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TromBonus - 62 - Zox
199 Plays1 month ago
It's time to take a breather from the Heptember bracket to dig in on another dark ages Ska cult classic, Zox! Rob and Engineer Joey do a quick pick it up before digging in on Zox's 00's discography from their ska heavy first album to their Side One Dummy sleeper hit to their indie rock inspired final album. Oh and they have a violin!
Hosts: Rob and Joey
Engineer: Joey
Editor: Cutman
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 Episode Theme
00:00:00
Speaker
wap wp wow It's another trombonus episode, it's just Rob, engineer Joey in a pocket full of dreams as we head back to the dark ages to get all pizzicato with the ska band with the strongest chins in the game, Zox, on Checkered Past, the Skycast.
Celine's Absence and Italian Humor
00:00:40
Speaker
What up, Checkerheads? Welcome to Checker past the SCODcast with Celine and Rob. The show of ah Scaldy's Over Seasons and Skagginini's Capricci 420 explore the history and impact of a different band each episode hope to bring in new fans along the way. I'm Rob, and this is my co-host with the most toast, Engineer Joey. Hi, that was classical music things, right? Yeah, it was classical music. With all these four seasons.
00:01:08
Speaker
But I said over seasons, the 40 zero song. Right. And then Gaggenini's Capricci 420. As opposed to. Whatever number it is. I can't remember. Some some number some double digit number. I was going to put 69, but I was like, you know what? It's SCA though. Yeah. 420. 420. Right. That's what we're all here for. it Yeah.
00:01:32
Speaker
It's all funny. It's all funny jokes. It's all funny. And the reason why I was doing this, I was going to say we should pick it up where we left off, but normally that's Celine's deal and Celine's not with us no longer. That's true. Praise be. She's in a different country.
00:01:49
Speaker
Yeah. She's in Italia. Yeah. Ciao. Ciao. Ciao Bella. Right. As they say. Excuse. She was like, she was listening to a thing and she was like, you just got to really over pronounce like everything. It's very funny. Excuse. So you're supposed to lean into the Italian?
00:02:14
Speaker
Yeah. And all the E's on the end, you put those E's on the end. That's supposed to be there. They don't, they don't have silent letters. Apparently they just, they're supposed to be in there. You say those E's and you put emphasis on them. So what about in like, when we're talking about like, like deli meats and you, and you say like Kappa Cole and more to Dell and they completely skipped the last syllable. I don't know. What about that, Joey? I don't know. Ask the one which gets back.
00:02:44
Speaker
No, ask her now.
Italian Puns and Ska Band Transition
00:02:46
Speaker
What's app call? Yeah. What's app FaceTime? What's app FaceTime? Video call. yeah How do you pronounce Mortadella? Quickly ask them.
00:03:00
Speaker
uh them right because she's she's with legit she's there people yeah right now yeah yes um um fun fact those two people from my intro also italian oh that's fine that was that on purpose that's the whole thing that's the theme no it just ended up that way okay it just kind of ended up that way because there's a further theme to this Okay, this is there's a triple layer to the intro pun today. Whoa, like a like a ah pet pizza with three layers but what you call Why didn't you say lasagna that's better I was trying to think of some sort of food from there with three layers that I could not some sort of Italian layers the tiramisu lasagna
00:03:48
Speaker
Big ziti. So you said the thing that famously has one layer pizza.
00:03:58
Speaker
but dug deeper you know I guess what? I guess the Chicago deep dish one could argue is a layered pizza, right? and yeah It has multiple layers or it's just one super thick layer. I don't know. What do we what do we do with that semantics? Right? man That's right.
00:04:17
Speaker
Um, but, uh, we should talk about, uh, the band we're here to talk about. This is a trombonus episode. We're hot off the presses of, uh, of, of mad of madness, March. No, wrong month, wrong month of heptember 2024. The real big skirmish.
Madness March Bracket Outcomes
00:04:34
Speaker
Uh, Joey, now that it's the cold light of day, how did you feel about the bracket this year? Good. I have the fun episodes. Uh, I.
00:04:45
Speaker
I'm not super invested in a real big fish song. So it those are always fun brackets for me. Um, uh, yeah, I liked it. I had a good time. You had some, you said some regrets. Do you still have the regrets? Yeah. so Same regret. I, uh, yeah. I mean that. What, what is the, I feel like we've been teasing it, but ultimately what what was the song that you thought should have gone through that you wish you did?
00:05:11
Speaker
I think it was hungry like the wolf wasn't is that without one that went up against, uh, the Phil Collins one. Yeah. Everyone was talking about good. The Phil Collins one was, and I was agreeing cause it is really good. And Devin was so passionate about the Phil Collins one. And I was like, you know what? I think he's, I think they've convinced me, but then like by the next record, I was like, what the fuck was I thinking? No, I don't think anything would have changed, but I think kiss me deadly. It was still going to be the winner, the ultimate winner.
