Syracuse Ska Forum

He's got potential.

Ska revival isn't cool

Which one? 70s? 80s? 90s? 00s?

It's like all good music ... it keeps get re-discovered by new generations.

1) Kassandra, I'm 21 and I live in Seattle, WA
2) No Doubt started me off reallllly young and then I had a good buddy with a great collection
3) ABE, Stuck Lucky, Specials, RX Bandits... others like suicide machines, op ivy
4) Ska for the most part has a formula you can always expect... I really like the innovations bands have made, right now there is a lot of creativity going on and I love it.
5) Suicide Machines closed at warped tour one year and the crowd was huge/rowdy the singer came out and split the crowd in half and made us brave heart run at eachother... probably the craziest/most dangerous thing I've been in the midst of. Made it very memorable though.

1) I'm Audra, I live in Baldwinsville but go to college at Plattsburgh State.
I play lead guitar in the band 4 Point 0 out of syracuse
2) My buddy Jon introduced me to operation Ivy and it took off from there.
3) No Doubt, Streetlight Manifesto, Op Ivy, Reel Big Fish, Stuck Lucky, Fatter Than Albert
4) Its the best scene to get into because of the diversity. And its fun as hell!
5) My favorite moment ever was when The Toasters and Flatfoot 56 came, and there was like this wall of death during Flatfoot 56's set! It was so intense. We played that night and I remember absolutely NOTHING about how it went because everyone else was amazing.

-I also enjoy shows at Funk n' Waffles when there are so many people that it is literally hard to breathe because of the heat. And then playing a set. Its so sweaty. I love it.

Sup.

Jericho

Plattsburgh, New York. Been here for life >.<

Electric Bass player for 6 years, drummer for 3 years. Upright bass for 5 years.

Been a fan of ska for a bit, but punk for longer. Favorite bands include Bad Religion, Big D & The Kids Table, Black Flag, The Bouncing Souls, Choking Victim, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Leftöver Crack, INDK, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Misfits, Mustard Plug, NOFX, Pixies, Planet Smashers, Propagandhi, Rancid, Social Distortion, The Specials, Streetlight Manifesto, Sublime, The Toasters, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Ween, etc. (you get the idea)...

The Plattsburgh scene is filled with straightedge scene kids obsessed with Devil Wears Prada and Chiodos, and not enough ska kids. There is only a few available venues for all ages shows, because most places have stopped holding shows because of pits. But, you can help by booking shows here!!! Best local band is named Yo, Adrian!

Best show was TIASU and 40 Lashes at Gilligan's. Both bands were amazing and I had a kick ass time, even though i had a horrible day.

Peace. Anyone around Plattsburgh who is interested in jamming can PM me or AIM me (fknskakids). And I'm always downtown.

Wow. Two Plattsburgh people posting in a row. That's some kind of record here.

1) My name is Evan, I'm 20, and I attend Clarkson University. I'm the lyricist, lead singer, and guiatist of Echo-Drive (myspace.com/echodriveny)
2) The first ska band I ever really listened to was Streetlight Manifesto back in 2004. I used to listen to them while I washed dishes at a local restaurant. They helped me get my work done and completely changed my outlook on life. The rest is history I guess.
3) Streetlight Manifesto, Mad Caddies, and Brian Setzer to name a few.
4) Everyone's down for a good time, there's alot of energy, and it's a rewarding experience to have people actually skanking to your music.
5) Favorite moment: We opened for a band that was expected to draw a bigger crowd than us. There were so many people that showed up just to see us, you couldn't move from the back of the room to the stage. I could've surfed the crowd Best show ever. Also someone jumped up on stage and kissed our sax player Steve, and I broke a string and replaced it in under 2 mins as the crowd cheered "Ole ole ole ole!"

i don't mean this to be insulting... i like the acoustic recordings on your myspace a lot, but i really don't like how it sounds with a full band (in that youtube video). you should scrap the horns and just have mandolin or something!

thanks, i have my own solo stuff too, but ska is too much fun to drop for one guy. we sold out a venue of with a cap of 200 people at our 5th show. everyone skanked and cheered and sang and had a blast. they can't all be wrong

haha. if you say so. do you have a page for your solo stuff?

1) Hey there. My name is Kevin and i'm from Duisburg, which is located in the west of Germany. Currently my age is 19 and i'm still in school to get the general qualification for university entrance. I spare my time with playing the guitar and soon i will with my new trumpet, but i have to find a teacher first.

2) Might be an interesting story. There was a little music community in the internet, where i spend my time with 13 or something and they played ska music. I didn't like it. Dunno why. I'm glad that changed
Two years later, i was searching for the ultimate beer song and found Reel Big Fish's 'Beer'. I was totally into it. You can guess by know, i started to search for more of this sound, bought some cd's, which were hard to get. All i knew was a tiny part of the international ska scene. Soon there was Ska-P and Catch 22. Some German artists like Farin Urlaub (also know as Farin Urlaub Racing Team), The Skatoons, Babayaga, Dr. Woggle & The Radio joined my collection. Some day a friend asked me to take the train to a show. It was the best night ever! More of this in 5)

3) That is a hard one. It does change a lot. Dr. Woggle & The Radio is definitely one of my favorites. They have a sweet two-tone sound, which usually is a bit boring in my opinion. This is ska from the roots and it's awesome! Farin Urlaub Racing Team uses the skapunk style. Their songs have rather funny and intellectual lyrics and fight a bit against politics. Streetlight Manifesto, Ska-P, Los Placebos,... i can't decide. Everyone is so likeable.

4) I haven't met a lot people from the scene yet and i wasn't able to visit many shows. The roots of ska came from the dancing and evolved into something that motivates people and makes you feel high. I like the mood, which comes from the felicity of the words and the sound. The two-tone "dress code". It feels like an undercover mission on speed.
And don't forget the skank (a few people do it wrong, but they have fun trying ). On the one side it has the swing style of dancing, on the other hand it has the fury of a punk's punch. Kinda balance for your mind to feel happy.

*Several hours later*

5) Babayaga and Dr. Woggle & The Radio. It was the first ska show and the best evening ever. Dancing in a old weaving mill with people at the age of 30 or 40.
And the big ska evening. Around 8 hours of ska featuring "Dawson's Crack", "Los Placebos", "Wisecräcker", "Irie Révoltés", "Rantanplan", "Sondaschule" and "Ska-P". My whole body was hurting so much. First row for 4 hours it was so freaking awesome

Kevin??? How very German.


I know most of these artists, but I bet no one else here does -- except Ska-P, which seems pretty well known in America (and most everywhere else). It'd be interesting if you started a new topic with German or European ska bands to check out. Most of us enjoy discovering new bands.

And if you want some reference to some bands we've seen the last few years: http://www.kingstonbeat.com

It would be interesting to hear feedback from a German on some of these bands.

You don't know them that is the reason why i listed some of them in this thread already.
I try to collect some names and labels and you'll have your list soon.


I hope they have a myspace profile so i can listen to some music, while typing stuff

Uh oh, is that a challenge?