Friend of MNSKA and bassist for Brooklyn rocksteady band The Forthrights, Sammy Kay has started an Official Tour Blog over at Musical Occupation.  The Forthrights will be embarking on the Ska Is Dead: Young Guns Tour with We Are The Union, Stuck Lucky, Brunt Of It, and Green Room Rockers.  After that, the band will be heading West with Maddie Ruthless on the Rocksteady Ruined My Life Tour, which will be hitting Minneapolis on Thursday, May 26th at The Terminal Bar, featuring MNSKA bands The Dropsteppers and The Prizefighters.  Read through Sammy’s first blog entry and find a free download from Babylon Party Machine (aka Matt Wixson) who is mashing up The Forthrights’ latest EP Camp Birdman with the sounds of Motown.

You can follow The Forthrights tour blog 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 at AbsolutePunk have set up an exclusive stream of the brand new album from Michigan punk-ska band We Are The Union.  If you want to listen to Great Leaps Forward, all you have to do is head over to their AP.net profile.  As AbsolutePunk puts it “Trust me, you don’t want to sleep on this band.”

Our friends at Amazon.com have posted preview clips from Great Leaps Forward, the brand new album from Michigan punk-ska band We Are The Union on Paper + Plastick Records.  The album drops on Tuesday, March 30th.

You can stream the clips HERE.

Third wave ska-punk band Spring Heeled Jack is back for a 2-night reunion at Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT.  On Friday, May 7th SHJ will be joined with Tip The Van, Organ Beats, and Mellow Bravo.  Then on Saturday, May 8th the openers are The Pietasters, We Are The Union, and Make Do And Mend.

Tickets are still available!  Get your Friday night tickets HERE and your Saturday night tickets HERE

Stay tuned as Pete “JR” Wasilewski from Spring Heeled Jack will be a guest on next week’s Flyover Ska Show to talk about the big reunion weekend!

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.

In honor of their upcoming album release on Paper + Plastick, here is a video of We Are The Union performing their song “I Am Like John Cusack” at The Central in Nottingham, UK.  Let’s hope they decide to tour to MN this year!

Our friends over at AbsolutePunk have posted a brand new song from Michigan punk-ska band We Are The Union.  The song “One Million Motors” will be on their upcoming album on Paper + Plastick Great Leaps Forward which drops on March 30th.

You can stream the song HERE.

Michigan punk-ska band We Are The Union have announced a brand new full length album, entitled Great Leaps Forward, on Paper + Plastick Records.  The album drops on March 30th, but preorders can be made HERE.  They have a great deal for you to get the album on vinyl, CD and digital download all for the low price of $12!

To our readers over in Michigan, the band are having an all-ages CD Release Party on April 3rd at Metal Frat in Ann Arbor.

Detroit’s We Are The Union are a band that has a lot going for it.  Independent record label support, a driving punk sound, catchy vocal hooks, a never-ending youthful energy, and red-hot horns to take the edge off.  Makes me want to quit my job and tour full-time!

Track of the Day: “It’s My Life (And It’s Ending One Minute At A Time)” by We Are The Union from the album Who We Are

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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