Warped Tour 2009: Streetlight Manifesto

Streetlight Manifesto brought their soulful ska to the Warped Tour's Hurley.com stage in Columbia, MD on July 14, 2009. While it was one of the event's smaller stages, they showed that they could have held their own against any band on the tour. Unlike many of today's ska bands, these guys understand that the genre is ultimately soul music.






Check out all of my Warped Tour 2009 pictures here.

Warped Tour 2008 Interview: Leader of Oreskaband

There are only a few bands with a trombone player on the Warped Tour this year (unlike the ska heyday a few years back), but only one is from Japan! I got a chance to catch up with Leader of Oreskaband to find out how the tour is going, what's up with their movie, Lock and Roll Forever, and what they have in store for the future.

RnRnMN: How has the Warped Tour been treating you?

L: Great! I feel like time is passing in a flash since the tour started and it’s been a blast! Every single day there are lots of bands playing energetic shows all over the place. Each day is filled with new encounters with good music, good pals and different audience in different cities. We’ve been getting so much inspirations from playing the show, watching other bands playing and just being on tour in general. Unexpected things happen sometimes but we’re just enjoying each day to the fullest!


RnRnMN: What made you decide to join the Warped Tour this year? Is it all you expected?

L: We played in seven cities at last year’s Warped Tour. Kevin Lyman saw us perform and offered us to play the whole dates this year, after last year’s tour. We were saying to each other that we’d want to play the full tour the next year, so it was a big surprise when we actually got the offer. The tour is a great opportunity for us to get our music out there, so it’s a big honor to be able to participate again this year. Hopefully there will be more people coming to see our own show because of the Warped Tour.


RnRnMN: When you formed Oreskaband back in 2003, you were barely teenagers. Did you think you would be touring the US before you even turned 20?

L: Not at all! We made Oreskaband just because we wanted to play music in a band and had no idea where it was going, but by 2004 when we started playing at local clubs, the band has became our life and started wishing strongly for the band to last as long as possible. We then got signed to Sony Music Japan, but even then we had no idea that we would ever have a chance to tour in America. We get flustered by unpredictable turn of events at times but have fun with whatever that happens...and that’s us.


RnRnMN: What bands got you into ska?

L: The reason we formed a ska band is simply because I wanted to do a band but could only play trombone. I thought a band with horn players is supposed to play ska music...I was ignorant about ska music that much. So that’s how we decided on doing ska, but once we started going to see other ska bands’ shows, we kept being intrigued into the upbeat rhythm of ska music that makes you feel good. Even if you don’t know a song, ska makes you happy and dance. We feel fortunate to have found such music!


RnRnMN: Are these the biggest crowds you've played for? How does it compare to playing smaller shows?

L: I think so. It is definitely a big-scale event with many bands and various stages and it is our first experience to do a show every day like this. And knowing the number of people who look forward to this festival coming to their cities, I can see how big of a deal this tour is to many music fans. I think the main difference between this tour and club shows is that, with this tour, there is more opportunity for your band to be seen by many people. Also, since this is an outside festival, shows get affected by weather and accidents like storm can happen, but I guess that’s one of the things that makes the festival exciting!


RnRnMN: Who is the best band you've seen on the Warped Tour this year?

L: There are so many good bands and it’s hard to find time to check out their shows. To name a few, Reel Big Fish is the band that we’ve been listening to since we started our band and Beat Union is also a super cool band that brings the UK flavor to the Warped Tour. I also love Aggrolites, TAT and Bedouin Sound...their music gives me goose bumps!


RnRnMN: There are a lot of bands to choose from. Why should someone see Oreskaband?

L: Because our music makes you happy. Warped Tour would certainly make your day happy but we make it even happier and more fun. If you’re happy, we’ll make you happier and if you’re feeling down, let’s dance and have a blast together!


RnRnMN: Tell me about the movie, Lock and Roll Forever.

L: We are the lead character and play ourselves, Oreskaband. It was filmed in U.S. and Japan and although it’s based on our experience, the story is a fiction. It’s a story about Oreskaband, a Japanese local band that has no one to believe in them but got a chance to go to America, trying to make it big against all odds with our love of music and through encounter with many people. We also recorded soundtrack to the movie so please look forward to it, too.


RnRnMN: What are your plans after the Warped Tour?

L: We’ll go back to Japan and play some shows and release a new album. We haven’t released an album in 18 months so we want to bring our Japanese fans what we’ve felt and experienced in the past 18 months through the new record. We also got signed by an American label so hopefully the new record will be released in America, too. And of course, we’ll be back to the States to do a tour so please come see us then!



Website

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See all of my coverage from the Warped Tour in Columbia, MD on July 16, 2008 here.

