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TromBonus - 63 - Midwest Ska Primer
166 Plays1 month ago
Time for a companion piece to CP/SCs Blue Meanies episode... a primer on the Ska scene in the American Midwest from 1990-2010! First, Celine regales Rob and Joey with her trip to Italy before the trio run through 15 tracks of the weird, the trad and the punk. Rob builds the playlist focusing on the scenes in Chicago, Detroit and Chuck Wren's Jump Up Records. Expect tracks from Hot Stove Jimmy, Gangster Fun, Deal's Gone Bad and more!
Hosts: Rob, Celine and Joey
Engineer: Joey
Editor: Joey
Skassociate Producer: Chris Reeves of Ska Punk International
Merch: www.checkeredpast.ca/merch
Patreon: www.patreon.com/checkeredpast
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Transcript
Introduction and Midwest Ska Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
blawawa It's another trombonus episode, it's just Rob, Engineer Joey, Selin, and a pocket full of dreams as we Minnesota nice Michigan mean and Illinois strange giving a primer on Midwest Ska on Checkered Past the Skaadcast.
00:00:41
Speaker
What up Checkerheads, welcome to Checkerpass, the Scottcast of Selene and Rob. The show we're of was saying out loud, and i don't you know what Sky is? Explore the history and impact of a different band each episode. Hope to bring in new fans along the way. I'm Robins, my sister and co-host, Salin. You did a real Bobby's World voice. Yeah, the Minnesota- Don't you know, Babbie? Babbie. Yeah. I got it. Good. Thank you. And here for our trombonist is Engineer Joey. Hello. Hey. How's it going? It was quick and painless. Do you have a Bobby? Do you have a Bobby's World?
00:01:16
Speaker
Bobby Bobby's world No, the minnesota hack can you do it? do it say but gee stop juing me so hard you guys so Well, I can't do it don't i yeah yeah im not Don't you know don't you know? they don You know What do I get? Bobby's world is That was, uh, what's his head? The bald, weird guy that doesn't like germs. Another Canadian. Yeah. Why is he Canadian? Why, why was he doing that accent? He wasn't. His mom was. That's why we were saying Bobby. because Why didn't Bobby sound like that? I don't know. Nobody when i surely he sure. It doesn't sound like, uh, what's his name? Why am I blanking on his name now? Oh yeah. The guy who put the, the, the glove on his head. Howie Mandel. That's his name. That's right.
00:02:09
Speaker
but a Put the glove on his head. How weird to Mandelian. I was just like, the guy the guy who doesn't like germs. Yeah. I like that. that so The bald guy who doesn't like germs. The bald guy who doesn't like germs. Mr. Clean. I thought about it as a pandemic, and I was like, he was right. Also, he like just has severe OCD. Yeah, apparently. Yeah, he's like super open about it, yeah about how OCD he is about stuff.
00:02:33
Speaker
Good on him. What
Selin's Italian Travels and Challenges
00:02:34
Speaker
else do we know about Howie Mandel? He's Canadian. He actually, listened to this YouTube thing that like he was kind of getting canceled because he was on this like mental health podcast and a guy was trying to like relate to him and open up about OCD. And he would just kept like joke like joking about it. like He wants to be vulnerable and open about it, but like not because he's still kind of boomeried. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. yeah He's still an old guy. Someone was trying to have like an authentic, like vulnerable conversation about mental health with him. And he was just like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:03:03
Speaker
He is like an 80s cop. Yeah, yeah, so that was the issue. It's like bringing on Bobcat Goldway and expecting him. It was like a sensitive millennial talking to Howie Mandel. Yeah. Generational trauma. Yeah. Should we pick it up where we left off? Heck yeah, we should. Pick it up, pick it up. Where we left off. Pick it up, pick it up. Where we left off. Selin, talk to us about Italia. Ciao. Ciao, Bella. Stobene. What else? Como esta e?
00:03:32
Speaker
Gracias, mille. Vrei un betilia aqua fizante. What does that mean? I want a bottle of like fizzy water. Nice. Nice. Nice.
00:03:47
Speaker
Yeah. Tell us about it. Tell us the story. It was equal parts challenging and good. It was, we did three cities. We did Genoa, Santa Margherita and Rome. And then within Santa Margherita, we did day trips to like Cinco Terre and Portofino, which are famous. And Genoa was like the home of the focaccia and we had so much focaccia.
00:04:12
Speaker
And that was fun, and it's a cool port city. Aperitivo hour. Fuck yeah, so you just get brought free food for realsies if you just order a glass of wine from like five to seven. And that actually happened. I know you were excited. You're excited to do that. Yeah. And it actually. Genoa was the easiest. I feel like in Rome, because we were like in a lot of touristy areas, it was harder. But if we were like off touristy areas, it was good. um Yeah, I had lots of. we I was kind of on my friend's family trip. So there was like eight of us. And it was like two seniors, me and my friend, and then like a 19 year old, a 22 year old, a 10 year old and a 13 year old.
00:04:50
Speaker
So it's kind of wild. Yeah. We didn't spend like all of our time with them, but we stayed. We're going to stay with them. We had our own place in Genoa, which is my our nicest place. We stayed with them in Santa M and we had like a really shitty, there's a phrase in Italy.
00:05:05
Speaker
called Bella Figura and it's very much like beautiful life but it's like everything needs to look good but doesn't mean it like is good so there's this like awful art 3d art that was in the house that we like googled and each one was worth like 13 grand but then we had like the shittiest fucking pullout they had like $40,000 worth of art in their house between it all of the pieces but then like the
Italian Cuisine and Cultural Insights
00:05:28
Speaker
shittiest fucking pull out couch ever. And I'm not used to humidity being in dry, dry Canada. So we had this like dehumidifier that I had to like dump out four to five times a day, just sucking water from the air. So that was a little wild, but it was magical. And then my friend was like, I can't say it with my family anymore. So we last minute got this really shitty Airbnb in a row. We didn't know it was going to be shitty.
