Hello my dear readers, this time you will enjoy a really cool interview with a master of Ska his name is JAY and he is the SLACKERS guitar player, he really knows what ska is about from the beginning till now, his words were really accurate talking about what a musician should be and think.
What is the most stupid question you ever been asked?
There have been so many stupid questions, so is hard to choose one but I think the most stupid question was , There are like 50000 ska bands why did you started to play this horrible music? (laughs)
How do you describe your sound?
Obviously we try to keep it like traditional ska, like SKATALITES, DESMOND DEKKER, we always try to put some reggae, soul, blues and yeah we try to keep it as traditional ska.
What do you think that make THE SLACKERS so special?
To start we have been together for almost 18 years and we just keep doing what we do, we are away from trends for example “Ok punk is big now lets mix punk in our songs! Or “now people is hearing swing ok let´s make a swing record!!”
How hard is to be on tour personally and band wise?
Personally I don’t mind it, It´s just the life we chose you know? And i´ve been in a lot of bands and THE SLACKERS the way it is, I´ve been with them touring since years ago, and I mean it´s a job, is not that I´m getting rich but now the band is doing pretty good, the rest of the band sometimes complain because they are married, they have kids and is hard to be away and you gotta go home, you have to pay some bills, but In my case I don’t mind, wherever I wake up that’s my home.
Any particular experience that you would like to tell?
I had an experience in Austria we were somewhere in a festival close to a lake and there were 2 dudes in speedos (laughs) like really tight (laughs) and since that day I name it the Austrian speedo, and then this guys were playing chess but not in a table it was one of this giant chess boards, and was kind of traumatic (laughs)
Do you think we are already in a 4th ska wave or still the 3rd?
Definitely still the 3rd, because musically the music hasn’t evolve to a next level, and the people look the wave as when the popularity comes back, the first wave obviously THE SKATALITES they started it all, or other bands like FOX BROTHERS, PRINCE BOSTER, and many more, those bands started Jamaican ska, second wave 2tone in England they mixed it with some punk influenced by the british working class etc. people look at the third wave in the 90´s as Californian ska and yeah probably it is but I consider the third wave started with FISHBONE back in 1985, so people just see popularit that’s why I think musically there has not being evolution in ska like to be in a 4th wave, we are trying to change something bringing to our music eastern influences, rhythm and blues like other bands added blues, punk, metal to ska but as I said I don’t think we are already in a new wave.
When was the moment that you decided to play ska?
I have a friend who introduced me to Deniah in NY that´s back in 1993 ad she used to be a back vocal for THE SLACKERS she left the band or they kicked her out I don’t know, and she wanted to make a band and in those days I was more in rock, punk and that heavy stuff, and they asked me if I can play ska and I heard FISHBONE and other bands but I wasn’t really a skanker so I just said yes and we made a band we got some gigs and I said oh yes I want to do this!! So that was the beginning of my ska career
What do you think is more important for a band media exposure or live shows?
It depends! Well this question is hard because like for us live shows are more important, because we will never be famous, we will never have a hit song, but we make a living because we play live we have our grassroots we go to another countries and people go to see us, but if you wanna be rich bands some bands don’t play 3 shows but because they look good, they have the right promotion boom they get huge right away! If you wanna make a living out of music is gonna take a long term and live shows.
Who is still an original member in the band?
Vic Ruggiero he is the main song writer and leader of the band, Marcus Geard he is the bass player, before THE SLACKERS they had a band but they were more punk and then they became THE SLACKERS but there have been a few band members changes.
Any plan to go back to Latin America?
We were in Latin America a couple of years ago we were in Mexico we had a blast, we love Mexico, we want to come back and is not just about money, we just need a good organizer and we will go back to so spread the word(laughs)
Any shout outs?
I would like to thank our fans for coming to our shows and keep it up, those who have been so nice with us booking us, making parties after the shows etc… thanks to those persons we are who we are.
