Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
TromBonus - 74 - The Police
0 Playsin 7 hours
ACAB... and that includes Sting and the other two guys! On this episode of Checkered Past, Joey and Rob dig in on the ska/reggae sounds of New Wave darlings The Police! They run through the bands brief 7 year, 5 album history from their very punk rock beginnings to their world beat explorations to finally their sophisti-pop blockbusters. All the while trying to determine just how Ska and Reggae they truly are!
The Roast of Checkered Past is coming up! If you want to poke fun and take a swipe at your favorite hosts, send your audio or text file to checkeredpastsubmissions@gmail.com
Hosts: Rob and Joey
Engineer: Joey
Editor: Joey
Theme Song: TromBonus by Keelan
Skassociate Producer: Chris Reeves of Ska Punk International
Special Thanks: Mega Michi and Adam the Ska Mailman
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction: Trombonist Episode and ACAB Theme
00:00:00
Speaker
blamp ramp wa It's another trombonist episode. It's just Rob, Engineer Joey, and a pocket full of dreams as we bully the boys in blue with our most ACAB episode ever. Whoop, whoop, this is the songs of the police on Checkered Past, the SCODcast.
Exploring Band Histories: Checkered Past Introduction
00:00:19
Speaker
It's cause the game come for everyone. It's not too long, I do it this song. Check it past when you can't go wrong. It's trouble, it's endless time.
00:00:40
Speaker
What up Checkerheads? Welcome to Checkered Past, the Scottcast with Celine and Rob. The show where a and this machine is coming like a ghost in the machine. Explore the history and impact of a different band each episode.
00:00:52
Speaker
Hope to bring in new fans along the way. I'm Rob and this is my co-host with the most toast, Engineer Joey. ah This machine is coming like a ghost in the machine might be one of the worst sentences I've heard in a long time.
00:01:13
Speaker
i knew I know where you were going with it, but I feel like the way the words landed is not ideal.
00:01:24
Speaker
It felt okay when I wrote it. But, you know... It's also different when you write something and then when you say it out loud and it's like, what's the delivery? Yeah. It's not like, uh, it's not like we're doing like a run through, like a line before we start. I've in real time, how it's going to sound.
Concert Experiences: Visions of Atlantis and EDM Festival
00:01:46
Speaker
ah Wonderful. ah Yeah, before we we pop into the band of the episode, I did a lot of ah live ah shows this week. I went to a lot of live shows this week.
00:01:58
Speaker
but Celine and I went to go see Visions of Atlantis, ah which is a pirate metal band. yeah um They were fantastic.
00:02:09
Speaker
It was so good, Joey. I had a great time. I heard. And you enjoyed Siren as well? I enjoyed Siren as well. And yeah, the the Siren is a metal band from Calgary, and they came up to open.
00:02:21
Speaker
um They were super, super baller, and they hung out the whole time. And then the the like middle band is like ah this like lady from Switzerland who is like a I don't know, hair metal type of of a situation. That's cool. It was fun. Although it was just her playing guitar and then she had a drummer with her.
00:02:43
Speaker
ah But she played to a backing track. but Okay. There was no bass player and no rhythm guitar. Well, like she was rhythm. So it was... Kind of weird.
00:02:54
Speaker
so Like they have like 50% of the band there. But, you know, I understand. band a little weird. But, yeah yeah, I get it. and And it's technically possible these days. So, yeah. Yeah.
00:03:05
Speaker
Yeah. it Well, and it was possible. And honestly, she put on a good live show. And she had a good lurk. ah it was It was fun. ah But then, yeah, Visions of Atlantis. Man, they had the whole pirate get up.
00:03:16
Speaker
They came out to Jack Sparrow, the but Lonely Island song. but Nice. Yeah. ah you set set the tone uh and a whole bunch of the theatrical stage antics that they did um yeah it was it was quite a time the guy standing next to us told us three times that he was a vip and would show us his vip badge free like yeah okay you're a fan i get it that's good did they have you chant yo ho ho at any point No, ah they made chant Hail Jolly Roger at one point, though.
00:03:50
Speaker
Okay, that's pretty close. Yeah, just as good. but Was everyone drinking rum? No, that would have been a thing. It would have been something. Everyone had just ah casks or what whatever, like a stein. Everyone had a stein of rum.
00:04:09
Speaker
Just grog? Just watered down Straight gar grog. Yeah, watered down grog.
00:04:17
Speaker
ah And then yesterday I went to downtown defrost, which was like an EDM show. It was like a big festival at in the middle of the city. That's cool. And, you know, seemed fun, but ah we were there for a few hours. I don't know. That's not my thing.
00:04:32
Speaker
I think i've realized that. Big EDM shows. Like, ah aside from the people watching, um the shows itself are like vibes, but... Not really my jam. i don't know how to put it. It just like didn't feel like there was much for me there. You know what i mean?
00:04:48
Speaker
Yeah, I get it. i Yeah, I don't know. that i'm I'm okay with like a DJ in a ah like a bar or a club type of situation, but like festival, it it doesn't appeal to me really.
00:05:02
Speaker
and I will say, i have seen some live band EDMs, like Chick Chick Chick and LCD Sound System. Very cool. Lots of fun. I think what I mean is like ah watching a single person at a at a sound booth doing a thing is like Like I said, and in a small club or a smaller venue, I guess, even like a mid-sized venue when it's a little more personable, I i kind of get it. you know There's that like energy. But like in a huge ah huge festival, it's more the festival's energy than the then the musician's energy.
00:05:39
Speaker
You know what I mean? and should It just doesn't appeal to me in general. But maybe I just need to do a bunch of like party drugs and it would be a good time, I guess. Probably. don't know. Yeah. i I had a couple of weed gummies before i we went in because I was like, i need to vibe a little bit on this. And it yeah helped.
00:05:54
Speaker
certainly but Yeah. Totally. ah I will say, though, something that happened in EDM culture in the last probably five to ten years since I was paying attention. They all wear fur.
00:06:06
Speaker
That's a thing. Like there were and lots of fur and animal print. Like as far as the eye can see, big fur hats, big fur cardigans, all animal print. yeah i like We're talking like fun fur though, right?
00:06:20
Speaker
Like fun fur? but like Yeah, like fun like like not actual animals. Oh, no, no, no. Like fake fur. Yeah, yeah. Like made out of pop bottles. Like fur, right?
