Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Duff Review: The Scofflaws "The Scofflaws"

The band members are dressed in suits and the band's name is in the foreground.
(Review by Steve Shafer)

At some point in the latter half of 1990, the bottom fell out of the NYC ska scene. The packed March 26, 1990 "NYC Ska Craze" show at the now long-gone Cat Club on 13th Street and Fourth Avenue in Manhattan featured the best Gotham had to offer at that time—The Toasters, The Scofflaws, The NY Citizens, Bigger Thomas, Skinnerbox, Skadanks, and The Steadys—but instead of positioning NYC ska for success in new decade, it ended up being the last hurrah of the 1980s scene. The show yielded the excellent NYC Ska Live LP (read my review of it), but a planned Dance Craze-like film, which would have documented all of these New York bands for the world to watch and envy, fell through when the director Joe Massot pulled out at the last moment (Toasters/Moon Records main man Rob “Bucket” Hingley dubbed it "a fiasco"). In the months that followed, ska shows gradually became rare events and didn't draw like they had just a year before, and several of the groups big on the scene went dark (and others moved into other musical territory, like soul and funk). Some of this was due to demographics--many of the NYC ska groups in the '80s were made up of high school and college-age kids; by 1990, most were faced with navigating the stark adult world of 9 to 5 jobs and paying rent. But it was clear that it was in severe decline.

It didn't help that the band spearheading the NYC scene almost didn't survive 1989 and was still struggling to find its footing in 1990-1991. Even though The Toasters had managed to regroup and soldier on after the sudden, body-blow departure of the Unity 2 in the midst of promoting their superb second album Thrill Me Up (trombonist Ann Hellandsjo and alto saxophonist Marcel Reginatto also left in their wake), the band's future seemed tenuous. Since CBS/Sony had been courting The Toasters, they crafted a record full of pop-leaning ska songs—This Gun for Hire—that turned out to be "too commercial for the fans and not commercial enough for the majors," Bucket later admitted to George Marshall in Skinhead Times in August 1993. (CBS/Sony passed on the band and album.) More worrisome was the fact that this iteration of the band couldn't hold a candle to the Thrill Me Up-era band on stage. I saw The Toasters several times in 1990 and 1991 at CBGBs, The Cat Club, and SOB's, and while they put on a decent show, they just weren't the same and some of the new material strayed far from their patented "East Side Beat" sound. I always left a bit disappointed. The other dominant NYC ska/Moon Records act of that time was the NY Citizens, who released the excellent Stranger Things Have Happened EP on Moon in 1990, their terrific follow-up to their 1988 debut On the Move, but then seemed to go quiet for a few years.

The good news in the midst of all this was that after a series of near-disastrous independent distributor failures in the late '80s (that almost swallowed up entire pressing of Moon compilations like Ska Face: An All-American Ska Compilation and NYC Ska Live) and seeing Celluloid/Skaloid going under without paying any royalties for Thrill Me Up or Skaboom! (which had sold a very respectable 12K copies at that point), Bucket was more determined than ever to make Moon Records a viable indie label. And one that would not only represent the NYC ska scene, but the American one.

It’s worth noting/remembering that back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, recording, pressing, distributing, and promoting an independent album was an expensive and often daunting endeavor. It was the primary reason there were relatively few American ska releases in the 1980s. Without a label fronting the cash to print albums/singles/EPs that also had a connection to reliable and honest independent distributors who could actually get your release in the shops and then pay you for your product, you had very little chance of recouping any of your expenses (at the time, the major labels had control of their own distribution systems for their records and CDs which excluded independent releases). The Toasters’ first two albums had been licensed to Celluloid/Skaloid as a hedge against Moon’s ongoing cash flow and distribution problems, but they were still burned in the end when that label went bankrupt, with no royalties from either album ever making it into The Toasters’ pockets (and later in the ‘90s, the new owner of Celluloid flooded the market with bootleg copies of Thrill Me Up and the unauthorized Ska Killers on the Celluloid imprint Esperanto, which consisted of Skaboom! and Thrill Me Up).

While The Toasters’ This Gun for Hire may have been too much of an artistic shift from Thrill Me Up for the fans (I struggled to like it in 1990, but now think it’s a really great pop-leaning ska record), Bucket was able to secure distribution through IRD and the album sold 10k copies, earning the band and Moon Records a tidy profit. In turn, this allowed Bucket to start licensing albums from other ska acts (the deals back then were straightforward one-page agreements wonderfully free of legalese), since he had the capital to invest in pressing CDs (which was the format preferred by distributors and shops in the ‘90s) and could start growing the label’s roster in earnest.

