The UK has a long history of producing interesting, eclectic ska bands. And this tradition continues to this day. Today we bring on Popes of Chillitown, an excellent UK band that formed in the early 2010s and just released their 4th record, Take A Picture. The band mixes ska, punk, metal, grime, hip-hop, drum n bass and anything else they feel like into catchy, energetic tunes. On Take A Picture, they go a little heavier and get even more diverse than any prior record.

We talk about a lot, including British sketch shows like The League of Gentlemen and The Young Ones. We talk about the influence that rave culture and hip hop has had on the UK's ska-punk scene, and we dig into the Household Name Records era bands like Capdown, King Prawn, and Sonic Boom Six.

We also talk about iconic UK venues New Cross Inn and The Underworld. We talk about how The Popes like to kill time on tour in the van (Reading religious texts and playing the ukulele?), we discuss new UK bands and artists like Pook, Bar Stool Preachers, The JB Conspiracy and The Skints, and we get the full story on the band's biggest song, "Wisdom Teeth." 

Plus, we learn what Onion Tea is! 

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon! 

If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music. 

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024. 

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023. 

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

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