In Defense of Ska

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In Defense of Ska Ep. 20: Reade Wolcott (We Are The Union) Jun 02, 2021

Show notes

On April 23, ska-punk band We Are The Union, released one of its greatest singles of the band’s career: A catchy ska-punk tune called “Morbid Obsessions.” The song was also released alongside a huge announcement: We Are The Union’s lead singer Reade Wolcott was coming out as a trans woman. And the song “Morbid Obsessions” spoke to this journey openly, directly, and with plenty of emotion. And so far the ska community has embraced Reade’s announcement with open arms.

The tune was the lead single off of We Are The Union’s new album, Ordinary Life, set to release on June 4, 2021. It is a phenomenal record that will not only elevate the ska-punk genre but expand its borders. On this episode of In Defense of Ska, we talk with Reade about the new record, her journey to be her true self, and some other fun We Are The Union stories over the past decade. Fun pancake-themed kickstarter campaign videos anyone?

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon!

If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music.

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024.

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023.

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

Support In Defense of Ska by checking out StubHub: https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/DLXVmMB
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In Defense of Ska Ep. 19: Tim Cappello (Tina Turner, Carly Simon, Peter Gabriel, Lost Boys) May 26, 2021

Show notes

Has there been an 80s movie more iconic than The Lost Boys? Has there ever been a scene as legendary as the Boardwalk scene, where an oiled-up, muscular sax man wails through The Call’s “I Still Believe”?

No, there has not.

The sax man in question, Tim Cappello has become a cult icon. Synthwave bands invite him to play on their tracks, and TV shows, like The Break with Michelle Wolf, invite him on to harken back to that classic scene. And he’s huge on the convention circuit. Everyone wants a signed Lost Boys photo. But Tim Cappello is so much more than all this—he’s a phenomenal musician with an amazing resume that includes Tina Turner, Carly Simon, and Peter Gabriel.

On this episode of In Defense of Ska, we spend some time getting to know the musician side of Tim Cappello. We of course begin the conversation by talking about ska and asking him technical saxophone questions. But then we hear all about Carly Simon’s intense stage fright, how Tina Turner bought him his first codpiece, how he landed an unlikely gig backing comedian Billy Crystal, and we learn about one of his bands that were so outrageous, they were banned from CBGB’s. We also get into his iconic Lost Boys scene. We learn how he got the role and all the details behind the recording of the scene. It’s an amazing conversation.

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon!

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024.

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023.

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

Support In Defense of Ska by checking out StubHub: https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/DLXVmMB
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In Defense of Ska Ep. 18: Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy) May 19, 2021

Show notes

Patrick Stump is used to playing for huge crowds. His band Fall Out Boy plays massive venues. But when he was younger, he was quite shy. So in order to go see Reel Big Fish, a band he loved dearly, he had to work through his social anxiety. Once there, he found an unassuming spot in the back of the venue and danced to his favorite genre of music: ska.

During the 90s, Patrick loved ska quite a bit. As a drummer, it was his go-to style to play. And though he didn’t go to a lot of shows, when he did, it was usually to see a ska band play. It was his introduction to the wide world of music. Years later, his own music would get associated with mid-2000s emo, but he got there through ska. Some of the bands that took him there were of the more obscure variety. Animal Chin, for instance, was formative for him to not only expand his musical tastes but also teach him how to be a singer. When Fall Out Boy tours, he will occasionally soundcheck with Animal Chin songs.

In this episode, we hear Patrick’s untold story about his love for ska. Surprisingly, it’s not been talked about before. Ska was such a significant part of his formative years, both related to his development as a person, and his development as a musician, it’s actually a very important part of his story. We talk about which ska bands got him into the genre, how often he listened to Chuck Wren’s radio show, and what he thinks about Misfits of Ska 2. We also find out that Patrick has a folder of ska tunes he recorded on his computer. But will he ever release them?

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon!

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024.

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023.

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

Support In Defense of Ska by checking out StubHub: https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/DLXVmMB
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In Defense of Ska Ep. 17: Kamala Lyn Parks (Book Your Own Fucking Life, Plot 66) May 12, 2021

Show notes

In 1989, east bay punk musician and booker Kamala Lyn Parks was getting a ton of calls from bands asking if she’d book a tour for them. She didn’t even know most of them! She was so fed up with the unsolicited calls, she vented about it to Maximum RocknRoll founder Tim Yohannan: “I want to tell these bands to go book their own f*****g tour.” Tim, amused by her outburst, suggested she write an article telling these bands just how to book their own tours.

This article was so popular, it would ultimately inspire the Maximum Rocknroll standalone magazine “Book Your Own F*****g Life,” which single-handedly got thousands of ska and punk bands on the road in the 90s and enabled them to string together amazing DIY shows in basements, backyards and rented halls across the country. Kamala had plenty of experience booking tours.