In 1991, a rejuvenated Moon Records released two highly influential debut records that would help lay the groundwork for the 1990s ska boom and signaled the label's ambitious goal of establishing itself as the premier American independent ska label. Both bands had been perfecting their sound, songs, and live performances in the ‘80s (and were featured on Moon’s first-ever American ska comp Ska Face in 1988—read my review of it), and Bucket and The Toasters had been on many bills with each act. These albums, of course, were Let’s Go Bowling’s Music to Bowl By (read my review of it) and The Scofflaws’ The Scofflaws. Notably, they represented one of the directions that a segment of the US ska scene was taking beyond the new wave/2 Tone ska of the ‘80s—it was a new, distinctly American take on retro/1960s ska that incorporated a slightly off-kilter, modern outlook and an adventurous variety of influences. To give these groundbreaking albums context, the few 1991 ska releases similar in sound to Music to Bowl By and The Scofflaws were Jump With Joey’s Ska-Ba and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra’s World Famous and Live albums.

Huntington, LI’s Scofflaws started out in the early 1980s as The New Bohemians and mostly played a mix of '60s R&B and TV theme songs. But as the ‘80s progressed, they incorporated more and more ska into their set. In 1988, Geffen Records bought their name for Edie Brickell, who wanted the rights to call her band the New Bohemians (and had a big hit with “What I Am”). They rebranded themselves The Scofflaws and bought new instruments and gear with Geffen’s cash. Later that same year, they burst into the national ska consciousness with their raucous, celebratory, and anti-racist Rude boy anthem "Rudy's Back" on Moon’s Ska Face comp, which helped all the scattered ska fans on the fringes of the underground scene feel like we were part of something bigger and something great.

Rude boys! Are coming out tonight
They got the rhythm and they’re feeling alright
Hey, boy! Where have you been going?
I’ve got to water a little herb that I’ve been growing
Rude boys! Causing trouble downtown
The police don’t like them hanging around
Hey, now! I want to play my horn
Rocksteady, that’s why I was born

Some say that rudies have all gone away
But that’s just jive talk, I know they’re here to stay
Why do we do it, well it ain't for the dough
It’s cause we’re ska’d for life, man! Okay, boys, let’s go!

Rude boy! Collie in hand
He likes to party, likes to skank with the band
Rude girl! She’s all on the scene, yeah
She’s hanging out by the record machine
Skinhead! They like to stomp their boots
They dig that rhythm, ‘cause the rhythm’s got roots
DJ! Play it one more time
I don’t care if the lyrics don’t rhyme

Oh, dig that rhythm…I man got the beat…Can’t keep from dancing…
I got to move my feet…rocksteady, ska, blue beat, soul…
If you got the rhythm, you will never grow old!


Rude boy! Yeah, he’s misunderstood
The coolest guy in his neighborhood
Hey boy! Where have you been going?
Don’t you want a little herb that I’ve been growing?
Rude boys! They’re causing trouble downtown
The police don’t like them hanging around
Hey now, I want to play my horn
Rocksteady, that’s why I was born

It doesn’t matter if you’re black
It doesn’t matter if you’re white
‘Cause we’re The Scofflaws, rude boy
And we’re going to rocksteady tonight!


I first experienced The Scofflaws live at The Pyramid Club in Manhattan’s Alphabet City in May of 1989 with The NY Citizens (my friend and I were the only non-skinheads in the sweaty back room) and it remains one of the best live shows I’ve seen (both bands were on fire!), and took every opportunity possible to see The Scofflaws perform (their musicianship was off the charts and more than evident in all their solos—and they were always dressed to the nines in their two tone suits, skinny ties, pork pie hats, and shades—Victor Rice even wore a fez when he played the upright bass!). In October 1991, just before The Scofflaws was released, I reviewed one of their shows for the Bakersfield, California-based skazine Roughneck Business:

“New York City offers few bargains, but catching NYC’s finest ska band—The Scofflaws—for a mere four bones makes me realize why I pay almost half my wages in rent…When The Scofflaws opened for Bad Manners last year, Buster proclaimed them NYC’s best band. I’d take it further; The Scofflaws great original songs and their brilliantly tight live performances would give The Skatalites a run for their money any day—they’re that good. As The Scofflaws performed such soon-to-be classics as “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure,” “William Shatner,” and (what I think is called) “The Beer Song” [most likely “I Can’t Decide,” which was released years later on Record of Convictions], the skin/rudie crowd that filled the floor was packed for non-stop skanking and shuffling…Moon Records will soon be releasing The Scofflaws’ debut album—it should be one of the best ska records to flow out of the ska pipeline.”