00:05:40
Speaker
I never would have thought that ahead of time, but I'm happy that it happened. And I, I i really liked that song. It's a really fun song. They do a really great version of it. And, uh, I mean, if it's not going to be hungry, like the wolf or take on me, then that's the one, I guess. Might as well be that one. Yeah. As a record shows it. Right. As a, as a record, we haven't published a full bracket.
00:06:07
Speaker
And there's only one prediction, one solitary prediction that had Kiss Me Deadly winning. And the way that Shallange works is picking the final, picking the winner is worth substantially more points than picking anybody else. So this person stands to win the whole thing and take the whole thing down because they're the only person to pick that song as the winner. That's crazy. Yeah. Wow. That's fun. I do know that. There's an upset coming. I'm i'm telling you it's, it's coming.
00:06:37
Speaker
um the ah There was a very important question that was posed on the on Discord, and I feel like there was um nuance to this question, which was, how much real big fish can we do? Is this it? What do you think, Julie? Is there more real? We've done three full episodes. We've done the bracket. What more can we do? We've done more real big fish than arguably any other band.
Zox Band Introduction and History
00:07:03
Speaker
And I wouldn't even say it's any of our favorite band. It just ended up that way.
00:07:07
Speaker
Yeah. Um, well, I mean, we did all their albums, right? Up to, up to current, up to now, but there's talk of them coming back together. So I guess if they do another album, we'll do another album. i but but' you That's all there is. that's how we do right like Like we only have really one example.
00:07:30
Speaker
of a band that we did all their albums and then they put out a new album and that went great. That went great. That went great. Stands to reason that if this happens, you know, real big fish redux, we'll just go down in the house of history as a legendary checkered past episode like that other one. Yeah, exactly. It'll be great.
00:07:50
Speaker
So I'm looking forward to it. And I feel like Devin would have to come back. And that's i would do it with dash that's always a treat at this point. I got to say, um we may have talked about some stuff off camera that we may be cooking up at some point. ah But Devin is a lot of fun. And I want to have him on pod. I will jump at any opportunity to have him on pod. So I'm trying. I agree. I agree. He's hes now he's part of the cannon.
00:08:19
Speaker
Yeah. um Now, today we're going to talk about palate cleanser episode. We're going to talk about a band that has nothing to do with real. I have no idea what this is. I usually I saw the folder get popped up on our Google Drive and I was like, I don't even know what that is. This is I would call this cult classic cult classic. So the band from I'm going to say ah Rhode Island.
00:08:45
Speaker
I'm gonna double check that. ah Yeah, Providence, Rhode Island. So pretty pretty wild ah place to have a ska band. I can't even name another Rhode Island ska band. ah They were a side one dummy band. They had a record out on side one dummy at one point. They were in that core era, you know, 2005 to 2015. They're a classic Dark Ages ska band. I don't think like,
00:09:10
Speaker
they broke out in a significant way. I definitely don't think there's more than maybe a handful of bands that could cite them as an influence. And there would be a very specific reason why, and you'll know when we start to listen to it as to what Zox's whole thing is. But also, like it was one of those bands that if you knew them, you knew them. They were like, you know if you're in the scene in the mid-2000s,
00:09:35
Speaker
Um they would never have toured near you probably like very unlikely but if you were on the internet or if you're in a band they would have been they would have had like a tape or a cd passed around or a napster mp3 file that's like oh you got to check these guys out um cool so it's just one of those kind of situations is it like Does it still hold up? I think it kind of does. Like I think we'll listen to it and there's like, definitely there's elements of them that feel of their time. And there's elements of them that feel like they were definitely ahead of their time in a lot of ways too.
00:10:11
Speaker
um And I think as we listen, you'll kind of get it. So yeah, we're going to talk about Zox, because there's no way this band would ever have come up on a mainline episode. And I would argue there's probably not enough Ska overall in their discography. There's enough for a trombonist. There's not enough for a full length discussion. um So that's a little bit of background about why this band got chosen. They've been on my radar as somebody I i thought we should talk about for a while.
00:10:38
Speaker
um But now we'll ah we'll give it a listen and I'm going to start with a song that's not a ska song and it's off of their second record and it was a single that kind of showed up on some I think it was on the real world and maybe like like a couple of ah like primetime soap operas, you know like the OC or something. okay i think I think it popped up on that kind of stuff. um And so there's this is not a ska song, second album. ah So ah play that when you are ready, Joey. The songs can't look down.
00:11:14
Speaker
And tell me if you can spot the whole deal. It'll come up pretty quickly. It sounds like mandolin or something.
Zox's Musical Style and Violin Use
00:11:25
Speaker
Close. Or like a loot or one of those Greek things? The loot is the Greek thing. Or one of those triangle things from Russia. Whatever those are called. No, but think back to the intro plan where I listed two people And they're both famous for a single instrument, a classical instrument. Well, dang, I don't know that much about classical musicians. Uh, violins? Yes. Okay. They have a violin. That was their thing. They were the ska band with the violin. That was what they were famous for. Oh, okay.
