Mustard Plug Show

This is the first entry from Steve who’s an awesome writer on the ska scene and brings a different style from mine which is better for everyone because we need more voices telling our stories and putting out the underground ideas. Enjoy

Concert Review for Mustard Plug/ Matamoska! and more

I’ve been listening to ska since 1996, and one of my favorite bands from the very first days that I discovered ska was Mustard Plug. In 1999, I found out they were playing a show in Indiana. I lived in Dayton, Ohio at the time, about a 40 minute drive from the Indiana border. I don’t even remember how I discovered shows back then, I definitely didn’t own a computer yet. I bought tickets for me, my then girlfriend, and another friend who was also a big fan. He decided that, since I bought the tickets, he would drive. But here’s the thing. The show was in South Bend, and we had no idea where South Bend was, so the plan was to leave really early, pull over at the first rest stop, which I knew had a road map of Indiana, and find South Bend. Then ask around at gas stations until we found the venue. How hard could it be?

To our surprise, South Bend was another 5 hours away, but we were not to be deterred. Amazingly, this plan worked out! We missed an opening act or two, but we got there in time to see some band whose name I have long since forgotten with time and age and Mustard Plug was about to go live. That’s when my friend came up to me and said we had to leave. He had work the next morning and it was a 6 hour drive, and he refused to let anyone else drive his car. If he was to get 2 hours sleep before work we had to leave now.

He was probably 18 at the time and I could not process how he thought 2 hours sleep was better than none, or why he wouldn’t just let me or my girlfriend drive his car back home. Why would we drive 6 hours each direction to watch an opening band? Anyway, knowing there was no other way to get back to Dayton from South Bend, we reluctantly (furiously) left having not seen Mustard Plug.

Fast forward a quarter of a century, and Mustard Plug announces a tour coming to Seattle- about an hour from where I currently live. YES, I am going, and I won’t miss it. While I still listen to ska, I mostly listen to newer ska bands now, however, Mustard Plug just put out a new album on Bad Time Records, and it was one of my favorite of their albums. They would be co-headlining this tour with Big D and the Kids Table, another stalwart from the 90s, and Matamoska!, an East LA based ska punk band that’s been around since the early 2000s. Three days before the show, they added a local Seattle based opener in Mister Blank.

Unfortunately for me, I’ve never been a big fan of Big D and the Kids Table. Every time they come up on a playlist with a song I don’t recognize, I get really excited by their sound, but then I listen to an album or stream a handful of their songs, and I get bored and disinterested. I’ve even gone as far as to buy two of their albums and listen to them, trying to like them, and for some reason, it just doesn’t sit with me and I move on.

The Show (note: I definitely did not write down all of the songs each band played, and missed several. Do not consider this complete set lists)

I get to the show early and the line is about what I expect. A few more people than most ska shows, missing a lot of familiar faces that come out for the newer bands, and several people around my age (mid 40s). By the time Mister Blank gets on stage, there are fewer people than I expect to see inside. As usual with an opening band, people are mostly in the back and only vaguely interested in the stage. They open with some banter and get into their first song- “Hungry In The Belly of a Whale”. It seems to be a relative hit. People are paying attention, a few more people have filed in the door, and there was even a little dancing. Then the lead singer, James Sweazea, makes some jokes about being in his late 30s and ska being known for covering songs from other genres, and asks the crowd to sing along if they know this cover before laying into a phenomenal cover of Lit’s “My Own Worse Enemy” with their 4 piece horn section crushing the riff. I don’t think many people in the audience knew Mister Blank at the start of the set, but they definitely loved what they heard. More between song banter about being old and singing about anxiety lead to the announcement of a new song for the band, which they announced as “Panic! At the Costco” which warranted laughter followed by some pretty intense dancing for a small crowd and an opening act. They also covered Andrew WK’s “Party Hard” and ended their set with their original Western inspired “Animal”. This was the third time I’ve seen Mister Blank open a show, and by far their best performance.

Matamoska! (who had a flag at their merch table that has their logo and reads “Abortion is Health Care”) took the set from there, and by the time they took to the stage the crowd was much more full, with basically everyone already showing up, and the audience was very loosened up from the Mister Blank set. Matamoska! has a very different stage strategy than Mister Blank, with almost no stage banter. They opened with “East Los Angeles”, which bled into “El Jefe de Ska”, and then “Dune Buggy” without any breaks or introductions. Pure ska punk hits one after another after another, and the pit was loving every moment of it. Matamoska! used “Dune Buggy” as a chance to introduce the band with solos on bass, guitar, keys, and the horns, and everyone was just crushing it all night. The entire set wasn’t strung from one song to the next, and they introduced a new song that also teased an album to be released in 2024. Despite not playing a few of their more popular songs that I’ve heard them play previously, this was also the best show I’ve seen from Matamoska! They really seemed to control the tempo and the crowd, and kept energy to a maximum through the entire set.

After this set I needed to sit down for an extended break. I have a lower limb disability that severely limits my ability to dance and to be on my feet for extended time. I assumed that Big D and the Kids Table was going to be next, so I didn’t mind sitting down to catch a break. (No disrespect to the band or their many fans, but for some reason they just don’t click with me). However, to my surprise, Mustard Plug was playing third tonight and the Kids Table would be headlining.

Mustard Plug opened with “Box” from their 1997 album Evildoers Beware, and the crowd started moving and never stopped. The crowd participation vocals throughout the show felt as loud or louder than the band- impressive given the size of the crowd for a ska band. They moved from this song immediately to “Where Did All My Friends Go” from their new album, and the crowd seemed to be almost equally engaged. Seeing a bunch of 40-50 year olds in the crowd wearing 90s punk and ska band t shirts, I was curious whether they would be there for nostalgia or if they still follow the band and their new music, but it seems most people definitely knew the new stuff. They mixed in some songs from most, if not all of their albums, adding “Vampire” and “Why Does It Have To Be So Hard” from the newest album. Of all of their albums, I believe Evildoers Beware was best represented with “Box”, “Mendoza”, “You”, and the set closer with “Beer (Song)”. These guys have been touring and playing these songs for over 30 years now, and they are experts at knowing what songs the crowd wants and how to keep a crowd engaged.

In an ironic twist of events, where I harbored resentment for 25 years because I missed the headlining act of a show, I ended up deciding to leave early and to miss the headlining act of my only other Mustard Plug show. This time, however, I was alone, and not forcing anyone to miss the act they came to see. Having managed to actually dance in the pit for a couple songs and being on my feet for most of 3 hours, my leg suggested that perhaps it would be best if I called it a night. Seeing the sweet irony of missing the headlining act again, some 25 years later, I agreed. I really hope Big D and the Kids Table put on an outstanding show and all of their fans had the time of their life in my absence. Be sure to check out their newest album “Do Your Art” released in 2021.

-Steve

Source: punxinsolidarity.wordpress.com