Checkered Cast

Riding off our Grrl Power #unitycommunity high notes we have a new episode of checkered cast where Tara & Christine get a bonus field trip!! On this episode we have an interview with Brie from the Doped Up Dollies & Dave from Big D & the Kids Table (https://www.bigdandthekidstable.com/) . Who our listeners all know is one of Tara’s favorite bands of all time, she has talked about flying out for their shows on episodes prior, & throughout the pandemic she was constantly begging them for new music. It has been a long time coming but we are finally here to chat with them about Do Your Art (http://smarturl.it/doyourart) the new album from Big D & The Kids Table. Tara & Christine are also going to be reporting live from the record release show in boston together in person meeting for the second time ever for this epic halloween party with Cat Bite (https://www.facebook.com/catbiteband) & Kill Lincoln (https://www.facebook.com/KillLincolnDC). Who knows maybe a doped up dollies rude girl revue collab coming your way someday! We are so excited for shows coming back & tours we might be getting ahead of ourselves a little bit with that ha! Well we are huge supporters of musicians & women collaborating to create a great scene to be part of and you get a lot of that enthusiasm in this episode. If you are feeling inspired to get more involved with the #unitycommunity check out the Thursday Zoom night (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1236185059917263) there will be plenty of other ska nerds to talk about Big D records old & new as well as a conversation about how important it is to keep supporting the arts and live music scene but mostly just come have a happy hour with some fellow ska nerds. Please support the new & long awaited return of Big D & The Kids Table, support your local ska band, and support women artists!!! Follow our podcast on Instagram to see pics, videos, & livestream from the record release party (https://www.instagram.com/checkeredcast/) & give us a like on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/checkeredcast) Your support means a lot to us please share!

After a year of manifesting, we are proud to announce the Rude Girl Revue! The RGR will be playing Friday night at Supernova Ska festival. You should purchase the live stream so you don't miss out on 30 hours of ska and 1 sold hour of the most amazing, talented and powerful women in ska take the stage.

• Kristin Forbes from The Scotch Bonnets on Guitar & Vocals 
• Jade Tremba from The Scotch Bonnets on Bass & Vocals
• Jenny Whiskey from Hub City Stompers/Rude Boy George on Sax & Vocals 
• Tara Kish from Checkered Cast on Bass, Vocals & Keys
• Lindsay McCarthy from The Skluttz/Thirteen Towers on Vocals
• Tara Hahn from Half past two on Vocals
• Ali Culotta from Stop the presses on Keys & Vocals
• Brittany Luna from Catbite on Vocals
• Marcia Leach from Bow Cat on Vocals
• Katie DeRosia from Bow Cat on Keys
• Dunia Best Sinnreich from Agent 99 on Vocals
• Tricia Lynn Gonzales from Some Ska Band on Vocals
• Emily Joseph from The Skluttz on Trombone
• Katherine Stock from Pandemics on Drums 
• Tiffany Defoe from The Scotch Bonnets on Sax
• Dani Radic from Soul Radics on Vocals 

So on this episode of the Checkered Cast we have an interview with Lindsay Goodwin McCarthy vocalist of one of our favorite up & coming ska bands The Skluttz(https://theskluttz.com/) she also sings in another epic ska punk band Thirteen Towers(https://thirteentowers.com/) We talk with Lindsay about being from the badass scene that is the RVA/DC area, there’s some hot takes about gatekeeping in the ska scene, and we talk about how amazing Supernova Ska Fest is & how we all cannot wait to goooooo! We are totally biased with how much we at the Checkered Cast love Lindsay as you will hear on this super casual chat amongst ska soul sisters because she is also a participant in our weekly Thursday Ska Happy Hour Zoom Chats! If you want to experience a live rendition of this podcast episode with you included in the conversation go over to Tara’s Facebook group for the Supernova Ska Community(https://www.facebook.com/groups/1236185059917263) where you can find a link every week to hang with fellow ska freaks, every thursday evening 7pm til 10pm EST (it goes later most weeks tbh). While you are on Facebook, we would super appreciate it if you also hit the like button on the Checkered Cast Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/checkeredcast), follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/checkeredcast/), & stay in touch with us through our social media by dropping us a line at our Anchor.fm (https://anchor.fm/checkeredcast). Also give a like/follow/support to The Skluttz who have an album on bandcamp you absolutely must own, it features the RAD single called Ska Police which we feature in this episode because it is SO GOOOOOD! (https://theskluttz.bandcamp.com/) Please show your support for women of ska punk by picking up their album or sharing their music AND this podcast with your friends! We love our unitycommunity & we wouldn’t be doing this without all of you xo