Jump Up Records’ 2021 release of The Scofflaws marks the first time this album has been released on vinyl. Moon Records originally issued it on CD and cassette (when I first started doing promotions for Moon in late '91—that review above had caught Bucket’s attention—I was sending out review copies on cassette) and it’s a nice touch that the LP’s back sleeve prominently acknowledges that the album first came out on Moon.

Most of the originals on The Scofflaws were co-written by Richard “Sammy” Brooks and Mike Drance, who had a Lennon & McCartney-like push/pull between them that made everything work so magnificently (Victor Rice and Drance also contributed their own instrumentals to the album). Brooks’ knowing campiness/wackiness (he’s Macca in this equation) was balanced by Drance’s artistic aspirations and efforts at authenticity ("one foot in the door, the other one in the gutter,” as The Replacements so aptly put it).

The album opens with Drance’s moody instrumental “Daniel Ortega” (a nod to the leftist Sandinista who helped lead the Nicaraguan Revolution that overthrew the US-backed Somoza dictatorship and became leader of that country from 1979-1990; The Clash wrote “Washington Bullets” partly about this revolution and named their 1980 triple-album in support of it), followed by a more polished re-recording of “Rudy’s Back” (I prefer the rawer one on Ska Face, but maybe that’s because it’s the first Scofflaws song I heard and fell for). “Ali-Ska-Ba,” which the band always played at breakneck speed live—practically daring the dancing crowds to keep up, is a slightly Middle Eastern sounding romp, while “Going Back to Kingston” was a sincere (though winkingly awkward and intentionally white-boy cliched) expression of longing to return to/be accepted by the land of ska’s origins (“I’m going back to Kingston/Just like Haile Selassie…I’m goin’ up on the mountain with that Rasta voodoo man…and when I get there man, every ‘ting will be irie”). Rice’s “Guru” is a fantastically mysterious, slow-burning track centered around his bass line.

Like “Rudy’s Back,” “Paul Getty” is another take on the rude boy record, though this one is about the experience of being a down-and-out, outcast ska fan struggling to get by in a typically square American suburb:

My name ain’t Paul Getty
And I’m living on spaghetti
Potatoes, rice and beans
I’m a rudie, not a skin
I like Ital, I drink gin
I live my life to extremes

I got everything I need
A black suit and a bag of weed
I got a pork pie hat
A smile like a Cheshire cat
My landlord wants to evict me
He wants the judge to convict me
Just because I live my life
The way I do

It’s a total culture shock
I’m the only rude boy on the block
Got any ganja, Rasta man?
My boss said, “take a sabbatical”
He said, “boy, you’re just too radical”
Now I gotta go out and find another job, again!

I’m going to go down to the unemployment office
I gotta stake my claim
Gonna go there on Monday
Gonna sign my name


The Paul Getty referred to here was the extremely wealthy founder of the Getty Oil Company, who was named the world’s richest private citizen in 1966 by the Guinness Book of World Records. In contrast, during the 1990s Brooks paid his bills by driving a school bus in the Long Island suburbs.

There are a fair number of covers on the album (they’re in good company, The Skatalites covered many pop standards!), but they make them their own and, boy, what great and sophisticated selections they made from the classic jazz repertoire and American songbook. The Scofflaws do Art Blakely ("Moanin'"), Henry Mancini ("A Shot in the Dark"—also famously covered by The Skatalites), Elmer Bernstein ("The Man with the Golden Arm"—which has some real menace and bite in the bottom end—the movie is about heroin addiction, after all), George Gershwin (a sublime version of "An American in Paris”)—and they even make Danny Elfman fit in quite well with this esteemed bunch (with a manic take on “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure”).

James “Red” Holloway’s phenomenal 1959 R&B sax stomper “A La Carte” (where he shouts out odd items to eat off the menu during the musical pauses: “Grasshopper toes…liver-flavored ice cream…and baboon eyeballs…Hmm, somebody give me the baking soda quick!”) is given an amazing reading by The Scofflaws (and is a perennial fan favorite live)—but they substitute types of sushi (“Tamago!…Uni!”) and Japanese atomic age movie monsters (“Godzilla!...Rodan!”) for Holloway’s gross-out choices. And even though Earl Bostic’s “Night Train” is well-trod territory (weirdly, The Toasters were playing a version around the same time and included it on their 1992 New York Fever album), The Scofflaws’ take is just brilliant and includes an unexpectedly wonderful tribute to their (and what should be your) musical heroes in the opening bars: “Ken Boothe…Desmond Dekker…Prince Buster…Toots Hibbert…Lee “Scratch” Perry…Don Drummond…Coxsone Dodd…Sir Lord Comic…You are the greatest!”

