Monday Music Video : Other People

In the last few months I’ve become acquainted with ska/rocksteady band the Forthrights. They’ve done a handful of recordings themselves (including the new and awesome Camp Birdman EP) as well as back Vic Ruggiero and King Django. This video is shot in a very interesting way making awesome use of split screen technique.

23min of Ska : Open Secret

The world is full of secrets and sometimes ska music seems like one of those. Even people who are aware of ska aren’t always aware of the terms and slang we use, as if we’re speaking in some kind of rude boy Esperanto. The ska culture is like a secret society and like all the best secret societies it is hiding in plain sight. Once you get to a show and meet a few people it is like a whole new world is opening up to you. You find more music easier, you find that you can and enjoy dancing, and even better your life is enriched for having experienced these things. Ska has brought me some of the highest highlights of my life as well as has filled it with so very many wonderful people, better yet this all continues on to this very day as well. I know that secrets are secret cuz they’re secrets and that you should never tell a secret, but this is one to let slip every now and again, you never know if it’ll change their life for the better or not like it did for us.

If you’re in a ska band and would like to be interviewed or have songs featured, please email me at radjose[at]gmail[dot]com.

This episode and all episodes can always be found here. You can also subscribe to the podcast by going to your advanced tab on iTunes, then select “subscribe to podcast…” and entering this address: http://23minofska.podomatic.com/rss2.xml into the box that opens. You could totally download it too. Also if you’d like, find us on facebook and tell us what you think.

Monday Music Video : Palabras

This is the most 90′s video you’ll ever see! Greenhouse was the very first ska band I ever saw play live, this was back in ’94, and I thought they were the tops. It was a few years before they put out their first album, but they were already awesome. I had no idea they’d made a music video until quite recently, and yes it cracks me up, and yes, it is very much a product of its time visually.

23min of Ska : Getting Over

Is love in the air? Who cares! Love is for suckers! Here’s a bunch of songs about love gone wrong… or something. There’s totally a theme or some such going on here and I hope your bitter little black heart appreciates it. This is the most full on ska-punk episode I think I’ve ever to date, with the Scofflaws being the lone exception. But its a fun one, I hope you’ll agree. To show you that not everything is hopeless I’m having a contest to win a copy of doctormanette’s “the Same Thing Over & Over” from which the final song in this podcast is from. All you have to do is find “23min of Ska” on facebook “like” us and send and e-mail to radjose@gmail.com. On the 23rd of I’ll pick a winner at random! Wheeeee! See, things are looking up already.

If you’re in a ska band and would like to be interviewed or have songs featured, please email me at radjose[at]gmail[dot]com.

This episode and all episodes can always be found here. You can also subscribe to the podcast by going to your advanced tab on iTunes, then select “subscribe to podcast…” and entering this address: http://23minofska.podomatic.com/rss2.xml into the box that opens. Of course there’s always the ability to download this episode. Also if you’d like, find us on facebook and tell us what you think.

23min of Ska Interviews : Lockstep

In my effort to grow this podcast, I’ve decided to start doing interviews with ska bands at the first of each month. For our first go around in interviewland I talk to the Indianapolis, IN group Lockstep. I’m mostly talking to vocalist/bass player Dave Grove, but if you listen close you can also hear keyboardist Jen Grove as well. We talk about how the band got started, what it is like to be married to a band member and their recent album “It Happened in the City…”. We also talk about Dave’s song writing process in general and specifically for the song “Michigan Road” which we close out this episode with.

You can find Lockstep at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lockstep/165875323432186
http://www.myspace.com/lockstepgotsoul

Upcoming Lockstep shows in February:
* Thursday the 3rd at 7:30pm at Birdy’s (Indianapolis IN)
w/ Passafire
* Saturday the 19th at 10:30pm at the Melody Inn (Indianapolis IN)
w/ the Toasters
* Thursday the 24th at 7:30pm at Birdy’s (Indianapolis IN)
w/ One Punch Knockout, the Putz & the Typos

Lockstep’s song “Last Time Again” was previously featured in the episode “Rebirth” from May 23rd, 2010.

If you’re in a ska band and would like to be interviewed, please email me at radjose[at]gmail[dot]com. We’ll see if we can set something up.

This episode and all episodes can always be found here. You can also subscribe to the podcast by going to your advanced tab on iTunes, then select “subscribe to podcast…” and entering this address: http://23minofska.podomatic.com/rss2.xml into the box that opens. Alternatively, you can always download this episode. Also if you’d like, find us on facebook and tell us what you think.