00:06:32
Speaker
Yeah, sure. Yeah. Certainly no animal came anywhere near these fur. Like this is value village fur, for sure. This is not like a stole or whatever. Right.
00:06:43
Speaker
I always kind of pictured like a like like free leg warmers free hats. That's like an EDM thing. Maybe. I don't know. No, no leg warm. No, it they look like how do I put this?
00:06:54
Speaker
It looked like a knockoff version of like some kind of like mid Manhattan like housewife ah kind of look like they're all bucket hats.
00:07:05
Speaker
Like it wasn't like i don't know. but Not a Rob. Not Rob approved. No, Rob approved. It was fun watch. I would never wear it. Okay.
00:07:16
Speaker
So like a lady who also came in like clearly rolling on something and had a giant Mike Wazowski medallion on and then a, um, like a lantern that would like show Mike Wazowski on things. And she would point it at people's backs and then just have a dance on their back. Yeah.
00:07:36
Speaker
So again, the people watching was phenomenal. like just Yeah, that's wonderful. People let their freak flag fly at those things. And you know you can't yeah all you can do is be like, man, I'm so glad you're having fun.
00:07:47
Speaker
but good You're hurting nobody with the enjoyment that you're having right now. That's a very good. I mean, yeah, like the the Mike Wazowski thing. like Imagine just picking a pop culture character from any time and just sticking with it forever.
00:08:03
Speaker
You know what I mean? 100%. I had that exact same thought. I was like, what what would I pick? like those two ah For some reason, those the two magpies from like old Looney Tunes cartoons was what came up. he lets Yeah.
00:08:18
Speaker
I was like, that is what came to mind. i was like, what? But why? Like, you just could pick a random character, right? And just be like, this is my character. I got the medallion. I got the flashlight. Like, Woody Woodpecker or something. Like, yeah.
00:08:32
Speaker
Like when T-Pain was all about Moon and Knights? Like, from Aqua Teen Hunger Force? He wasn't wrong. That's a good thing to be all about, in my opinion. Yeah. um but yeah it was it was something else ah came home at like 11 o'clock skipped the after party i was like nope i got exactly what i needed out of this yeah yeah yeah that's sweet though that's a good time listen i'm just gonna say yes to some things i gotta go outside my comfort zone can't just be scott shows man if it was i would never get out of the house yeah guess you'd be out of the house once one night a year
00:09:06
Speaker
You like Santa And even then, I skipped the Mad Caddies last time they were here. sometimes I'm making choices. that
00:09:14
Speaker
All right, let's talk about the band of the hour. Okay,
Deep Dive: The Police's Reggae Influence and Hits
00:09:17
Speaker
this this band has been on the list for a long time. I have probably for three years had said we need to do, like after we did The Clash, whenever that was, I was like, oh, okay, we should probably do The Police at some point. And they've popped up, right?
00:09:31
Speaker
Yeah. Like I feel like we've talked about walking on the moon at some point. We've talked about Man in the Suitcase at least a couple of times. Yeah, and didn't that banana guy brought a police song, I think, at some point, too?
00:09:45
Speaker
It could have been. I think so. The banana guy brought a lot of songs. Yeah.
00:09:51
Speaker
ah And so I guess it is it was time. we you know We just got past our 200th episode, and I was like, you know, we've got to do a trombonist. Let's do it. Let's do the police. Let's finally get to it.
00:10:02
Speaker
Hell yeah. Joey, what's your history with the band The Police? Mostly radio. Mostly radio stuff. I think maybe my dad had... A police record, possibly, that was in lower priority rotation.
00:10:18
Speaker
ah Unfortunately, he also like got into Sting's ah solo work afterwards. So I heard a lot of that. Hell yeah. The walking fields of gold. I heard that song a lot.
00:10:31
Speaker
um You know who else is a big fan of Solo Sting? Kirstie Ross. ah Yes, yes. So you get it. Yeah, absolutely. But i like I appreciate the police, but for the most part, I'm like ah like stuff that was on the radio. i haven't really done a deep dive.
00:10:48
Speaker
like I don't recognize the name of a lot of these songs. So this be a lot of this will be exploratory for me. And for me as well. So um I always have like, i feel like every couple of years I have this moment where I'm like, I need to give the police a solid shot.
00:11:06
Speaker
right Right. And then i'll I'll listen to a bunch. I'll kind of pop in and out with them and I'll be like, yeah, this is really good. This is OK. And then I'll just not cycle back. Right. For some reason, just a band that kind of just peripherates in and out of my rotation of music.
00:11:21
Speaker
um But I understand the cultural significance of the police. And so I guess we're going to just like take a take a step back to kind of explain who they are. I'm sure most people know who they are.
00:11:34
Speaker
But if you don't, if you're like, hey, who's the police? ah Yeah, they came. They were a punk rock band in the the late 70s in the kind of the vein of like new wave bands like ah Blondie or ah the Rosillo's or any of that kind of stuff.
00:11:47
Speaker
Yeah. But their whole thing was that they were very like reggae influenced, like very reggae influenced. Yeah. People talk about how the clash is reggae influenced. They got nothing on the police really when it comes down. Like it's it's so much more upfront yeah to the point that, yeah, we talked about Sting. Sting's the front man, plays bass. They have the they have the ah setup of Motorhead.
00:12:12
Speaker
Yeah, three piece with the same player. Three piece basic player sings. Yeah. um They had the same lineup their whole career. They didn't last very long. The MXPX, if you will. They what?
00:12:22
Speaker
The MXPX, if you will. out Rush? ah We've got a few. ah The first time I thought about saying that, I was like Rush. And then I was like, wait a sec, Motorhead's already in England. could just say Motorhead. Motorhead. Yeah, totally.
00:12:40
Speaker
Uh, actually, I think I, I had, when I was putting the, my notes together, I said, they're like the motorhead of England.
00:12:49
Speaker
You should kept that one in there. You can cut it in, make it sound good. Joey. Um, the, uh, ah they But yeah, they only lasted for seven years, something like that. Like, it wasn't very long. They had five records to their name.
00:13:04
Speaker
Every record was a hit. And the last record was especially a hit. And now they just have songs that you hear everywhere, like on the radio. and And I'm sure as you listen to this, if you're like, I can't name a police song, you'll recognize these songs. They're also famously cheap ah for licensing purposes. So you'll yeah that's why you hear the police in a lot of like movies and TV shows and stuff like that. Whoa. You don't even have every little thing. She does is magic. That's crazy.
