Tag: Ska

With Christmas being right around the corner, you know what time it is! It’s time for our annual Christmas-oriented Song of the Day entry. With a plethora of punk, indie, and even metal Christmas tunes (seriously, there’s way more than you might expect!) to choose from, it can be a daunting task. I like to choose tunes that are thoughtful, yet playful. Fun, yet reverent. I can’t think of a Christmas tune that fits that description much better than the ska/pop-punk stylings of Flight 180’s “O Come All Ye Faithful” (incidentally also my favorite Christmas song).… Continued →

4 (For) Pete’s Sake is a ska/punk band from California. They released 2 EPs & a single called Logic which is today’s SOTD. The song is also on IVM’s Ska Lives Vol 3. Check em out.     … Continued →

So word on a vinyl pressing of “Adventures of the OC Supertones” by The O.C. Supertones has just dropped and surprisingly, the record is already up for sale in the Tooth & Nail Records store. It is shipping NOW! Those sneaky little devils at UnoriginalVinyl ;). I am going to post my thoughts and reflection on that time below this post. If you’re on Instagram/Facebook, I’ll try to get it to share but if not, just come back to our website to read the full write up by me.… Continued →

I love ska music so much I wrote a paper back on it in college. I think it’s because I love the bass lines & the horns make it sound so happy! Anyways, this Californian band released 1 full lengths & 2 EPs. Enjoy & maybe there will be a 5th wave!   … Continued →

The guys in No Lost Cause are currently working on new music which will be the follow up to their fantastic ska-punk full length that came out 3 years ago, “Take 2”. That album was the perfect combination of punk rock, ska upbeats, hard hitting drumming, and plenty of “horns” to go around. It was just an all around fun record with plenty to please even the most skeptic of skeptics. So get SKAready for some new No Lost Cause coming at you very soon.… Continued →

This is a little announcement from your friends at Indie Vision Music. I am beginning work on a sequel to last year’s mega compilation, “Fighting From The Ground Up Vol. 3”. I am aiming to release this follow up (Vol. 4) in early October of this year. I am currently opening up submissions for all bands and artists to contribute a song of their liking that is NEW, NEWER, NEWISH. Only songs that are within 1 year of release are welcome and/or are unreleased or better yet, BRAND NEW!!.… Continued →

Five Iron Frenzy are adding some exciting “Old School Set” shows around the country celebrating the band’s rich past and fun, sometimes goofy, nature. The band just announced 2 more shows for the old school sets and they are happening right here in Southern California this August. First show is on August 9th at The Observatory in Santa Ana, CA. and the 2nd show is at House Of Blues in San Diego. Both shows will feature Craig’s Brother and The Ruffolos. I’ve got insider news that a few members of Too Bad Eugene will also be playing in the lineup for Craig’s Brother that evening, similar to the CB lineup that played a series of shows in Canada around Red Bridge Fest last year (look it up on YouTube).… Continued →

One of the “Big Three” in Christian ska, The Insyderz formed in Detroit, MI in 1995 out of their Salvation Army worship band. Like their counterparts in The O.C. Supertones and Five Iron Frenzy, the band featured a mix of third wave ska, punk rock tempos, and worshipful lyrics. Unlike their counterparts, The Insyderz were the first of the group to release an entire album dedicated to ska-core worship songs. For their second album, the aptly-titled Skalleluia!, the band assembled a setlist of mostly modern praise and worship songs and turned them into ska anthems.… Continued →

I recently discovered this band through the fine folks at Small Step Records and I love the music. The ska-punk band is called Tom Nevers Field and they just dropped a new album “The Wisdom That Age Brings” last fall. Check out this song titled “Keep It Safe” and make sure to sing and dance along.… Continued →

The Dingees return with their first new music (under their name) in a decade. The new EP is titled “Dropseeds” and it’s quite a variety of well done ska and punk rock music. The ska is definitely ska and the punk takes on that “Crucial Conspiracy” vibe. Give it a listen here. One track is going to appear on our new compilation “Fighting From The Ground Up Vol. 3” so get ready! You can also download/stream the EP over on their bandcamp here.… Continued →

Reese Roper, the charismatic vocalist and somewhat inspiring lyricist of some of the biggest songs the music scene has never heard by a little band the 90’s cared about called Five Iron Frenzy, just got interviewed by crew over at the “Labeled” Podcast. You can listen to a clip below via Spotify or listen wherever you stream your podcasts. Also, the band has put together a total dumpster fire of a box set on really crappy vinyl and it is available right here. I believe the box set is only available for purchase for a few more weeks so get it while it’s a steaming, flaming, pile of poo.… Continued →