00:05:50
Speaker
But it was shit, like I'm five zero and my feet were hanging off the bed with like a fucking rock. And then they were doing Italian gaslighting and I was like, the door is broken. They're like, it's not broken. It's dysfunctional. I'm like, it's broken. I don't know what to say. They're like, it's not broken. I was like, I don't know if this is a translation thing.
00:06:08
Speaker
that brought out its functional yeah and they're like well we're ordering a new one i was like well then if you're ordering a new one isn't this one broken i don't know but they just like it was like four times they're like it's not broken i'm like i don't know what to tell you people um so that was fine but i had like four day insomnia i just like fucking straight up didn't sleep but the best food i've ever had obviously we just went to this restaurant that they like in a window you can see them like hand making the pasta and like hand rolling it out and Fucking so good. Cacio Pepe is so good. um Coffee has changed for me for sure. I can no longer have drip coffee. Has to be espresso, cappuccino. I have a mocha pot
International Travel Experiences
00:06:46
Speaker
and I've been frothing milk in my French press. So I'm Italian now. And it was really hard. i And then the fucking like flight home was like kind of a nightmare. We like had to run across the Amsterdam airport with like all four of the like kids because our gate got changed last minute.
00:07:02
Speaker
Like literally running. And Dutch people are like passive aggressive. I will say I'm going on record. um I have this is actually this is a good segue am because I think this is a very Midwest thing, but pop. Yes, I asked for a pop for like the younger and they like looked at it. Yeah, a pap.
00:07:23
Speaker
I was like, oh, and he wants a pop. And they were like, pop. And then she looked at her like, whatever, they spoke a little bit of Dutch. And then she's like, pop. And they looked back and they're like, pop, pop, pop. And I was like, oh, soda? Go Coca-Cola. And they're like, oh. No, pop, pop, pop. Searching their brains. Yeah, they're like, pop. And they're like, pop, pop. And I was like, oh, I'm so sorry.
00:07:48
Speaker
I saw lots of history, lots of old shit. It's really crazy. I wrote to go to Italy. Oh, this square we were staying in was like the only kind of like square that doesn't have a church because this like badass philosopher got crucified there who hated the Pope. And I did not go to the Vatican. No. And also I should just mention a lot of things were shut down because of the Jubilee and every hundred years. So don't go to Rome in 2025 because every hundred years I guess, I don't know, something to do with all your sins can be forgiven, so you'll have a bunch of fucking weird religious fanatics and serial killers in Rome. So I don't know, unless you like that, then go. Now the end. That could be spooky. A spooky trip to Rome 2025. CPSC, SPFS3 2025, Roma. Roma. Roma. CPSC with Rome.
00:08:40
Speaker
Do you think Roam played in Roam? Sublime with Roam. In the Pink Floyd was playing. And? I don't know what parts of Pink Floyd but in Circus Maximus where they used to do the chariot races and it's like a big fucking outdoor venue and it looks cool as hell.
00:08:58
Speaker
That's the only thing a concert there would be cool. That's the only reason to be like a fucking rock star like that is so you can live like you remember watching metal lock lips and they'd always play like on like aircraft carriers and shit like man,
Midwest Ska Primer
00:09:11
Speaker
they play the coolest shit like but circus playing at Circus Maximus is just fucking wild. That'd be great. Fucking Z yeah and when I went on an insane Vespa tour and we like started it it was like a neorealism Italian cinema tour, but basically I think they figured out we just wanted to ride on Vespas and they kind of dropped it and we just had a really insane, and intense Vespa ride. and Squiggling past cars. You squiggle, you squiggle, squiggle, squiggle, squiggle through and past cars. There's no lanes. People don't listen to lights. They'd be fucking insane to drive in Rome. Yeah. i Yeah. Any old ass European city. It just does not look like fun to be driving. No. Yeah. Uh, not like it did not built for cars. So pop what Canada and the Midwest have in common.
00:09:56
Speaker
So let's let's talk about the Midwest. That's what this is all about. So this is a primer on the Midwest SCA scene ah between 1990 and 2010. Not Midwest emo. Not Midwest Midwest SCA. Contemporaneous. I guess they're existing at the same time, weirdly enough.
00:10:17
Speaker
um So Midwest, as far as I know in the U.S., so you gotta correct me if I'm wrong Americans, something like from Minnesota to like Ohio? Is that the Midwest? It's from the middle to the west. But it's a large part of the east.
00:10:36
Speaker
Yeah, which is, yeah, so that part confuses me or like that part's on the east side of the country, but they still call it Midwest. Middle's pretty wishy washy. And, and, but then there's like the rust belt, but that's also part of the Midwest, but it's not the bread basket. I don't understand your categories in the U S is confusing. All of those, all of the place, like area names you just described are also the same names as like the bones on the operation board. Yes.
00:11:05
Speaker
You know, the rest belt, the bread basket. I see what you're saying. I said yes, like I knew what you were talking about, but really I didn't. And now I do. Cause it all had puns. I got it. Okay. Um,
00:11:19
Speaker
But we're going to be mostly concerned with Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, ah Michigan, I think I said all already. and the two she was again Michigan, again? Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and Missouri. That's what I got. Okay. Missouri. Missouri, yeah. And then Indiana, I guess, which is where people or Pacers play, right? I don't know. That's also where Parks and Rec is. That's where Erie is.
00:11:44
Speaker
People are going to be from these places and be just like, what? I'm so so sorry. I'm from Alberta. We're the, we're the Indiana of Canada. Hey, I got a question. of about with this how much colorado of canada How much do you know about Canadian geography Americans? yeah mean We got a lot of questions about that. Before you judge.
00:12:03
Speaker
Get a globe. Get a fucking globe, everyone. Get a globe. Get a globe. So get a globe. So by 1990s, Scott was still a bit of an underground sensation. It wasn't really mainstream yet, especially in the US. But it was still mostly concentrated in the two scenes on the east and the west coast. People were eating their mots of sticks in the dark at home. Yeah, they weren't.