00:12:08
Speaker
But this is kind of their more like mainstream sound. Yeah, this is very like plain white tease kind of that era sort of pop, indie pop, rock kind of. Yeah, I would even push away towards like um like Phantom Planet.
00:12:31
Speaker
or something along those lines, like less, eat I don't know if it's necessarily, like Modest Mouse, that kind of vibe. Yeah, that's why it's kind of like an indie rock kind of, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Like right in that, because they were in that era, like that album came out 2005, right? So all that stuff would have been huge at the time. And I think they drew a lot of influence from,
00:12:59
Speaker
your pitchfork indie rock, like definitely yeah that kind of stuff. so ah And they got a couple songs that you know ended up in in whatever TV shows and movies, so you know good for them. I don't know if, they're one of those bands that you probably would have heard a song of, but never named them, you know? right right yeah But we're not here to talk about those indie rock songs that they had, which they have a plethora of. We're gonna talk about their ska stuff. And their first record is called The Weight. ah No, the the the second record is called The Weight. The first one's called Take Me Home. It was independently released in 2003. And arguably, it's their ska stuff, and most of the songs we'll listen to are off of that record. So let's listen to the first one, The Squid.
00:14:01
Speaker
That's kind of fun. The way they're using the violin. It kind of sounds like a steel guitar into it in very interesting ways. In a way that Yellow Card wishes.
00:14:21
Speaker
listen Honestly, it's an electric violin, same same kind of instrument, right? Yeah.
00:15:04
Speaker
But the violin drives the melody, which is kind of cool. Yeah. Yeah. That is very cool. Yeah. And so you can see that was the that's the opening track to that record. So you can see how, like, if that got passed around, people would have been like, oh, what's happening here? Yeah. Yeah, totally. Especially at that time.
00:15:22
Speaker
Yeah, in 2003, I don't even know if, did Streetlight even come out yet? like I don't even know if the first Streetlight record was out yet when this came out, or it would have been contemporaneous. So we would have been the most starved for Scott we ever had been at that point. Totally, interesting. ah So we're gonna kind of shift gears to something a little bit more upbeat. The next song is called Butterfly.
00:15:54
Speaker
I always love when there's like a big distortion build and then it just goes to like barely overdriven guitar. Yeah. Very cool. Oh, bait and switch. Bait and switch. Yeah.
00:16:31
Speaker
those violins are doing some weird stuff and it's cool
00:16:39
Speaker
kind of working as the organ on this part, but that's kind of not what they're doing earlier. Right. I think that's also cool.
Influences and Lyrical Themes of Zox
00:16:47
Speaker
It keeps you guessing. It doesn't sound like they're always doing the same thing. Like they're kind of mixing up what it's going to do. Totally.
00:16:57
Speaker
But yeah, that sounds great. That sounds like a song that could have been on like the clueless show, you know, the show. Yeah, like that was like or or something to that effect like a like a TV show that would have had an upbeat song like that, but not like the same kind of OC show, not the drama kind of show, but like the funnier kind, you know, like a Degrassi. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. like It's got a little bit of a cheeky kind of like, oh, yeah, these stuff's about to happen here. Yeah. Yeah, totally.
00:17:32
Speaker
Okay, I get you. Yeah, I feel that. um The next track I have is, this is also like track one, track two, track three. ah So this is all one after the other on the, on the album proper too. So the next one's called ghost town. This song fucking rips. It's so good.
00:18:16
Speaker
That'd be crazy if it was two violins. That'd be that'd be a flex. Well, I'm just thinking like a horn section, you know what I mean? Like- Right. Like they have a violin section. Yeah, like a- like two violins could play off of each other the way like a trombone and a sax could play off each other or
00:18:52
Speaker
So this is fun. These kind of parts, I've been trying to kind of put my finger on it, but they all kind of have like a like a Brit pop feel to them almost. Oh, yeah. Like a like an oasis or a blur.
00:19:10
Speaker
yeah totally but only like like when only when they kind of hit those really like poppy hooky moments but i've noticed it in like a couple of the songs now like they kind of hit those moments and it kind of gives me that sort of vibe it is quite the musical mashup Yeah, and that would make a lot of sense. So if they're if they're the kind of band that was really like leaning into the indie rock of the time, all that stuff was getting a resurgence in the early aughts, right? Like Britpop had its like second ah run at that point, too. Right now. yeah Third, fourth run. I don't know. I don't know how many times British bands crossover. Yeah.
00:19:52
Speaker
You can call, it like or like, the British Invasion came in like the 60s and let's be honest, it never went away. Like, when did it stop? And they're like, oh, it came back. And I'm like, yeah, but fucking in the 70s, you had all those prog rock bands. They were all from Britain. Punk bands were all from Britain. Like, come on, man. Let's not pretend like it was just, it came in waves. Yeah, Jeepers. Fat Boy Slim.
00:20:19
Speaker
the English I think I don't know I may be wrong. Maybe I'm not paying attention ah This next track is goodbye to you. We're gonna take it down a notch We're still on the same record this is still on their first one, okay, take me home
00:20:49
Speaker
Now the violin is doing some like dub thing. It's wild.
