Ska 4U » uptones

SKA GETS WARPED

Buster the Ska Doggie — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:16:39 +0000

This just in!

The Vans Warped Tour 2010 will feature a Ska Stage, with The Uptones, The Untouchables and more ska greats, performing roots, two-tone, and 3rd wave ska classics. The brainchild of The Ska Parade’s Tazy Phyllipz, the Ska Stage will serve as an introduction to ska for the uninitiated, and a joyous skanking celebration for dedicated ska fans. Rumor has it the Ska Shrine will also be open to the skanking public at several west coast Warped dates. Watch this space and the Warped and Ska Parade sites for details as they emerge about this skantastic event.

Barb @ Mashable Gets Ska!

Buster the Ska Doggie — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:02:32 +0000

Hats off to Barb at Music Mondays on Mashable.com. Included in this week’s posts is some SKA from the bay area’s Uptones. “Ridiculous,” a Ska anthem, was her first SKA post! Let’s bug her for more. Make a comment here.

Ska, in Chinatown?

Buster the Ska Doggie — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:18:37 +0000

The Uptones bring SKA to Oakland’s Chinatown.

Check out:

the slide show by Alycia Ramirez-Leatherman before they go onstage.

LOOKING GOOD!

Ska-T is inspired, he just watched ‘Goodfellas’ in a video kiosk down the street.

Jeanne could care less.

Moose Goes Postal 4 Ska!

Eric Din — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 11:06:49 +0000

Musashi “Moose” Lethridge, Uptones guitarist and builder of the world’s first Ska Shrine, recently demonstrated Proper Shrine Use and Etiquette, to help publicize the Ska Shrine Ska4Ever Postage Stamp. On hand to witness the first Solo Ska Shrine Skankfest, were Official Ska Shrine Videographer Jake Small, and assistant Shrine builder and Ska Music DJ Eric Din.

After a solemn entrance, Moose called out tracks from the Uptones’ Skankin’ Foolz Unite CD and suddenly went into an all out skanking frenzy. His gravity-defying moves tested the physical limits of the Shrine, but it held together in all its two-tone glory even at skanking speeds of Mach 2 and beyond. Several spectators who got too close had to be carried out on stretchers, giggling uncontrollably.

Proud Ska Shrine architect Matthew King Kaufman also witnessed the events, describing them as “uncanny” and “paranormal.”

Afterward, we all sat cross-legged around the shrine, wrote letters to friends around the globe, and proudly sent them off using Official Ska Shrine Ska4Ever Postage Stamps. We encourage you to purchase a sheet of these beautiful, self-adhesive stamps, to help spread the word about Ska Music and the Ska Shrine, far and wide.

The Uptones are all very grateful to Moose, for his exskaordinary and inspiring efforts to spread Ska Music and make the world a better place.

Skank you very much.

Skanking Miles Creates A Second Ska Shrine!

Eric Din — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:43:35 +0000

The “Ska Shrine” trend continues to grow

Skanking enthusiast, Miles Gehm has built a Mobile Ska Shrine in San Jose, California. He skanks at this Ska Shrine to “Ridiculous”, a song coincidentally, written by the original Ska Shrine’s builder Moose Lethridge, and performed by The Uptones, the first band to skank at the Ska Shrine.

Here’s a video of the remarkable first roadside application of The Mobile Ska Shrine.

Nice Up The Dancehall!

Mooska — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:50:39 +0000

What is happenin’ YO?
Are the latest headlines pushing you over the edge?
I’m still pushy about pushin the ska genre into the world and beyond!
Obsession isn’t the right word for me right now…
I simply love Ska music, fans and bands.
But take a moment and check out the threads, man…the threads!

Yah!

Oo la la!

Sizzling!

Is she on Facebook?

whoah!

(photo by Pat Johnson)

If you don’t know where to shop, we have some places for you to start:

Ska clothing for sale

Ace Face Clothing Company – The Specials shop there. what more do you need to know?

Skafepress – hehe. Charming little self-serve ska self-help center.

England Belongs – bitchen so-cal mod and ska store.

Ben Sherman – tried and true.

E Bay deals!

Checkered bikini

Let’s Nice Up The Dancehall this summer!

Or can you do better?

Send us some pics of your ideal ska wardrobe!

One World Skankin’!

This message is Buster approved!

Uptones Skank at the Ska Shrine

Cynthia — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:03:43 +0000

The Uptones – Skanking Foolz Unite – Reviewed for iTunes by Rob O’ Connor

Cynthia — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:43:07 +0000

Upbeat without forcing the party, Berkeley, California’s ska-veterans The Uptones return with their first studio album in decades, nailing down a bottom end that cements the groove with horns that reach for the stratosphere. The years have betrayed them none. Four original members augmented by an additional fantastic four, the eight-piece cruise with neither nostalgia nor a rusted gear. Initially, the studio might not seem the place to capture a definitive live act – their most noted_ release being the concert album The Uptones Live!! 924 Gilman – but one spin of “Ridiculous” and its spirited bleeps and yelps and it’s obvious this band will produce for a party of one if it must. (“Too Much Pressure” is credited as “Recorded Live at iMusicast” in 2005.) The added fidelity a genuine recording studio provides means bassist Bennie Wood and drummer Tim Carter aren’t left in the sonic dust. With three horn players – trombone, trumpet and tenor sax, for those at home keeping score – the blare is most obviously attention getting, but Eric Din’s vocals lead the troops with the same spirited play that made the Clash sound like revolutionaries.

Virtuostic without enslaving itself to technique and incorporating elements of punk, jazz, ska and reggae, it’s obvious how and why the Uptones became a major influence on the ‘90s ska-punk scene that followed them out of the Berkeley ghetto. But while Operation Ivy, Rancid, Sublime, Green Day and countless others sport the group’s influences and inspirations, nothing replicates The Uptones melodic heart. These aren’t just festive jams but terse, tough shards of song. Whether it’s the suspected tenderness of “Not From Here,” the charmed pop life of “I Don’t Know Emilie,” or the instrumentation breakdown of “Radiation Boy” where the band appear to be playing sideways, the Uptones now exist as seasoned pros who never lost their mojo in the grinding machinations of the music business. If anything, the years have made them stronger, more determined to wring life from every rhythm, to deny defeat at every chorus. Long may they skank.

The Uptones
Skankin’ Foolz Unite!
(Fun Fun Fun)

–Rob O’Connor

SHRINE DEVOTED TO SKANKING!

Buster the Ska Doggie — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:36:54 +0000

After watching Moose and Din build a Ska Shrine, I keep dreaming about dancing on the black and white. What a brilliant way to appease the Ska Gods!

What’s with the shoes?

Hello Ska World

Eric Din — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:37:24 +0000

Hi, this is Eric and Moose from The UpTones. We got depressed when we could not find a ska section in our local record store in Berkeley.

We then went to Amazon and iTunes and everywhere else online, and couldn’t find ska as a genre. It’s either under “alternative” which is bollocks, or listed as a sub genre to reggae or punk. Nuf’ respect to reggae and punk, but ska came from neither, and it is a top level genre to anyone who knows what dancing feet are for.

So what’s going on here? All the bands on our links list play ska, of one kind or another. We want to have the most complete links page of ska bands, mp3s, sites and podcasts in the universe. Please post a comment and send us your ska url, so we can post it in our list of ska peeps who feel ska isn’t getting its rightful place in the world.

Ska’dammit.