Okay yall this is episode 4 of Season 2 & we are still supremely grateful for the support of the #unitycommunity. We know you have lots of options when it comes to spending time listening to folks talk about Ska but we hope that we have been providing you all a different perspective & take on the subculture from an angle that helps you expand your own viewpoint on the scene. That being said we got a really informative & FRESH take on SKA with this episode because we have on the Checkered Cast; The CEO of SKA - JER of Skatune Network! (https://www.facebook.com/Skatunenetwork/) If you think that is a bold statement to claim well we invite you to listen to the episode to find out WHY they are the CEO of SKA. We also mention in this episode that we recorded this interview with Jer on Transgender visibility day and that Jer is a non-binary person who uses the pronouns THEY/THEM. Real talk they are constantly misgendered by folks & it’s unfortunate that the labor of educating people falls onto the person who experiences the harm of being erased by gender norms so we hope that we are doing a small part to spread the awareness of ASKING SOMEONE THEIR DAMN PRONOUNS & not making assumptions. Don’t make asses out of you & me, just ask!  And if you refuse to respect pronouns we are going to have to identify as A FKN PROBLEM. In this episode we talk to Jer about being a SKAlebrity aka how strange it is to have such a huge platform to speak about all things ska, how they built their social media empire(278k on TikTok, 190k on YouTube, 91k on Facebook, 38k on Instagram, 34k on Twitter) being on Vice.com, name drops on BrooklynVegan & supporting themself through Patreon as well as being a musician for hire (https://www.patreon.com/Skatunenetwork) & what we ALL chat about what we want to see being done better in the music industry post COVID lockdowns to make it a safer space for all. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCji2l5wcs6GoYJY1GgG_slQ) “Anything you can do, they can do SKA. Skatune Network is what happens when you get a person who really likes ska, as well as not ska, but wants to hear the not ska as ska, SO they use their skill to be kinda ok at every part of a band to re-create songs that aren't ska as ska songs.” This episode was recorded while Jer was on a roadtrip to California so there were a little bit of technical issues but hopefully you wont even notice in the edit. Don’t forget to show your support for their music & talent by following them on social media, sharing their music, & GET THAT FIRE MERCH! (https://www.skatunenetwork.com/)

Checkered Cast would also super appreciate it if you showed us some support by smashing the like button on the our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/checkeredcast), follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/checkeredcast/), & stay in touch with us through our social media by dropping us a line at our Anchor.fm (https://anchor.fm/checkeredcast). If you are not already part of the Supernova Ska Community Facebook group that Tara runs & are planning to attend the festival definitely go join the group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1236185059917263). We have a Ska Chat Happy Hour every thursday on zoom (7pm-10pm EST) come chat with other ska folks just like you would outside the venue between bands!

Checkered Cast is delighted to bring you Season 2 Episode 3 featuring an interview with the incredible, dynamic, badass vocalist & Saxophonist Leanor Ortega Till of Five Iron Frenzy. (https://www.fiveironfrenzy.com/) Also known as Jeff the Girl by her die-hard Five Iron Family she has been part of the ska punk music scene since 1995. She has been part of major events such as numerous Warped Tours, The Back to The Beach Festival, & The Pick It Up! Ska in the 90’s movie. Her band broke a record as one of the largest funded kickstarters ever. The band is also well known for the Christian mission behind their music; so we talk to Leanor about her faith & being a woman involved in a secular music scene. She is so generous with what she shares during this conversation with us & we are supremely honored to have someone of her experience & longevity on the show. Five Iron Frenzy has a new album out now called “Until This Shakes Apart” which we discuss the production of and the challenges releasing an album during a pandemic quarantine. (https://www.facebook.com/5ironFrenzy/) We would super appreciate it if you also hit the like button on the Checkered Cast Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/checkeredcast), follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/checkeredcast/), & stay in touch with us through our social media by dropping us a line at our Anchor.fm (https://anchor.fm/checkeredcast). If you are not already part of the Supernova Ska Community Facebook group that Tara runs & are planning to attend the festival definitely go join the group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1236185059917263). We have a Ska Chat Happy Hour every thursday on zoom (7pm-10pm EST).