00:21:01
Speaker
Yeah, this bass player is bananas. He's on a different plane of existence. Yeah.
00:21:36
Speaker
like the dude energy is pulled back a notch with the inclusion of the violin. You know what I mean? I feel like it's less bro-y because the violin is there. Right. You know what I mean? I do know what you mean. I think that that's funny. It's like that the faux sensitivity you get from songs like that usually is like stripped away because they're actually playing like a sensitive instrument. Yeah, totally. Right. Yeah. Got it.
00:22:06
Speaker
ah get yeah i'm I'm locked in. We haven't really talked about the lyrics. They're pretty esoteric. um A lot of it's like stories and love songs. Like that tends to be the kind of thing, but it's almost like disconnected like love
Trivia and Cultural Impact of Zox
00:22:19
Speaker
songs. Like it's not like from his perspective. It's like from a person. Right. There's songs are you song rather than like a classic love song.
00:22:29
Speaker
And it's like, it's the character in the song is experiencing and not him, which again, that's a Brit pop thing. Like it's, I guess going back to that is like yeah having this kind of disconnected storytelling in the songs. I like that. And then once we get to the second record, you'll hear like their next kind of big influence that'll really seep in. But, uh, let's, uh, let's keep going on this one. Uh, the next song is rain on me or reggae.
00:22:58
Speaker
Like, they they don't always go, like, full ska. They're not afraid to, but I think they kind Fucking awesome. And when they bust it out in songs, I'm just like, again, this is our fifth song now? Yeah. And it's the fifth different method of utilizing the violin.
00:23:27
Speaker
yeah like they're constantly changing it up it's so cool i wonder what this violin player is doing now apparently they're back together so i guess i didn't talk about that the band disbanded um i think i'll probably find the exact year 2009
00:23:45
Speaker
they're back together so i guess i didn't talk about that
00:23:54
Speaker
So their initial existence was only for like less than a decade, but they haven't released anything since 2008. Okay. But they're perhaps playing shows in their area or something. Yeah. And like, well, there's no, there's no Wikipedia like hyperlink on here. The, the, the name of the band comes from the name of the drummer. Uh, the drummer's name is John Zocks.
00:24:21
Speaker
Cool. You're a violin player. What's the name of our band, then? I mean, honestly, if you have a drummer, like if if your drummer is called Fishman. Yeah, you're gonna name your band Fish. Yeah, right. Like, it's just right there. Fleetwood Mac? Nick Fleetwood? John McVie? Just two guys, a cool last name. They're like, smash them together. Can't really pick between the two. Spencer Swain is the name of the violin player. Okay. And this is already blowing my mind because I have not gone in and looked to see what he's up to now.
00:25:01
Speaker
His other band is a band called Flogging Molly. Oh. yeah that Which he plays the banjo. Oh, wow. but OK. That is fucking cool, man. Honestly, like if you're going to be like, hey, I played a violin in a ska band and then I played banjo in a Celtic folk punk band after you had a crazy ass discography. ah That is cool as hell, man. That's the best news I've heard.
00:25:33
Speaker
Oh man, I love that. Do we got time for a couple more? How many you got? Yeah, I have one more loaded up. All right, let's do the next one. This one's Homebody.
00:25:44
Speaker
um
00:25:57
Speaker
Just building into something. Are there? I mean, Rhode Island. would imply that there's an island there. Which would imply that there's not an island. But there's probably one there, right? Probably, yeah. So they they might have a beach? Because this is pretty beachy. Yep, guess what the song's about? Surfing. It's about California. Oh wow.
00:26:32
Speaker
before old Aaron Barrett's broken telephone microphone thing.
00:26:48
Speaker
Yeah, I like that line. Yeah, I did too. Talk about getting high instead. Perfect. I usually would cut it off to the chorus, but then that part kicks in and you're like, fuck yeah.
00:27:00
Speaker
Yeah, that's fun. Yeah, a bunch of Rhode Island guys singing a song about. Say again. And also the most sublime. You think so? Well, that part was once it got going, it was pretty sublime. Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty they even had to pick it up in there. They like they did the whole thing. That's Scott baby. That's got they they weren't just pretending. No, they're they're not pretenders to the throne. They legit did the Scott thing.
00:27:29
Speaker
Yeah. Cool. Let's, uh, let's take a break. We'll get back. We're talking Zox on checkered past.
00:27:48
Speaker
Welcome back to checkered past. It's Rob and engineer Joey. And we're here talking about Zox. So let's continue talking about the record. Take me home with starry nights. Oh, that's nice.
00:28:07
Speaker
So this is a 14 track record. Eight, eight of those 14 tracks, Scott or reggae songs. thats So, so it takes a turn after like the next song.