No offense to later iterations of the band, but this version of The Scofflaws really was the best. In addition to Brooks on tenor sax and vocals and Drance on bari sax and vocals (he also went on to form the awesome rocksteady-centric Bluebeats in ’94), the group included Paul Gebhardt on alto sax, Victor Rice on bass, Kerry Lafferty on piano, Brian Lavan on guitar, Tony Mason on drums, and Buford O’Sullivan on t-bone. Much of this extraordinary talent performed with numerous NYC-area groups later in the ‘90s and beyond, including NY Ska Jazz Ensemble, The Toasters, Stubborn Allstars, Version City Allstars, Crazy Baldhead, Easy Star Allstars, Brooklyn Attractors, and many more.

I’m forever thankful that I was able to see them perform numerous times and that everything in this small corner of the universe aligned so they could record what has become a true classic of ‘90s American ska. If you’re old now and loved The Scofflaws back then, it’s time to pick up this beautiful heavyweight LP—and if you haven’t heard this album before, what are you waiting for?! I’ve just spilled about three-thousand words raving about it!

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Saturday, June 26, 2021

Duff Book Review: Lee Morris "2 Tone: Before, During & After"

(Review by Steve Shafer)

After several decades marred by a dearth of tomes about 2 Tone apart from George Marshall's foundational and wonderfully opinionated The Two Tone Story (1990) and an extraordinary chapter about 2 Tone in Dick Hebdige's Cut 'n' Mix: Culture, Identity and Caribbean Music (1987), we're finally in a golden age of plenty. The spigot began to open in the late 2000s, with autobiographies from Horace Panter and Pauline Black, plus Paul Williams' superb biography of The Specials, You're Wondering Now. And more recently, we've seen coverage of 2 Tone in Heather Augustyn's terrific surveys of the genre, Ska: An Oral History and Ska: The Music of Liberation; amazing autobiographies from Ranking Roger (read my review) and Madness (read my review); and the best oral history of 2 Tone one could hope for in Daniel Rachel's Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge. (Oh, and I published The Duff Guide to 2 Tone in 2020, as well!) 

To this crowded bookshelf, the discerning 2 Tone fan absolutely should add Lee Morris' book 2 Tone: Before, During & After (Paperback, Media House Books, 2020). Morris provides a comprehensive overview of every band that released music on the 2 Tone label (including the lesser-known, non-ska acts that were signed on the tail end of 2 Tone's existence, like Friday Club, The Higsons, and The Apollinaires), from their origins in the '70s up till the present day--and includes biographical sketches of all band members and key collaborators. (Plus there's a chapter on 2 Tone related bands, and if you ever make the pilgrimage to Coventry, info on the 2 Tone Trail.) Morris' book is crammed with details (and some welcome commentary) that help flesh out the entire 2 Tone story--and American fans, most of whom didn't have easy access to the British music publications breathlessly covering 2 Tone's rapid rise and prolonged flame out, will find it especially enlightening. I was particularly grateful for Morris' chapter on The Special AKA, since I knew too little of this band's history other than it's Phoenix-like rise from the post-Ghost Town ashes of The Specials; and that Jerry Dammers' perfectionism in crafting the magnificent In the Studio cost an ungodly sum, took forever to complete, and was so miserable an experience that Rhoda Dakar to this day has never listened to it.

2 Tone: Before, During & After is an essential and handy reference guide to the label--one that you'll be thumbing through for years to come (I certainly will be).

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Friday, June 25, 2021

NYC Ska Calendar #3/Summer & Fall 2021

The amazing Rico Rodriguez
Saturday, June 26, 2021--4:00 pm

Stop the Presses
Queens Night Market @ NY Hall of Science
47-01 111th Street
Corona, NY
FREE

Saturday, July 3, 2021

Mighty Ramon, The Bluebeats, The Naughty Cubists
American Legion Huntington Post 360
1 Mill Dam Road
Huntington, NY
$15
Doors at 5:00 pm

Saturday, July 10, 2021

Top Shotta Band featuring Screechy Dan, Escarioka, Axolotl, Jonny Go Figure, DJ Rata
687 Park Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$12 in advance/$15 day of show
Time: 1:00 pm - 11:00 pm

Saturday, July 10, 2021

Skappository + others TBA
Finley's
43 Green Street
Huntington, NY
Free/All ages
Doors at 7:00 pm

