What do ya play: Guit fiddle and my mouth sometimes
With a name like "The Skadaddles" even I can grasp that you guys are a ska band, but how would you describe your sound? Hmmm well our early stuff (from our first cd "scoop it up") was written when I was like 16 or so (i'm 19 now), and I was listening to the Supertones and Mustard Plug and more ska- ska bands--so I tried to keep a lot of stuff straight third wave, with no other types of influence. Lately (for our next CD, set to be recorded in March in New York with the producer of the Skatalites) I've been writing off-the-wall stuff compared to our old songs. We have two swingish songs, some more poppy stuff like "Unsaid", but what I really like is something that I think is really unique: Emo-ska. I just got into emo last year, and I've been carrying that influence over into my songwriting, so altough it might sound strange, I think it sounds pretty cool. We have this new song called "Long ago and galaxies away" and it has a total emo intro and bridge, with a ska verse.... So now I don't know what we sound like---we're trying to keep our sound fresh and not die out.
What do you think about all the hype ska has received over the last couple of years? I think that the general public--or the media, which controls the brains of the general public consumer--just wanted something new to push, and ska was just something different. Maybe they were getting tired of the alternative scene: singers who sounded like they were constipated, and guitar riffs that were drug into the ground.... But thats not bad, because I think more people should be able to be exposed to as many different stlyes of music as possible, to see what they like. When the hype dies down, the people who truly like ska will still be around.
Being a Christian band have you ever caught any flack for your beliefs? Just under-the-breath comments at some shows, but nothing bad like people yelling or throwing tomatoes at us or whatever. A lot of times people just like our music, and they respect us enough to keep quite while we're sharing our beliefs, and even if they don't agree with us they still like the music.
What bands or musicians influence you? Anything from old big bands like Glen Miller or Harry James to Less than Jake and even some punk and emo bands. I don't listen to much ska actually, so other ska bands rarely influnce our writing of songs. Most of my personal influence comes from The Backstreet Boys and In Sync.
What do you think is wrong with Christian music today/whats good? Whats wrong with it.... Well there aren't as many good Christian bands as there are non-Christian bands out there. Another thing is that some "Christian" bands are really flakey. If they're Christian, I think they should be bold about what they believe. If Marilyn Manson can get up there and be bold about worshiping Satan and whatever else, why can't Christian bands be as bold about worshiping God? whats good.... There are more and more Christian bands coming out now-a-days, and there are bound to be some good ones out of all those. Another good thing is that some of the really good bands are winning Christian music a better name, showing that there are some decent Christian bands, like MxPx and Five Iron Frenzy, who can compare in talent to secular bands.
Boots or shoes? Shoes. Sorry, I like to skate board, as do most of the guys in the band, and you can't really skate in boots. I'm not much into the oi/punk look personally, not that I don't think its cool for other people.
� 1998 Skankin' Truth, please use only with permission.