00:12:24
Speaker
No, they weren't eating it. They had to eat them at a restaurant. They didn't have the can you make data it. with a Yeah, they had it with a fork and a knife. yeah still The Old Spaghetti Factory. The Old Spaghetti Factory. Ooh, I think that's a Canadian place.
00:12:37
Speaker
um and So you had the New York scene with like the toasters and you had your West Coast scene with like Fishbone and whatnot. But there was a bunch of stuff happening in and in around the Midwest, ah but it was all very localized scenes. We've actually talked about quite a few of these bands, so the Suicide Machines, Johnny Sacco, Slapstick, MU330, and then very recently the Blue Meanies. All of those were in the Midwest scene, so we will skip over a lot of them. This particular episode, again, is from 1990 to 2010.
00:13:08
Speaker
So I wanted to ignore kind of the more modern bands, which I will kind of touch on at the end. And I'll kind of be talking about the 80s bands, but mostly just the stuff they were doing in the 90s. And this is going to be in and around Chuck w Ren's label, Jump Up Records. And so at the top, I kind of said.
00:13:25
Speaker
You know, in my intro intro, my cold open, I said, Minnesota, nice Michigan mean Illinois, strange. Uh, which doesn't mean really anything except for a like, I compartmentalized the three sort of sections of Midwest Scott, which is like the trad stuff, the weird college stuff and like the Scott punk stuff. So we're going to kind of roll rotate through all those kinds of different ones.
00:13:50
Speaker
And I'm gonna do this in chronological
Unique Sounds and Influences of Midwest Ska
00:13:51
Speaker
order, starting in 1993, and going, and I'll also say what city in the Midwest these bands are from. So this is a band from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mustard Plug. Never heard of them, just kidding. Joey Flaupera, I was trying to change the volume.
00:14:18
Speaker
Um, for some reason, whenever I hear this song, I picture, like, the smiley hash browns. That's, like, what I picture. That's yours, Mr. Smiley. That's my Mr. Smiley. That song's about a serial killer. Is it? Yeah. I've never picked that up. No. I've listened to the song a long time. Until you went out on a killing spree and killed your family. Oh, I guess. I guess I thought I was, like, just the quirky guy.
00:14:45
Speaker
I think it was desensitized from all the ICT murder leaders. Oh, probably, yeah. It would have been the same time. Like, doesn't everybody kill their family? Same place. Yeah. Same place. Yeah. Yeah. What was one of the Michigan bands obsessed with, like, killing stuff? Killing, yeah. They have a lot of serial killers from the midwest, if you like. Yeah. Too much to... There's not a lot to do there. Just, like, people's emotions depressed, right? Like, I feel so much kinship with...
00:15:10
Speaker
The Midwest. Yeah, Prairies and Midwest seem similar. Yeah. like Oh, yeah. They were very similar. So we haven't actually done like a mustard plug episode or like overdue. That was from their first record or second, I guess, depending on how you want to call it, from Big Daddy Multitude. um This was before they were freshmen, before they were living in a box and before they were a beer song. um This was Mr. Smile. That first record is Wild.
00:15:38
Speaker
It's ah a lot of very silly songs about being a ska band, and then ah songs about like murderers. but so Those are two good topics to sing about, I suppose. If you're going to pick two things, you know? Be ska, kill people. yeah Yeah. It's just like Ice Nine Kills now, except for it's Be Metalcore and Kill People.
00:16:00
Speaker
All right, this next band is called the Weaker Youth Ensemble. They're from Madison, Wisconsin, and this is a song called Time Bomb from 1993, two years before Rancid did a Time Bomb song. Not that Time Bomb. Beer and cheese, I feel like, is the Midwest. Wisconsin, especially. Wisconsin, especially beer and cheese. Yeah. Milwaukee is where they make a lot of beers.
00:16:34
Speaker
Also it's where the Foreman's be funny if like the george the the enormous George Foreman on claim lived in Wisconsin though.
00:17:04
Speaker
This is very fast. Yeah, they're very cool.
00:17:11
Speaker
This is sweet, I've never heard it before. They're super indie. I think they only put out like, I'm gonna double check this. Oh yeah, it was an EP and ah and an album. But they were pretty teeny tiny, but yeah.
00:17:28
Speaker
basically built up the Wisconsin Scott scene and they were, uh, they were remained stay on the American Scott thick compilations, which I've talked about before, yeah which I really think people should listen to if they want to know more, but we're still kind of getting a feel for the style that you'll expect kind of from this, which is that it's all very, like, it is very two tone influence, but they're also kind of like.
00:17:52
Speaker
weird? I don't know, the only way I can put it. There's always something a little weird about all these songs. It is kind of hard to really put your finger on what the ah Like they do have a similar sound, but that it's all a little, it's pretty different yeah sonically. So it is kind of, yeah, it's a weird. It's different sonically. Like it goes really fast and collect gold rings. It loves chili cheese dogs. It has a friend and me relationship with Knuckles. Yeah, but it's different. It's shadow. yeah yeah Black one, red stuff. It has a gun. It's really angsty. Sonically. Sonically. angsty. It's angsty. It's sonically. All right, and let's listen to this song called School Clothes by Hot Stove Jimmy from Chicago. Hot Stove Jimmy. Yeah, they're so good. Hot Stove Jimmy walks in grooves? I don't know. It just went hard at first. It's the only connection.
00:19:00
Speaker
This is crazy. They were contemporaries of the blue meanies. From the same scene. Yeah, I can see that.
00:19:11
Speaker
It is weird. Yeah. Got that circusy element. Yeah. I like the snotty box.
00:19:31
Speaker
Yeah, this is sweet. I'll stow Jimmy's rules. They got brought up in the Power Up episode we just did. Not mad at Hot Stow Jimmy. What's the name? What's the deal with the name? Hot Stow Jimmy? Yeah. I don't know, it's cool though. I like it. It's not just like some guy who like...