Thursday, July 22, 2021

The Skatalites Band
Market Hotel
1140 Myrtle Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$20/All ages
Doors: 7:00 pm

Friday, July 23, 2021

Skappository, Mikey ERG Band, The Pandemics
Mr. Beery's
4019 Hempstead Turnpike
Bethpage, NY
$10/21+
Doors: 8:00 pm

Friday, July 30, 2021

The Ladrones, Beat Brigade, Invading Species, Eye Defy
Bushwick Public House
1288 Myrtle Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$10 in advance/$12 day of show
Doors at 7:00 pm

Saturday, July 31, 2021

Ska Punk Bash w/The Scofflaws, Jones Crusher, The Knottie Boys, Bad Mary, Skappository, plus DJ Treblemakazz
Bartini Bar
124 North Carll Ave
Babylon, NY
$15 day of show/$10 in advance/21+

Friday, August 6, 2021

Skappository, Pin Cushion, Powerviolets, Brian Kish's Lounge Pants, Graztopia, Celebrity Wife Swap
One Ey Jacks
380 North Wantagh Avenue
Bethpage, NY
$10/21+
Doors: 8:00 pm

Saturday, August 28, 2021

Hub City Stompers, The Take, Murderer's Row, Violent Way
Kingsland
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15/All ages, 21 w/ID to drink
Doors at 7:00 pm

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Bim Skala Bim PLUS the NJ premiere of the "New England Ska Summit documentary film
Randy Now's Man Cave
134 Farnsworth Avenue
Bordentown, NJ

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Bim Skala Bim PLUS the NYC premiere of the "New England Ska Summit documentary film
Arrogant Swine
173 Morgan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY

Friday, September 17, 2021

The Toasters
Kingsland
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$17.95/16+
Doors open at 6:00 pm

Saturday, October 16, 2021

The Pietasters Booze Cruise
The Lucille--Rocks Off Concert Cruise
23rd Street and the FDR Drive
Manhattan, NY
$45/21+
Doors at 6:00 pm, boat departs at 7:00 pm

Saturday, December 18, 2021

The Slackers and The Aggrolites
Irving Plaza
17 Irving Place
Manhattan, NY
$22.50/16+
Doors open at 7:00 pm

+ + + +

Saturday, June 4, 2022

Madness and The English Beat
Manhattan Center--Hammerstein Ballroom
311 West 34th Street
Manhattan, NY
$55 and up
Doors at 8:00 pm

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Friday, June 18, 2021

NYC Ska Calendar #2/Summer & Fall 2021

The Scofflaws backstage at Wetlands (early '90s)
Saturday, June 19, 2021

Barbicide (6pm), Homebodies, plus DJs Selector Peralta, DJ Shabbakano, Comandr3 Selecta
Arrogant Swine
173 Morgan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
FREE
All Ages
Early show: 3:00 pm
"NO Racism - NO Sexism - NO Bullshit"

Saturday, June 26, 2021--4:00 pm

Stop the Presses
Queens Night Market @ NY Hall of Science
47-01 111th Street
Corona, NY
FREE

Saturday, July 3, 2021

Mighty Ramon, The Bluebeats, The Naughty Cubists
American Legion Huntington Post 360
1 Mill Dam Road
Huntington, NY
$15
Doors at 5:00 pm

Saturday, July 31, 2021

Ska Punk Bash w/The Scofflaws, Jones Crusher, The Knottie Boys, Bad Mary, Skappository, plus DJ Treblemakazz
Bartini Bar
124 North Carll Ave
Babylon, NY
$15 day of show/$10 in advance

Saturday, August 28, 2021

Hub City Stompers, The Take, Murderer's Row, Violent Way
Kingsland
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15/All ages, 21 w/ID to drink
Doors at 7:00 pm

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Bim Skala Bim PLUS the NJ premiere of the "New England Ska Summit documentary film
Randy Now's Man Cave
134 Farnsworth Avenue
Bordentown, NJ

Friday, September 17, 2021

The Toasters
Kingsland
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$17.95/16+
Doors open at 6:00 pm

Saturday, October 16, 2021

The Pietasters Booze Cruise
The Lucille--Rocks Off Concert Cruise
23rd Street and the FDR Drive
Manhattan, NY
$45/21+
Doors at 6:00 pm, boat departs at 7:00 pm

Saturday, December 18, 2021

The Slackers and The Aggrolites
Irving Plaza
17 Irving Place
Manhattan, NY
$22.50/16+
Doors open at 7:00 pm

