In Defense of Ska

Ska no longer needs to be the butt of every joke. IDOS is flipping the narrative on this style of music that they love dearly.

Hosts Aaron Carnes (author of “In Defense of Ska”) and Adam Davis (Link 80, Omingone) chat with people in and outside of the ska scene to tell its stories, show its pervasiveness in culture, and defend it to their last dying breath.

The Chris Gethard Show was supposed to start like normal, but the audience had their own idea. They shouted “Eat More Butts” at Chris to a degree that he couldn’t start his show. The musical guest, Jeff Rosenstock, even gave them a musical accompaniment. For 15 minutes, the show descended into madness. But Chris also didn’t fight it because he knew that this would be great TV. Having grown up in the DIY punk scene, he was aware that this type of chaos was where a show’s best moments would be.

Today, we speak to Chris Gethard about his punk roots. His first show ever was in a Jersey church basement with all local bands. His 2nd was in a friend’s backyard. A young, Less Than Jake was also on the bill. Less Than Jake became Chris’s favorite band for a while. During this time, he also saw Slapstick, Skankin’ Pickle, Mephiskapheles, Catch 22, and was a fan of other ska bands like Mustard Plug and MU330.

We also talk about Chris’s recent experience hitching a ride with Catbite. He also talks about bringing on Take Today to play his live “New Jersey is the World” show a few times. (He loves, “Do You Still Hate Me?,” their Jawbreaker cover and their ska song, SKAdiving.). He talks about his recent interview with Bigger Thomas singer Roger Apollon. And we also talk about his passion for all things New Jersey…he tells us where we can get REAL Italian Ice!

Plus Chris tells us how surreal it was recently to see Jeff Rosenstock play a huge show opening for Gaslight Anthem.

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