00:19:49
Speaker
Hey, keep your hands off the hot stove, Jimmy. I don't know. It's a warning. Yeah. I think it's like, you know, like with Johnny Sacco, Hot Stove Jimmy. I feel like they all had names like that. They were named after a character or something. Or they're just like something stupid, you know? Yeah. Johnny Sacco was an anime, right? Isn't that what we found out? I don't remember that. I can't remember that. That was a long time ago. That was a long time ago. I blocked it out a long time ago.
00:20:17
Speaker
All right, now we're gonna go to a band. This band is one of the OG American Ska Bands, and they put out a whole bunch of stuff in the very early 80s, pre-fishbone, pre-toasters. And they are from Chicago as well. They were called Heavy Manners, but they had ah released a record in 1996 that's fan fantastic. And this is a song called Flamin' First. It's like one of the more popular songs. Heavy Manners. Heavy Manners. As opposed to Bad Manners. Yes. So their manners are neither bad or good.
00:20:46
Speaker
but they're massive. Massive, yeah.
00:20:59
Speaker
They'll be saying sorry. Yeah. Heavy manners, being from the Midwest. That's right. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. That's us. Yeah. We don't saw, we saw. We saw. Sorry.
00:21:18
Speaker
This sounds like Chicago. yeah The vocals are sick. Oh yeah, she's such a good singer. It sounds so gangster-y. You know? Yeah, yeah. It's giving old school scar. Very two-tone, yeah. Lots of saxophone. Wailing on the sax.
00:21:42
Speaker
Yeah, you can see that they...
Notable Bands and Styles in Midwest Ska
00:21:44
Speaker
were early 80s, very influenced by the early stuff. Yeah. Yeah. They're so good. Heavy Manners, Chicago, Illinois. Crazy. Man, imagine just being that band at that time. Nah. Like the only one. The only one. Just the only one. Just the only, like, in America. In America at the time. And then all of a sudden, 10 years later, they're like, Jesus Christ, there's like 50 of them now. They're just in this city.
00:22:09
Speaker
ah This next band is a cult classic. I think this is the one that it I think people would love for us to do a full episode on, because they get brought up a lot as like, I don't know, one of the ones that didn't get their due during their time. This is a band called The Siren Six from Minnie and Annapolis. What? Where? From where? In Minnie and Minnie's soda. 1996.
00:22:43
Speaker
Is this fun? Yeah. I love the vocals. Good keys? Yeah. I think Oregon plays a big part in the Midwest sound too. There's a lot of Oregon in the bands. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Are you trying to say there's a lot of heart in it? Yeah.
00:23:03
Speaker
Yes, there's a lot of Lots of skin. of skin. Lots of skin. We got skin in the game. That's what Rob is. Rob is metaphorical. Yeah. I like that we all dogpiled on that. Flynn had one and then Joey. You could just see that the gears turning and then Joey's dead. The gear is what are other organs? yeah That's a good gear.
00:23:34
Speaker
This is fine. I love it. I feel like everything else you played was better than this. Oh yeah, it's just a little bit more. right There's nothing wrong with it, but you played me better stuff. there is People love that band. People are clamoring for Sirens 6. They love Sirens. I thought it'd be like, you made it sound like there was gonna be women. Why? Because of Sirens. I thought it'd be like six women, six sexy women. oh Because I said siren? That's why you thought it was good because you wanted it to be women and it wasn't. Yeah, boo. Should we play that heavy manner song again? Yeah, I mean. Go back to that one. ah This is, okay, this next one is the exceptions. This is also 1996. I feel like this is, Joey's gonna enjoy this one. Five finger discount. I like so songs about stealing. Except for except for being caught stealing, that's all it sucks. What, is that Jane's addiction? Yeah.
00:24:31
Speaker
I love that they got in a fight on stage. Bunch of fucking billionaires. Idiots. The punch, we all wanted to give. Dave Navarro right in the fucking face. Yeah, absolutely. Or Perry Farrell. Yeah, both of them. They both deserve a punch in the face. Dave Navarro creeped on me on Facebook back in the day when I was doing more alt modeling. This is weird.
00:25:00
Speaker
This is fine. This is Joey coded. Not so encoded. Breakdown sort of.
00:25:13
Speaker
It's kind of got to like a little bit of a real big fishy thing going on, though. You think so? They're like really like they're a little bit more like a sort of jelly beans or like those kind of bands like close. Yeah, yeah. Not not nearly as.
00:25:27
Speaker
They're goofy, but I'd say they're a little bit, like, punkier. A little bit more like punks. Yeah, yeah. They're like, the album cover of this one is called Five Finger Discount, and it's just like this cartoon of a guy whose fingers are all missing and blood squirting out of his fingers. How? I like that. Yeah, it's pretty fun. How? All right. Just kidding. We've got one more. This is a band that got brought up very recently.
00:25:48
Speaker
They are from, ah oh that last band and the exceptions are from Detroit, Michigan. This band is also from Detroit, Michigan. They are the Insiders, the song's called Carnival.
00:26:02
Speaker
I don't know if you remember who the Insiders were, Joey slash Selene. No. What their whole deal is. What's their whole deal? No, I do not. Okay, well listen. You tell us lots of things all the time. yeah I know, this they got brought up in a very recent episode. his name How recent?
00:26:17
Speaker
ah The most recent? No, Jordan Morris' episode. Okay, very recent.
00:26:26
Speaker
This is very good. That's sweet, yeah. That's a crazy horn line. think That's sounds's like a melody like singing almost. Oh, so it's raffy.