Season 2 Episode 2 of Checkered Cast is here and it’s a big deal!!! As we have discussed we decided to expand our content this season so that we not only continue to use our platform to highlight the voices of women in the #unitycommunity but also include people who are actively using their platform as allies to women & BIPOC rudies. Now with February being Black History Month here in the states we are honored to interview mister Coolie Ranx on the checkered cast. Coolie is a musician based out of NYC who hails from the UK & has complex Afro-Caribbean roots. He is the host of Car Sessions 2035 a weekly livestream that promotes traditional ska, two tone, punk ska, reggae, and international musicians. He featured us on an episode back in December of 2020 so if you haven’t heard that yet go to our Facebook page to find the video replay. (https://www.facebook.com/Car-Sessions2035-108323954288434) You might also know Coolie from his Emcee days with The Toasters, as the frontman of the band he founded Pilfers, or his legendary guests vocals on a tremendous amount of tracks spanning the early 90s ska through present day. (https://www.facebook.com/pilfers) His legacy is massive as he has worked with artists such as The Pietasters, Reel Big Fish, Catch 22, various Grammy winning artists and he was featured as the voice of the character Little Jacob in Grand Theft Auto IV. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolie_Ranx) He is also the official MC of the Supernova International Ska Festival & hosted their epic 8+ hour livestream event as well as their weekly supernova saturdays streaming series. Make sure to show him & the festival your support by following their social media accounts, donating if you are able to, or you can buy Pilfers merch here (https://pilfers.storenvy.com/) & support Coolie’s music directly through bandcamp (https://pilfers.bandcamp.com/album/from-far). If you are not already part of the Supernova Ska Community Facebook group that Tara runs & are planning to attend the festival definitely go join the group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1236185059917263). They have a Ska Chat Happy Hour every thursday on zoom (7pm-10pm EST). We would super appreciate it if you also hit the like button on the Checkered Cast Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/checkeredcast), follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/checkeredcast/), & stay in touch with us through our social media by dropping us a line at our Anchor.fm (https://anchor.fm/checkeredcast).

We made it out of 2020 yall! We couldn't have survived this outrageous year if it weren't for you, our unity community, so thank you for the support. We are pumped to start season 2 of Checkered Cast with a bang by bringing you an interview with the organizers of The Supernova International Ska Festival, Tim & April Receveur (www.supernovaska.com). We talk to them about their background with ska music, how they got the insane idea to DIY an incredible music festival, and the challenges they have faced having to change up their plans due to the Covid curveball of 2020.

We are including some of Tim & Aprils music recommendations on this episode which features songs from; Alpheus, Buddah Council, Emily Capell, Half Past Two, The Loving Paupers, and more. Check them out on social media & make sure to like the Supernova Ska Festival Page on Facebook(. If you are not already part of the Supernova Ska Community Facebook group that Tara runs & are planning to attend the festival definitely go join the group. We also would appreciate if you hit the like button on the Checkered Cast Facebook page ( & follow us on Instagram (

Make sure to stay in touch with us through our social media, leave us some comments on instagram @checkeredcast, or drop us a line at our Anchor.fm & if you haven’t checked out our Thursday Ska Chat Happy Hour zoom (6pm-9pm EST) yet head over to Facebook where we post the link every week.

We are so pumped to put out another interview episode for our unity community! This week we are chatting with our first west coast guest, the dedicated badass behind SkaBox  (https://skaboxrox.com/) our ska soul sister Cassie! She is a rudegirl based out of California who started a monthly subscription box service dedicated entirely to the ska music scene! We had such a great time talking to Cassie getting a background on her experience with ska, the local community she is part of, and how she is spreading the love & support to musicians during a very crucial time. Check out the episode which features music from some of her local faves & bands she has worked with through the SkaBox. Follow them on social media, show your support by signing up for the SkaBox or gifting one to your ska show friend that you are missing hanging out with since it’s a great way to bond & connect with other ska fans as you will hear on this episode of Checkered Cast. (https://www.facebook.com/skaboxrox) (https://www.instagram.com/skaboxrox) This is our last interview episode of the year and we are beyond grateful for all of the support everyone has given to this rudegirl podcast thing we decided to do during the quarantine times of 2020. We are beyond humbled to have connected with so many incredible women in the ska scene and look forward to doing that again in 2021 hopefully with some opportunities to meetup in person as well! Stay safe everyone we hope you have an amazing holiday season and that 2021 brings us together again. Make sure to stay in touch with us through our social media, leave us some comments on instagram @checkeredcast, or drop us a line at our Anchor.fm & if you haven’t checked out our Thursday Ska Chat Happy Hour zoom (6pm-9pm EST) yet head over to Facebook where we post the link every week.

Back to the interviews on Checkered Cast, this one has been on our list from the start! Our guest on this weeks episode is Dunia Best-Sinnreich of the bands Agent 99, Brave New Girl, & Dubistry. She chats with the checkered cast ladies about the first time she heard Fishbone, her experiences in the 90s nyc ska scene, & some of the gigs she got to play. There was a lot of Slackers commentary & commiserating over how badly we all wish we could go to a live ska show again. But we are so happy to add to our #unitycommunity and we are so proud of how much work we have done on this platform to promote female musicians & highlight the diversity of the ska scene. We hope you all like the curating we have done so far & enjoy the music of these musicians. Make sure to show them your support by following them on social media, streaming their music, & buying their albums or merch. You can find Dunias projects at (https://instagram.com/dubyogini) & (https://instagram.com/dubistry) (https://instagram.com/dunia.and.aram) If you want us to do more interviews & have suggestions on who to talk to on the checkered cast; drop us a comment on Instagram (@checkeredcast) or leave us a voice message on our Anchor.fm with some suggestions of other badasses to add to our roster! If you haven’t checked out our Thursday Ska Chat Happy Hour zoom(6pm-9pm EST) yet head over to Facebook where we post the link every week. Make sure to like us on Facebook to get those updates & share this podcast with your friends so we can continue to use this platform to lift up unique voices in the unity community & build a better stronger scene for everyone!