00:13:32
Speaker
I left it out. I mean, because I was like, i can't justify putting that in there. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's fair though. But, but that is a song that you, you may have heard if you are unfamiliar with the police, you've probably heard everything. She does magic, but the song you probably definitely know is this first song. This is so zero. Joey throw it on there.
00:13:55
Speaker
The Puff Daddy classic.
00:14:01
Speaker
Indeed.
00:14:05
Speaker
And this is not reggae forward. Absolutely not. So this was from their final record before they broke up from Synchronicity that came out in 1983. Every Breath You Take.
00:14:21
Speaker
Super Smash hit. Enormous streams eating that bad boys got. i was just going to ask you, I'm going to say.
00:14:31
Speaker
Seventy eight million. Two point five whoa but billion. That's crazy. What's sorry? I thought the weekend was somewhere around two billion. So I just I can't remember. the Weekend is more.
00:14:49
Speaker
It's been a while since we've done it. Yeah, this is this is a smash monster monster hit. yeah People love the police, but people love Brickin' Every Breath You Take but Yeah, it's... 2,598,274,777 streams to be exact. That's crazy.
00:15:15
Speaker
Holy smokes. Bananas, right? Yeah. But mean, it's like...
00:15:20
Speaker
four hundred and eighty million five hundred and ninety three thousand six hundred and fifty oh wow that's like not even a quarter that's crazy only smoke bananas right yeah that's yeah but i mean it's it's like Like Super Smash Shit doesn't even begin to describe that song.
00:15:39
Speaker
like if literally Literally everybody's heard that song. It's it's in everything. it's like It's been interpolated a thousand times. you know It was number one in five countries. The album was number one in five countries. The album sold 8 million records in the 80s, in like 83.
00:15:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's just – the police are more popular as a – how put this? As a as a ah grocery store band. as a pop group yeah and so i guess as we progress through this uh so i i have about four songs per record something like that it's kind of what it ended up working out to um you'll see the progression from where they start to that song so it's a bit of a journey it's a bit of a journey So let's Terry no further.
00:16:29
Speaker
Let's start with the first one from their first record, 1978's Outlandos D'Amour, So Lonely. so lonely. Fucking banger.
00:16:46
Speaker
but Like him being able to just sing like that and also play reggae bass is so impressive. Yeah. Yeah. His falsetto is like on high early on.
00:16:59
Speaker
So much falsetto. And he has so much power with his falsetto.
00:17:16
Speaker
this song's a jam. Yeah.
00:17:20
Speaker
And like truly... ah like a ah perfect marriage of sort of like reggae and the punk of the time. Yeah. Like once you come into this part, like this is sounds a lot like a lot of the punk music of the late 70s, you know?
00:17:39
Speaker
I think this record Is their best one. I think Al Lando's done more. Like there's some better songs on some later records, I think, but as a complete package, like if you're a punk ska person, if that's kind of your jam, if that's what you're heading for, there's a lot to love on it. Like it plays, they play really fast.
00:18:00
Speaker
ah The reggae stuff sounds very reggae-y. It isn't as pop forward. And I think it's just a little bit more listenable. But yeah, So Lonely is such a good song. Oh, man. Yeah.
00:18:12
Speaker
so And the next one you got queued up is also a fucking jam. Shout out to the Hippos cover of that song, too. If you haven't heard it, it's it's phenomenal. Really good. Oh, yeah.
00:18:24
Speaker
and Next song Roxanne. Roxanne.
00:18:35
Speaker
that weird little piano note for some reason. It's because he like sat on the piano and laughed about it. And they were like, that's funny. And left, they just left it in there. Legitimately, that's the story. Is it really? thought that was just a great joke. Yeah, no, if you listen to it, there's a little chuckle after the piano thing, and it's because just leaned back and sat on a piano accidentally, then laughed about it, and they were like, that's funny, and they left it in there.
00:19:05
Speaker
Is
00:19:09
Speaker
this...
00:19:13
Speaker
Is this the original? ah Now, what's the stupid sublime song about the sex worker? You know, it was Brad was Brad. I got to do a Roxanne or no ah wrong way. turn go Wrong way.
00:19:26
Speaker
Yeah. Was Brad and all trying to do a Roxanne? Is that what was happening? Probably. Harmony sounds so good. oh yeah.
00:19:40
Speaker
Have you ever done the Roxanne drinking game? No. That's where you take a sip of your beer every time they say Roxanne. It's really hard. A lot. It's really hard.
00:19:53
Speaker
No, I want to do it. That sounds good because i the worst thing that can happen is I get to listen to Roxanne, which is pretty good. I know, but then the the last portion of the song is pretty much just a minute of them saying Roxanne over and over and over again. So you got to get really good at doing taking a little sips really quickly.
00:20:13
Speaker
All right. Next up, another song that is famous from this record. Can't stand losing you. can go
00:20:26
Speaker
Shout out Stuart Copeland. Holy shit. One of the greatest drummers of all time. And he's a real funny guy. Like if you ah watch like drum videos, like more recent drum videos of him, he does Drumeo stuff on YouTube and whatnot every now and then. He's a character. He's pretty entertaining.
00:20:58
Speaker
This wasn't their first band, was it? Like, we were together? Maybe not together, but I mean, like, they they had to be in their 20s or something. Like, they weren't, like, 17 when this band kicked off, was it?
00:21:13
Speaker
Um, you know what? That's a good question. I love that song. Also good. Yeah, so I just feel like the songwriting is so, ah like strong.
00:21:27
Speaker
ah So what's the word I'm looking for? um Mature, I guess, just right off the right off the hop that I'd be surprised if this was a, if they were really young, you know?
00:21:39
Speaker
Yeah. the They weren't young. they I guess like according to this, they were in their mid twenties, but ah there were there was still their first band though, but they were all like accomplished,
00:21:51
Speaker
musicians in their own right in like because they like grew up playing like jazz and stuff so okay that's that's where it comes from so they were all already pretty decent musicians and then they came together in this band to write really good music okay that makes sense yeah yeah You gotta love the power trio. Hey, like sometimes you're just like, as much as it's like a big full band is great, but then sometimes you're just like, man, if you have like three of the best musicians ever making music, like what more do you need?