00:26:44
Speaker
Yeah. Was it brought up because it was a kind of college-y bro-ey? No. Oh. This is cool. This is low-key, kind of slim-coded. Yeah, it's pretty sick. I'm a talk singer. If I'm anything. Yeah. And this album, Motor City Sky, is pretty good. It's very listenable. It's got a lot of cool stuff going on in it. Sweet. Very listenable is like, I'm sure, like,
00:27:14
Speaker
When our album comes out, I'll get similar comments. The reason why I say that is because they love Jesus so much. I was like, it's gotta be a religious event. I can't listen to it. I can't. That's how I feel. I was like, I can listen to this one, man ah despite all the Jesus, like it is very, it's not five iron, like Sometimes we sing about a combs. This is like straight up. We sing about Jesus every single song Okay, and then every other album is a him cover album P and&W. Yeah, a lot of a lot of praise and words. H. I am or H. I. M. N. Fucking like him. H. Y. M. N. That's what I said. no H. I. M. Or H. Y. M. N. He said H. I. M. N. Which was kinda funny. I meant to say Y. Him and I said Y. His infernal majesty. Lots of like. actually him Oh, I was like, that's crazy. They do God ones and they do devil ones. Does Bam know? Does Bam know? Bam's favorite ska band, The Insiders. Yeah. Well, if they're doing him covers, it would be. I'm so trying to think of a hymn song right now that I can find ska. Me too. I cannot think of a single one. Oh, ah Jesus Christ. Now, I do... it Jesus Christ, that's what they're singing about.
00:28:32
Speaker
Every time I get a mosquito bite, i and I say I'm being eaten alive by bugs, which is absolutely a hymn reference, and I'm trying to remember the even the original. like I wasn't that into hymn.
00:28:45
Speaker
Buried Alive by Love, that's the name of the song. God damn it. There you go. You got there. Everybody go look up him. Watch CKY2K. Just watch CKY2K. Yeah, you might as well get that out of it. Just get that out of your system, it's better. All right, let's take a break. And when we get back, we got more sky.
00:29:16
Speaker
Welcome back to Checkered Past. Slinn, Joey, and Rob here, and we're talking about the Midwest ska scene of the 90s and early 2000s. Now we're gonna talk about a band I've been meaning to talk to, ah about talk to, but talk about since we started this podcast. Talk at you, talk at you about. This is Gangster Fun, and this is a song about a stove that comes to life and eats the main character from 1998, Pontiac, Michigan. Let's listen to this one. This has been on pot before.
00:29:45
Speaker
We've listened to this song for some reason. Ah, not on Halloween. Was it on Halloween? It was a Halloween playlist thing, I think. Yep. Good for me. I'm glad I brought it back. Yeah. The snow is alive with the sound of music. Yeah, I do remember this
00:30:16
Speaker
Yeah, this song rules. This record, pure sound, pure amphetamines, love it so much.
00:30:26
Speaker
They do crazy covers on all their records, i'll where they do like ah like old swing covers. I think that's a big one. and They do like a Jungle Book cover in like one of them. It's really good. This is cool. You know it's cool? I know it's cool.
00:30:45
Speaker
I know, I don' know how great this song is and how great the rest of this record is. Uh, is that a fucking love? Well, it's the last minute and a half of the song. Yeah. Um, that's a good sign though. Usually I'm like not wanting, yeah usually I'm over things and I want the song. That's a good sign. I said that too. They were around since like 87, 86 ish. So they're not heavy manners old, but they're still one of the OG.
00:31:14
Speaker
Scott bands are not as many years young as heavy fires Where is Pontiac in relation to Detroit ah close because ah the car thing it's all already called Pontiac. oh yeah yeah makes sense uh yeah that's all like i mean black shoes black hat pony yak i don't know that guy's not a time bomb like guy bar that the guy is the guy just guy no the song says something different um but yeah uh their first record i think is called come see come ska
00:31:54
Speaker
And then I think there's... That's funny. if That's very French-Canadian. And then their second one is Time Flies When You're Gangster Fun, which is also amazing. That is pretty good. They're very witty. They're on it. They're very witty. They're on it. They know what's up. Everything is like a nice, cur crisp joke. like They would have liked CPSC. They really would have. I think they would have i think that's that's what I'm learning is that they would have gotten our shtick.
00:32:19
Speaker
um Okay, so what we haven't talked about is the big trad scene that blew up in the Midwest, and it kind of came around a little bit later. But Chuck Wren, when he was doing Jump Up, was really focused in the 90s on all these like college bands, and then the trad scene started to pick up, and he sort of just shifted towards them. Yeah, pick it up. So here's one of the the first ones to do it, and they're deals gone bad. This is from 1998.
00:32:47
Speaker
And they are from Chicago. Chicago. Apparently Chicago is a very fun city. Where they know a lot about pirates. Pirates, obviously. They do a lot of songs about pirates. They love Judge Dredd. The comic book. No, the the reggae artist. Okay. Yeah.
00:33:08
Speaker
That's why they make a lot of movie jokes. This would have been before the movie, I believe. Yes. Thank you for acknowledging this one. I was trying to think, I think the movie was like 95, and this is earlier than that, right? The song? Yeah. 98. Oh, so good, man. Maybe it is about the sliced alone vehicle. Who knows?
00:33:29
Speaker
I don't like these vocals. No, little pie tasteries.
00:33:38
Speaker
I don't... something about it. Feels like he's holding back from a faken. Jamaican. Could be. Yeah, I get that. Just like a slight... like a... whole back. Their songs are very dirty. I don't know, but I like limericks. They're not limericks. They're like limericks. Once was a man from Nantucket. Kept all his cash in a bucket. They just seemed...
00:34:08
Speaker
Slim like that one. It was a good one. No, they're lewd. Yeah. A lot of songs about the boat. Blue? Yeah, they get very blue. Yeah. All right. That's kind of where the pie tasters start. I walked into a bar with a naked lady and two other naked ladies. Tell me a thing I could think of that was blue.
00:34:31
Speaker
yeah is it
00:34:35
Speaker
Naked ladies. Same year, there was another band that was in this trad scene in Chicago. They were called The Adjusters, and the song is called Pressure 24. Do the abruptors know? Yeah. I think so. Do you think each person in the band adjusted something different? Shut up, a woman is singing. Whoa.
00:35:02
Speaker
You just adjusted my attitude.
00:35:06
Speaker
You got
Evolution and Influence of Midwest Ska
00:35:07
Speaker
adjusted attitude. I like this. Yeah, this is good. Oh, hell yeah. OK. He's an Oregon's man. That's cool.
