For whatever reason, when leaves start falling and the temperatures start dropping, it's also time for plaid clothing, Vespa scooters and canvas Converse sneakers. You might even call it "skatumn."
Already this fall, the Specials, Skankin' Pickle and the Skeletones have headlined sold-out shows demonstrating the best that ska - the faster, jazzier precursor of reggae - has to offer."I don't know why, but this is when the bands like to tour over here," said Dave Merkley, a local concert promoter who has brought two "Skalapalooza" shows and the first "Skavoovee!" show to Utah, in addition to managing Provo's Swim Herschel Swim before the group disbanded and members scattered.
Merkley also said local interest in ska, a musical form that was supposed to have died two deaths - one after it flourished briefly in Jamaica in the '60s and another following the subsequent "2-Tone" revival in Britain in the early '70s and late '80s - has never been higher.
"It's a great time to be a ska fan, especially if you live in Utah," Merkley said, and perhaps he's right. After all, the state has two consistently entertaining ska acts in Stretsch Armstronng and Insatiable, and Utah has seen exciting shows from the Pietasters, Let's Go Bowling, Dancehall Crashers, No Doubt, Fishbone, the Ska-ta-lites, the Toasters and King Apparatus within the past two years.
Dickie Barrett, the gravelly voiced front man for Boston's the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, remembers headlining the first "Ska-la-pa-looza" show in Provo that he says was the best concert the band did that year.
"It was awesome," Barrett said in a recent telephone interview. "We've been looking forward to coming back because the fans were so great. Everybody was into the show and the music."
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones will headline a Wednesday, Oct. 26, show at the Lumberyard Skate Park, 1100 W. 400 South, Provo.
Today, ska can take almost any form. When mixed with "hard-core" punk rock, it becomes "ska-core," as practiced by the Bosstones and Jack Kevorkian and the Suicide Machines. It can also feature radical mixes of several musical forms, such as Skankin' Pickle's version of "ska-funk-ras-ta-punk." Elsewhere, Let's Go Bowling and Hepcat play more faithful ska creations, and Fishbone has veered toward funk and metal these days.
"Whatever gets people moving - that's what we play," Barrett said. "We don't approach our songs and decide that it's going to be ska or reggae or metal or punk. It's just whatever approach to the rock 'n' roll palate seems to work for the particular song. And people seem to eat it up. We're having a great time."
In addition to the Bosstones show, which will also feature the "skacore" act the Voodoo Glow Skulls and punk-rockers Total Chaos, Lumberyard Skate Park will also host the second Skavoovee! tour on Thursday, Nov. 3. Acts expected to play for Skavoovee! include the Toasters, the Scofflaws, the Pietasters, MU 330 and Insatiable.
Both shows will start at 7 p.m. Tickets for the Bosstones show will be $12, while the Skavoovee! concert will cost $10. Advance tickets are available at both the Provo and Salt Lake locations of Sonic Garden, as well as the Salt Lake and Ogden Graywhale CD Exchange locations.