Here’s our first bonus episode! We are keeping it strictly music focused on this edition of Checkered Cast. Starting off with a review of the new Bowcat (https://www.facebook.com/BowCatSka) 7” Dangerously Close then a recap of the new album from Catbite (https://www.facebook.com/catbiteband) on Bad Time Records called Omnigone. There’s a new segment called “Pick It Up” (pickitup pickitup) where Tara & Christine assign each other a surprise album to review, Tara gets to speak on the album from Deal’s Gone Bad called Heartbreaks & Shadows and Christine does a review of Lost In Transition by Ellwood. Let us know if you enjoy this episode format & want to hear us speak about more music we are listening to currently. Send us a DM on instagram or go to our anchor.fm to leave feedback that we can share on the next episode. Also we want to extend an invitation to join the Thursday Ska Chat happy hour zoom, it's from 6pm-9pm est every week & you can find the link on our Facebook page, make sure to like us there & share with your friends so we can continue to build up the unity community! As always a big thank you to The Scotch Bonnets for our intro music Ruder Than You.

This is another episode of Checkered Cast featuring just Tara & Christine chatting with each other about ska musicians they both support but also other genres of music they enjoy that are Ska-jacent. We talk about Tara's interest in Jam bands & Funk music as well as Christine's obsession with all things Daptone & UK, then we both gush on about our mutual love for The Slackers. There will be a spotify/youtube playlist to accompany this episode full of all of the assorted adjacent to ska bands that we both give shout outs to. We also want to give a big thanks to The Sensibles (https://www.facebook.com/TheSensiblesSka)(https://thesensiblesska.bandcamp.com) for providing us with music to feature on this episode. Also we want to extend an invitation to join the Thursday Ska Chat happy hour zoom, it's from 6pm-9pm est every week & you can find the link on our Facebook page, make sure to like us there & share with your friends so we can continue to build up the unity community!

(http://www.hubcitystompers.net/) (https://rudeboygeorge.com/) pick up the new ep by Rude Boy George, Lies & Alibis (https://rudeboygeorge.bandcamp.com/album/lies-and-alibis-ep)

Thankful always for our theme song “Ruder Than You” provided by The Scotch Bonnets (http://www.thescotchbonnets.com)

We welcome to the checkered cast our first interview episode with Charm City's Rudest Rude Girl Lady Hatchet aka Kristen Forbes Guitarist & Lead Singer of The Scotch Bonnets. We discuss her introduction to ska, the early 90s music scene including riot girl & the womens indie rock movement, some of her experiences playing in bands as a professional musician, and talk about issues women face trying to make a name for themselves in the industry. Lady Hatchet does a weekly livestream on Sundays at noon called Slice of Hatchet check her out on Facebook to subscribe, she provided all of the music featured in this episode including her single "Tik Tok" (https://youtu.be/Zjy_UknGX98) & of course our theme song “Ruder Than You” was provided by The Scotch Bonnets (http://www.thescotchbonnets.com) if you would like to support her as a hard working professional female musician buy some music from her sites or send a donation via venmo @ladyhatchet

The other female empowerment music podcasts mentioned here are She's A Punk by Siobhan Woodrow

(https://shesapunk.com/)

& Mabel Syndrome (https://www.mablesyndrome.com)

Tara & Christine defend ska punk in this episode from two different sides of the rudegirl camp. We discuss our introduction to ska, the first time we ever saw a ska band live, & what it was like growing up ska after the 90s. You’ll hear us talking a bit about the 2000s ska scene & some of the challenges for the community. We then go into some shout-outs for current bands & new music being released by some old favorites. Our theme song “Ruder Than You” was provided by The Scotch Bonnets (http://www.thescotchbonnets.com) & our featured music for this episode was provided by Bim Skala Bim (http://www.bimska.com/).

In this flagship episode, we introduce ourselves, discuss the purpose for starting this podcast, talk about some live music events, recap a live-stream music festival, & work out some of the audio technical difficulties of which we appreciate your patience for our learning curve! Thanks for checking out episode one of Checkered Cast. Our theme song “Ruder Than You” was provided by The Scotch Bonnets (http://www.thescotchbonnets.com) & our featured music for this episode was provided by The Dendrites (https://dendritesmassive.com).