Shortly before his untimely death, Greg Lee of Hepcat dreamt of a Slackers song. Now, Dave Hillyard and The Slackers have brought that dream song into reality.

The Slackers podcast returns to discuss this new single, My Last Star, and how its creation comes from outside our conscious world. Out soon on Pirates Press Records.

In 2008, members of the New Orleans ska-punk band Fatter Than Albert launched Community Records, an umbrella beneath which a nationwide subculture of DIY outsider ska swapped ideas and fans. It wasn't the beginning, but it was one of the defining moments of what we're reluctantly calling the MySpace age. Thanks to social media, bands thriving in their regional scenes could build new networks and share resources in the shadow of a music industry that had no interest in ska as anything but a punchline.Our guests this episode are from two bands who were around for that era and who also have recently dropped great new albums. Will and Jonzee from Stuck Lucky discuss their new album Counting Curses (2024, Ska Punk International), and Boofish and Nic from Brunt of It tell us about "It's A Mad, Bad, Sad, Rad World" (2025, Jump Up Records), and the four of them tell us what they saw back then and what's different these days.

Listener feedback! Ska Canon! Its a jam-packed classic episode! Hornpod theme performed by Brunt of It. The Hornpod Ska Canon lives at hornpod.org

JJ and Matt chatted with Carlos Malcolm, a ska legend, composer, and author about ska history and his new music with Western Standard Time.

Mr. Malcolm shared stories of the early days of ska, as detailed in his memoir, Carlos Malcolm: A Personal History of Post-War Jamaican Music.

Of course, Eitan Avineri from WST joined us to round out the conversation. The new album is called Anthology of Carlos Malcolm: 60 Years of Excellence and features THREE new tunes recorded with Western Standard Time.

Four ska experts consumed a year's worth of ska releases and we're ready to compare our top tens.

Cody Freedom (the keeper of the master ska list on Spotify) and Dane Jackson (the columnest behind Ska, Punk and Other Junk) join us to talk about the year we had.

A soundclash of ska podcast giants! An anniversary celebration! An epic crossover event!

Join us for an episode like no other as JJ and Matt team up with Eric Kohler and Junor Francis from The History of L.A. Ska Podcast. We've been making Hornpod for five years now, and it's time for the interviewers to become the interviewees.

Eric and Junor have nearly a hundred fantastic interviews and panel discussions that can be found on YouTube and everywhere you get podcasts.

Everyone just got back from Supernova and we're ready to debrief. Dunia Best Sinnreich and John Roy join us to add their perspectives.

You know Dunia from The Slackers, Agent 99 and Dubistry. Lately she performs with supergroup Rude Girl Revue, was recently named president of the Supernova Alliance nonprofit, and was one of the two hosts and emcees of the 2024 Supernova International Ska Festival.

And you've heard John Roy playing with Unsteady, The English Beat and Monkey. Lately, he's been running Smoke & Mirrors Sound System and Escape Hatch Records.

Tickets for next year's Supernova are on sale now!

supernovaska.com

supernovaalliance.org

The Slackers podcast is back!  Horn section, Dave Hillyard and Glen Pine join JJ and Matt to talk about their new single, "What We Gonna Do Now?" / "Pick and Choose" on Pirates Press Records.

Released to coincide with 2024 US Presidential Election, the new single deals in themes of freedom, democracy and justice.

We also find ourselves thinking a lot about communication this time… connecting with live audiences, finding the clearest lyrics and expressing thoughts through horn solos.  And we get a little mushy trying to figure out how The Slackers really feel about each other.

JJ and Matt are joined by Daniel Rachel, the author of Too Much Too Young, the 2 Tone Records Story: Rude Boys, Racism, and the Soundtrack of a Generation out NOW from Akashik Books.

In the book, Rachel gives us a comprehensive history of this era in ska, full of insights, trivia and controversy. Now he joins us to go even deeper into British youth cultures and how the unique vision of Jerry Dammers reinvented the ideal Rude Boy.

Dicky Barrett sang in the Mighty Mighty Bosstones for 39 years, and announced for the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show for 18 years. In 2022, his stance on COVID vaccines seemingly ended both careers. Nowadays he writes and sings in 90s punk supergroup The Defiant, alongside members of Smash Mouth, the Offspring, the Street Dogs, and the Briggs. He joins Hornpod to share stories about the earliest days and highest heights of U.S. ska, as well as his place in the world these days.

You know him as a modern-day dub master and ska producer, but now we're calling him "professor" as Victor Rice takes us to production school.

Ricey shares his advice on composing, performing, recording and mixing your music- it's like Masterclass but for ska kids.