Pick it up Mother Fucker.
It all started in high school, and I had gone threw all of my phases at one point. I was into straight up rock music at one point (which at the time was a lot of LIMP BIZKIT) then I did the retro 90's phase of listening to nothing but Nirvana, Alice In Chains and Mudhoney (because if I learned one thing, listening to those cool bands from Seattle that didn't make it was a good way to score scene points). I slowly got into a Dave Matthews transitioning into indie rock (around the time the band "The Vines" were cool) and right before I dove right into that indie rock pool, a friend of mine asked me "Hey man, you like SKA~!?" I answered with "Yeah...it's pretty good" - fast forward 2 years later I was literally getting measure for my CHECKER BOARD TATTOO before I realize I did not have the cash to get said tattoo. Being in a ska band and being surrounded by the scene puts you in the position to listen to some of the best and worst bands in the genre. I'll never forget going to Bloomfield Ave Cafe to see The Arrogant Sons of Bitches which was a precursor to Bomb The Music Industy! which is going strong right now, and just being amazed at how awesome A.S.O.B was, only to remember early in the night seeing one of the worst bands (and Ska related puns) ever; Pirates of the SKAribbean.
In between the best and the worst that night, there was one other band that played. They were a Wisconsin band by the name of I Voted for Kodos (a name taken from a quite popular Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" episode). I had believe it or not heard of this band, due to the pivotal ska website www.turnuptheska.com which was a site where the bands songs were just listed...you pick a song you wanna hear....and over your winamp music player the song would play after other people's songs were done playing. This website was a very very very early sort of Slacker Radio in many ways. Anyhow, I had heard them through this medium, and of course my 17 year old self was really into their popular concert anthems like "She Hates Ska" "Pastaroni" "Where Are We Going To" & "Todd."
So after seeing them live and enjoying dancing in circle pits and so on, I went to their merch table and I bought their debut album "Close Enough For Ska" and their EP "Not Penis Cream." I was so excited about having seen these guys. A fun live show, cool merch, great stories, the things that great concerts are made of. These CDs became a staple of my iPod for the next few years my computer was wiped and I never added it back on...until I added them back the other day. Now 7 years since seeing them in concert, I listened to that first album, the one that go me hooked to their music and I realized...
THEY ARE OBSESSED WITH REEL BIG FISH.
LEGIT...THEY WROTE A SONG ABOUT IT.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with liking a band and trying to emulate their style. I personally always, when writing ska or reggae tunes, emulated a lot from the band The Slackers just due to how they articulate the horns and the rhythm section and their lyrics. Plenty of famous musicians have been inspired by other musicians. Without Bob Marley, there would be no Sublime, without The Beatles we wouldn't have Oasis, without Dr. Demento we wouldn't have "Weird" Al Yankovic. The list goes on and on. But in all of these cases, not one of them wrote a song about BEING THE LEAD SINGER OF THE BAND.
Exhibit A- "Wish I Was Aaron"
been so long since I've seen a rude boy in this town
'cause he traded in his strips for a Hawaiian shirt
he's got his new Doc Martin's to kick the dirt, well
I'm not old school (but I still wear my chucks)
Probably always will ('cause our band really sucks)
Want to make it big (is that so bad?)
Want to be Reel Big Fish
Wish I was Aaron, I'd take the stage
All the little girl's would be amazed
And the kids would listen to every word I say
Wish I was Aaron (and I wish I was Scott)
.....the song continues like this the whole rest of time, occasionally spitting out random RBF lyrics in turn with their own song. And it just get's creepy after a while. And the worst part is that this isn't even the first Reel Big Fish reference on the album. There's one earlier which is way less creepy but still, calling out some dude in a band by his first name without knowing him is still strange. And besides there is already a Reel Big Fish rip-off band.
Anyone order a ska band of Theater Majors? Anyone?
Also I noticed something else. One of the standout songs is a internet love story full of all the fun computer lingo that you could handle in one song.
Exhibit B- "HTTP://www.dumped.com"
But then you didn't LOL anymore
You didn't BRB for moreAnd every time talked
You always seemed to get, disconnected (yeah right)
I can still remember, when I got your e-mail,
Subject I'm seeing another guyYou said he was six foot two,
Two hundred twenty five pounds, but his profiles probably a lie
All night long I cried and wept, it hurt like a deep cut
I hope he gives you some type of horrible virus you cyber slut
I'm going to fill all of your inboxes with spam
I'm going to disable your norton virus scanYou're going to live to regret this for many years
Because you messed with an engineer
Http://www.dumped.com
If that wasn't bad enough. the chorus repeats the URL address. as in...
"AYECH TEE TEE PEE COLON SLASH SLASH DOUBLEUDOUBLEUDOUBLEU DOT DUMPED DOT CAHM"
Have you ever tried to say 3 Ws in a row? If you are just saying the URL from the Ws and the word in the middle only having one consonant, you can say the address in a not 4/4 time scheme.
BUT WHEN YOU FUCKING SAY THE WHOLE THING OUT YOUR Ws SOUND LIKE YOU HAVE MARBLES IN YOUR FUCKING MOUTH. IT SOUNDS LIKE WW.DUMPED.COM
Not exactly marbles but you get the idea.
So these two things specifically drove me fucking nuts listening to this album. And than once you find little cuts in the fabric, things start to become unraveled. I start listening to how their horns sound. Their alto was too loud, how the tone on their guitar sounds, how the lyrics on one song are super serious, and then the next song is about a girl in his Calc Lecture class. I hate back and forth feelings of total WACKINESS and then deathly serious. And in the genre of Pop-Ska, there are so many other bands that I still listen to that just do it so much better.
In the end, what my real problem I think was after I saw the concert in 2005, they quickly changed genres. They became a Power Pop band, released one more full length of Power Pop shit, and even than STILL referencing Reel Big Fish with the first track on the album called "Turn The Radio On". They alienated their fan base (me included) and they broke up in 2007. Very much a story of a band for lack of a better term "selling out" trying to make more money by following another scene. It made me bitter cause I liked them a lot. But listening back now I can honestly say they were not very good. But it takes me back to that day of being in that small punk rock club, skankin' like a mofo, singing along every word of most of the bands there and just enjoying my late teenagehood.
I guess when it comes right down to it, I am throwing "Close Enough For Ska"-The entire album by I Voted For Kodos in their because, even though it's an independent album on an independent label, it's still really not that good. It is littered with things that make the ska scene bad. Terrible references to rude boys and Vans sneakers. A shout out to The Specials, and plenty of "Pick it up's" to make all those Jamaican MC's happy. Along with other great teenage drama issues like lonliness and being in the friend zone, which was something that my recently graduated self in 2005 could still understand. But if you just want to listen to songs in the same genre, do yourself a favor and check out the "Real" thing: Reel Big Fish, Five Iron Frenzy, Save Ferris, Goldfinger, MU330, Catch 22. And if you ask me, if you wanna check out real good ska still, definitely check out The Slackers, David Hillyard and the Rocksteady 7, Chris Murray, Bomb The Music Industry! Streetlight Manifesto, The Planet Smashers and of course The Pietasters. So Committee, throw IV4K in the box....but let me keep my copy. I may wanna relive those memories occasionally.
-Chris
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