00:28:23
Speaker
No, I mean, I skipped all the songs that aren't. Well, that first punch was a run of Ska songs though, right? The first three or four? Yeah, it was like four in a row. Oh, okay. Yeah, we don't have to listen to Ode to the Mountain Pirates. That sounds pretty sick though. I don't know. It's like the least Joey-coated song ever. Oh. That's fair. I'm glad you know. Don't show it to me then. This is...
00:29:12
Speaker
music that you'd hear at like a festival where people were openly smoking weed before it was legal. right you know like a 420 rally this would be like a band playing at like a 420 rally like on 420 at a park um in like canada i guess i should specify because that that was a thing before we legalized it was just like 420 was just like you won't get in trouble from the cops just don't be an asshole and they would have like
00:29:46
Speaker
Bands that sounded like this, playing in parks and such. And go to the ledge. Yeah, go to the ledge and smoke chillums with random guys who aren't wearing shirts and stuff. And no listener, a 420 rally isn't an off road race where people never leave the start line. But. Yeah, it was a joke.
00:30:10
Speaker
Um, let's cap it off. And this is the song that people were familiar with. It's a cover guess, guess what it's a cover of. Okay, here we go. Yeah. Well, I'll just let the listener figure it out, play it and then we'll see if they can figure it out. Joey knows. Joey can see.
00:30:44
Speaker
Just the rudest fucking wedding you've ever been to. Rude as hell, man. You know what? That's that that wedding that the magic guy has? Plays this song. Guess who's not there? The dad. No invite sent.
00:31:12
Speaker
This is like... Like, I'm sure it's very sincere, and with the violin, as we were saying,
00:31:41
Speaker
It is kind of a crazy idea for a Scott cover like. Yeah. And it keeps going. And and to your point, there's a little an element of cheesiness to it. And but it is a fucking workout for that violin player. Like if you listen to the rest of it, he just is going to town like it's a I think ultimately it's a showcase for him over anything else with the band.
00:32:10
Speaker
did they do that on the next record as well have like a big violin jam like a classic like no take a classical song and Cause that would be, if that was, if that was their shtick, like not shtick, but like a thing they did every, every album, that'd be sick as hell. You know what I mean? If they're like just in every, in every album we'll do like a traditional or a classical song or whatever, and just redo it in our own style. However, like that'd be a cool, cool thing. It would be cool. Um, they missed opportunity. So it sounds like, I don't know if we actually said that's Pachelbel's cannon.
00:32:53
Speaker
I don't know if you got it. That's why we're joking about weddings. It's a song that plays in weddings. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Packabills cannon. The same cannon that fires- The mountain pirates? The cannon. The mountain pirates are using this cannon to fire on, I don't know, mountain pirates would steal from. Mountain peasants.
00:33:16
Speaker
goat farmers mountain goat farmers mountain goat farms all right so we're gonna finally leave this record and we're gonna go to the the the wait the the wait it was released in 2006 what kind of wait um W-A-I-T, wait, like as don't go, wait. This was originally self-released or released on ah on ah on a small record label before they got signed to SideOne Dummy and then had it ah released on them in 2006.
00:33:51
Speaker
um Usually I like to look at a SideOne Dummy producer to see who it is, but I believe because it was a re-release, it wasn't a SideOne Dummy producer on this one. Uh, no, it is someone named Ted Comerford, which I believe is an associate of theirs. So they don't get, uh, you know, some of the big, the big, uh, side one dummy producers that usually come with the territory. But I know who that whoever produces their next record is a big name. Um.
00:34:16
Speaker
Let's see if they have any other credits. None to speak of. That's exciting. Rob discovers that the producer doesn't have any exciting credits outside of... It's like the opposite of what we found out about the violin player. Yeah. I thought lightning starts striking twice. And you know what? Somebody's going to look at this dude's discographies and they're going to be like, oh, Rob, I can't believe you don't know who Jukebox the ghost is.
00:34:47
Speaker
Fuck. But I gotta say, so this is the record that most people are familiar with because it was on a big indie record label. Like this is the one that people got and then they kind of went back after. It is not a ska heavy and it arguably only has three and a half ska songs on it. And so we're going to try to roll through some of those, but the opening track is thirsty. And I will say that this is what kind of blew people's minds when they started listening to it.
Exploration of Zox's Album 'The Weight'
00:35:14
Speaker
So let's play that thirsty.
00:36:21
Speaker
awesome song. i ah I have a very fond memory of listening to that for the first time in 2006 and being like, okay, this is a band I gotta pay attention to. um They would go on to, and that that first song we listened up at the top to, that's from this record. ah So that one that kind of had a little bit more of an indie rock vibe to it.
00:36:40
Speaker
ah They would go on to tour with a lot of those kinds of bands. And the biggest band that they got to tour with was Dispatch. And I would argue that that band is probably their biggest influence. There's a real dispatch feel to this band. And as we listen to like the future songs on this record, you can really feel with that. um I think they're just like,
00:37:01
Speaker
Delving into that jam band territory, which comes with the territory when you're a sublime adjacent kind of. yeah It's a little jammy. It's a little. Proggy. It's all. Yeah. Yeah. I could see the, the Venn diagrams are all overlapping. And Hey man, you got a violin in there. Violins are good for jamming. Yep.