00:22:21
Speaker
Honestly, uh, my old band started off as a five piece and it was, ah we kind of lost two members pretty quick and we reorganized into a three piece and life was a whole lot easier.
00:22:34
Speaker
Like writing was easier. Playing shows was easier. Everything is easier as a three-piece. Getting together to practice, you only have to get three people together to practice, right?
00:22:45
Speaker
like it it makes It's a lot easier to be a lot tighter when there's only three people to be tight. right if you If you put your mind to it, you know what I mean? like it's it is a It's tougher because, as you were saying, it's like there's less it's less... full and unless someone's a virtuoso. You can only do so much with three instruments.
00:23:06
Speaker
But that being said, if you do it tight, it doesn't matter. Right. And I think like that's, that's a thing. Like you're strong. You're as strong as your weakest link when you only have three people because everything stands out.
00:23:19
Speaker
Right. And so as long as everybody is to your point tight, yeah then it doesn't fall apart. But you can, I mean, I guess I think about like old Blink-182.
00:23:31
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like, that's an example of where it's like, I like old Blink-182, but, I mean, they did not have a great drummer to start with. It was not that...
00:23:42
Speaker
listenable like you know as they would be later, right? and or poetry Or even when you look at like ah a band like like Green Day in the middle part of their career before their tours were huge with additional musicians and stuff, like their recordings were two, three guitars, extra instrumentation, that type of stuff. But when they're on tour, they're kick-ass three-piece band.
00:24:08
Speaker
And i trying of like that like really, I think, sold them to their audience, is the fact that this band like can have an album that sounds huge, but when they get on stage, they as a three-piece band, without all that additional stuff, they're just as good, if not better.
00:24:25
Speaker
You know what I mean? like it's yeah It can be done. if And it's yeah real, real good when it's done properly, you know? Shout out to Joker's Republic, homies.
00:24:36
Speaker
Fuck yeah. They're ah another great example. Like three fantastic musicians. And, you know, like I'm sure their recordings have extra guitars and shit going on. but like Oh yeah, for sure. But when you see them live, it's like all that extra stuff is doesn't matter.
00:24:51
Speaker
you know Yeah, because it's just the songs shine through. Yeah. Okay, I got one more song off of the first record. It's called
00:25:15
Speaker
Take it easy, Primus.
00:25:21
Speaker
Very loose in the studio on this record is what I've... started noticing a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Wow, that's weird.
00:25:35
Speaker
It's the final song on the record. It's definitely a strange choice. I feel like it's got to be like a Afro-Cuban kind of whole African kind of beat sort of thing. Oh, for sure. And that's like the thing about Sting, especially later on, is like how much he loves like world beat. Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely. Once he gets into his solo stuff.
00:26:01
Speaker
For sure.
00:26:10
Speaker
And his voice is so good, but like he does like kind of go flat and weird and stuff every now and then, but it's like so forgivable because it works so well with the music, you know? And this record was ah like panned when it when it came out, like critically panned. People did not like it. Yeah, like obviously they had hits like Roxanne and So Lonely and Can't Stand Losing You were all kind of big hits.
00:26:35
Speaker
Yeah. ah But yeah, people weren't weren't vibing with the police at the time. Wow. And then like obviously now you look back on it you're like, oh, well, obviously it's a classic. But ah yeah, they had to they had to work a little bit.
00:26:49
Speaker
um But it was one of those things. They definitely were in that um all the Bon Jovi thing where it's like, ah you know, one million screaming fans can't be wrong kind of a thing.
00:27:01
Speaker
ah Yeah, yeah. So like the critics, the critics didn't like them, but the crowds did. So, yeah. So they just like kind of broke through that whole thing, which you find that happens way more with music than with like any other art form where like I find like, you know, movie criticism, like you'll have cult hits, but for the most part, like a good movie is a good movie, right? There's like something about a good movie being a good movie.
00:27:26
Speaker
yeah Music is so much more subjective, like just yeah so much more. And and it has ah what will appeal to crowds? Like a music critic can never know. And it has more of an ability to kind of ah grab an audience and, i don't know, have that audience get into it more than the critics do, more so than a movie or anything else, it seems like.
00:27:51
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. i made probably Maybe because you watch a movie like a couple of times, maybe. Whereas a song, you might hear a song one time and be kind of into it and then get like two weeks later be like, I remember that song and then listen to it and fucking fully like just ah get obsessed with it. right like it We have a different relationship with music than we do with other kinds of media.
00:28:13
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. All right, let's move on to the next record. ah This is Regatta de Blanc, ah which is like Fringlish or whatever. It's not like real French, but it's white reggae.
Humor and Influences: Album Titles and World Beat
00:28:29
Speaker
That's what it means. I guess that's what I say.
00:28:31
Speaker
all right But it's not real it's not real French. they're They're having a laugh, I think. ah I don't know. like They're funny, but they're not funny. Like, ha-ha funny. You Yeah. You can tell they're making a joke.
00:28:46
Speaker
and they They probably like it. But they're like, there's something too, like... I don't know, like um upper crust about it, right? It's like they had one foot, as as ah Freeway would say, it's ah you have one one foot in the gutter, the other on the street or whatever.
00:29:02
Speaker
and feel like that's what they're like. Sure. um But yeah, let's listen to a song off here. I think this is still starkly different from the previous record. This is ah a big hit. This is Message in a Bottle. Another fucking banger.
00:29:20
Speaker
We're already getting so much more new wave. Yeah. Fully.
00:29:31
Speaker
And his falsettos calm down. Yeah.
00:29:37
Speaker
But this is like Bedouin Soundclash's entire identity is in this song. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Another three beats. Yeah. Doing the thing.
00:29:52
Speaker
Tempos are down little bit. Yeah. More synth or organ or whatever, whatever they got going in there. None of that before.
00:30:06
Speaker
God damn it. This sounds fucking good. Yeah. Stink bass tone sounds great too. Oh yeah. Yeah. What's a guitarist's name?
00:30:18
Speaker
we We've shouted at everybody else. Andy Summers. Yeah, Andy Summers. Yeah, he's ah also fantastic. Just real fucking good musicians.
00:30:31
Speaker
Yeah. it's sort yeah Again, like I always am like, i was like, I should pay attention to the police more. And then I go back and listen to I'm like, man, they're good. And then I just like, don't listen to them again. It's just so weird. Because it's good. Maybe it's because you hear a a couple songs so often on the radio.
