American Ska Oral History Book Update #7: Heavy Metal Singer Betsy Weiss' Ska Origins

One the chapters of my book is devoted to the Boxboys who deserve credit for being the very first Los Angeles-based ska band and for helping to kick-off the ska mod revival that took L.A. by storm in the early 80s. In fact, the band were ground zero for a number of third wave ska bands like No Doubt, Save Ferris and Reel Big Fish that exploded out of Orange County in the early and mid 90s.

However, there is more to The Boxboy's story than meets the eye. Amazingly, L.A.'s very first homegrown ska band was fronted for a time by Betsy Weiss who later went on to become Betsy Bitch the lead singer of 80's heavy metal band Bitch. Here in the U.S., Weiss and Bitch became forever linked with music censorship efforts by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) lead by Al Gore's wife Tipper. Bitch became a target of the PMRC and Gore. Their albums, held in Gore’s hands, were shown on talk shows and televised congressional hearings. The media coverage did wonders for the band's profile and Gore and the PMRC are thanked in the liner note credits, because the band said the furor gave them some welcome free publicity. But before she became the poster child for censorship efforts against heavy metal and hip hop, Weiss helped to make ska the now sound in LA.

Just how much of an impact did Weiss and The Boxboys make on the L.A. music scene? An article from the July 25, 1980 edition of the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner reviewed the band's O.N. Klub show and mentioned Weiss and her singing voice: The band that night, the Boxboys, whipped the club into shape by means of a petite singer with a huge voice and a keyboardist who just wouldn't stand still. It got to be difficult at times to distinguish the band from the audience. The cocktail-napkin-sized dance floor was jammed with pork-pie-hattted, big box-coated guys and gals. The Boxboys even abandoned their perches to do the mean ska dance themselves.

Below are book interview excerpts from Weiss and the band's keyboardist Scott Sigman about her ska origins and later PMRC attention:

Betsy Weiss: The ska music and ska stage persona was so not me. I’m a rock and roller. My main influence in terms of getting into music as a singer and front person was Alice Cooper. I am all about being flamboyant and playing up my sexuality and image onstage. With all due respect to the Boxboys, they did nothing but encourage me to play-down those aspects. They dressed me up in a suit, tie, porkpie hat, hair in a bun, and taught me how to “skank”. While it was an “interesting” experience, my heart was not in it. I have fond memories of being a Boxboy. The guys were great, it got my feet wet in terms of stage experience and recording, and it was great to finally be a part of a functioning band. But I think I’m a better “bitch” than I was a “Boxboy!”

Scott Sigman: It was sort of funny when Betsy went on to start her heavy metal band Bitch and they end selling a million records when Tipper Gore holds up their record and says, “Look at these explicit lyrics.” I was like, “Why didn't we do that when she was in the band?”

Give Betsy's go as an LA rude girl a spin below on the band's "Separate Rooms" single from 1981!

American Ska Oral History Book Update #6: The New York Citizens Influence on 3rd Wave Ska

I recently completed an interview with Daniel Marotta for the American ska oral history book! Dan was the guitarist for New York Citizens who were one of the most innovative American ska bands of the 80s and early 90s. They were active during a critical period of time right before the explosion of the American third wave of ska driven by No Doubt and Mighty Mighty Bosstones -- bands that both opened for the band during the height of their popularity! Dan shared how the NYCs developed their unique hybrid ska sound and how it influenced other bands:

"We went through a couple of phases. Getting a harder sound came out of the mere fact that our shows we're really slamming, and we thought we could step out of it a little bit and do something a little different. I mean, there were other bands that started doing some of what we were doing; No Doubt for instance. They opened for us in California. They didn't have a huge following at the time. But they struck me as a pretty good band. I’d like to think we were a huge influence on the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. We used to be very friendly with them. We hung out with them a lot. I remember some of the guys in the band saying that some of our songs, like “Plate O' Monsters,” were a blueprint for what they were doing."

