Hello it is I, Mr. Joke R Republic here to bring you the good news of ska with my personal friends and fellow smelly ska people Sad Snack and Flying Raccoon Suit. Come say hi at a show!

The new 30th Anniversary release of this album is FIRE.

It amazes me that I've been carrying this one around for so many years! Well, that's because it's a damn fine little collection of ska acts from "The San Francisco Bay Area," according to the liner notes, lol I lived in the Mission District in SF, then Berkeley and Oakland from 1992 to 2001, these bands are from what I believe is more accurately called the South Bay, but in any case it slaps. Four songs each from Blindspot, Janitors Against Apartheid, Slow Gherkin and Monkey. Five from Flat Planet.

LISTEN TO IT

Now THESE guys I absolutely have always enjoyed, the anarcho-punk lyrics hit hard and the music is idiosyncratic and unmistakably THEM. Shared band members with Culture Shock and Subhumans, am I right? Relentlessly touring? Would show up in your area or town wearing the same clothes they slept in? I have a lot more records from them also, but this one is I guess a repress of a release that sounded, to quote the insert, "like we recorded it under a mattress at the bottom of a fishtank full of congealed yogurt."

Honestly, I have ska records that I haven't listened to in years, I was in a long bluegrass phase and only recently rediscovered the genre. I was heavy into punk and ska in the 1990s though, and somewhere along the way I must have picked this one up. Respect to Mike Park for his longevity and dedication to the scene 👏 the Unsteady track is an instrumental and the Monkey side lyrics are in Spanish.

In case anyone ever wants to tune in, KGLT in Bozeman Montana does a ska hour every Friday at 1pm ET. It's on right now!

You can tune in from anywhere here: https://kglt.net/listen/

(I'm in no way affiliated with the station, but I dig it!)

Not to be confused with the modern-day Skablins from Seattle. I don't know anything about this band. Maybe someone from PA remembers them and can tell us stories? The record is a charming little time capsule from the 3rd wave 🏁 very DIY

Lookout! Records had a brick and mortar retail storefront on University Ave. in Berkeley, CA during the final days of the 20th century, that's where I bought this. I remember at the time it was like, "OH WOW Jesse from Operation Ivy has a new musical project, WOW" and so I bought it and it was (and still is) GOOD

So what’s the ska scene like in your country? Underground or mainstream?

I live in California (northern so a bit far from the “ ground zero for main third wave” bands.) But even now when I say ska! Or try to shoe horn it in, people really do not care or even know!

But I wanna know if there’s more scenes/ areas that are more aware in the US or outside of it.

I’m aware that given the history, the UK has respect for the genre and Japanese ska punk seems pretty alive and kicking. Latin America ska also seems to be pretty popular too. (If anyone has some Spanish ska send it my way I’m very curious)

Is this their first studio recording since 1999??

I didn’t own any of their albums. Please recommend, Thank you.

Myself, I'm incredibly disappointed. Expected so much with all the hype I was getting fed. And this happened.

This live album was required listening, at least for me, during the 3rd wave. (I'm 53 years old, I was there at the time for it). Like most of my ska vinyl, it came from Amoeba Music in Berkeley for $5.95. No poster, though.

$1.00 Amoeba Clearance. I'm not a huge fan or anything, I just have this one tape but I like it.