Artist Sam Grinberg started interning with The Simpsons in 2014. It turned into an actual job shortly after--a dream job! He joins us today to discuss the popular show, its possible ska connections and his own history with the genre.

He's got a lot of history with ska. Sam grew up in New Jersey and used to go see tons of bands like Streetlight Manifesto and local legends Awful Waffle. He even drops some super obscure local ska band names on us like Stolen Oregano, Explosive Sheep, and The Nerd Who Ate St. Louis.

Sam has also done a lot of artwork for ska bands. A short list includes Catbite, Kill Lincoln, Less Than Jake, Save Ferris, The Holophonics, the Too Hectic comps on Pay Attention Records (By Phil Lucas-Smith of Ska Punk Daily) and more. (He even did art for the Hella Mega Tour, which featured Fall Out Boy). Plus Sam talks about his other artwork like the Scumburbia series and his infamous "How To Skank" comic.

We also learn how Sam got a job at The Simpsons, how he defines his art style, and how many tattoos people have gotten of his artwork. He talks about seeing Fatter Than Albert, Bomb The Music Industry and going to many shows at The Starland Ballroom and the Stone Pony. Plus he talks about going to the "It's a Ska World After All" at Disneyland. And we learn that one of his art teachers was Gary Panter, who created the characters for Pee Wee's Playhouse.

And we discuss ska bands with Simpsons references and the ultimate Simpsons-themed metal-core band: Okilly Dokilly. A jam-packed episode!

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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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