Greg Lee, co-vocalist of California ska veterans Hepcat, has sadly and unexpectedly passed away. He was 53. His partner Amanda Becker broke the news, writing: Gregory Lee 11/3/1970 – 3/19/2024 Hello Everyone, This is Mandie writing. I am about to share some unbelievable, heartbreaking news. Our dear friend, Gregory Lee, has left his earth body and joined the angels officially as of March 19th at 1pm. Greg had a massive brain aneurysm followed by cardiac arrest late Sunday, March 17 in our home in Paramount. I found him on the floor unconscious and not breathing. I immediately called for 911 a ..read more

Half Past Two‘s new album Talk Is Killing Me comes out April 19 via Bad Time Records, and today we’re premiering the music video for its title track. The song finds the band putting a ska-infused take on big, crunchy, anthemic pop punk, and the band says it’s “how we’ve always dreamed of sounding,” adding, “It’s not even ‘classic’ Half Past Two, it’s the best song we’ve ever written together, it’s the crème de la crème of what we’ve worked toward since the beginning.” The Rae Mystic-directed video takes place at a fancy dinner party, and… things get weird. Check it out below. Half Past Two als ..read more

Noted Operation Ivy fan Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! has announced that she’ll be teaming up with Philly ska band Catbite for an Operation Ivy cover set at this year’s Supernova Ska Festival. They’ll be playing the band’s sole album Energy in full. Catbite have also covered Op Ivy in the past, so all signs point to this being a real treat to see. The fest goes down from September 13-15 on the Chesapeake Bay at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia and also includes The Slackers, Inspector, Mad Caddies, Los Skarnales, Skavoovie & the Epitones, Five Iron Frenzy, Mephiskapheles, The Planet ..read more

LA ska / “dirty reggae” vets The Aggrolites are coming to the Northeast to headline day two of CT Ska Weekend at Space Ballroom in Hamden, CT and headline day three of Pennsylvania ska festival This Is Not Croydon Fest on April 21, and right before that, they’ll play a just-announced Brooklyn show on April 19 at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets for the Brooklyn show go on sale Friday (3/8) at 10 AM. CT Ska Weekend also has Sonic Boom Six, High School Football Heroes, and Drop Party on day one; and Spring Heeled Jack and Nick and the Adversaries on day two. Tickets here. This Is Not Croydon ..read more

SoCal ska-pop-punks Half Past Two have announced a new album, Talk Is Killing Me, due April 19 via Bad Time Records (pre-order). The album was produced and mixed by We Are The Union’s Reade Wolcott, who also contributed guitar, percussion, keys, vocals, and co-writing. It’s their first time album for Bad Time, following the band’s inclusion on the 2020 comp Ska Against Racism that Bad Time co-released. Here’s what Bad Time label head (and Kill Lincoln vocalist) Mike Sosinski says about the new album: I will admit something to you right now dear email reader… I was not always a Half Past Two f ..read more

Mutiny is a new ska-punk supergroup featuring Voodoo Glow Skulls saxophonist Eric Fazzini, Voodoo Glow Skulls/Death By Stereo vocalist Efrem Schulz, Dissidente vocalist/guitarist Chris Ruckus, Voodoo Glow Skulls trombonist Jose Pazsoldan, Death by Stereo drummer Mike Cambra, guitarist Jordan Pepper, and bassist Adam Shah, plus additional organ by Esteban Flores (Matamoska, Catbite, etc). Efrem Schulz says, “In ska, you know, Voodoo Glow Skulls is a weird band and in hardcore Death by Stereo is considered kind of a weird band. To add them together, It’s going to make something else super weird ..read more

UK ska-punks Call Me Malcolm have shared “dead men take no pills,” the second single from their upcoming album Echoes and Ghosts, and we’re premiering its music video. The video was created by fellow UK ska musician Andy B, and the video uses Jim Henson-style puppets to contrast the song’s themes of mental health struggles with something a little more lighthearted. Singer/guitarist Lucias Malcolm explains: We had so many limitations for the shoot; space, time, money, we planned for about three weeks to make sure we got what we needed and that if we couldn’t, we had creative solutions ready. B ..read more

UK ska-punks Call Me Malcolm recently announced their new album (and Bad Time Records debut) Echoes and Ghosts, and now they’ve announced their first-ever US shows. Call Me Malcolm and their Bad Time labelmates Kill Lincoln will both open for Boston ska vets Big & the Kids Table in Boston and Brooklyn, and after that, CMM and Kill Lincoln play another show together in DC. The Big D shows, billed as “Halfway to Halloween,” go down on May 10 at Crystal Ballroom in Somerville with Boston ska band Pink Slip providing additional support and May 11 at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn with additional supp ..read more

The latest episode of the BrooklynVegan Podcast is an interview with Aaron Carnes, author of the book In Defense of Ska and co-host of the In Defense of Ska podcast. Aaron joins us to celebrate the new updated, expanded ‘Ska Now More Than Ever’ edition of his book, which you can pre-order now from Clash Books, and the new season of the IDOS podcast, which just launched. Future episodes feature interviews with members of Jawbreaker, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Fishbone, Mr. Bungle, Save Ferris, illuminati hotties, and more. Aaron joins us on the show to talk about a ton of ska-related topics ..read more

UK ska-punks Call Me Malcolm have announced a followup to 2020’s great My, Myself and Something Else, Echoes and Ghosts, due March 1 via Bad Time Records (pre-order). Picking up where the vulnerable mental health themes of its predecessor left off, singer/songwriter Lucias Malcolm calls this new LP “a eulogy for the parts of myself I killed with medication, and a love letter to the silhouette I became.” On lead single “One Cure to the Head, Two to the Chest,” Call Me Malcolm wrap those themes in the kind of big, energetic hooks that’s always made this band’s music so appealing. Check out the s ..read more