00:35:27
Speaker
This is old school as hell. This is two tone as hell. This is cool. This rules. Yeah, the adjusters. A little bit more chill. Okay. This weed smoking music. A little slackers-y. Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:43
Speaker
with a lady and the do And the dude good. Yeah, He kind of sounds like Aaron, but with more of a pronoun.
00:35:55
Speaker
You're on serious vibrato. I've been on vibrato watch. I'm on my own vibrato watch. I'm in a band with a girl who has an insane vibrato. Keep it barret.
00:36:08
Speaker
Keep the vibrato to a minimum. Keep it barret. Keep barret and carry on. Anyway, yeah, the adjusters, they're cool. Yeah, that was great. Yeah, that was cool.
00:36:20
Speaker
This next song is going to be familiar to people who have listened to compilations. There's a misspelling though. It's supposed to be Gidget. That's my dog. This is a band from 1999 called The Gidgetz. That's called The Gidgetz. There's bands from Kansas City. We're not in Michigan and Illinois anymore. Also, how cute is The Gidgetz? Did we start a band called The Gidgetz? We just changed families. Called The Gidgetz and then made us do this song, but Bad Gidgetz? Let's listen to it and see if you want to. That's a great song. This is a classic. What an awesome song.
00:37:00
Speaker
It already has kind of like a 60's- Surfer-y kind of thing. Gidget yeah it was like a 60's surfer movie. It was. They were on Hellcat. That sounds about right. yep Hey, that's the sound my band ripping off.
00:37:28
Speaker
This is cool. Okay, I'll be the kind of have a... a Brit vibe about them. A little bit, yeah. Does that mean in something? I hear UK influence. I mean, two Tony kind of thing. I guess. Sort of.
00:37:50
Speaker
But his vocal delivery is very 77 punk. Yeah. Yeah. They feel very like out of time. like Yeah, totally. Very like unmodern, like unperturbed by modern and influences at all. is like yeah we I don't listen past 88, man. Nothing could have happened after 88. That's the exact vibe. But it rules and the gadgets are fucking sick. Really good band to check out. I always forget that they're not for me. Also check out my new band, The Gidget. And our song, Good Gidget.
00:38:25
Speaker
ah Good Gidget. Yeah, just one Gidget. Na, na, na. Oh yeah, you're so good. So good. Good Gidget. And I just gave you a song that you can sing to Gidget. She has good recall, she's very cute. She is stinky, but I'm not gonna boot her, because she's me. Writes itself. Yeah.
00:38:48
Speaker
Here's another band that gets brought up all the time. This is a band called Animal Chin from 1999 from Minneapolis. I've scratched an Animal Chin once or twice. Speaking of when a good digits. Named after the skateboarding film, I assume. That is correct. They are skateboard-y in their delivery. They're skate-y sounding, yeah. Wasn't that snare drum?
00:39:20
Speaker
The song was on Misfits 2, I think. Cardiovascular exercise with that walking bassline. Let's do them go.
00:39:41
Speaker
fun. Yeah, I guess Midwest God can be mid. Ouch. It's a little out of step. I'll say this is like, There's nothing wrong with it. It's fine. It's not bad music. There's nothing wrong with it. So far, the two like cult classics on here that people are like all waiting for, which is Animal Chin and The Siren Six, got a got mid from Selene. Well, your memory is mistaking you because I heard a couple fucking way better songs on this list.
00:40:13
Speaker
ah
00:40:16
Speaker
That was good, I liked that. Yeah. That was Joey-coated. That was Joey-coated. yeah They skateboard. They just think about skateboarding. Sweet. So that's all you need. Boring. Kickflip. Ollie. Melon. Ollie. That'd be amazing. That'd be an amazing band thing if if all of your lyrics were just skateboarding buzzwords.
00:40:39
Speaker
I'm sure someone's done it. Nice, probably, yeah. Not a whole band, maybe. And maybe not a whole band, shtick, for sure, for a song. Well, the Gidget's, we could pivot. You're just real, like, trying to pick this off the ground. you just I don't want to waste time on the Gidget's. Pick up the fucking bass, Rob. We're in the Gidget's now.
00:41:00
Speaker
All right, this is another band that people, and this is, ah this next one is from a a band called Orange Tree that were made up of XMU330 people that aren't don Dan Pod-assed. I saw some orange trees in Italy. Whoa. There was one day in our Airbnb. G Danny? No.
00:41:20
Speaker
What are you, uh, nami on the thousand sunny and one piece where you just got orange trees just in your. thats sweet and One piece is huge right now. Yeah. Kids love one piece. Like one piece of pizza. They love one piece of chocolate. I feel like they don't want one because I feel like they can want several pieces, but they love at least one. I don't, I don't love one, one piece.
00:41:49
Speaker
This song is called soda and it's not by gob. That's fun. It's not pop. Not pop. Yeah, we'll have to tweet at us or join our Patreon and message us in the Discord about pop the soda. Pop the soda. Soda not pop. If you're one of those people that calls everything Coke, get out of here. Aaron says cola.
00:42:13
Speaker
Yeah, Cola is legitimate because it covers all of the brands but is a specific type of pop that you might want. You know who's on vibrato watch? Reese motherfucking Roper. Oh yeah, he's got vibrato for days. The amount of times I get tagged in any picture that he looks good in. You're like faking. Fine, but it's also like I'm like he's going to see it and it's getting weird. Right click, save photo. yeah
00:42:49
Speaker
and
00:42:52
Speaker
It wasn't until we interviewed him that I was like, he looks like a supermodel on webcam, facial structures wild. There were points when he was just like eight pixels and he was still super handsome. he yeah We like talked over that entire song. Yeah, that was fun though. They're the most third wavy band. Yeah, that was definitely like ah having having a good time.
00:43:17
Speaker
we, is it about like drinking sodas with, with your friends, yeah yeah having a SOTY pop one reading some comic books. Apparently the Mormons in Utah, like that's a big thing because of like not drinking. It's like soda places. So like first thing in the morning, just like fucking, and that's how like water talk got started. what that I was excited for you to ask me. I showed you Curtis Cotter and do all my YouTube kids.