00:37:24
Speaker
So it kind of, all kind of comes together, but Fuck Thirsty is a crazy good song. Like, yeah, it's just such, it's top tier Dark Ages ska right there. Like one of the best. um So let's continue through this record and listen to little more time from the weights.
00:37:52
Speaker
definitely a lot more produced this record. Yeah, totally.
00:38:38
Speaker
Yeah, just like it's just so honestly, I'm not even listening to the vocals. I'm just listening to the violin. It's just very cool. Just really come for just like what cool shit is the violin up to these days? Yeah, like it really. Yeah, totally.
00:38:58
Speaker
I love it, and yeah that's a pretty decent song. like ah As much as this record doesn't have that much ska on it, if i was a if you listen to this episode and you're like, hey, I kinda wanna check this band out, I'd listen to that album first.
00:39:13
Speaker
ah It's kind of the the second one. Yeah, listen to the way. It's they're more famous one It's gonna be low on the sky, but you're gonna get you're gonna get them at their best produced With probably the most creative juice that they have in them at the time um And then you can kind of like go back and if you want to get the sky is stuff that we played here today You can listen to the rest of that ah Or you can go to the record later that I would argue is less so good, but maybe people will differ from their opinions on me. That's objective. this could This could be a very RX Bandits situation where people are like, ah get mad at me when I say like, you know, the very later stuff is good, but it's not as good as the middle stuff.
00:39:58
Speaker
ah um So the next a song I have, it i'm okay, this next one, You know, in in my head, I was like, I thought i thought this was a Scotty song. And then I listened to it to kind of prep for this episode. And then I was like, it's not that Scott at all, like not even a little bit. But then I was like, ah I already made it. So we'll listen to it anyway. So it kind of like bait and switched me a little bit. So the song is called Big Fish.
00:40:59
Speaker
Fucking worst shit could be called about a person. Just like, hey, you're like the tomorello of violins. They'd be like, hell yeah. Yeah. Dude's just like, check out my jacket. What's on the hat? The sunglasses.
00:41:29
Speaker
have like a yeah it does kind have like a regga kind of fives to it though So I can see how you got fooled. Yeah, for sure. You got them by it. It's actually fooled me. Yeah. Fooled me once. Shame on me. Hopefully it's the only time you fooled me. Yeah. All right. This is the last track I have from the wait. It is called Fallen.
00:42:02
Speaker
I will say there's the songs that are Scott E or reggae E on this are on the sleepier side, except for that thirsty song, which is just a Scott punk song. But the rest of it is actually kind of a pretty upbeat. It's got a lot of like dance beats and stuff in it. So I guess that.
00:42:23
Speaker
That's kind of like the dichotomy. If we're just hearing these songs, then they do seem a little sleepy, but interspersed in between dancey songs, I could see the ah you see how that works a little bit better. In the the context of the record, it actually makes a ton of sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess that's what I'm trying to get at, is even though we're only talking about the Scott and Reggy stuff this episode, it doesn't tell you the whole story of this band. Right.
00:43:10
Speaker
you just said. talent with Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This album, I'd say this album is more of a police influence. Like it kind of, the first one kind of had a, uh, like a Brit pop rock kind of vibe. Whereas this one is like, Oh no, it's the police that we love. And they kind of hone in on that sound. yeah It seems like I'll say that the one thing that this band won't ever do is rock the fucking house down. Like even their most. It's pretty chill. so Yeah. Yeah. Even their most upbeat songs aren't like just like, you know, big riffs like they're not a riff band. I would say it's very melodic heavy on the melody low on the fucking balls out rocking. Yeah, right. That's fair.
00:43:58
Speaker
um So we're gonna just skip over to the last record that they put out called Line in the Sand, which was sans any ska whatsoever.
Final Album 'Line in the Sand' and Ska Evolution
00:44:07
Speaker
It was released on Sidewood and Dummy, and it was produced by the fellow's name. I'll get the fellow's name here in a second here. Buh buh buh buh buh. I gotta get that fellow's name. His name was John Good Manson.
00:44:25
Speaker
And he ah produced Death Cab and Harvey Danger and Slater Kenny. So he was i'm i'm not real cool. I'm not sick, but I'm not well. you know That was Harvey Danger, yeah. Name ah another Harvey Danger song, Joey. Can't do it. You can't do it. Nope. If you're on big, shiny tunes, you get the one. Yep.
00:44:48
Speaker
i could I could sing the whole song, but I don't know any other ones. You know what? I'm going to say this right here and right now, and I'm sure you'll agree. The song is fucking awesome. Yeah, it's great. didn't ah Who the fuck? Someone just put out a cover of it, like so like a pop punk band, ah All American Rejects or something, just put out a cover of it. I mean, that's not cool, but... ah It's note for note. It's boring as hell.
