In the mail today, I received the first copy of my new paperback book The Duff Guide to 2 Tone --and am thrilled to announce that it is now...
Steve Shafer/The Duff Guide to Ska
For most of the 1990s, I was the promotions, marketing, production guy for Moon Records (RIP). It was one of the best jobs I ever had. Seriously, I miss it badly. During 1999/2000, I ran 7 Wonders of the World Music, the first digital download-only ska label that was too ahead of the curve for its own good (RIP).
I filmed and edited this Toasters video for $2,500, which made its debut on MTV's 120 Minutes. I also put together these compilations for Moon: the first three Skarmageddons; Ska United: A Global Ska Sampler; Skank Down Under; This Are Moon Ska I, II, and III; and Moonshot!
Here's an old interview with Adam Monkey from Read Magazine that covers my days at Moon and 7 Wonders. I also did a somewhat more recent interview with Read Junk.
I've been interviewed about ska music and Moon Records for The New York Times, Heather Augustyn's "Ska: The Rhythm of Liberation," Aaron Carnes' "In Defense of Ska," Kenneth Partridge's "Hell of a Hat: The Rise of '90s Ska and Swing," and Marc Wasserman's "Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History" (I also wrote the introductory chapter "1985: The Year American Ska Broke" for Wasserman's book).
And I'm the author of "The Duff Guide to 2 Tone," which can be ordered from Amazon--and is available in the US from Jump Up Records, and in Europe from the 2 Tone Village Shop (Coventry, UK), Champion Sound Records (Hull, UK), Aggroshop (Nijmegen, Netherlands), and Copasetic Mailorder (Hamburg, Germany). Plus, my book was on sale in the museum shop for the "2 Tone: Lives & Legacies" exhibition (May 28 - September 12, 2021), curated by Simon Reynolds, Cory Barrett, Pete Chambers, Jennifer Otter Bickerdike and Daniel Rachel, at the Herbert Art Gallery Museum in Coventry, UK.
I'm now working on my next book, "Calling All the Rude Boys: The Duff Guide to The Toasters, 1981-1992," to be published in 2023.
If you have a ska or reggae release that you'd like me to consider reviewing, please send an e-mail to Steve at duffguidetoska@gmail.com. You should know that I am old school and prefer music in tangible formats (plus I might use your music when I DJ ska events). I'd also appreciate any news or tips you may have about bands.
All reviews and interviews posted on The Duff Guide to Ska are copyrighted and are the sole property of Steve Shafer. Please contact me for permission to reproduce anything on this blog.
5 comments:
Not ska, but Toots & The Maytals song "Time Tough" is a fitting one.
For more in the same vein, check out The Selecter's cover of Lee Perry's "What a Confusion" with Dave Barker on vocals (from their very underrated "Cruel Britannia" album, which came out in 1999).
I'll post its lyrics later tonight...
Lyrics for "What a Confusion":
"What a confusion on this land
Man will soon start eating man
While the grass is growing
The horses are starving
Cost of living rising
While poverty flowing
And now that Jah book has been opened
From A to Z
Brothers killing brothers just for a piece of bread
just for a cent, he'll 'move your head
What a confusion on this land
Man will soon start eating man
This is the hand of Jah writing on the wall
United we stand, but divided we fall
Now let this be a lesson for one and all
What a confusion on this land
Man will soon start eating man
The fat is laughing, while the meager is crying
Believe it or not brothers, I'm not lying
What a confusion on this land
Man will soon start eating man"
Despite the depressingly gruesome lyrics, it's actually a beautiful, soulful song. And Scratch conveys Rasta Babylon Revelation Time Dread like no one else...(you can hear samples of several versions of this tune on iTunes by Bob Marley and Dave Barker--just not the Selecter version, which is worth tracking down).
You need to mention that that Trojan song was also a video on the Moon Ska Reel To Real video! And it was on the greatest hits Trojan Warriors : For Your Protection The Best Of The Trojans Moon Ska!
Jeremy:
Yes, but of course! Gaz rocks!
Steve from Moon
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