Something that has warmed my heart over the last 2ish years is the growing community of new ska bands and the scene they've fostered online. Pretty much all of these bands are involved in some way with Bad Time Records, who have done an amazing job of proudly trumpeting new ska bands, and then move towards being proud of playing ska has been so necessary.
About five years ago, Duff made a joke to me that every new ska band that started was a clone of either Reel Big Fish (the most popular), Sublime (the least ska), or Operation Ivy (the best version of this, but still not great). This is a hyper-simplified way to sum up an entire scene, by someone who's not remotely involved, but it mostly tracked. There were definitely new bands that excited me, like the new permutations of the Bruce Lee Band, Dan P and the Bricks, and the Nix86, but those were vastly outnumbered by white kids from the suburbs who were starting a band that sounded like RBF and wrote joke lyrics. I hate that people rip on ska without giving it a chance, but there were also many bands that weren't doing them any favours.
Jeremy Hunter, A.K.A. Skatune Network, A.K.A. JER, who has also played a huge role in the recent growth of ska, touched on this issue in many interviews over the last couple of years.* Ska has always been good, but so many people are hung up on the big bands from the 90s and still only supporting them, rather than seeking out new bands to see what is developing. Another problem is that what has historically a diverse genre, featuring mixed races and genders in bands, was boiled down to its whitest version. The saving of ska will rely on bands featuring POC and queer members emerging and everyone supporting that.
*I've read a bunch, but I feel like I remember their interview on blink-155 the best. It's at the end here.
That's been mostly borne out in the last few years around Bad Time Records and I love it. People are constantly asking "When will the fourth wave start?!" (puke), but Bad Operation gave this movement a great name by calling themselves New Tone. I really fuck with that term, so here are my favourite New Tone releases:
Frightnrs
Out of all these records I'm about to list, this one qualifies least as "New Tone", as it came out in 2016 and doesn't have any of the punk influence that the others do. It is an amazing trad ska/reggae/rocksteady album in the vein of New York's many masters of that style, like the Slackers, David Hillyard and the Rocksteady Seven, and Inspector 7.
Grey Matter
Grey Matter reminds of a a tonne of bands that I would try to listen to in high school, but find too abrasive and not understand. I would understand that they were cool and that there was interesting things going on, but was too conditioned to only like things that sounded like blink and NOFX. Fortunately, I am now ~mature~ enough to appreciate Grey Matter.
Bad Operation
Bad Operation popped up out of nowhere and immediately started promoting singles for a forthcoming album. My favourite thing about them is how different they sound from every ska band I've heard for the last 15 years. It's "Ghost Town" by the Specials filtered through DIY punk. And they coined the term "New Tone"!
Kill Lincoln
My favourite active ska band. Poppy and upbeat ska combined with super catchy pop-punk. All the best parts of Anthem and B is for B-Sides. No ska band since ASOB has put out two back-to-back releases like Good Riddance to Good Advice and Can't Complain. If ska were a wrestling promotion, they would be the Television Champion, and I mean that in the most respectful way possible.
JER
Skatune Network has been the loudest and most important voice in ska over the last few years and I truly appreciate all the work they've done. Their covers are fun, especially the excellent Pick It the Fuck Up!, but all they've done has made me eager to see what sort of original music they could make outside of We Are the Union. JER is their solo project and it fulfilled that promise. Can't wait for the full-length.
Other enthusiasms!
One of the most relaxing things during the pandemic has been watching skate videos. Like everything else in the world, it's found a home on Youtube and most companies now just just upload their stuff to stream online, instead of selling it. The Thrasher series Homies has been my favourite series this year bar none. It follows a group of skaters as they hang out and film for a day and I love the vibe of skaters not caring about getting tricks and just having fun. It also helps that skaters I love to watch, like the Deathwish team and Ishod Wair are front and centre.
I have heard through the skateboarding gossip machine that it is apparently no longer fashionable to like Toy Machine, a company that I've always loved. Vaccine is the company's first video in a little bit, it kicks ass, and it features a lot of new faces. Tyshawn Jordan is the big signing, but the supporting cast of flow riders and Braden Hoban really show up too (I also still love DanLu, Axel, and Leo). Fuck the haters. I'll continue loving Toy for as long as Ed Templeton runs the show.
