Last year, Viva Ska Vegas emerged as a spiritual successor to the early 2000s mega Ska Summit event. Like its “big brother,” the festival strived to celebrate the legacy of ska, but on a much smaller scale. Taking place in the shaded grounds of the Henderson Events Center, the festival has become the most relaxed of any I attend in a given year, with big groups of people eager to happily sing and dance under the canopy.
The Viva Ska Vegas festival got off to a fun start with Greenland by way of Riverside punk band The Maxies. It might seem weird to kick off a ska festival with a band whose sound is decidedly less than ska (at least, what first comes to mind when people hear the term) but with their costumes and manic energy they’re really not that far removed from fellow Californians The Aquabats. The band, along with their polar bear mascot, launched streamers and confetti into a crowd that was sporting matching Maxies masks that had been passed out right before their set.
Up next were Colorado punks Potato Pirates, who remind me a lot of Have Nots, mixing some traditional punk rock with elements of skacore. Vocalist Scott Risch traded between bagpipes and a steel drum during the band’s blisteringly fast set. Orange County’s Codename:Rocky was a fixture of Vegas shows long ago, but this festival marked their return to Vegas after a ten year absence. They were the first band of the day to fit into the more well known definition of ska, with plenty of upstrokes and horn blows to go around. It was really great to see them again, and hopefully it doesn’t take another ten years to get them back.
Filling the local spot this year was Be Like Max, who played the festival last year as their previous incarnation, Everyone Meltdown. BLM has improved tenfold since then, in part due to the tighter rhythm section now made up of Tuesday After School’s Austin Tegtmeier and Preston Harper, and it was nice to see so many fans up front singing along to one of our best local bands. Opposite of Be Like Max in nearly every way, Roncovacoco’s 10-piece Latin ska/reggae sound, chill performance and Spanish lyrics made for a nice breather during the middle of the day, as was the reggae/ska/dancehall combo brought by The Skeletones.
Suburban Legends are a name I’ve heard a lot over the last few years but had never actually listened to until seeing them live at Viva Ska Vegas. Their sound is definitely on the poppy side of third wave ska, sounding much closer to Reel Big Fish than say, Let’s Go Bowling. There was a bit of a younger skewing vibe from them, helped by the choreographed dance moves and inclusion of not one but two Disney covers (“I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” and “Under the Sea.”) Even without being familiar with their originals I did enjoy their live performance, which was filled with dancing and jokes and it was nice to see everyone up front with huge smiles on their faces, a far cry from the stand still and nod approach I see from so many show patrons. Suburban Legends were followed up by third wave pioneers Let’s Go Bowling. These guys have been at it since the mid 80s and I’ve wanted to see them for years. Their harmonies sounded perfect and it was definitely worth the wait.
Undoubtedly, the band that I was most looking forward to seeing was The Chinkees. Featuring Steve Choi of RX Bandits and led by Mike Park (Asian Man Records, Skankin’ Pickle, Bruce Lee Band). The Chinkees have been around since the late 90s but have only played a handful of US dates, so it was a treat to get to see such a rare performance. Park and company came out looking spiffy in their suits and did a superb job balancing the high energy songs (many of which saw Park leaping into the crowd for communal sing alongs), with Park’s laid back storytelling. Besides playing a wealth of Chinkees material, they also paid tribute to Operation Ivy with an excellent cover of “Bankshot” (Park introduced the song by recalling how he first met Tim “Lint” Armstrong and how the frontman still refers to him as “Asian Man” instead of Mike) and a cover of Mike Park’s earlier band Skankin’ Pickle’s “I’m in Love With a Girl Named Spike” (about Degrassi’s Christine “Spike” Nelson). Park also talked about his easy time on the Yo Gabba Gabba tour, where he only played one song each night, which when played for the Viva Ska Vegas crowd, resulted in a conga line of fans coming up on stage to dance during his sax solo. I’ve wanted to see Mike Park in any of his various musical projects ever since I got into his music through the Mailorder is Fun compilation series and I’m happy to say that their set exceeded expectations.
Coming on stage last through a cloud of mist and to the tune of the John Williams Superman score were the night’s headliners, third wave ska superstars Reel Big Fish. Expectedly and deservedly, fans went crazy dancing and singing along to classics like “Trendy” and “Sell Out.” For being a festival appearance I was actually really surprised at how long Reel Big Fish’s setlist was and their endurance and trademark abundance of energy is still really impressive. Reel Big Fish excels at cover songs and had them in abundance, including Lita Ford’s “Kiss Me Deadly” and Ah Ha’s “Take on Me.” Watching them play made me think back to the dozens of times I’ve seen them over the years and how even though many of the original members have left, Barret has done an excellent job finding talented people to fill in the vacancies. The energy the newer members bring to the live show contributes a lot in projecting a fun vibe and feeding it to the equally spirited audience.
-Emily Matview
Photos by Aaron Mattern | https://www.flickr.com/photos/akmofoto/
and Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/
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