00:30:50
Speaker
Right. You're never like, I'm going to put on that album. You know, you know you ah you constantly, society is constantly giving you you a little police fix. Yeah. yeah You know what I mean? So you never like you never have to go binge at home. That's right. They're like the methadone of music. yeah You just get a little bit.
00:31:09
Speaker
Yeah, and then you're sustained for a while. You don't think to listen to the album. ah Okay, this is the title track, Regatta de Blanc.
00:31:24
Speaker
The reggae is also more integrated, i find. Yeah, before it was like very much switching between reggae and like punk rock or new wave or whatever. This is like more a consistent.
00:31:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:46
Speaker
Arriba, hey. Like I said, they're funny. Oh, yeah, they're back there.
00:31:55
Speaker
mean, they're having a good time. I think so. Listen, if they're leaving in butt piano, they're yeah having some fun.
00:32:06
Speaker
Oh, a change where you're like, hey, where's the groove? What the hell?
00:32:16
Speaker
Do those chas sound, do they count as toasting? I think as close as they count.
00:32:27
Speaker
This is largely an instrumental, but i don't know, man. That sounds like toasting to me. pick Again, the world beat stuff, right? Like it was there. It was there from the beginning, right? Yeah, that part was definitely like, yeah, there's a lot of world beat stuff going on sure. Yeah, he just fucking loves like Paul Simon, you know? He's like, at one point, he's like, in 1978, he's like, I know we're making punk guys, but so at some point I'm making Graceland, just to let you know. At some point, I will be making Graceland. They're like, yeah, sure, Sting.
00:33:01
Speaker
yeah And then they're like, we're breaking up this band. And then he's like, I'm making Graceland. Yeah, now I make Graceland. yeah ah All right, what do we got next? We got Walking on the Moon. hell yeah. That's a freaking, keep saying it, but it's a fucking banger.
00:33:21
Speaker
This one might be, don't want to say it because the other there's a lot of other real good, but this one might be my favorite. This is like such a cool, like spacey song. Like, excuse the pun, but it very much has like a vibe to it that you genuinely feel like you're walking upon the moon.
00:33:45
Speaker
It's very good.
00:33:52
Speaker
So we have to address that at some point. Sting's fake in Jamaican. How do we feel about it?
00:34:01
Speaker
Uh, I yeah, mean, not good, but like, it's pretty light.
00:34:08
Speaker
It's a choice. It's like, um we talk about Green Day, how Billy Joe like puts on a weird British accent, kind of, when he sings. Yes, that's true, yep.
00:34:20
Speaker
So right you feel like Sting is kind of the same. He puts on like yeah kind of like a 5% faking Jamaican for some reason. who Twinges it in. like just yeah and then it like gets a little too much you're like whoa bring it down back it back it a little bit we're back back off the vacant jamaican sting he's like get the card is he i was gonna say does maybe he doesn't have a card but like he is um conscious of it and backs off early enough that he doesn't get into trouble with the authorities you know what i mean yeah yeah
00:34:56
Speaker
like Even after having three beers, he knows he needs to stay five under the speed limit. Yes. Yes, exactly. He's that guy when it comes to the fake. He's that guy. sure He's like, no, I'm good to drive. And he's centered himself enough to know what he needs to do to get on Yeah. but And all the rest of us are like, okay, sting. Okay.
00:35:18
Speaker
Yeah. my uber All right. Tell me to get in trouble.
00:35:24
Speaker
Um, Yeah, that song's great. That is very like, there's a lot of really vibey songs on this record, I find. Maybe that's because they got more tools, you know, they got like their little synthies.
00:35:39
Speaker
Yeah, and they got more like clearly a bigger recording budget on this one. Like just 100%. You can hear it immediately. Yeah. I'm sure the like that. And it was only released a year apart. So I'm sure they were like, oh, my God, this band is actually way more popular than we thought they were going to be. Let's just shovel them as much money as they can. And I guess they made hay out of it.
00:36:01
Speaker
ah Very sophomore record, too. Like you can tell the first one is like this is like road tested. These are the songs that probably slam hard live, like probably recorded live in studio.
00:36:12
Speaker
Now they are in the second thing where it's like, okay, let's let's play around a little bit. they're writing in studio and it's a little more. yeah. um So let's listen to Beds Too Big Without You before we take a break.
00:36:32
Speaker
This is cool. love this song.
00:36:35
Speaker
It's kind like a dub track. Yeah. They're like, they know their stuff. Oh yeah. they They, they know they're not just like, ah Jesus is a friend of mining it. they They are, they are aware of the culture. They know all of the history.
00:36:56
Speaker
But again, cause they're so sophisticated in how they write music. It's like, It's not like the two-tone would have been... that They would have been contemporaries with two-tone bands, and they would have... Yeah, but it is other it's different, for sure. Yeah.
00:37:09
Speaker
Whereas I think the two-tone bands were very, like, religious... not No pun intended. To the ska... Like, that's why they played so many covers. The ethos. Like, it's...
00:37:20
Speaker
Yeah, they were ska bands, whereas the the police are very clearly a ah ah reggae band, in my opinion. like They're very much like a new wave punk rock reggae kind of fusion, more so than like a ska punk band.
00:37:36
Speaker
Right. I think there is there's a there's a police, um what do you want to call it, like sound that they were going for. like They wanted something that was themselves, right? like As opposed to the disparate elements standing on their own kind of a thing. And it's also more academic sounding. Yeah, for sure. It's written it's it's written from the position of educated musicians okay it kind of sounds a little art school like ah in a way like and non-derogatorily but like like it's just they were they were really thinking about what they were trying to pull from as they were putting these songs together whereas i think the younger two-tone bands were just like immersed in the scene and were like i love this music i want to play this music like just because that's kind of how i got into punk rock right like hey Yeah, and you know, you make you make a point about how they're probably a little bit older than all those bands, right? Like, if they were in their mid to late 20s and all these ska punk bands were, like, in their teens still, right? Like, Madness was, like, just fresh out of high school, right? Yeah, like totally. There's something about, like, the age gap a little bit, too, right?
00:38:41
Speaker
Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. All right, let's take a break. And when we get back, The Police.
00:39:01
Speaker
Welcome back to Checkered Past. Engineer Joey and Robin, we're talking about The Police. So we're on to their third record in as many years. This is Zenyatta Mondata. i don't know what that means. It's just more nonsense. They're going for it.