Check out "Plate O' Monsters" from the NYCs "On The Move" album from 1988!

American Ska Oral History Book Update #5: UB40's Impressions of America

I had the honor of interviewing UB40 drummer Jimmy Brown for the American ska and reggae oral history. It's hard for me to describe just how important early UB40 albums like "Signing Off" and "Present Arms" were to me - and many other aspiring American ska and reggae musicians - as we were coming of age in the early 80s. They influenced me politically and musically and seeing the band live for the first time at Roseland Ballroom in New York (with opener Urban Blight!) in early 1984 was a memorable experience. Jimmy recalled what it was like to tour the U.S. in the early 80s:

"When we first toured the USA back in the early 1980's it was a bit of a revelation. We took the multi-racial aspects of our line-up for granted. We were at school together, we went to the same clubs together, wore the same fashions, bought the same music [mostly reggae and R&B], skin colour made no difference to us having grown up together. But when we came to the States it was a shock how segregated American society was. There was nowhere that really catered for us as a gang."

To that end, check out the video of "Dream A Lie" (one of my favorite songs by the band). As the story goes, the band made the video because they were receiving death threats from the National Front, one of whom wrote to them saying they were 'like the Black and White Minstrels'. This provocative video was their pointed response.

American Ska Oral History Book Update #4: You've Never Heard of The Boxboys?

One of my goals in writing an oral history about American ska is to ensure that bands -- many of which you may have never heard of -- get the credit they deserve helping to popularize a uniquely American version of ska music.  One of those bands is the Boxboys who were the first ska band from Los Angeles and likely one of the very first American ska bands. The chapter I'm writing on them will shed light on their story and the role they played in influencing other well known bands like the Untouchables and No Doubt (rumor has it that a 14 year old Gwen Stefani was at one the band's shows).

I've interviewed every member of the band and they've all shared  amazing stories about the LA music scene of the late 70s and early 80s including this anecdote from bassist Ivan Wong that happened one night outside the iconic O.N. Klub in Silver Lake when I.R.S Records honcho Miles Copeland showed up while Wong, Boxboys drummer Greg Sowders and club founder Howard Paar where outside.

“Greg and I were standing outside the club one night – and this this is how big ska and the reputation of the O.N. had gotten – and Miles Copeland from I.R.S. Records came up to the door and I think the Go Go's were playing. Howard Paar  -- the club founder -- was having a smoke and says, "Five dollars, Miles" and Miles goes, "I'm not paying five dollars" and Howard goes, "Come on, Miles. Five dollars." And Miles said, "I'm going in there and I'm going to sign this band and their gonna make a million dollars." And Howard goes, "Then it's gonna be $999, 995.” And Mile’s is looking at us like, “Oh you’re the Boxboys. You're those Boxboys guys.”

If you've never heard the band before, be sure to give their early single "Separate Rooms" featuring Betsy Weiss  (who would later go on to front heavy metal band BITCH) on lead vocals a spin.

American Ska Oral History Book Update #3: The Untouchables Bring American Ska To Europe

A few of the early chapters of the American ska oral history are nearly finished! At the moment I'm busy scheduling and conducting additional interviews for an epic chapter on the Untouchables who helped to galvanize the mod and ska scene in Southern California at the O.N Klub in Silver Lake and later found themselves signed to Stiff Records in the UK! I interviewed the band's keyboardist Josh Harris who shared a amusing anecdote of their experiences on the road in Europe:

"Touring Germany was kind of a wild trip. We ended up doing this one TV show with REM and the Ramones, and they gave each of us a flatbed truck, which was our stage. And they would just roll in one band after another onto this makeshift stage. We're all packed together like little sardines, up on that flatbed. But it was quite an interesting situation. I got to know Johnny Ramone because we were both baseball fans. I remember going onto the Ramones tour bus, and hanging with him a little bit, and he had the Mets game coming across the speakers on his tour bus. So I said, "How are you getting the Mets? We're in Germany." He says his wife was standing with the telephone in front of the Mets game on TV back in New York, broadcasting the game to Germany for him. Every Mets game got broadcast to Johnny while he was touring. He insisted on hearing every Mets game. And he'd be chatting, wandering around the bus. I guess his wife would just set the phone next to the radio and walk away. But he was that avid a baseball fan."