By the time she’d written the article in the late 80s, she’d been booking DIY tours for nearly 4 years. It was a no-mans-land back then. And she built her tour connections from scratch. But, because she assembled these connections with a lot of care, love, and patience, she was able to help create a DIY touring network.

Kamala, our guest on this episode of “In Defense of Ska,” talks about the many amazing bands she booked in the 80s and 90s, including Operation Ivy—their one and only US tour. We also talk about Book Your Own F*****g Life, and of course 924 Gilman. It was her and Victor Hayden who spotted the building and convinced Tim Yohannan to use it for an all-ages DIY venue. We also talk about her numerous bands, and we dig into one infamous night at Gilman when all the punk rockers banded together and beat the s**t out of a group of Nazis that had been harassing people at Gilman for some time. Spoiler alert: They never returned after they got their asses kicked.

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon!

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024.

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023.

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

Support In Defense of Ska by checking out StubHub: https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/DLXVmMB
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In Defense of Ska Ep. 16: Jeff Rosenstock (Bomb The Music Industry, Arrogant Sons of Bitches, Death Rosenstock) May 05, 2021

Show notes

In 2016 some group calling themselves Skankral Ska Hotel released an all ska version of Neutral Milk Hotel’s indie opus In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Interesting concept, terrible execution—deliberately so—with ska being the punchline. But imagine if a band made an all ska version of a classic album, but did it well. This is exactly what Jeff Rosenstock did. And the brilliant album he turned into ska, was his own, the critically acclaimed 2020 release NO DREAM.

He called the album SKA DREAM and presented it potentially as an April Fool’s joke, with absurd ska pun titles and 2 Tone dancing figures pasted on the original NO DREAM album cover. But SKA DREAM was real—a reverse Skankral Ska Hotel, an amazing bittersweet ska album, with clever structural choices and layers of instrumentation, the product of copious guest performances and quarantine style recordings. Everyone involved emanates so much joy, which clashes—in the best way possible—with Rosenstock’s depressing NO DREAM lyrics. And every bit of humor on the record is done with love towards ska, not making fun of the genre.

Jeff Rosenstock is our guest on today’s episode of In Defense of Ska. We spend some time dissecting SKA DREAM. But we also talk about what it’s been like for him to sneak in the back door of hipster indie rock cred, and why credible journalists like to ask him about his 1:30 minute-long ska song “Rainbow.” We also get the full scoop on Jeff’s greatest side project of all time: Shitfinger.

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon!

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024.

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023.

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

Support In Defense of Ska by checking out StubHub: https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/DLXVmMB
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In Defense of Ska Ep. 15: Slapstick (Brendan Kelly, Rob Kellenberger) Apr 28, 2021

Show notes

Ska-hating punk rockers will permit a few ska bands in their playlist. Operation Ivy, of course, is fine. Also, Chicago’s Slapstick is a perfectly fine ska band. Like Operation Ivy, they were a short-lived, gritty punk band that also happened to play ska. But in the case of Slapstick, it was in the mid-90s during the ska-boom, and they had a raging horn section.

Slapstick could have been huge. They were offered a contract with Epitaph, which they turned down. They broke up not long after. Who knows what would have been if they’d released an Epitaph-backed record in 1997. What we do know is that the members went on to form several amazing, and successful bands in the ashes of Slapstick’s demise: Alkaline Trio, Lawrence Arms, Tuesday, The Broadways, and many others.

On this episode of In Defense of Ska, we chat with Slapstick singer Brendan Kelly and drummer Rob Kellenberger. They explain in detail why they refused to sign to Epitaph, and reflect on whether that was a mistake or not. We talk about a few Slapstick shows that were in some of the shittiest venues imaginable and bring up a little nod the band got in the recently released Netflix horror film, Uncle Peckerhead. We also discuss the band’s reunion gig at Asian Man Records 15-year anniversary show and find out which band from the Slapstick family tree both Brendan and Rob think was the best.

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon!

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024.

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023.

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

Support In Defense of Ska by checking out StubHub: https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/DLXVmMB
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In Defense of Ska Ep. 14: Jeremy Hunter (Skatune Network, JER, We Are The Union) Apr 21, 2021

Show notes

In December 2016, multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Hunter got bored and decided to record a ska cover of “Feliz Navidad,” calling it “Feliz NaviSKA.” This silly idea got a lot of eyeballs, way more than they anticipated, so Jeremy kept recording ska covers of songs by Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Blink 182 and other groups. The views continued to grow. This was the birth of SkaTune Network, a YouTube channel with nearly 200,000 subscribers, and several viral videos.