00:45:14
Speaker
Man, that band, All American Rejects, felt like they were made in a factory. hey i'm so I feel like I'm just like shitting on them. like But I mean, they haven't really done a ton lately, but I remember at one point, I'm like, man, this is just like manufactured for the radio.
00:45:30
Speaker
See, I never felt that way. I just felt like, and I know there's only like six listeners who are going to get this. I just felt like they were American Treble Charger. Like I just thought like they were like, like we have this band called Treble Charger and they are during the nineties, they were a perfectly okay.
00:45:47
Speaker
pop punk kind of... It's closer to Radio Rock, I would say, but the guy from Chabral Charger actually is good friends with and and managed some 41. So he kind of like... Amongst others. He was among like... Amongst others. Yeah. Yeah. So so he he made it in the music industry, I would say. He's doing quite well. But that being said,
00:46:09
Speaker
that band was, they were never a huge band, but like, now I know how far you'll go. That's all like American Psycho. Like every Canadian of a certain age knows that song. I felt like all American rejects were like the American version of that.
00:46:26
Speaker
You know, like, i like a second banana band that did well hanging just below the top. And so if, yeah, if treble charger was like that to like some 41, let's say. Yes. What is all American re rejects?
00:46:45
Speaker
but the second banana, too. Well, to like to like all it like Blink 22 and also Jimmy Eat World and also just like all of those kind of legacy bands of that. Punk emo. Yeah, I get that. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, because they are. Honestly, to Jimmy Eat World, maybe the most on the nose you you did to that, that's actually pretty perfect.
00:47:12
Speaker
right? Jimmy world's like a, like a huge band in comparison to all American rejects, I would say. Yeah. But I mean, they kind of, they kind of do it a lot of the same stuff. yeah sort god This is you know, this is a this is our favorite segment ah shit on all-american re rejects minute yeah Because I'm sure it's so yeah I don't know I'm pretty sure there man. I'm pretty sure the singer is like the son of like somebody famous and like I don't know I just think it's like yeah I Don't know that you know what I'm done Yeah, I don't know no i't know enough to keep talking about it. Yeah, I
00:47:52
Speaker
Duh duh duh duh duh duh, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell. Right? Sure. See my face, hope it gives you hell. I'm not sick, but I'm not well, that's the new thing. All right, now that's the new thing. That's how we got there. Yeah. All right, this is a not-scaw song called Good Night from Lion in the Sand. Good night.
00:48:17
Speaker
I forgot that where we started with that conversation was about the RV danger. I had to bring it back here. It would've just so so in not made any sense.
00:48:33
Speaker
Is this the last song on the album? is this like a No. God no. I thought they were doing that fun thing where they're like, good night. It's the last one. It's a quiet acoustic song. It's the third song. Okay.
00:48:48
Speaker
So they want you to go to sleep after the third song, and then subliminally take in the rest of the
00:49:10
Speaker
that like a synth now, or is that like a urea? Can I sound like a urea or something? Like an electronic wind instrument, perhaps.
00:49:22
Speaker
His voice vocal quality is weird unless it's a different person singing. I guess I don't know Yeah, yeah, so that was a single Sounds like a single. No, it doesn't why but that sound like a so yeah from singles like that from ben You know what maybe in the late 10 the late aughts early tens night pass that that was it Like the de Decemberists or like some shit like that like all that kindness Yeah, that was a big thing you put out all these like sad sappy even now that's why we have that fucking
00:50:03
Speaker
Season of the sticks song like that's why that song's on the radio that these songs ran Walked so that that song can run. You know what I'm saying? Man that's crazy. Uh, all right, that's uh, that's ox. That's all I got Very interesting but very bad that the So much cool stuff being done with the violin very Out of the box playing very cool I like that a lot.
Hypothetical Ska Band of Classical Musicians
00:50:34
Speaker
um And I will I'm looking at the time and I know we actually technically have a few minutes. So I had an idea for a build a band workshop if you will indulge. OK, hell yeah, let's do it. ah The build a band workshop will be a ska band composed of classical musicians.
00:50:59
Speaker
i don't know anything about guns that's what i have i have thoughts i actually put some thoughts into these okay and i have i have justifications for each one okay it might be one-sided which is fine might be might be one-sided might be one-sided yeah okay but that's okay okay well you have it written down probably you have you have i have it written down in my mind palace okay you're gonna be explaining it though Okay, and then you can also throw in if you got some ideas. Okay, so. But I literally don't know anything about classical music. Okay, so keyboard, Bach. Makes sense. Fuck Mozart, fuck Beethoven, get him out of here. They don't get it. They don't get it. They play the piano. They're just pianoing, right? Bach had the fucking harpsichord. He can bubble, right? I think he would get it. I'm into that. Yep, I'm into that.
00:51:55
Speaker
I talked about Paganini earlier. He'd be playing guitar, like lead guitar, because Paganini just did solos. That was his whole deal. He was just solos. And this was in like, whatever, the 1500s or whatever. That was crazy. When people were doing choral music, I think he's just fucking soloing? He's just shredding on the violin.
