In our ongoing series titled SKAROUND The World, we take you to the EAST COAST! I personally love how people say, “Nothing good comes out of New Jersey.” Well, I can name a few things that tuned out good for all of us: There’s Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Whitney Houston, My Chemical Romance, The Fugees, The Misfits, and Joker’s Republic.
Now I bring you… Hub City Stompers! Hailing from “Hub City” (Brunswick), they are absolutely my favorite band out of Jersey. The band was formed by Rev Sinister, the former front-man of another Jersey band, Inspecter 7 (I7).
After Inspecter 7 went into a dormant state in 2001, “RevSin” wanted to bring more kick ass jams and get back to live shows, so he went on the hunt to find new band members.
In the summer of 2002, Hub City Stompers (HCS) was born and ready to kick ass! In the wasteland of what could be a “dead” ska scene at the time, RevSin really wanted to bring this “dead and rotting” music back; not for the popularity, but for the love of the music.
In addition to former members of I7, HCS consists of prior members of other awesome bands: Bigger Thomas, Professor Plum, Predator Dub Assassins, Bomb Town and The Best Of The Worst!
Embracing different styles of ska – from ‘60s through the ‘80s – and adding influences from reggae, punk, and even hip hop, jazz, and classical, they avoided the typical “ska formula.” They skipped the poppy ska lyrics and took a darker turn and sang on the real gritty side of things. Sometimes hard elements and realism in songs can still be fun to party to.
RESPECT
“Hub City Stompers are humorous and a brutally honest ska band.”
Coolie Ranx | Pilfers
Still going through and kicking ass in the popularity between ska-core and the elitist trad-ska world, Hub City Stompers choose to entertain and offend everyone equally, and stick to the underground roots they started in.
No comformatese (not sure what he is trying to say? conforming?) with HCS! They do their own shit! Playing with hardcore, ska, reggae, punk, and Oi! bands alike.
In 2002, they released the track, “Night Of The Living” and followed up in 2004 with their first full-length album, “Blood Sweat and Beers.” They have now released seven studio albums including the most recent, “Haters Dozen” and “Blood Sweat and Years.”
After a hiatus and band merging with a possible name change, they decided to leave the Inspecter 7 name behind once and for all and become Hub City Stompers for good. Back full time, and back to bringing the kick ass brand of “Dirty Jersey” ska to all!
As for the here and now, RevSin had this to say:
“We’ve been doing what we gotta do and holding it down, but it sucks to have your entire live schedule for the year just wiped the fuck out. It was looking to be a good year, with some badass fests and potential tours planned. So, that blows and we’ve been fiending like crackheads to play live.”
“But in the meantime, we’ve put out a few “virtual performance” videos to keep the blood flowing, and those have been fun and satisfying. We haven’t been doing regular practice at our usual studio either, as comfort levels to exposure still vary among HCS members. But the bulk of us have been convening in HanOi! Jay’s basement to practice and write new stuff, so that’s a wonderful salvage from this mess too. Hell, we’ll probably have like three albums worth of material ready by the time this shit is done.”
He continued, “Speaking of when this shit is done, we’ll definitely be looking to record and release some the aforementioned new material (though we may release some one way or another in the meantime too) and, as I’ve already warned the band, we’re gonna be playing and touring our asses off and making up for lost time as soon as we are safely able to do so. Count on that shit.”
RevSin wasn’t done yet! “To all the HCS fans (and hell, even the haters) out there, hang strong during this nonsense and do what ya gotta do to keep each other safe so we can get past this horse shit and HCS can come harass youz on the road. Keep eyes and ears peeled for music and videos we’re shooting out in the meantime. We ain’t freakin’ dead, just in lockdown!”
I’ve had the pleasure of hanging with this band over the years, and they are some of the most real and cool ass people you could ever get to know. I’ve been able to bring them to the West Coast on tour, and to play Viva Ska Vegas, plus I have seen them at the Supernova International Ska Festival.
With a great sound and an insanely sinister sense of humor, I can definitely say… hands down, they still set the bar for a killer live show and always a damn good time! Check out this band, they’ll make you laugh, smile and dance… not necessarily in that order.
