You played in the ska band, The Skatastrophes, for a number of years while in high school, what did you learn from being in that band and have you applied that knowledge to things you do in Signals Midwest? I see somebody’s done their research! From age 13-18 that band was pretty much everything to me. It was how I got my start writing songs, playing/booking shows, making friends, dealing with venues and promoters, doing design...pretty much everything I do now. It was great for Signals because I had gotten a lot of the mistakes that you’re bound to make with your first band out of my system already. Not that there weren’t more to make, but I did a lot of things that young kids in bands get suckered into doing...you know, stuff like agreeing to hustle tickets for venues, signing contracts, pay-to-play stuff, playing shitty Battle of the Bands shows... stupid rites of passage, basically. I dealt with all that stuff so much, and when I discovered the DIY punk scene it was life-changing to me because even at a young age, like 14-15 years old, I had been through hell with shady promoters and venues trying to rip off young kids who are just trying to play music and have fun. Realizing that people were throwing shows in basements and living rooms and that the line between band and audience didn’t always have to be so rigid was a huge revelation to me. There was also the personal and interpersonal aspect of things...learning how to manage different demeanors and settle disputes in order to work together and be productive. Overall it was a hugely positive experience. I’m sure it sounds ridiculous to some of the people reading this, but I would be nowhere close to where I am today if it weren’t for that high school ska band. Did your earlier ska history influence the horns on the song “The Weight & The Waiting”? Oh yeah, absolutely. I wrote all the horn parts in my old band, so it was really fun to bring that aspect back. I loved writing a main horn line and then adding harmonies to it and
transposing it for all the different instruments. I would write something in standard tuning and then have to transpose it like three times for all the different horns. Just nerding out like that, layering different melodies on top of other ones. I miss that stuff. It taught me so much about harmony and how different instruments can work together. It’s really fun. You mentioned before that you got made fun of in high school because of being in a ska band and nowadays, if you’re not a fan of ska, it seems almost universal to hate on or make fun of ska bands. Why do you think ska bands always get a bum rap and why do so many ska bands use the word “ska” in their names? You know, even now I’m thinking about the people reading this who may or may not know my current band, and I imagine their reactions to be negative just based on the fact that the first three questions have pertained to ska music. And I think that sucks for several reasons. First off because that music totally changed my life and got me into playing shows and writing songs. Secondly, I still like ska music a lot. I don’t listen to it as much anymore because my tastes have changed as I’ve gotten older, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t still throw on Less Than Jake or The Bosstones from time to time. Those records were awesome when they came out, perfect when I discovered them, and will continue to be great. Ska bands (particularly ska/punk bands) get a bum rap because people think that music takes itself less seriously. Ska tends to resonate with younger crowds, and older crowds like to make fun of younger crowds. It’s just the way it goes in the world of punkrock posturing. But I’ll tell you this - I go to shows now and see the older kids (myself included, sometimes) standing in the back and drinking beer and nodding their heads with their hands in their pockets. It’s the younger kids who are up there dancing and singing along and getting lost and finding themselves in that music and that moment who are having the better time. There’s no