+ + + +

Saturday, June 4, 2022

Madness and The English Beat
Manhattan Center--Hammerstein Ballroom
311 West 34th Street
Manhattan, NY
$55 and up
Doors at 8:00 pm

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Thursday, June 10, 2021

Duff Guide to Ska Fast Takes: Bobby Ramone "Rocket to Kingston"

The cover image features a part of the cover of The Ramones' "Rocket to Russia," but with Bob Marley's face on one of The Ramones' bodies. (Review by Steve Shafer)

Hat tip to my friend and former Moon Records colleague Ray Manuud for turning me on to Bobby Ramone's Rocket to Kingston (Digital/LP, Guerilla Asso, 2021), which is a brilliant, fun, and extremely well-done mash-up of Bob Marley's vocals from many of his hits with the spot-on '60s pop/'70s NYC punk-type sounds of dah bruddahs from Queens, The Ramones. In other words, it's as if Legend mated with Rocket to Russia and this is the beautiful result (and these types of rebel music have always been simpatico). Top tracks are "I Don't Wanna Stand Up," "Stirring in My Room," "Jamming Affairs," "Three Little Surfin' Birds," "Kaya Bop," "Is This Love Kills?," and "Bye Bye Redemption." What's particularly amazing is how the geniuses behind Bobby Ramone work in snippets of Ramones songs all over the place--like how the opening of "Glad to See You Cry" sounds like "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker," "Stirring in My Room" has bits of "Rockaway Beach" in it, and some of the chord progressions from "Teenage Lobotomy" are in "I Don't Wanna Stand Up." If there's a heaven above, where musicians who have passed hang out and jam together, maybe this is what you'd hear coming out of some rehearsal room in the afterlife.

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Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Duff Review: RSD Drop #1/Two of Two Releases from Jump Up Records: Skanking Lizard "Original Chicago Reggae, 1978-1996"

The cover features illustrations of lizards of various sizes running in a circle.(Review by Steve Shafer)

In the fall of 1985, I was a freshman at a small, liberal arts college about an hour south of Cleveland, in a town surrounded by cornfields in all directions. I ended up there because just about everyone I was related to on both sides of my family had attended that school (some also went on to teach there) and I was at a point in my life when I had no idea what I wanted to do. So, it was simply the path of least resistance. Fortunately, I became good friends with some kids from Rochester and Cleveland who were into many of the same new wave, punk, and post punk bands as I was, like The Cure, Yaz, Cocteau Twins, Simple Minds (Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call through Sparkle in the Rain), Killing Joke, Roxy Music, Bauhaus, Husker Dü, and Black Flag--and everyone seemed to have a copy of Bob Marley's Legend.

One warm Saturday in October, there was a music festival in a field just outside of town that was sponsored by one of the hippie pseudo-frat/off-campus houses as part of their pledge week. Since one of our friends was pledging, a bunch of us tagged along and the beer truck kept us entertained while we endured a series of endlessly noodly Grateful Dead-inspired bands (one of my friends decided to trip on 'shrooms and when I asked him how he was doing, he replied that everything was "spherical"; I mention this, as there's more on mushrooms below). Then, seemingly out of nowhere--and we really were in the middle of nowhere--a reggae band from Cleveland called First Light started playing. And they were really good, performing a mix of their own originals and covers. I was so thrilled by their set that I practically bum rushed the stage at the end of their set to tell them how much I enjoyed their show and to buy a shirt. They told me about their new 12" EP Musical Uprising, which I ended up buying on a trip up to Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights (their abridged version of NYC's West Village)--I still have it (check out "Musical Uprising" and "Holdback Syndrome"/"Movin' On"). And my friend C.H.U.D. (a cruel nickname given to him by some football players in our dorm that he wore like a badge of honor) and I wanted more, so we caught First Light again at Peabody's Down Under in The Flats in Cleveland later that semester. 

In high school, I had seen Peter Tosh, Black Uhuru, and UB40 (multiple times) at the Pier 84 concerts in Manhattan on the Hudson River. But I was hearing fantastic, original, American reggae in the middle of a cornfield in conservative, white bread (and very white) OHIO. My belabored point here is that the first generation of American reggae bands sometimes sprouted in unlikely places far from the Coasts, like Cleveland, Chicago, and Kansas City. If you were paying attention, you could find them (just like the first US ska bands that cropped up in the wake of 2 Tone). Inspired by The Harder They Come film and soundtrack, Bob Marley's Catch a Fire and subsequent LPs and US tours (First Light's Carlos Jones saw Marley in Cleveland in '78), United Artist Records' Anthology of Reggae Collectors Series, and whatever Trojan and Virgin Front Line UK imports they could get their hands on, a slew of American reggae acts formed in the mid-to-late '70s, including Berkeley's The Shakers, Kansas City's Blue Riddim Band, NYC's Terrorists, and Chicago's Skanking Lizard

