Japan’s finest: Hey Smith singer Shu

This week, we travel to the ska-loving country of Japan to interview the amazing ska-punk group, Hey Smith. Specifically, we have Shu, their singer and primary songwriter. To help us translate the interview, we have an old friend and former guest, Ume, who plays in the band Kill Lincoln. He’s currently filling in on trombone with Hey Smith as well!

We discuss the band’s history, how their popularity has been growing, their recent US tours, signing to a major label, and how they wrote ska-punk songs for more than one popular Anime program recently. 

Plus we try to sneak in a few questions for Ume, but he wasn’t having it. 

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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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