Ska-Core, Unity, and More

by Matt Baker

Sweat was pouring from everyone in the crowd as more than two-hundred people packed the Safari for Ska-core Sunday to experience all the ska and punk they could handle.

The Safari played host to the first ever ska-core event with five punk and ska-core bands from Iowa: Last Laugh, Safety Second, Guilty As Charged, Grubby Ernie and Des Moines' own Skullcaps.

The crowd was filled with people of all ages and all kinds. There were lots of the "normal" high-school girls that all came in wearing matching tank tops with their hair looking as "alternative" as possible. There were even more kids there that looked as if they raided the local "punk-rock" shop to find their favorite Manic Panic hair color, silver-beaded necklace and a generic looking button-up shirt.

The audience stayed entertained throughout the entire evening as the bands played short sets with short breaks to set-up and tear down equipment. It would seem that the heat would deter some of the crowd, but like the bands they stayed until it was over.

Last Laugh
The first band to take the stage was a punk band from Mason City which played only a handful of songs, but managed to get the crowd going with their cover of the Cars' "Just What I Needed."

Their style could be best described as Rancid fights the Exploited and Rancid wins. Their vocals were raw with an excellent cover of a song by the Unseen.

Overall, Last Laugh set the mood for the rest of the night which was that of angst-filled ska-core, punk and much more.

Safety Second
The next band took a long time to set-up their equipment which allowed time for the crowd to settle down and lose their excitement. Safety Second was up to the challenge of getting them back into the mood with their brand of ska-punk.

They played an all-original set that included some of their older songs mixed with some new ones that replaced their covers of Rancid and Operation Ivy. The majority of their songs sounded similar with an overall sound that reminded me of the Suicide Machines.

Their singer is quite energetic and keeps the crowd into their set with his high-flying power jumps and kicks. The biggest deterrent for Safety Second, however, was the constant manual guitar tuning that not only took up valuable stage time, but also annoyed the crowd.(hint: guitar tuners are relatively cheap at most guitar stores)

Guilty As Charged
The third band to take the stage was Guilty As Charged from Waterloo. When the bass player was getting ready to play, I noticed his Iron Maiden shirt and I must say 'mad props' on the apparel.

Guilty has a hard-edged ska-punk sound with NOFX style vocals. Their songs all had nice rhythms and angry lyrics that fed the excitement of the crowd.

Guilty As Charged was one of the high points of the evening and although their guitar player appeared to be younger, he still has more tattoos than at least half of the carnies at the Iowa State Fair.(his tats were cooler, though).

Grubby Ernie
The next band on the bill was the local Ames ska-punkers, Grubby Ernie. After a quick set-up of equipment, guitarist Matt McClurg welcomed the crowd with, "Hi, we're Grubby Ernie from Ames and we suck!"

With that being said, Grubby Ernie launched into a great set to keep the crowd moshing and dancing to the beat. Despite a few minor technical difficulties, the crowd seemed to enjoy their music and the drummer's unique choice of clothing, a fabulous Spice Girls T-shirt.

The best way to describe their set was unique as they began one of their songs with an AC/DC classic, "TNT" and then straight into their ode to the cheapest of cheap beers with "The Regal Has Landed." Towards the end of their set, they were told they could only do two more songs. They ended their set with punk/hardcore song, "The World Is A Shithole."

The entire band told me that after the show they were going to give me pearl necklaces, so they must have been selling jewelry or something.

Skullcaps
The headlining band was local ska-core/oi act, the Skullcaps. They came out on the stage after a brief introduction form the saxophone player and the crowd went wild for the entire set.

After the first song, the bass player informed the crowd that he felt a little nervous and if they would hold up some cardboard signs that he would feel better and more at home. With that, he tossed some signs into the crowd that read, "I Love the Skullcaps!"

The band played through an all original set with a proper tribute to Raybeez, the late singer of legendary hard-core band, Warzone. The highlights of their set was one song which I think was called "White Collar Dollar" and another song called "The Fight."

The band has an original sound that, although loose at times, really gets the crowd hyped up and dancing.

The entire evening was quite entertaining and the Safari seemed to be a great place to hold the event. If the audience took home only one important message through the evening, it was that of unity.

The Skullcaps made sure to drive the message of unity home with their last song and as they said, the fans are what make the scene. Unity is important because without it, there would be no scene, no bands and no shows. So, it is always great to see such strong support for local band showcase.

There were a lot of punkers, rudeboys and skinheads at the show, but no one seemed to be bothered by that fact. Maybe it was because everyone was having a great time or maybe it is because people have started to realize there is a difference between the skinheads portrayed in HBO specials and television magazines and the traditional skins that take their roots from Jamaica in the late '60s.

For the most part, if there are skins at a show, they are just there to enjoy the bands and have a good time. As George Marshall, I believe, wrote , "Neither racist nor red, just skinhead."

All in all, Ska-core Sunday was a huge success and everyone should look forward to more ska showcases in the future as the scene flourishes. And as a side note, I never got any pearl necklaces which I was quite upset about, I was looking forward to some new jewelry.