As part of their series of releases devoted to Chicago-area ska and reggae pioneers (Heavy Manners, Rude Guest), Jump Up Records has issued a fine new compilation of rare and unreleased recordings from Chicago's first live reggae act Skanking Lizard--who opened for Toots and the Maytals, Mighty Diamonds, Steel Pulse, and The B-52's back in the day--titled Original Chicago Reggae, 1978-1996. Up until now, Skanking Lizard's sole release was their excellent 1983 "Jesse James" b/w "Mushroom" single on their own Reptile Records (which made it into the top 40 in JA). Side A is not a Laurel Aitken cover, but the band's original tune on the same topic, while the flip is a great version of Johnny Osbourne's slightly odd anti-psychedelics/pro-ganja cut ("The only thing the dawtas asking for all night/Was a stalk of mushroom--what is that, my gosh/Don’t want no mushroom to go to my head/Gimme the good sinsemilla instead/Don’t pee in my garden/'Cause mushroom will grow/Don’t pee in my garden/I don’t want your mushroom to grow/Sensimilla--that's I want to grow!"). The other two tracks to see light of day on the comp are from singer Alan "Blood" Lery's 1984 solo EP Heart Full of Soul (which hit it big on the Canadian charts): Lery's great original "It Happened" and a terrific cover of The Yardbirds' "Heart Full of Soul." Of note, the instrumental tracks were produced by Jimmy Becker (of Blue Riddim Band, who had been in the earliest version of Skanking Lizard) and recorded in JA at Channel One with local musicians including Ansell Collins, Carlton "Santa" Davis, Noel "Scully" Sims, as well as Blue Riddim Band's guitarist Howard Yukon--and Lery added his vocals in a studio in Chicago. 

The unreleased Skanking Lizard tracks on the album were recorded at various points throughout the '80s and include good covers of Mighty Diamonds' "I Don't Mind" and Keith and Tex's perennial "Tonight"; the interesting Lery-penned cuts "Strange Cargo" (I think it's about coming across a drug smuggler's errant load, but it feels like Cold War dread: "A strange cargo fell out of the sky last night/Don't worry child, no reason for you to cry") and "Wear a Smile" (which encourages the listener to enjoy life while you can, as tears won't get you into heaven); and fun versions of Beat and Selecter classics ("Tears of a Clown" and "Too Much Pressure").

Skanking Lizard's Original Chicago Reggae, 1978-1996 will be prized by fans who caught the band in the '70s and '80s--and is essential for anyone interested in nascent days of the American reggae scene.

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Friday, June 4, 2021

Duff Review: RSD Drop #1/One of Two Releases from Jump Up Records: The Skatalites "Bashaka"

The cover features a stylized illustration of a smiling and pudgy mask with dreadlocks and a pork pie hat.(Review by Steve Shafer)

Unless you were paying extremely close attention, it's likely that you had no idea that The Skatalites' Bashaka even existed until Jump Up Records announced this reissue (full disclosure: I was among the clueless). But don't worry too much about your ska street cred. Bashaka was issued in 2000, right after the bottom fell out of ska in the USA, on a small indie label in Florida that went under soon after its release (trainspotters will want to know that it was also licensed to Celluloid in France with an unintentional Kiss-referencing cover). Thankfully, Jump Up's Chuck Wren was paying attention and as part of his Skatalites reissue series (he's released 1993's Skavoovee, 1994's Hi-Bop Ska, 1996's Greetings from Skamania, and 2016's Platinum Ska) is rescuing this terrific "lost" album from oblivion, which in 2000 was their first new studio album since 1997's Ball of Fire. Warmly and wonderfully produced by the now late Ralston "Stamma" Haughton (a Jamaican-born bass player/singer who worked with Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, Ken Boothe, and others; fronted his own band Stamma & The Clubbites; and originally released this album on his own Marston Recording Corporation imprint), Bashaka (Clear yellow vinyl LP, Jump Up Records, 2021, artwork by CHema Skandal) features non-stop, top-notch original cuts (every player and singer contributes at least one song--though Stamma's two songs from the CD were left off, likely due to LP space), original Skatalites Lester Sterling, Lloyd Brevett, Lloyd Knibb, Cedric (Im) Brooks, and Doreen Shaffer, plus guest vocalist (and Stamma friend) Ken Boothe, and newer (and great!) Skatalites Devon James, Ken Stewart, Will Clarke, and Mark Berney. 