Here's video of the band performing on that 1985 tour.

American Ska Oral History Book Update #2: The Hooters Write A Ska Version of Girls Just Want To Have Fun

I interviewed Eric Bazilian, vocalist and guitarist of The Hooters for the American ska oral history! While many may be more familiar with the band's later recordings, the Hooters started out playing ska and reggae songs in Philadelphia in 1980. In 1982, Eric and his bandmate Rob Hyman were asked by producer Rick Chertoff to help Cyndi Lauper write and record her first album. Cyndi had seen the band perform and liked their ska and reggae meets rock sound. Eric shared this story about the process of coming up with a recorded version of "Girls Just Want To Have Fun."

"So Cindy came to see the band, and apparently she was impressed with Rob, initially wasn't impressed with me, so I wasn't going to be the guitarist. But then she came around. But right around the time we were starting to do these arrangements, I had bought a four track cassette recorder, a porta-studio, and the drum machine, and I had a bass, and we were able to make fully realized demos. And "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," that was a great moment because Rick was determined that that title with her vocal was a hit. She hated the original. And Cindy said, "I will never sing that song." And we tried doing it as a reggae, we tried ska. And then one day we came in and we were talking about "Come On Eileen," which was all over the radio at that point. So she said, "Can we make it like Come On Eileen?" So, I turned down the tempo knob on the drum machine, programmed in the same kick drum pattern as "Come On Eileen," clicked on my guitar, and played that guitar riff. And she started singing, and that was it.

Give the original ska synth demo of the song a listen!

American Ska Oral History Book Update #1

I want to wish any of the readers of this blog a hearty hello! While I have neglected to post here regularly for some time, its because I've been very busy working on the book I'm writing, which is an unnamed oral history about the key reggae and ska bands that gave birth to a uniquely American version of ska music!

Moving forward I will be posting updates and excerpts from the chapters I'm writing. Since January, when I started this endeavor I've conducted well over 100 interviews with musicians, club owners, promoters, DJs, record company executives and fans across the U.S. and supported its growth and I've finished drafts of the first three chapters of the book.

As a first update, here is an interview I did with my editor at DiWulf Publishing about the impetus for the book and my initial experiences writing the book.

Thanks again to the many readers who continue to visit the site. I'm writing this book for anyone who loves ska mucis as much as I do!

I'm Writing A Book About The Birth Of The American Ska Scene!

Hello! I want to wish any of the readers of this blog a belated Happy New Year!  While I have neglected to post here regularly, its because I've signed a deal with DiWulf Publishing to write an oral history about the birth and origins of the American ska scene and its place in American sub-culture!

The initial purpose of this blog was to collect stories and research the histories of well-known and overlooked American ska bands who helped lay the foundation for the explosion of the genre in the early 90's and its ongoing popularity. My as-yet-untitled book will be told through the recollections and anecdotes of the people who lived it: the musicians who were heavily influenced by 2-Tone bands from the UK, the clubs and booking agents who supported the scene from its infancy, the bands that made music and toured relentlessly, and the fans who fell in love with the American counterpart of a beloved British subculture.

Right now I'm in the earliest stages of gathering material and research. My publisher is looking towards the end of 2018 as a tentative release date. I am already hard at work interviewing a who's who of American ska and reggae musicians, DJs, club promoters, artists and fans who helped develop ska scenes across the U.S. and supported its growth.  I'm hoping to create the most comprehensive look at the birth of American ska.

Over the next year, I'll post updates on the research process, who I'm interviewing and my overall progress. 

Thanks again to the many readers who continue to visit the site.  I'm writing this book for anyone who loves ska as much as I do!