This dumpster fire of a box set is sure to break the wallets of Five Iron fans across the world but also allow existing Five Iron vinyl owners to customize their order options and buy what they really need, food! Enough with that inflation, what we need is good old crappy third wave ska punk in vinyl format! The most exciting part for myself is the addition of “The End is Near” on vinyl for the first time plus “Proof That The Youth Are Revolting” and a really cool B-Sides record chock full of songs no one cares about.… Continued →

Hailing from Hawaii, this fun 6 piece ska band has all the elements that drove probably most of us to love ska. Crowd vocals, music to skank to & mean guitars melding w/ horns. They released 2 LPs, an EP & a few songs on the IVM Ska Lives comps. Here is my fave. & btw, check out current ska band Must Build Jacuzzi from Peoria, Illinois whom I have seen I believe thrice live now.      … Continued →

Michigan based Ska-Core legends known around the world as The Insyderz, are back in 2023! The band last released “The Sinner’s Songbook” back in 2012. While no news about “new” music has surfaced I am certainly not against hearing a full band sound on a new track with that hard hitting, classic sound. The band recently played a local show last week which is leading up to their big set at Furnace Fest this year. What’s your favorite Insyderz song and what are you most looking forward to hearing at Furnace Fest?… Continued →

Not for the Crowd was one of the few Christian ska bands who didn’t go the third wave/ska-core/ska-punk fusion route, instead focusing on more traditional and/or two-tone style ska sounds. In this they shared some similarities with The Israelites, except NFTC featured faster tempos. Sadly, I don’t know anything about this band–where they were from, who the members were, or anything of the sort. I first heard of them through a few ska compilations in the late 90s, and IVM’s own “Ska Lives” series. I only recently discovered that the band had released an 8-song album in 1997 called Morningstar Radio Hour for indie label Morningstar Records.… Continued →

This song “A New Hope” by underdog heroes – Five Iron Frenzy, was released after the tragic Columbine shootings that took place in Colorado back in 1999. It is just as touching and relevant today as it was almost 25 years ago. I will not spend any time on getting political here. The world has enough activists, and my voice is but a tiny speck of dust on a pile of needles hidden within a massive haystack. What happened in Nashville and frankly around the world on a continual basis is about more than just weapons, drugs, mental health, hate, anger, pain, fear, etc.… Continued →

Merry Christmas, Friends! I’m going to type up some thoughts on bands that should most definitely reunite in 2023 to 1) Play an anniversary set, 2) Re-Release a classic album on either vinyl, tape, or cd with bonus features (and band commentary) and 3) Throw some new and/or unreleased tracks at us that we most definitely need to hear. Thoughts and ideas can be found below…. Oh, and Tim Taber if you’re reading this, I hope you’ll consider the words below and incorporate them into future plans with Transparent Productions here in Orange County and Southern California in general.… Continued →

Must Build Jacuzzi have returned from their long, extended hibernation in the forest where they learned to fish with their weathered hands, hunt with weapons forged in fire, forage for food with nothing but a knife, chop wood with that murderous axe (sorry merch guy), build a shelter out of Lincoln logs, and unfortunately had to eliminate someone from the group just like in Lord of the Flies. While it was a tragic time they had to endure these past 4 years and the fact that they lost a good merch guy in their battles, they have reemerged from the shadows with their sanity in tact.… Continued →

In honor of Five Iron Frenzy day, the band drops hard hitting new song – “When They Find You”. The song features backing vocals from Mike Herrera of long running left coast punk act, MxPx. Listening to this song first time through I made up assumptions and drew targets to throw foam darts at in the hopes making my confusion stick somehow. I read through some comments on different social media sites, scratching my head reading some of the responses then instantly connected with the lyrics Reese Roper posted in the comments of the FIF page (Facebook).… Continued →

So Indie Vision Music is on a roll with new Spotify playlists. For those that use Spotify, we are using this as an opportunity to spread the word about new music and artists we think you should be listening to. A mix of indie and larger artists as well as everything in between. All styles represented throughout these various playlists. This new one I just created is called “New Feel Good Anthems” and it is just that. Perfect for those summer drives and introspective quiet moments.… Continued →

