The Adjusters formed in 1995 in Chicago, and played a blend of ska and soul, and always inserted a hefty dose of politics into the lyrics. As the decade progressed, and the group became more active, they seemed to be more and more out of step with the lighthearted pop-punk-oriented version of ska that was getting bigger. While The Adjusters didn’t get huge, they left behind three excellent records, especially the Victor Rice produced Before the Revolution, which was released on Moon Records in 1998

Today we bring on The Adjusters’ lead singer, Daraka Larimore-Hall. We talk about the band’s history, their overtly socialist politics and we get Daraka’s opinion on the direction ska took in the ’90s in the US. He’s very critical and not a fan of calling a lot of the third-wave pop-punk-oriented ska groups “ska,” since their connection to Jamaican music is distant. We debate this topic with him, and talk about the Far Out Magazine article, “Hear Me Out: Third Wave Ska Was An Insult To The Genre.” 

We also discuss bands like Isaac Green and the Skalars, The Articles and The Slackers. We talk about Daraka’s work with Democratic Socialists of America. We talk about The Siren Six. And we learn how Crass inspired the Adjusters’ album liner notes. 

And we find out how hip-hop country band Gangstagrass is connected to ska. 

Check out Daraka’s podcast here! 

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon! 

If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music. 

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024. 

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023. 

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

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