MEGA 002
| The Toasters : Skaboom | Release Date | Digital Download |
| CD : MEGA 002 | February 10th, 2003 | |
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This release was the first Megalith Records Toasters re-issues (please visit www.toasters.org for a full discography). Every songs from all the past Skaboom! release have been included here, as well as a never before released song (the song is a live track of which no studio track exists) "Calling All The Rude Boys" featuring the great Joe Jackson. Being the first full length Toasters record (demo tapes, 7inches and 12inch EPs had only been released prior to the original Skaboom!), this album was and still is a pivotal record in the history of American and even global ska music releases. Setting the foundation for what many would base their sound off of in the late 80s and early 90s, Skaboom! laid the ground work for what would become The Toasters powerhouse of horn driven ska music and the creation of the NY / East Coast ska sound.Many of the songs are still in heavy rotation at a Toasters live gig today, including "Weekend In LA", "Run Rudy Run" and "Shocker!". And of course the encore fan favorite "Matt Davis". This album has seen many vinyl, tape and cd pressings over the years. This is roughly the 7th cd release for this album. We have just repressed it at Megalith with some changes to the artwork as well as removed the music video (please check out our Toasters DVD) and have just pressed it in Europe as well. There are quite a few known variations among the various cd pressings. Please check over at toasters.org for a full list of release versions and interesting variations and thoughts about Skaboom! Track List
Liner Notes Thanks for picking up this copy of Skaboom! This new package compiles not only the original tracks for the seminal 1987 release on Skaloid records, but also four tracks which had been exclusive to the British release on Unicorn as "Pool Shark". In addition there are 4 tracks from the Joe Jackson produced "Recriminations" sessions from 1985. As a bonus there's a previously unreleased live track recorded at a 1985 CBGB's pre-production gig where the band was warming up tunes for the EP. "Calling All The Rude Boys" didn't make it into the studio. That's Joe on the melodica by the way under his stage name "Stanley Turpentine"! Topping it off is an archival video we were messing around with for "Radiation Skank" that never got out of the can. These tracks cover the years, which for me, in many ways characterized some of the best times we ever had. Everything was new and fresh. NYC had picked up the pieces of the 2-tone collapse in the UK. The NY Beat compilation project was underway. CBGB's was a mob scene at our regular gig once a month. We'd put on two local bands and then invite guests such as Potato 5, Donkey Show, Bim Skala Bim and others. The place was always rammed and it was a great time. The Toasters were born out of a band that had been put together at the Forbidden Planet Comics and Sci-Fi emporium in 1981. One of the galvanizing moments in the formation of this outfit was going to see The (English) Beat play in front of a paltry 150 people at Roseland. This band was originally dubbed Not Bob Marley and became the Toasters (and almost the Bouncers} in 1982. The original line-up had no horns and featured myself, Ade McSpade (the bartender at the infamous Park Inn Tavern , our hang on 7th street and A), Vicky Rose on bass, Gary Eye on percussion and Scott Jarvis on drums (who had just produced the cookie puss EP. for some local hopefuls called the Beastie Boys) we used to rehearse at 171 avenue a in a space we shared with the Bad Brains and punk upstarts the Cro-mags. We played our first gig in 1981 at the A7 club with The Bad Brains. In 1982 the band produced it's first (Breakfast Music) demo with the addition of Steve Hex (my room-mate) on keys. Then in 1983 the Beat Up 7" came out with Jackson Plugz having replaced Scott on drums. By this time the CBGB residency had kicked in solid (we played our first gig there on a Tuesday night and made $32) and American Ska music was getting some exposure in the fan press, although the Village Voice music critic had told me that he'd never review a Ska record. At this time I'd stumped the Toasters demo round every record company in New York and been cold-shouldered from every one. Nobody was interested in Ska, one exec. called it "circus music". So the concept of Moon records was born out of necessity, being the mother of invention. We were lucky to have Joe Jackson on the crew. I'd originally met him at the Forbidden Planet in London in the late seventies and we both moved to NYC at about the same time in 1980 and used to go out drinking beer together. He'd jump on stage at a lot of the CB's gigs either on melodica, or keyboards, or even sax one time. He gave us advice on songwriting and took us into the studio to do the Recriminations session, this time with Danny Johnson on drums. I found him a beat up copy of Spiderman #1 in return for the production job. When that record was released in 1985 it was the first nationally distributed record by an American Ska band. That put us on the map, got us a booking agent and gigs out of town, and acted as a magnet for a lot of the players who came in as the band metamorphosed into the Skaboom crew in 1986 with the addition of horns and toasters - the Unity Two. More importantly it laid the foundation for Moon records proper and opened the door on the NYC SKA scene. The rest is pretty much history, and, if you'd asked me back then if I would still be doing this now, I'd probably have thought you were crazy. But like I said it was a great time. The watering hole was Blanche's on 8th and A. Toasters, Second Step, the Boilers, the Scene, the Press, New York Citizens, Beat Brigade...we owned the place! There was Ska on the jukebox and people used to drop by just because they knew it was there, Suggs from Madness, Fishbone on their first us tour, Shane McGowan from the Pogues. Mick Conroy from Modern English played a few gigs on bass. It was a magical time. That's where most of these songs came from, and listening to them brings that all back. And it doesn't get any better than that!! Cheers All music ® Skamming Music LLC, 2003 7 Crestmont Rd. Layout design, enhanced cd and Megalith logo by Jeremy Patton, jeremy [at] toasters [dot] org Radiation Skank video by Paul Tcharskyj Illustrations by Bob Fingerman, Pesky and Don Alan To find out more about this other releases including lyrics, additional photos, old fliers and art work as well as live mp3s, visit http://www.toasters.org To find out more about upcoming Megalith releases and to purchase cds t-shirts and other merch visit http://www.megalithrecords.com |
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