No, The Supertones weren’t the first Christian ska band. The Israelites’ first album pre-dated them by a year. But in the UK, Rev Counta and the Speedoze* (another incarnation of Ishmael United) had released a full-length as early as 1980! And perhaps some Jamaican bands that didn’t fit into the CCM/CBA mold had been active earlier than that, it’s hard to say. However, the Supertones were the first Christian ska band to release an album on a nationally-distributed label, releasing The Adventures of the O.C. Supertones just a few months before Five Iron Frenzy dropped Upbeats and Beatdowns.… Continued →

The 1990s saw a huge revival of ska music–that funky fusion of reggae and punk, or so it seemed at the time. The real history of ska was much deeper than that. Unbeknownst to the general populace, ska actually pre-dates reggae, going back to at least the 1960s. It fused traditional calypso beats with horns and sounds gleaned from New Orleans jazz. Reggae emerged in the 70s, as tempos slowed down and the overall feel became more relaxed. In the 1980s, amidst emigration from the Caribbean to England, ska mixed with punk and/or new wave to create the “Two-tone” scene, a sign of racial integration amongst working class punks and skinheads represented with the ever-present black and white checkerboard imagery.… Continued →

Check out this really cool interview with Paul Hyde who is the man behind Small Step Records and drummer for the super duo – Grandpa Loves Rhinos. Everything you’ve wanted to know and some fun nostalgia driven question & answer dialogue. Check it out below! Follow Small Step Records here.… Continued →

This beautiful song was released near the end of December by the Eastern European Ska-Rock-Punk band, October Light. The song is titled “It’s Cold”. Yes it is festive and Christmas oriented but don’t let that stop you from enjoying it right here in February. Who else here appreciates the music of October Light? One of my faves.… Continued →

This is my 25th anniversary tribute to albums that released during the year of 1996 (and/or presumed to have released during this particular year). It was a monumental year in underground, indie music and one that was ignited by artists sharing a similar Christian Faith. While the rest of the world was consuming their Michael W Smith, or Newsboys, Audio Adrenaline, DC Talk, Amy Grant, Rebecca St. James, Jars of Clay, or even that guy who wrote the Butterfly Kisses song, we on the indie circuit side of things were rejoicing with a newfound optimism.… Continued →

Freeto Boat was an awesome punk rock band mixed with ska. Like my previous SOTD for Sick of Change, this one is also a love song. Today I’ll let the sun set, There’s no anger in my heart. Tonight just let the moon rise, Our time won’t be spent apart. Starlight and confessions Of what you mean to me, These twilight conversations they’re helping me to see… What you are in God’s eyes, what you are in mine not a hair too shy of perfect and always just in time.… Continued →

The W’s were a short lived swing revival/ska band whose 2 full lengths garnered a lot of airplay on Christian rock stations back in the day. They are well known for their first hit The Devil is Bad but also check out the superb Moses. I did not know, but 2 members of the band formed a band BenDixon that I have been starting to follow lately. Today’s SOTD though is in homage to one of my fave songs to play on bass guitar. … Continued →

Havalina Rail Co. was a delightfully quirky, eccentric, genre-fusing and genre-bending experimental band from California. Across their 10-year career (give or take), the band dabbled in folk, ska, jazz, ragtime, blues, Americana, surf, and multiple internationally-themed genres. No two albums in their canon treads the same ground, and yet each successive opus is clearly recognizable as Havalina. The band stopped recording as HRC somewhere in the early 00s, but members have turned up elsewhere. Most notably are Matt Wignall who is a renowned photographer and is perhaps now best known as the producer for several Cold War Kids albums.… Continued →

Myself and Noah have been hard at work on creating a variety of Spotify Playlists featuring many bands covered by Indie Vision Music as well as other artists you might recognize. Check out the “Pop Punk Essential Playlist” I created a few weeks ago as well as the “New Song Hits” Playlist I just morphed from the prior “Song Blast” one. Each has new and recent songs from a collection of artists. A little disclaimer: The Pop Punk Essential Playlist is not one that features Christian music only artists.… Continued →

In honor of our country’s independence and a day of mass country-wide celebrations, I thought it would be appropriate to share a very special new album that Thumper Punk Records is releasing next week by the ska-punk project, NO LOST CAUSE. It is special in that very few “Christian” bands are even playing this style of music and even fewer can play it as good as this sounds. “Take 2” is a full length record comprised of new and old songs from the NLC catalog all reworked/remixed and with added horn sections to make these songs sound so much more incredible than they did in the past.… Continued →