00:39:17
Speaker
Man, they were going to for it with their album titles. I know. Just like it. Yeah, I know. All of them have weird titles, basically. The last one's the easiest because it's only one word.
00:39:31
Speaker
say that again oh yeah that's like the easiest yeah and it's barely a word yeah it's a made up word so funny um uh let's see i'm trying to look and see if i have okay here's the title this is what i was going to look at uh from the title of the previous um oh yeah it's nonsense uh it's great yeah Let's see here. The A&M Records co-founder named his racehorse Zenyatta. That's funny.
00:40:02
Speaker
Okay. ah No, but it's, yeah, just, they basically just created nonsense words and just put it together. Again, that's some rich guy bullshit, dude. Like, okay, this punk band that I fucking signed on to my label just made me a million dollars. So I'm going to name my fucking race horse after the album that made that. That is some rich guy bullshit. I fucking hate that. Actually, that is some billionaire behavior. Get the fuck out of here with that shit.
00:40:35
Speaker
the odds are at this point sting probably has more money so like that's the irony yeah yeah it's true but all his horses hang around in fields of gold
00:40:50
Speaker
it was right there good job joey thank you uh all right let's listen to don't stand so close to me what a weird thing to write a song about
00:41:03
Speaker
It's a very cool song, but also like the weirdest subject matter. Yeah, the... The kind of lyrical content of this record is strange.
00:41:16
Speaker
do love the...
00:41:22
Speaker
i do love the ah Like he's singing real low as far as Sting singing goes, like to start it off. And then once it kicks in, he's like way up in the falsetto.
00:41:33
Speaker
It's good. The reggae-ness of it is muting. You can feel it muting. Yeah, totally.
00:41:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:47
Speaker
reginess of it is muting you can you can feel it muting yeah totally yeah
00:41:58
Speaker
It's still in the drums. They still do like, you know, like Stuart Copeland still like doing the reggae fills. Yeah. Like you can feel the songwriting moving away. Yeah, totally.
00:42:09
Speaker
But it's like that song's super cool. Like there's other than being really weird. Yeah. They got some real like smoking jacket vibes, you know? Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
00:42:21
Speaker
Yeah. Let's listen to Driven to Tears. Okay. Now we're getting into stuff I'm not familiar with.
00:42:36
Speaker
is kind of fun.
00:42:39
Speaker
A rocker's beat? Yeah. I now know. Yeah. You're learning. You're learning. yeah
00:42:55
Speaker
such a like just grooves like their songs yeah have such like strong grooves in them a lot
00:43:08
Speaker
which might honestly be what keeps it so close to reggae right it's just like the groove based nature of it you know even when they're kind of be doing weird stuff with whatever, Afrobeat kind of stuff or whatever, it's always still like so heavy on the groove, you know?
00:43:25
Speaker
Yeah. We can also hear on this record that the edges are kind of like softening out. Not yeah the punk, the punkiness of their first couple is kind of like, you know, almost completely muted out. Like this is getting into, they're, they're playing with that pop rock future that they know is coming.
00:43:42
Speaker
Right. Right. But yeah, 1980, so I guess, yeah, the tides had turned. Punk is dead by 1980 in the UK. That's true. yeah That's true. And like the sound that they're in 1980, they would have been kind of a little bit ahead of the curve with the sound that they're doing here.
00:43:58
Speaker
Yeah. Like they're kind of like leading, well, not not leading the way on new wave, but like they were kind of ahead of the curve of what was going to happen over the next couple of years as far as new wave taking over for punk kind of.
00:44:11
Speaker
you know yeah like the duran durans of the world and flock of the world that's coming later yeah yeah for sure uh next up we got man in a suitcase this is probably the closest they get to ska whoa
00:44:32
Speaker
i mean say that's pretty ska yeah they did it they wrote a ska song
00:44:41
Speaker
Now they're among the greats like Millen Colin.
00:44:46
Speaker
Me poor.
00:45:02
Speaker
Yeah, those like harmonies are like weird but cool and stuff. Yeah, this is pretty rad. It's almost like a close harmony, like the Andrews sisters. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, like he's doing, it's almost, part of it's not even a harmony. He's just doing a different melody in the same kind of notes that he's using. You know what I mean? Like it's just a different, it's like they did two takes and we're like, okay, well, let's just keep both takes, you know?
00:45:28
Speaker
That's that polyharmony type of thing, right? Yeah. Again, that's a world beat thing. So like. True that. It all comes back around.
00:45:38
Speaker
Doing his research. I love that song. That's a great song. might That might be my favorite police song. Again, i mean that because it's the skyest. Right. That fits your criteria. It fits my criteria.
00:45:50
Speaker
But. As a record, this is not my favorite. I would go back to their first one just because like the punk songs on that record really like – One thing that this episode is not going to lay out is the quality of the records because we're all listening to songs that are in the reggae ska sort of vibes.
00:46:09
Speaker
Right. And there are songs that are not – like that really a lot right yeah yeah and i think the variety of their records is something that people really aspire like really like vibe with so i would recommend if you're a listener and you're like kind of into a couple of these songs just check the whole album give it one listen none of them are particularly long they'll have like 10 songs 30 40 minutes because it was late 70s early 80s nobody was like packing them in had to fit on a CD era so help um Yeah, you can get ah you can get your money's worth. You can get your time, like clean the house, listen to Regatta de Blanc.
00:46:45
Speaker
if If you're a vinyl person, just go to like literally like wherever sells like cheap vinyls and you could probably pick up most of these records, to be honest. Next track we have up from Zenyatta Mondatta is Shadows in the Rain.
00:46:59
Speaker
and we go.
00:47:07
Speaker
Oh yeah, that's real reggae-y.
00:47:14
Speaker
like that little piano.
00:47:18
Speaker
No but on that one. Or maybe. I don't know. Maybe that's how you played it. But I think Andy Summers plays piano.
00:47:33
Speaker
Yeah, this one's almost like going into dub territory as well. Yeah, for sure. With the reverb and all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It's just real stripped down bass and drums.
00:47:48
Speaker
Yeah, because I guess if Andy is on the piano right now, he's not playing guitar. Yeah.
00:47:55
Speaker
I will say he works a lot harder on the guitar than he does on the piano.
00:48:05
Speaker
This was a favor song. Yeah. Wait, I got i gotta to practice my piano. Okay, Andy. Like ding, ding, ding, ding. Ding, ding, ding, ding. Busts out chopsticks at the end.
