Author: Matthew King Kaufman
Sharing Music became Fun with The FunFunFun Music Podcast
The UpTones ruled the Bay Area in the 80s. First off, you heard them on 99 The Quake or saw them perform at one of the popular clubs like the Kabuki or the Berkeley Square. These Berkeley High School lads loved the Two-Tone ska movement, which came and went in a few hot years in the UK. This Berkeley band designed with a two-tone value system came into being. This band of Berkeley High School students performed their original material in the Bay Area throughout the 80s. Their shows were riotous music and dancing onslaught. San Francisco radio station Quake played songs from the band immediately, even if they were demos self-produced by the band. I included those recordings in this podcast at the end.
Here’s what was said about the Uptones:
Formed in 1981 in Berkeley, while they were still in high school. The Uptones were the first band devoted to playing Ska on the West Coast. The Uptones played to skanking crowds all over the West. Several of their recordings were regional hits, and for a time they were the most popular band in the Bay Area.
“It is a sight to behold, The Uptones tearing up the stage and the audience tearing up the dance floor.” – San Francisco Chronicle (2 articles)
“The Uptones… without a doubt the best show in Berkeley.“
– Berkeley Free Press
“Sitting down at an Uptones show is like keeping your eyes shut at a movie.”
– Rolling Stone
The Uptones “Live at Gilman Street” (SOB CD 0058) is a living proof of the raw power the band delivered every show.
“Best live Ska record ever” – Crawdaddy Magazine
“***** Five Stars “This record rocks from beginning to end.”
– Rolling Stone
“The Uptones, the Bay Area’s best ska band of all time.”
— Pacific Sun
Proud to announce this new EP, GO INSANE
The Fashion Slaves have helped me have my finest moments as a producer.
Check Out The Fashion Slaves!
Filling in for the Foo Fighters at the last minute, Berkeley band The Fashion Slaves performed live at Millard Fillmore Vocational School as part of their Leap Year Day assembly. Michael Rosen was there with his remote recording gear to capture it.
Excerpts from Millard Fillmore Gazette, March 3:
When Principal Rooney announced over the P.A. system that the Leap Year Day’s assembly was moved to the gymnasium, and we had to leave our cell phones in our homeroom, I was sure the “Foo Fighters” rumors were true. I was wrong. It was a rock concert, but no Foo Fighters. A band I’d never heard of was going to perform. The gym was packed. No one wanted to go back to class. So we all stayed for the show. The Fashion Slaves were the performers. Once the Slaves started playing, everyone forgot about The Foo Fighters.
I had never heard of the Fashion Slaves, but now I love them. Emily Jayne is the coolest singer I’ve ever seen, and she plays a mean guitar. The show started with some amazing guitar playing by Eric Din, who is also a member of the Uptones, my favorite Ska band. Emily Jayne and Eric Din are joined by Engine 88 bass player, Eric Knight, and drummer Pete D’Amato from The Agent Deadlies.
All their songs are great, I especially loved the song about Styrofoam. The show was over way too fast. When Emily Jayne closed the show with “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” no one wanted to leave. I can’t wait to see The Fashion Slaves again.
Check it out!
The Uptones – “East Bay Orbits”
Fun Fun Fun Recordings is very proud to announce the release of The Uptones’ “East Bay Orbits” CD. The album features all of the singers who have ever sung in The Uptones, since their beginnings at Berkeley High School in 1981. Read the full credits at www.uptones.com.
Hear it:
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Sex 4 Moderns
Fun Fun Fun Recordings is proud to announce the legendary Sex 4 Moderns CD is now available at iTunes. Check out “I’m Frying”
Sex 4 Moderns
“I’m Frying” (mp3)
from “Sex 4 Moderns”
(Fun Fun Fun Recordings)
Hear it!
“This recording is one of my all time favorites” …Fake Robert Johnson
The Uptones – Live!! 924 Gilman – Reviewed for All Music Guide by Jo-Ann Greene
In California’s Bay Area, the Uptones were the leading light of the mid-’80s ska eruption. Formed while the members were still at high school, Continue reading “The Uptones – Live!! 924 Gilman – Reviewed for All Music Guide by Jo-Ann Greene”
Skankin’ Foolz Unite!
Fun Fun Fun Recordings has outdone themselves this time.
The label is proud to announce the release of The Uptones 1st studio CD, “Skankin’ Foolz Unite!” The Uptones, “Best of the East Bay” Ska band, has been together for over twenty years. These Berkeley Ska pioneers have created a sensational CD of 15 great songs.
Read Rob O’Connor’s review for Yahoo Music:
Upbeat without forcing the party, Berkeley, California’s ska-veterans The Uptones return with their first studio album in decades, nailing down a bottom end that cements the groove with horns that reach for the stratosphere. The years have betrayed them none. Four original members augmented by an additional fantastic four, the eight-piece cruise with neither nostalgia nor a rusted gear. Initially, the studio might not seem the place to capture a definitive live act – their most noted release being the concert album The Uptones Live!! 924 Gilman – but one spin of “Ridiculous” and its spirited bleeps and yelps and it’s obvious this band will produce for a party of one if it must. (“Too Much Pressure” is credited as “Recorded Live at iMusicast” in 2005.) The added fidelity a genuine recording studio provides means bassist Bennie Wood and drummer Tim Carter aren’t left in the sonic dust. With three horn players – trombone, trumpet and tenor sax, for those at home keeping score – the blare is most obviously attention getting, but Eric Din’s vocals lead the troops with the same spirited play that made the Clash sound like revolutionaries.
Virtuostic without enslaving itself to technique and incorporating elements of punk, jazz, ska and reggae, it’s obvious how and why the Uptones became a major influence on the ‘90s ska-punk scene that followed them out of the Berkeley ghetto. But while Operation Ivy, Rancid, Sublime, Green Day and countless others sport the group’s influences and inspirations, nothing replicates The Uptones melodic heart. These aren’t just festive jams but terse, tough shards of song. Whether it’s the suspected tenderness of “Not From Here,” the charmed pop life of “I Don’t Know Emilie,” or the instrumentation breakdown of “Radiation Boy” where the band appear to be playing sideways, the Uptones now exist as seasoned pros who never lost their mojo in the grinding machinations of the music business. If anything, the years have made them stronger, more determined to wring life from every rhythm, to deny defeat at every chorus. Long may they skank.
The Uptones
Skankin’ Foolz Unite!
(Fun Fun Fun)
–Rob O’Connor
Hear it!
Repulsa
Fun Fun Fun is proud to announce the release of one of the gr8 unsung metal albums of all time, “Repulsa” by, you guessed it, Repulsa.