The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day: SKApril!

The Pietasters, "Same Old Song" from Oolooloo (T.L.A.M.)

Skammentary: If "Same Old Song" sounds familiar, 'tis because it's the same old song, a cover of the Four Tops' classic "It's the Same Old Song." Ska & Motown: two great tastes that taste great together!

The Pietasters are the unlikeliest members of the SKApril "All-Stars," those bands that have supplied a song to every SKApril dating back to the first in April 2011. Most of the All-Stars are those you'd expect, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake—the giants of third wave ska-punk. The Loose Ties are there, because not only do I know them personally but what are the odds of discovering a great local ska band in the second decade of the twenty-first century? They were a decade or more younger than me during the Summer of Ska ('97), too young to have had their worlds rocked as was mine. The Pietasters are more widely known than The Loose Ties, but also less personally connected to me. I only own one Pietasters album. So how are they SKApril All-Stars? Because Oolooloo is chockablock with catchy ska songs, songs that tickle whatever the ska equivalent of the funny bone is. The ska bone? (The Fishbone?) That's what SKApril is about, not popularity, but that particular way in which ska makes the soul soar.