In Defense of Ska January 2022 Newsletter
What a month! We officially began our 2nd season on January 19th, kicking things off with a very special conversation with Mike Sosinski of Bad Time Records. We even figured out precisely when co-host Adam Davis and Mike officially met. A riveting story! We also launched our “In Defense of Ska” Patreon. You can support us for only $5 a month (Or if you want to support us AND make us laugh, it’s only $6.90 a month)
Patrons this month got “Behind The Curtain” commentary from us for each episode, and a full bonus episode. This month, Adam and I recounted our first year of doing this podcast. Adam talked about becoming BEST FRIENDS with Ian Fidance. I talked about how nervous I was to interview Laura Jane Grace. And we both stated how unreal it was to interview Tim Cappello and Patrick Stump.
February’s bonus content is looking even better. We have a guest joining us on our full bonus episode, and we will geek out on Madness for an hour (Hint: It’s Ted Leo!)
Speaking of Ted Leo, we started the year off with an amazing conversation. This was probably the deepest he’s ever gone into discussing his song “Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone,” which not only celebrates 2 Tone ska but critiques the apolitical atmosphere of the post-911 New York rock ‘n’ roll explosion. We go through a significant portion of his career and of course, get his view on different ska bands.
John Bunkley joined us and gave us the full story of Detroit’s legendary Gangster Fun. The group wasn’t the first midwest band to play ska, but they were the first to blow up in the region. They influenced every midwest ska band that formed in the late 80s and early 90s. I love how mischievous John is. We talked about them transforming 70s and 80s rock anthems into ska singalongs, and how they egged on fights by playing the Rocky theme song when tensions heated up—he’s so delighted by these stories! Detroit, he insisted, is a unique place.
Our season 2 opener with Mike Sosinski told the full Bad Time Records story in detail. For those of you paying attention to new ska bands in the past few years, you’ve no doubt seen the name mentioned. Mike tells us how his unlikely idea of starting a ska-punk label in 2018 actually panned out. And side note, Mike officially quit his job in January to do Bad Time Records full time. I’m going to assume our episode gave him the exposure he needed to succeed (Ok, technically he quit his day job a few days before our episode dropped, but it was probably because of us in some way).
We closed the month out with an incredible conversation with Jenny Whiskey, who’s been an active member of the scene since the 90s. While many ska musicians fled in the 2000s, she ramped up her involvement by joining Hub City Stompers in 2002. They were (are!) one of the most important US groups in the post-90s era. Recently, Jenny co-founded the Rude Girl Revue, which was the talk of Supernova International Ska Festival last year. I also found it interesting to get her reaction to people outside of the scene suddenly caring about ska in the last few years.
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