Warped Tour 2008 Interview: Aaron Barrett of Reel Big Fish

Reel Big Fish were right in the thick of that third wave of ska ten or so years back, but they're one of the few bands to not only stick around, but to still be vital and their Warped Tour performance on Columbia, MD on July 16th was evidence of that. Singer Aaron Barrett gave me some feedback on why they're still going strong and how the tour has been thus far.


RnRnMN: How has the Warped Tour been treating you?

AB: We are having an amazing time on the warped tour! Awesome crowds, lots of great bands and lots of stuff to keep us busy every day!


RnRnMN: How many times have you played the Warped Tour and how has it changed over the years? How does this year compare?

AB: I don't know if it’s just been so long that I don't remember or what but it just seems that the whole thing runs a whole lot more smoothly than ever! The catering is a thousand times better than ever too!


RnRnMN: Ten years ago, ska bands were everywhere, but not so much now. What do you have that's kept you around when so many of your peers have fallen by the wayside?

AB: I think the important thing that has kept us around and going strong is that we never listened to the record company, we listened to the fans! The record labels would cluelessly ask for "modern rock singles" and mixes of songs with "the horns turned off," but we always stuck to what WE wanted to do and we knew that the fans were there supporting us and loving what we did too!


RnRnMN: Who is the best band you've seen on the Warped Tour this year?

AB: Against me, Oreskaband, Gil Mantera's Part Dream


RnRnMN: There's a lot of bands to choose from. It's overwhelming when you get here and look at the schedule. Why should someone see you?

AB: Well, luckily for us, a lot of people know about our band and have heard the name, so that might draw them over to our stage while we're playing. Also, our reputation of being fun and entertaining helps bring people over too!


RnRnMN: The Warped Tour has corporate sponsors like AT&T. How do you feel about that? Is it a good thing, a necessary evil or a sellout?

AB: Well it has always had corporate sponsors like Vans and such, it's just a way to get more money so that the production is better and everybody can enjoy the experience that much more. It does get kind of annoying to be constantly aurally and visually assaulted by ads everywhere, but that's just the world we live in right now, I guess.
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Website

Myspace

See all of my coverage from the Warped Tour in Columbia, MD on July 16, 2008 here.

Warped Tour 2008 Pictures: Reel Big Fish

Reel Big Fish have been at it awhile, but they haven't lost a step (or their sense of humor). Here they are at the Warped Tour, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD on 7/16/2008.


See all of my coverage from the Warped Tour in Columbia, MD on July 16, 2008 here.

Review: The Specials

Label: 2 Tone/Chrysalis

Released: November 1979

There have been three waves of ska. The first originated in Jamaica in the early to mid 60s as a predecessor to reggae. It was danceable, fun and full of energy, but generally poorly recorded, making it more difficult to take in large doses despite some great artists such as Prince Buster and Desmond Dekker. It was essentially Jamaican soul music. The third wave of ska occured during the 90s, but with few exceptions showed no real understanding of ska's soulful roots. It was occaisionally fun, but most often just pop punk songs played with ska technique. In between these two waves, in the late 70s and early 80s, another wave of ska had its day. It was deeply rooted in its own history, with a keen understanding of what made ska tick. It took the fun and soul of the first wave of ska, wrapped it up with punk energy, a social agenda and better production and made some of the genre's best music.

Perhaps Madness was the second wave's best band, but they generally stretched themselves beyond the style's musical boundaries. It was the Specials who best captured ska's essence and were it's purest performers. In fact, they were the fathers of this second go round. They formed in 1977, before any ska revival was afoot and songwriter/keyboardist Jerry Dammers was both the founder of 2 Tone Records and the designer of well-known balck and white ska logos associated not only with the Specials, but with Madness, the English Beat and the Selecter among others.

By 1979, the Specials released their self-titled debut which may just be the best true ska record ever recorded. It ranges from upbeat good times to slower more serious subject matter and everything in between. The rhythm section is crisp without being stiff and cold and rolls smoothly as the pace changes over the course of individual songs and the album as a whole. The guitars are sharp, precise and clean, but not to the extent of stifling even an ounce of the fun, with keyboards often providing a dirtier counterpoint. Vocal parts range from snotty punk to smooth soul. For anyone familiar with the third wave of ska, the Specials emply relatively few horn parts, but that gives them considerable impact.

Most of the tracks address some kind of social concern whether it's a warning to stay out of trouble in "A Message to You, Rudy" or breaking down the racial divide in "Doesn't Make It Alright." The Specials certainly have a message which is even embodied in the multiracial makeup of the band, but they maintain their conscience with a sense of fun rather than self-righteousness. One listen to their debut and there's no avoiding it's lessons, because they're so much fun to learn.

Rating: 10/10