Jeremy is our guest on In Defense of Ska. They have shocked countless people outside of the ska scene who’ve assumed the music is dead, and can’t fathom how Jeremy has so many fans. SkaTune Network has also become an entry point for ska that has brought thousands of people to the genre. Additionally, Jeremy also plays trombone in the band We Are The Union and creates original music as “Jer.”

On today’s episode, we walk through Jeremy’s career in ska, focusing on several key moments in their life, including the Talent Farm, their introduction to Community Records, and joining We Are The Union. We also discuss Jeremy’s time at Waffle House, winning PUP’s “Free at Last” cover competition, and that controversial TikTok video they made that argues why you should pour your milk before your cereal.

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon!

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024.

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023.

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

Support In Defense of Ska by checking out StubHub: https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/DLXVmMB
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In Defense of Ska Ep. 13: Duck (Joystick!) Apr 14, 2021

Show notes

“I’m new and improved. So much better than I used to be. I was an awful alcoholic. I was a shitty drunk, and fucked up on drugs.”

These are Duck’s words from the song “Rinse and Repeat” off the new Joystick album, I Can’t Take It Anymore (release date April 16). It, the band’s 4th full length, is a great skacore album, with a heavy dose of hardcore, mixed with an almost jazzy style of ska. If there were ever any doubts that ska-punk is more than just silly music, this album puts thoughts to rest. It’s a very serious, very personal, and very heavy ska-punk album.

On this episode of In Defense of Ska, Duck, the lead singer of Joystick, joins us to talk about I Can’t Take It Anymore. He also talks about getting sober, what life has been like on the other side, and how challenging and rewarding it was to make that decision. We get into the nitty-gritty of how Joystick created that perfectly surreal album cover. We also ask him questions provided to us by several Bad Time Records bands. One of them involves a strange story at the “Cat S**t House.”

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon!

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024.

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023.

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

Support In Defense of Ska by checking out StubHub: https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/DLXVmMB
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In Defense of Ska Ep. 12: Leanor Ortega Till (Five Iron Frenzy) Apr 07, 2021

Show notes

A decade ago, the idea of crowd-funding a record was still somewhat novel. One of the earliest successes was, in 2011, when Christian ska band Five Iron Frenzy used Kickstarter to raise over $200,000 for a new album—their goal was $30,000. For a lot of people, this seemed out of nowhere. Who was still listening to—not just ska—but Christian ska? A lot of people were.

But Five Iron Frenzy was not just part of some specific, niche Christian ska scene. They’d built a loyal, hardcore fanbase by operating entirely in their own sphere. Rather than choose between the insular Christian world and the non-Christian ska scene, they utilized both, and anywhere in-between. They created a space that made weirdo, outcast punk rock Christians, and lovers of ska feel like they had somewhere they belonged.

Our guest today is Five Iron Frenzy’s saxophonist Leanor Ortega Till, who has played with the group since its formation in 1995. We talk about what it was like to be the only Christian band on the Ska Against Racism tour. We also talk about her role as producer on the film Pick It Up! - Ska in The 90s. The conversation gets pretty deep, and Leanor explains how she and the group have been, and are at odds with the current mainstream Christian Conservative movement. She says that this group only represents a small segment of Christians in this country. And she gives a pretty compelling argument of why other Christians fed up with the bigotry and polarization happening in mainstream Christian conservatism shouldn’t abandon their faith.

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon!

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024.

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023.

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

Support In Defense of Ska by checking out StubHub: https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/DLXVmMB
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In Defense of Ska Ep. 11: Thou (Bryan Funck, Mitch Wells) Mar 31, 2021

Show notes

For the last fifteen years, Louisiana doom metal band Thou has filled eardrums with unsettling noise, and guttural screams. They are a magnificent group, one of the few sludge metal bands that gets accolades from music critics at typically-tame venues like NPR. However great this attention has been, the critics at NPR have failed to ask Thou one specific, but incredibly important question: Do they like ska? The answer is a little complicated.

To help unravel this complicated question, Thou lead singer Bryan Funck and bassist Mitch Wells were kind enough to join us on In Defense of Ska. They promised to explain their positions on ska and go into detail about their personal connections with the genre. And it’s a fascinating journey.

In this episode, Bryan walks us through the various ska-punk bands he was once a fan of back in the 90s. He even made us a two-hour ska-punk mixtape that included detailed linear notes! Mitch, on the other hand, gives us a glimpse behind the scenes of the awesome Bad Operation videos he shot last year during the pandemic. We also discuss Bryan’s affinity towards juvenile pranks, what Mitch likes to do to celebrate 311 Day, the infamous folder filled with unused touring connections that inspired a brutal Thou song, and which Operation Ivy songs they’d cover if they HAD to

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon!

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024.

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023.

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

Support In Defense of Ska by checking out StubHub: https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/DLXVmMB
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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