00:48:21
Speaker
Gets his little like recorder and plays like hot cross buns. Hell yeah. All the classics.
00:48:30
Speaker
All right, let's go forward a year. We're going to 1981 for Ghost in the Machine. um Let's see.
Sound Evolution: From "Ghost in the Machine" to "Synchronicity"
00:48:40
Speaker
I don't have any big songs off of this one, but I believe this is where Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic is from. Yeah, that's what this is.
00:48:50
Speaker
This is the one that where I skipped that because there's not a lot of reggae or ska or whatever on there. Right. We are getting to the point where the reggae stuff is getting pulled back even more. So let's start with the opening track, Spirits in the Material World.
00:49:13
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Way more synth. Yeah. But it's doing the bubble, which is kind of weird. and But kind of weird, though. Yeah. Yeah.
00:49:30
Speaker
Oh man, you gotta have like a mathematician degree to understand the number of beats that are going on here in these bars.
00:49:43
Speaker
Again, Stuart Copeland might be the real like the real star, honestly.
00:49:53
Speaker
See, this part makes sense to my brain, but that other bass line, holy smokes, so weird timing.
00:50:04
Speaker
I'm sort of getting the vibe that you would get from, um like, in the studio, the specials record, where there was a lot of, like... kind of studio trickery, kind of a like more broad songwriting, a little bit jazzier, right? I think that's of direction they're going in.
00:50:20
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, totally. i like that song, though. I've heard that song ah many a time, and it's it's good. But it isn't it doesn't have the same kind of energy as their earlier stuff, for sure. The energy is going to come down quite a bit. Even if like falsetto isn't as falsetto-y, like it's a little bit more like subdued, right? Yeah.
00:50:38
Speaker
Again, does just more sophisticated, just a little bit more like fancy pants, right? Yeah. um Next is Demolition Man. Yeah, love this movie.
00:50:54
Speaker
I mean, this movie has Taco Bell in it. This song is kind of reggae, which means it's close to ska, which is close to Taco Bell.
00:51:05
Speaker
It's like a six degrees of separation type of thing.
00:51:09
Speaker
Uh, fun fact, he wrote this song for Grace Jones and she has a version of this song too. Oh, that's cool.
00:51:22
Speaker
That's truly some like, uh, some like Huey Lewis and News ass guitar work going on though, for sure.
00:51:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:37
Speaker
Actually, this song is kind of Huey Lewis in the news ass, to be honest. Now that you said that, that's all I think about.
00:51:46
Speaker
Man, people love Huey Lewis, hey? I do. I mean, four and sports are both great. i love them. I have no issue with Huey Lewis. I just don't have the fervor. I feel like Huey Lewis has this like same thing that people have about... um ah What like my god why can't I think of his name I'm very tired This is Some of the most cutoutable stuff
00:52:13
Speaker
But this song is good Yeah I like that it's tempo That's fun It's kind of a It definitely has a Like a like ah ah a dad at a resort vibe That song for some reason Jimmy Buffett. That's who I was thinking of. i was like, Jimmy Buffett. Dad at a resort vibe. Jimmy Buffett. 100%. On no be no cap. Yeah. All right. Rob got it. Rob got his brain cells working just to figure out Jimmy Buffett's name. You got there.
00:52:49
Speaker
All right. Last song from Ghost in the Machine. One World, Not Three. Based. Based AF.
00:53:01
Speaker
I'm gonna just say that I don't think I like the horn work on this record. No. Sting played the horns. Really? Yeah.
00:53:13
Speaker
Yeah, I just don't think I like like... He brought in the horn section and got somebody else to play bass for him. Really? Yeah. That makes sense now that I... Because a lot of the bass stuff, I was like, what's going on here? Yeah.
00:53:35
Speaker
Like this song is cool, but I i honestly just i hate those horns. I would have rathered a synth line or something.
00:53:44
Speaker
Or even a stripped back song like that could have sounded good if it just like ah I don't know. My personal opinion is the the more stuff they tack on, the less interested I get. Like I feel like, yeah, as much as as much as they love to kind of fuck around in the studio, I prefer when they don't.
00:54:00
Speaker
Honestly, that's kind of the story of three-piece groups in general. We're back to that, right? For for me, like i usually I prefer their earlier career stuff when it's mostly just the three of them. and by the like Every band does it. By the time they get late in their career, they have a 10-piece band worth of extra stuff going on, and it's just not as interesting.
00:54:21
Speaker
Yeah. um All right, let's go to synchronicity. ah There's like no scar reggae on it at all, but except for a little bit on this song.
00:54:33
Speaker
they're absolutely on the They're fully on the wave, the new new wave. Completely. they they They made it. This is Wrapped Around Your Finger.
00:54:51
Speaker
Yeah, like this song... I didn't know that that's what it was called, but I've heard this song before. But it definitely like it sounds like the police, but we're to reggae.
00:55:05
Speaker
You know what i mean? Yeah.
00:55:08
Speaker
It's as close as it gets on this record. I was having a hard time finding something.
00:55:15
Speaker
It's just a little bit in the drums, and that's about it. Yeah.
00:55:22
Speaker
so slow like this is definitely informing where sting's solo work is going to be going 100 post haste yeah for sure and there was a two-year gap between ghost and machine and synchronicity the only time or they 1982 the only year they didn't release a record um And yeah, I but, you know, part of me is also like, well, maybe it's it's preference, but it's also like, what do I know? This is this is the police like synchronicity is the police.
00:55:53
Speaker
This is the one that everyone associates with them. Has the biggest hit. Everybody loves it. It's sold so well, like more than any of their other records. So obviously it vibes with a more higher degree of people than the stuff that I prefer.
00:56:08
Speaker
Yeah. Right. I mean, it's the one that moves the most into ah the pop music of the time. So all of that makes sense. You know what I mean? Yeah, and I would never accuse the police of like bowing to like modern pressures. I think this has always been in their DNA.
00:56:25
Speaker
Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah. I think i feel like their development of a band as a band is kind of the same as what we were talking about with the Pez slash Billy Talent.
