Dicky Barrett sang in the Mighty Mighty Bosstones for 39 years, and announced for the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show for 18 years. In 2022, his stance on COVID vaccines seemingly ended both careers. Nowadays he writes and sings in 90s punk supergroup The Defiant, alongside members of Smash Mouth, the Offspring, the Street Dogs, and the Briggs. He joins Hornpod to share stories about the earliest days and highest heights of U.S. ska, as well as his place in the world these days. Hornpod theme written by Matt Wixson. Performed this episode by Brunt of It. The Hornpod Ska Canon lives at hornpod.org ..read more

You know him as a modern-day dub master and ska producer, but now we're calling him "professor" as Victor Rice takes us to production school. Ricey shares his advice on composing, performing, recording and mixing your music- it's like Masterclass but for ska kids ..read more

Rebroadcast of an episode of the Monster Boogie Show, originally aired March 5th, 2024 on WCSB 89.3FM Cleveland Cleveland native and trombonist Greg Robinson (Mephiskapheles) guest hosts the Mikal Reich Memorial Show. For two hours, Greg spins rare, early Mephiskapheles tracks from 1992-1996, along with vintage ska from the 1960s that Mikal loved, and a few selections from the bands Meph toured with back in the early days. In between, there are brief interview segments from the Mephiskapheles circle as well as guests from the NYC scene who knew Mikal and pay tribute to him on-air. Together, we ..read more

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (TSPO, or Skapara) has been making records since 1990, but their music has been hard to come by in the US for much of their career. However, after their Supernova debut, and the availability of their entire back catalog for streaming, TSPO is finally getting the recognition they deserve. JJ and Matt have decided to become experts on the legendary band, and with the help of Chris Malone from The Pandamics, The Pilfers, and Bigger Thomas, they will take you through the history of TSPO ..read more

Matt recently had the opportunity to hop on a Zoom with Coolie, Vinny and Nick from The Pilfers! Their seminal record from 1999, Chawalaleng is available for streaming for the very first time, and this coincides with a reunion of the band's original lineup. This is Coolie Ranx's third visit to Hornpod, check the feed for episodes 027 and 028 for the full Pilfers' Saga ..read more

It's been a fantastic year for ska music and we have been making lists. JJ and Matt welcome the curator of the BIG 2023 Ska Releases Spotify playlist, Cody Freedom and author/blogger of Ska, Punk and other Junk, Dane Jackson to the show. We each share our own Top Ten lists, find some common overlap and reflect on another year in ska ..read more

It's Christmas time again! Yes, again. Some folks were disappointed that nothing was added to the Ska Canon in the last episode. We're fixing that with a self-proclaimed Christmas Ska expert, Sean McCabe from Rocky Sullivan, Psy D and Bomb The Music Industry ..read more

JJ and Matt are in a Christmas mood, so we've brought on Jesse Wagner (The Aggrolites) and Eitan Avineri from Western Standard Time to talk about their new record, Bluebeat Holiday. It's a classy mix of Big Band, Ska and Christmas favorites. And in Ska Canon, we try to find some Christmas Ska that's worthy to be inducted ..read more

Guests, James McDonald, I-Peace Unikue and their band Eastern Standard Time are playing Supernova Ska Festival 2023!  More than that, they’ll also be backing up Sister Nancy and Dr. Ring-Ding! Eastern Standard Time joins JJ and Matt to tell us what it’s like infusing traditional Ska with non-traditional amounts of Jazz- and finding the right balance over their nearly 30 years together.  We get into the nuances of playing Ska-Jazz, and also, when things get too far out ..read more

JJ and Matt are joined by Victor Rice and Kristoph Toth to discuss their new project, Heritage: On Bartok's Path, which combines ska with traditional Hungarian folk songs. A true ska visionary, Rice conceived of the new genre-mixing album years ago, and enlisted Toth's band, the Pannonia Allstar Ska Orchestra to make it a reality. We talk Scofflaws! We talk about Samba Rocksteady! And of course, we talk Bela Bartok ..read more