00:43:46
Speaker
But um it's like basically kind of like ASMR and people have like big nails or whatever, and like stir things and the like add a bunch of fucking crazy ass insane sugary flavor. They turn water into pop. That's not carbonated. Yeah. And then they claim that's water. Drinking water. Yeah. But that is a big thing is like to get like a really insane different kind of soda in Utah specifically, I guess, instead of um whatever, instead of like coffee as well and alcohol. Makes sense. Pap. Pap. Soda. The bigger the root beer there because it doesn't have caffeine. Caffeine. Caffeine. I mean, I think the Coke is the fucking workaround. Pepsi and Coke are like the workaround to get caffeine for Mormons. so They're like, they don't all drink zero. No, they love caffeine. I think they would like want like it's like.
00:44:38
Speaker
I'll stop. I was gonna say things weird, Mormon sex things. So i that's all I'll say. right And we can move on. yeah yeah Soaking is one of them.
00:44:52
Speaker
Workarounds, loopholes, they love them. All right. Who doesn't? Who doesn't? Here's a band from the Midwest. I don't know if you know they're from the Midwest. They're called We Heart of the Union. Oh. And this is a, I don't know if you know that they had started in the mid 2000s. I did. And this is from their first record. This is a song called War on Everything. This is nice. There's women. There's non-binary folk in the band. At this time, Jer would not have been in it. No, Jer wouldn't have been in the band. Yeah, they joined. There's
Legacy of Midwest Ska
00:45:20
Speaker
women. Yes, for sure. At least one. Right up front and center.
00:45:24
Speaker
read there's woman in band I love woman in band. I love woman in band. That would be a good checkered past God cast shirt as my face and it says I love woman in band. Why don't you just steal it for femboy? Yeah, I love woman in band. Femboy is a little cooler than checkered past his God cast. We're not as silly. Don't watch our videos and call me out that we're not as silly.
00:46:03
Speaker
As long as they did the last words No matter how absurd
00:46:13
Speaker
This is such a like album. Yeah, so this is really. Really ahead of their time. Yeah, so ahead of their time. I'm not going to like don't don't bury We Are The Union because of like their last record was so influential, but their first fucking record is crazy influential. like Like the production. I haven't heard that before. That was good. The whole record is awesome. It's very, very good. And like I remember it sounds like a big studio song. they were and that That sounds like a song that should be popular. Like they had crossover appeal, which was kind of part of it. Like they could have. That's like radio playable. That's a radio playable song. Yes. And they were on big tours and they were like, you know, rep and ska out there out there on them streets. Hell yeah. Yeah.
00:46:59
Speaker
So we're going to end it in 2010 with a band called the Green Room Rockers. And this is a song called Conqueror. Free movie. From Lafayette, Indiana. I believe Boss. Yeah. Boss reggae.
00:47:25
Speaker
Both. I love listening to Boss. I love being called a boss when I order an air. It's great. I guess.
Edmonton's Music Scene and Canadian Nightlife
00:47:34
Speaker
This is great. Makes me feel cool. I'm just going to say it though. I think it's a cultural thing. Yeah. I don't love the name. Green Room Rockers feels like the very first draft name for a band. Yeah. I like this kind of singing. But this song is sick. Yeah, it's kind of AgriLite. Very AgriLite-y. This is up my alley. I didn't know what I liked was two-tone until this podcast. Scawpunk and two-tone. Yeah. Third wave. Except I did like Mr. Smiley. It's so third wave. It's so third wave. Pretty third wave-y. The Buster plug is awesome. The Buster plug is awesome. That was cool. What's that green room? Do they exist? No. Not no more.
00:48:23
Speaker
Not no more. Not no more. They're all gone. I ate a whole avocado. That's a shirt. Put your face on it. I ate a whole avocado during this podcast. Maybe for SPI Fest next year, we'll just have your face on it, and then we'll screen print random phrases on it. And one offs. And they're all different. One offs. They're all different. I ate a whole avocado. I like woman in band. Real big fish white noise.
00:48:50
Speaker
It's just the faith tape. We're not brain worm. We're not where'm not too You were not something that no something that I've like um kind Like contradicted myself on would be good ah like did that a lot So what do you think of the Midwest ska scene of the 90s? I'm impressed. Well, I'm pleasantly surprised. They were really Bein road warriors for the cause. Yeah You know what I mean? Like, it sounds like there are a lot of bands toiling away in the Midwest at a time when there was not much Ska. And, thanklessly thanklessly toiling away, keeping it going. I think, this is my theory, that the reason why they're so different and kind of weird and kind of like... specific is that there was like basically no hope of a major label like yeah to like New York had moon and then you had and yeah jump up in the Midwest but like in Like major labels are signing all the l LA bands basically So these bands kind of have free rein to kind of do whatever the fuck they want because they didn't have a shit about getting signed Yeah, the suicide machines were the only ones that really broke out
00:49:59
Speaker
None of the other ones really did. I know it blew me and he's had that one. And then they got on Disney's label. Yeah. Okay, what did I like? Tell me what I liked. Do you like mustard plug? Yeah. You liked weaker youth ensemble. I did. You liked hot stove Jimmy. I did like hot stove Jimmy. You liked heavy manners. And then siren six disappointed me because no women. and then immediately after a woman. You liked the insiders. Yeah. You liked Gangster Fun. Did I? Yeah. Oh yeah, that was silly. That was fun. That was spooky. I really liked that, actually. You liked the adjusters, but not deals gone bad. You liked the gadgets. Gadgets, but did I or did I just do bib? I don't know. I guess we had to know. We don't know. You did not like Animal Chain. No. Not as much on Orange Tree, either. You liked We Are The Union. And Lot 2. And Green Room Rockers. And Gur. And Gur. Lot 2 and Gur. I like Gur.
00:50:46
Speaker
from the invaders. Do you think they called themselves? I know I love to make room for the cupcakes. It was me. I was the turkey all along. ah fuck i got I was a youthful goth girl, so I did like Ger from invaders. Who doesn't?