00:52:18
Speaker
So he's on guitar. Bass gets tricky. But hear me out, Yo-Yo Ma.
00:52:26
Speaker
And because he, because you can easily translate the cello into a base. Hell yeah. So might be an upright base might be playing it like fucking, what's his name from Primus? Slackers are from Slackers. Oh yeah. Right. He plays electric, but he plays it upright. Right. Or Mephistopheles had an upright base. Mm-hmm.
00:52:46
Speaker
There's precedent. You know what? The scatalites play an upright bass. How the fuck dare I, right? I'm gonna go back. dare you How the fuck dare you? This is becoming a pretty classical band with a shredding guitar player so far. I feel like they should play tradscotch to be honest, but okay. Yeah, I think so. And he still shreds. I will not give up the shredding guitar player. This is still a big part of it. yeah um Drummer.
00:53:12
Speaker
I'm thinking like Buddy Rich. I know technically that's not classical, but he was in an orchestra, right? And he fucking rips. And Buddy Rich is like one of, it may be the greatest drummer of all time. Right. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I'm just translating. I'm only saying it because he was in an orchestra and that's only, and I can't name you a drummer.
00:53:36
Speaker
who's not buddy rich, like who's would have existed before him. He's probably the oldest drummer I can think of. Yeah, fair. Yeah. Horn section. Fucking. John Phelps sues his horn section. Got suzaphones. Got fucking. You know, they always say that Scott is like marching band, right? Mm hmm.
00:54:00
Speaker
So Susan's got the marching band, right? He literally invented the marching band. All that low brass, tons of low brass. Yeah, all stuff you can carry around. and Instead of trumpets, they got the fucking bugles, you know, that shit. Yep. They're making little witch fingers because they're eating the bugles. Sorry. So the only thing i can't I can't figure out is a singer.
00:54:27
Speaker
Right? If we're going like classical, who's our singer? Do we get one of those like, uh, we get those Wagner operas. so Yeah. that's it Like, yeah. Like the one with the Viking helmet. Like, yeah. Is that the, or like, uh, or like a, uh, like one of John Williams choirs or something. Just like have a whole choir. Why not? yeah The Boston pops.
00:54:55
Speaker
I'm sure. I believe that's what who he's the leader for is the Boston Pops. OK, then absolutely certain. This is like I I only have like very, very low level knowledge about anything classical and I've expelled all of it today. Yeah, I mean, Joey, do you have any ah any add ins?
00:55:20
Speaker
No, I know even less about classical music. Sometimes when it comes on, I listen to it and I enjoy it and I appreciate it, but I don't know a goddamn thing about it. ah I'm going to just throw in one thing. We talked about the the Wagner opera singer. Yeah. um Fun fact, and I learned this from fucking Assassin's Creed. Shout out to people, you know shit on Assassin's Creed all you want. Listen, I get it. But I will say, the museum modes in those new games where you just fucking walk around and learn from historians about shit is so cool it makes my head hurt.
00:55:58
Speaker
And from that, I learned that the, the, the Viking helmet. Oh yeah. Not a thing. Not a thing that that did not exist. Wagner. That was what it's from. From that is what it's from. That's what it's from. It's not from actual Vikings. It was from that play. The, the, the, the one about Ragnarok and the ladies wore the helmet.
00:56:25
Speaker
That helmet did not exist in reality until the play. Correct. ah Okay. That's wild. Yeah. That is a fun fact that I learned and it blew my little mind and I was like, ah, education. And now I've shared it with all of you loyal listeners. Yep. um That's our build the band workshop. It was very brief and it was really just me ah thinking about it in the shower before I came to record and I had it pretty much locked in.
00:56:55
Speaker
That's good. That's a good way to do it, especially when I don't know anything about any classical things. Yeah. Next time we'll do Ninja Turtle stuff. Yeah. Actually, that'd be fun. and or kind wait We put a pin. We put a pin on that. We should do a build a band workshop. That's just Ninja Turtle characters. That would be pretty good. But, but you cannot pick the turtles.
00:57:17
Speaker
Oh, even that's fine too. I mean, I know I'm just saying it makes it gives it a ah wrinkle, but you can easily build a band and we keep putting beep up and rock steady and all our other bands. So that just being this way. I mean, their names are beep up and rock steady really hard not to use them. Yeah.
00:57:38
Speaker
All right, thanks for listening to Checker Pass. Hit us up on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at checkerpasspod, or send us an email at checkerpasspod at gmail
Conclusion and Podcast Support Information
00:57:45
Speaker
dot.com. To support the podcast, you can sign up for the Checkerhead Patreon to get the episodes uncut, both audio or video format, or you can buy some merch, checkerpass.ca. Our trombonuses are engineered and edited by Joey, and our trombonus theme was provided by Keelan. Next week, we have power up back on to talk about the blue meanies. And until next time, I'm Rob. And I'm Joey.
00:58:07
Speaker
In the immortal words of Zox, this wouldn't be the first episode we left you thirsty.