LA ska band Hepcat once appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. They were an early signing to Epitaph subsidiary Hellcat Records and were flown all over to open for a wide variety of bands. But they were—and the band admits this—never going to blow up. The group consisted of several LA ska scene kids from the 80s who loved original Jamaican ska. Not a commercially viable genre. And back then, you would have to search far and wide to find these old records. 

This love they shared for the music united them and led to the formation of Hepcat. Their original plan was to replicate old ska music, but they realized that not only was that not possible, but mixing it with newer influences made it more interesting. And that they did, but rather than blend it with punk, they pulled from R&B, soul, Latin, and pop. And they produced some fantastic songs in the process! 

On this episode, we spend some time with Hepcat’s singer Greg Lee and drummer Greg Narvas to learn about LA 80s’ ska scene, so that we can understand the culture that created Hepcat. We dive into both Gregs’ origin stories, learn how they discovered ska, and why they gravitated to the older stuff. We also talk about Hepcat too: from fights at shows to being scared out of their mind right before playing “Can’t Wait” on Conan O’Brien. And how through all the highs and lows of the “third wave” ska boom, the members of Hepcat just wanted to make the music they wanted to make.

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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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