00:51:03
Speaker
i have ah I still have a battered copy of fucking Johnny the homicidal maniac sitting around at home somewhere. When are you gonna bust that out for your son? Yeah, I gotta be just like, hey, will you like comics? He gets a little sad. He starts getting sad. yeah Your a little bit better. Give him the one with the kid with the two like dough boys. squee Uh, no, the dough boys is Johnny. That's the one. Oh, is it? I thought we got involved with the dough boys. Johnny had the dough boys in his basement and they're on the wall, right? This is, this is so specific. J T H M lower mother bugger. Yeah. Yeah. Then go watch the, uh, fucking, I feel like Yonen Vasquez hasn't canceled. No, he has not. MSI has. Yes, but Jonin Vasquez has not and I feel like he could have been creepy to like underage goth girls at the time and he wasn't and I know that's a really fucking low bar but god that's all we have so like he could have and he didn't thank god. Yeah what was with like goth dudes being predators like why was that a thing? I'll try to write the book eventually but I don't have the answers right now.
00:52:10
Speaker
All right, here's my little outro. After the 2010s, there are a lot of bands that popped up and are big parts of the modern Ska scene, so we I didn't really talk about them. They were influenced directly or indirectly by the aforementioned bands, as well as some other Dark Ages bands.
00:52:23
Speaker
Many of them have appeared on the show, and some of them are just ones we've talked about. These include, here's a big list, Devin Kay and the Solutions, the Prizefighters, Poindexter, Jay Navarro and the Traders, Plastic Presidents, Gray Matter, Boss Battle, Bumsie and the Moochers, Lumpy, Runaway Ricochet. And then here's some bands we've never talked about that were also in the Midwest. I thought FRS was Midwest. No, they're in the South, the South East, South East. South East. Oh, South East. Yeah. See, I don't understand the states, I'm sorry.
00:52:52
Speaker
um Here's the bands we didn't talk about today. Isaac Green and the Scholars, another band called the Scholars. So yes, there are three. With the pun? Both of them have the pun? or Only one of the three bands called the Scholars actually did the pun properly. okay And that's Isaac Green and the Scholars.
00:53:10
Speaker
um There's also a band called Suspect Bill, The Eclectic Telegraph, The Park of Kings, Ska Pone, The Pacers, The Invaders, many, many more. Park of Kings is kind of a hard name. I love the Park of Kings. That's pretty good. They're very chill. They're they' not very hard at all. No, no, I just like that it's like a good name. That's a sweet band name for some reason. Very Ska. It's such a Ska name. Very Midwest. yeah Yeah, they park us. Where else are you going to get park us? Canada. Yeah. Park us fucking rich out here. Parker rich in Canada. You want some parkas? Come to Canada. Park a car in front of the bar and go sit in it if you're cold. That's what a lot of people do. Maybe not in the bar. A lot of people do that in Edmonton. It's gross. Do what? They park a car in front of the bar. You drive to the bar and then you don't need a jacket because your vehicle's at the bar. right so when you want to go outside to smoke you go smoking your vehicle it takes so long to heat it up i've witnessed this since playing in a cover band i've witnessed this on a lot of occasions we're playing in this cover band you see like a like a side of edmonton that i just don't see honestly one venue we play at a mexican resort energy yeah one venue we play at i can see
00:54:29
Speaker
through a window into the parking lot while we're playing and the sets are really long and sometimes I'm just looking out the window seeing what's going on while I'm playing and I see some wild shit out there.
00:54:40
Speaker
i um was did a very like edmonton thing yesterday and i like with ginie and i was like a one double vodka Caesar in, and it hit me a little bit. We walked past Blues on White, and I was like, honestly, low key, best place in the city. And some of you guys, yeah. And I mentioned it so sincerely in a guy who was like, and the patio is so awesome in the summer. And I was like, he knows. I was like, this guy fucking knows. The old like cougar, but it is kind of amazing. blue They have like a bunch of crazy Beetlejuice decorations. I know, they're terrible. but
00:55:13
Speaker
that that patio was a dis disaster i are they one because they built a gigantic vibes without any permits and then they got in trouble for hear me out building a patio without a bunch of permits and then people were mad about it it's like What did you expect was going to happen? That's so Edmonton. That's so Edmonton. Yep. Build out like 20,000 to 20 to $50,000 at the patio. Like I'm not shitting you. They built this huge fucking trash. It's wild. And they re revamped an entire area that was a parking lot. And now it's a patio.
00:55:57
Speaker
They put a lot of money into it, they didn't get a single fucking permit for the entire thing. Which is fucking baller. I love that. I've had to do so many permits for my business for such dumb shit and wait so long to do tiny things that I'm just like, yeah, do it, fucking do it. And you know, if you just did that thing, you would have been dinged like instantaneously. Yeah, they would
Conclusion and Next Episode Teaser
00:56:15
Speaker
have caught me. We would have had to have serious consequences to our actions. They had that patio for two, three years before anything even yeah got roll blues on white lord yeah yeah so if yeah yeah You haven't experienced so you've gone to blues on white now that the strat we should have taken bond break We just didn't have time. We just didn't have to they would have liked it though. They would have they seem to like dirt bag you'll like Edmonton I think and they were just dirt baby enough to like like it yeah
00:56:46
Speaker
Thanks for listening to Checker Pass. Hit us up on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at CheckerPassPods. Send us an email at checkerpasspod at gmail dot.com. To support the podcast, you can sign up for the Checker Head Patreon to get the episodes uncut in both audio or video format, or you can buy some merch at checkerpass.ca. Our trombonuses are engineered and edited by Joey, that's me and our trombonus theme was provided by Keelan.
00:57:06
Speaker
Next week we have Aaron Carnes of In Defense of Scott to talk about the chinkies. Until next time, what did you say I'm Rob, so lyn and Joey, and in immortal words of the gadgets, Rob you're such a fucking bonehead kid you get what you deserve and I'm glad. In the words of Gidget.