00:56:38
Speaker
You know what I mean? They sort of just, they were doing their thing, and this is how they ended up sounding when they were doing their thing. Yeah. Yeah. i like it that's yeah so just to cap off before we have one more song but before we uh move past the police just want to talk about some of their other songs and how they are on spotify roxanne 869 million message in a bottle million surprise i don't stand so close to me two hundred and forty eight
00:57:10
Speaker
Walking on the Moon, 168 million. so Lonely, million. Losing You, 124 million. wrapped around your fingers sixty six million can't stand losing you a hundred and twenty four million and then the wonderfully named
00:57:33
Speaker
That's from Zenyatta Mondatta, the third one. ah They were still having a good time. I feel like. At that point, they were still having fun. Yeah, they were that's a fun little song. It's real stupid, but it's it's pretty fun. What a weird band, hey? We got through it all. But we got one more thing.
00:57:51
Speaker
We talked about Sting going solo. He made a very ah interesting attempt to write a sort of police song. And this is Englishman in New York.
00:58:07
Speaker
That sexy sax right off the bat. I know.
00:58:16
Speaker
With a weird... The upstrokes on a Pensacato... Pensacato violin or whatever. Yeah. I like my toast on one side. i
00:58:31
Speaker
With beans on it, probably. so Probably.
00:58:41
Speaker
Was that a... I feel like an English man being in New York in like the 80s was not ah like a remarkable thing.
00:58:51
Speaker
No. You know I mean? like I feel like New York's got a big East Coast airport. Many flights from England probably land there. i feel like being an English man in New York is like not a big deal. 1987 definitely wouldn't have been that fascinating.
00:59:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:14
Speaker
Oh, but he doesn't have his green card, though. He could run into trouble. Then. I get that now. Now I get it, especially with done in today's political climate. Right?
00:59:26
Speaker
Terrible. There's something kind of Michael Bolton-y of of that, too. You know what i mean? like there's Yeah, that fucking that was fuck that that sucks. Adult contemporary music, you know?
00:59:39
Speaker
Adult contemporary music is not for It never has been. but No, it's for people who like um need a focus to get into their tantric sex, I guess.
00:59:52
Speaker
Because that's another one of his... If you want to go into a rabbit hole, look up Sting's tantric sex stuff. He's pretty into that. i yeah I avoided talking about it because it is very bizarre. Like, it is... Truly, when people talk about Sting, I should think about any of the millions of things that he's done in his career.
01:00:14
Speaker
So lonely or something. But I only ever think of tantric sex. Like, that is now associated with Sting forever in my brain. Do you think he's a tantra monster? Yeah, I do.
01:00:27
Speaker
but truly do.
01:00:31
Speaker
All right. Well, that was the police. Joey, how do you feel? like the police. That Sting song sucked. I'm not afraid to say it. Don't really care. Who knows that I think Sting's solo work fucking sucks. But yeah, I i like the police synchronicity.
01:00:47
Speaker
i think I have it on vinyl. I think I spun it once because it is, as for me, the weakest of their records. um But the the first two fuck.
01:00:58
Speaker
So first three. Yeah, the first two fuck. Yeah, you can get a lot. There's a lot of headway off of Zenyatta you can get. But the first two in particular are extraordinary, like totally worth a listen if you've never heard it.
01:01:09
Speaker
Yeah. Especially as far as like that era of new wavy punk is concerned. Like, I also think that there you can put them amongst the best. yeah i know I talked about the Rosillos and Blondie. They deserve to be in the same breath as those those. For sure. And like I said, it truly is like a i like up ah reggae punk rock fusion on their first couple of records.
01:01:33
Speaker
And I think I prefer that sound more than what they would develop into later, this kind of world beat.
Comparing The Police and The Clash
01:01:40
Speaker
ah amalgamation of all of their sounds i sort of like when they were sort of switching back and forth between reggae and punk rock kind of yeah i actually do think it sounded a little bit better to me and i don't know i just feel like you know they they get set in the same breath as the clash a lot i like the clash but the clash has a lot of like fat also like yeah yeah the clash has a lot chaff to cut
01:02:06
Speaker
Yeah, the London Calling is so long. There's a lot of great songs on London Calling, but holy shit, two records is too much for that kind of music, man. Yeah, and I would say for being two bands who on the surface are pretty similar, they are kind of two different sides of the same coin. Agreed.
01:02:29
Speaker
I think directions, different goals that they were shooting for. And I think they were doing different things and it just so happened that a lot of what they were doing sounded very kind of like what the other one was doing. You know what I mean? Like it's like, like they definitely go hand in hand, but there are two different things going on.
01:02:48
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And i just, I know what I prefer to listen to. I guess the only thing is that the clash wrote Rudy can't fail. in And unfortunately that song is very good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It is an incredible song.
01:03:01
Speaker
you imagine being at like a clash police show? It would have happened. Oh yeah, for sure. Like that, that shit would have been so fucking incredible. That would have been such a sick show to be at.
01:03:13
Speaker
Oh man. Yeah, that's one of those moments where you're like, if only I was in the late set. like ah Apart from a lot of other horrible things that would have happened, but it would have been cool to be in the late 70s to be able to watch that stuff in the UK.
01:03:25
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Especially with such a small scene because they would have all been, all those bands would have been playing together, right? like Yeah, 100%. but I read that Madness book and that's exactly what they talk about is how like, like know on the last episode when we talked about Save Ferris about Dexy's Midnight Runners, like they were a part of that scene too because no one would book them.
01:03:44
Speaker
So they just hung out with whoever would tour with them, right? Yeah, yeah. Which was like all these bands. Yeah, exactly. Sick. So that does
Closing: Follow and Support Checkered Past
01:03:53
Speaker
it. Another one is in the books, Joey. Thanks for listening to Checkered Past.
01:03:57
Speaker
Hit us up on Instagram, Twitter, Blue Sky, YouTube, and TikTok at Checkered Past Pod or send us an email at checkeredpastpod at gmail.com. Support the pod and get bonus content including a full length and unedited video of this episode.
01:04:08
Speaker
Sign up for the Checkerhead Patreon at patreon.com slash checkeredpast. We also have merch available at checkeredpass.ca. This episode is edited and engineered by Joey. And a special thanks to Chris Reeves, Megamichi, and Adam the Ska Mailman for making this podcast happen.
01:04:23
Speaker
Thanks also to Keelan for all of his work on the podcast episodes, including recording the trombonist theme song. Next week, we're going to do Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. And until next time, I'm Rob.
01:04:34
Speaker
I'm Joey. In the mortal words of the policed, why must I be um man on this podcast?