Amidst the ongoing crush of anti-Asian violence in America, Producer James turns to a personal source of restoration: ska music (yes, that ska music).
When he was a teenager, the do-it-yourself ska scene — and an indie record label called Asian Man — taught him to take racism seriously, embrace the road less traveled, and never wait for anyone else's approval to be himself. But as James starts connecting with all of the Asian American ska fans he's met over the past few years, he also starts to question how much his own memories are wrapped in a black-and-white-checkered blanket of nostalgia.
Eventually, these connections all lead to Mike Park, Korean American founder and still-only-employee of Asian Man Records — and Jer Hunter, a younger Black and queer musician who's carrying the torch for ska music as a home for anti-racist activism.
And the more these conversations peel away the layers of nostalgia surrounding ska, the more James believes that this oft-misunderstood subculture has something real to offer in a world that can feel like it's crumbling beneath our feet.
Resources
- WATCH: "Racism in East London," an episode of the 1970s docuseries Our People by ThamesTV
- WATCH: The entirety of Dance Craze, the documentary about 2-Tone that hooked Mike Park (and countless others) on ska music
- WATCH: Skatune Network's life-giving cover of the Koopa Troopa Beach theme from Mario Kart 64
- LISTEN: Ska Against Racism 2020, the benefit compilation by Bad Time Records, Ska Punk Daily, and Asian Man Records
- LISTEN: SKA DREAM by Jeff Rosenstock
- LISTEN: "Five Miles to Newark," the full-length debut album by Chris Erway's high school ska-punk band, Taxicab Samurais
- LISTEN: Mike Park chats with Charlene Kaye on The Golden Hour podcast
- READ: "Tracing Ska Music's Great Migration" by Evan Nicole Brown for Atlas Obscura
- READ: "The Chinese Jamaicans: Unlikely Pioneers of Reggae Music" by Tranquilheart for Spinditty
- READ: "It Came From the Garage: Celebrating 25 Years of Asian Man Records," a comic by JB Roe
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