SKApril '13
In many ways, the 2013 celebration of SKApril more closely resembled '11 than it did '12. Naturally excluding the nine bands that have campaigned across all three SKAprils, ten bands contributed songs to '11 & '13 compared to five bands who contributed to '12 & '13. There's a reason for that. In '12, I wished to highlight as many ska bands as possible that had not featured in '11. Many of those bands were one-offs, bands I knew only from Asian Man compilations or from referrals from kith, mostly Ska Army; eight "one-hit wonders" contributed to '12, compared to five for both '11 & '13. There are nine "all-stars" who contributed to '11, '12, & '13, but there were eleven before this latest SKApril. Attentive readers might recall my surprise, though far from displeasure, at Slow Gherkin making it into the all-stars; for Edna's Goldfish & King Apparatus, '13 was the end of their all-star run, though I have nothing but affection for both bands' music. There are only thirty days in SKApril & choices have to be made. The nine SKApril all-stars:

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Reel Big Fish
Less Than Jake
The Aquabats!
Mu330
The Hippos
Mustard Plug
Slow Gherkin
The Loose Ties

For the most part that list reads like a Who's Who of the third wave, the ska with which I fell in love during the halcyon Summer of Ska. Sweet merciful crap, I love ska! Keep on skanking, rude boys & girls. keep on skanking. "Ska, ska, ska…"



"That's why you have your little ska band there, to keep the oddballs in costumes from raising Cain."
—Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture

The Rebel Black Dot Song of May Day
Paul McCartney & Wings, "Live and Let Die" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: It is sorely tempting to keep the ska going, but to do so would lessen the importance of SKApril. More ska songs will be featured as R.B.D.S.O.T.D. before SKApril '14, but a little bit of a layoff would do us well here methinks.

"What does it matter to ya?
When you got a job to do
You got to do it well,
You got to give the other fella hell!"