Some particularly outstanding tracks include the Middle Eastern-sounding "Ska of Iran" (renamed from the CD, where the song was titled "Skaravan"; anyone old enough to know this is a pun on the infamous CIA-stooge/dictator Shah of Iran whose ouster led to the Iranian Hostage Crisis?); the wistful tribute of "Roland Ride Along" (Alphonso passed away in 1998); and the cheery "Wild Honey" (which in Biblical times was a sign of luxury or abundance). Shaffer's song "Reach for the Sky" is not about a stick-up artist, but urges everyone to do their best (and she also wrote "Oh Baby"); "Milk Lane Shuffle" features that classic '60s Skatalites sound, which there can't be enough of in this world; and, as one might guess, "What a Day" is positively exuberant. The Ken Boothe/Dobby Dobson-penned "I Never Knew (What a Queen Was Like)" sung by Boothe is fantastic ("I was living like a pauper/With just bread and water/And then you came into my life/And all is do is prosper"), and "Hail Tommy McCook" with Brooks' spoken word tribute is heartfelt and lovely: "Hear, Tommy McCook. We salute you. You are one of the great musicians of Jamaica. Your contribution to our music will be remembered and praised from generation to generation" (McCook also died in 1998, less than two years prior to this album's release; he had stopped performing with the band in '95, due to poor health).

Bashaka is an Arabic name meaning nimble, which is a fantastically appropriate title for this album. Here, The Skatalites sound ever so relaxed, supremely confident in their groove, and make the hard business of making quality music seem simple and effortless. Don't miss out on this essential entry in The Skatalites' catalogue! 

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Up next: RSD Drop #1/Two of Two Releases from Jump Up Records: Skanking Lizard Original Chicago Reggae, 1978-1996!

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Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Dawning of a New Era: Live Ska Music (Slowly) Returns to NYC!

The sticker features a rude boy with his back to us pointing a pistol to his right.
It's been a very long time since I last posted a NYC Ska Calendar, so it's kind of a thrill to list these few upcoming ska shows, even though we're several months out from all of them (well, with the exception of the Madness date which is a year out).

First up, The Toasters are playing in Brooklyn on the way to the Supernova Ska Festival in Hampton, VA (and rumor has it that Bim Skala Bim will be making a rare New York appearance around the same time).

Friday, September 17, 2021

The Toasters
Kingsland
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$17.95/16+
Doors open at 6:00 pm

Saturday, October 16, 2021

The Pietasters Booze Cruise
The Lucille--Rocks Off Concert Cruise
23rd Street and the FDR Drive
Manhattan, NY
$45/21+
Doors at 6:00 pm, boat departs at 7:00 pm

Saturday, December 18, 2021

The Slackers and The Aggrolites
Irving Plaza
17 Irving Place
Manhattan, NY
$22.50/16+
Doors open at 7:00 pm

Saturday, June 4, 2022

Madness and The English Beat
Manhattan Center--Hammerstein Ballroom
311 West 34th Street
Manhattan, NY
$55 and up
Doors at 8:00 pm

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Update(s):

Friday, June 11, 2021--8:00 pm to Midnight

100% Ska with DJ Ryan Midnight
Otto's Shrunken Head
538 East 14th Street (Between Aves A & B)
Manhattan, NY

Saturday, June 19, 2021

Barbicide, Homebodies, plus DJs Selector Peralta, DJ Shabbakano, Comandr3 Selecta
Arrogant Swine
173 Morgan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
FREE
All Ages
Early show: 3:00 pm
"NO Racism - NO Sexism - NO Bullshit"

Saturday, June 26, 2021--4:00 pm

Stop the Presses
Queens Night Market @ NY Hall of Science
47-01 111th Street
Corona, NY
FREE

Saturday, July 3, 2021

Mighty Ramon, The Bluebeats, The Naughty Cubists
American Legion Huntington Post 360
1 Mill Dam Road
Huntington, NY
$15
Doors at 5:00 pm

Saturday, July 31, 2021

Ska Punk Bash w/The Scofflaws, Jones Crusher, The Knottie Boys, Bad Mary, Skappository, plus DJ Treblemakazz
Bartini Bar
124 North Carll Ave
Babylon, NY
$15 day of show/$10 in advance

Saturday, August 28, 2021

Hub City Stompers, The Take, Murderer's Row, Violent Way
Kingsland
269 Norman Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
$15/All ages, 21 w/ID to drink
Doors at 7:00 pm

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