.
The fine folks at Copycats Media have a deal for you, the loyal listener. Mention the Flyover Ska Show and they’ll add 100 FREE 11X17 full color posters to your order.
The Flyover Ska Show is now available on Stitcher, the free podcast radio app for all your better smartphones. It even has shows with no talking.
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You can download this episode HERE or subscribe to the show on iTunes.
Last month at B.B. King’s in NYC, The Toasters headlined a show that included The Pietasters, Hub City Stompers, and Royal City Riot. The Toasters lineup included Dave Barry on keyboards as well as many members of Westbound Train (Rich Graiko on Trumpet, Thaddeus Merritt on bass, Jesse Hayes on drums). For the song “Pirate Radio,” Westbound Train frontman Obi Fernandez hopped on stage to help Bucket sing.
It’s finally here! The brand new album from Michigan ska-mashup genius Babylon Party Machine (aka Matt Wixson) TRICKS is available for FREE download over at Open Hand Records. Some of the bands featured on this one are: The Toasters, Ludacris, Sonic Boom Six, Green Day, Big D, and that girl from Hannah Montana, among a few others.
Here’s the tracklist:
Babylon Party Machine – Tricks (2010)
1. 2-Tone Freak (The Toasters vs. Rick James)
2. Highrise Robbery (Pama International vs. Chumbawamba)
3. How Low Can You Dance (Hepcat vs. Ludacris)
4. Rider Boy (The Slackers vs. Rihanna)
5. Supaman That Grandma (The Ratazanas vs. Soulja Boy)
6. Shining Little Skallywag (Sonic Boom Six vs. Big D and the Kids Table)
7. The United States Green Party (Green Day vs. Miley Cyrus)
Matt Wixson will be playing a bunch of shows in New Orleans, New England, and Michigan in the coming month (some featuring a full band), so make sure to get out to a show and give him all your money!
Sometimes, the best stories and most interesting theories come from our elders. You know, people who have been there and done that; the battle-tested veterans in the ska realm. This week’s guest certainly falls into the revered elder-statesman category. Sit in as Robert “Bucket” Hingley chats with Courtney about the storied history of The Toasters, why ska music is best experienced live, and the importance of proper foot care.
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You can download this episode HERE or subscribe to the show on iTunes.
Michigan’s own Babylon Party Machine is set to release a brand new mashup EP entitled TRICKS on April 1st, 2010. Here’s what founder/creator Matt Wixson had to say:
This ain’t no April Fools joke! This is “Tricks”! Seven fresh new mashups coming your way! Some of the artists you can expect to hear include Green Day, the Toasters, Big D and the Kids Table, the Slackers, Rihanna, Sonic Boom Six, Miley Cyrus, Hepcat, Chumbawamba, and more! You can get this release for free from Open Hand Records on April 1st. And if you haven’t downloaded the previous two mashup collections, head over to the Open Hand Records site and get yourself “Rididm & Flow” and “Mash Up Bashment” immediately!
You can check out one of the tracks from this EP over atMusical Occupation.
A word from your host: Hey rude boys and rude girls! I’ve been sitting in my lair, regrouping, retooling and refining the Midwest Ska Moment podcast to make it bigger and better than before. I have decided to widen the scope of the podcast past the Midwest and feature bands and artists nationwide. What I’d like to do is feature bands that are both largely known and rare gems in the ska, reggae, rocksteady or otherwise Jamaican-influenced community. With this, the show will be renamed as well.
Along with the scope change, there will also be a format change. I will now be mainly doing interviews with bands and prominent figures in the ska world. I’ve already lined up some really great people, including interviews with bands like The Toasters, Westbound Train, The Slackers, Less Than Jake, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and much more. As of now, this podcast will be a weekly show and you will be able to subscribe to it via iTunes and I will still be partnering with the Fancy Pants Gangsters Network.
So there will be some changes in the show, but I hope all you listeners out there will enjoy the show more and see this as a change for the better. If you are in a ska, reggae or rocksteady band, please email me at MSM@fancypantsgangsters.com so we can book you on the show. No band too big or too small. Skank On!
We’re trying out some of our new technology here at MNSKA.com to allow you to check out pictures from all the local ska shows. To start us out, MNSKA band Sajak played with legendary ska band The Toasters back in October at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis, MN. You can browse through some of the pictures that were taken at the show by Adam Degross of Degross Punk Photography.
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.
Today’s video is from third-wave ska rockers Spring Heeled Jack. It was from a performance at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City in 1998. This band featured quite the horn section, including Pete “JR” Wasilewski (Less Than Jake) on tenor sax, Tyler Jones (Reel Big Fish) on trumpet, and Chris Rhodes (Bim Skala Bim, The Toasters, Mighty Mighty Bosstones) on trombone.
Chicago soul-reggae group Deal’s Gone Bad has been busy this fall on the second leg of the Ska Is Dead IV tour. Today’s video is from the big Skanksgiving II show in Foxboro, MA where the boys play their song “Moving On” with a little help from Bucket from the Toasters on backing vocals.
You can check out more videos from this special Skanksgiving show over at the DThrog Ska Review site.
You can never sing out of tune if you don’t have a singer! Which brings me to our guests this week Bob Timm and Jacob WakeUp! from instrumental NYC reggae/roots/soul band The Hard Times. They tell Courtney the story about how the band was formed out of ska and reggae musicians from New York, Connecticut, and Florida. Living up to their name, a down economy has prevented the group from touring outside the five boroughs but thanks to veteran bands like The Slackers and The Toasters, the band is able to take advantage of playing in a rich musical community. Make sure to check out their hot new EP Two Bucks For Bob (which is oddly available for 3 bucks).
Michigan’s own Babylon Party Machine is set to release a brand new mashup EP entitled TRICKS on April 1st, 2010. Here’s what founder/creator Matt Wixson had to say:
