This band was from Albuquerque, New Mexico and I think these two offerings together is a complete collection of everything they recorded. Not positive though.
I have no idea who the Vendors are. Where they come from, who the band members are, what other releases they may have had, and what year this was released are all a mystery.
I'm pretty certain this is from the mid 90s. They have that perfect ska-punk sound that was all the rage in 1997 and the band is as good, if not better, than a lot of ska punk bands from that era.
I can't take credit for finding this incredible rarity. This was shared with us by Marty from Ratgirl Records.
Ratgirl Records specializes in re-releasing hard-to-find punk releases and they know their ska. Check out Ratgirl Record's store,
I'm not a big fan of this sort of thing. I call it white funk with some ska influences, but the kids these days are calling it "skronk".
There were a lot of bands in the 90s playing skronk but I never actually met anybody who listens to it. I have a few of these bands' recordings that I have never really felt pressured to post on the blog before but I hate seeing a great post on some other music blogs who post the punk tracks but skip posting the ska songs because they personally don't like ska. I don't want to be like that so I'll post skronk or white-funk even though I don't care for it myself because there just has to be somebody out there who appreciates it. (Anybody?)
As it happens this band SKWZBXX (pronounced 'squeeze-box') is the band who invented the word 'skronk'. In fact it was the trumpet player (coronet player to be correct) Charlton Singleton who combined the words 'ska', 'rock', and 'funk' to describe their sound.
The Rhyth-O-Matics were one of California's first established ska bands. They released the album "Walking in the Shadow" in 1985 and had a big radio hit in 1988 with a 12" single Skatalation / Trickster.
In 1998 the band leader Jimmy Foot re-released the album and single together on a CD-R with an unreleased track called Kinzenge. This download here is for the CD-R version with the added tracks.
Not only did he re-release his old recordings on his own label Bongo Boy Music, but he recorded a whole new album called Ghost Skankers which was also released on a CD-R with a computer-printed cover which sometimes got stuck to the disc itself.
Then, in that same year Jimmy Foot collaborated with some musicians under the band name "Sky Rangers" which had more of a 'country' influence and they also released a CD-R on Bongo Boy records which had that same problem of the computer-printed inlay sticking to the CD itself.
And he has many solo albums. The album Rhythm Addict is mostly a rock-n-roll record but it has a ska song called "Rockin' Ska Man" that is along the lines of the sound from these earlier recordings.
As a ska blogger I always knew this day would come. I put it off and I put it off but I knew I couldn't hide from it forever. Right now I am reasonably drunk on a Saturday afternoon and I have been doing some quality posts lately so I decided it's time to confront this thing. To just get it out of the way.
Ska Chou Chou. Whatever the hell that means.
If I had to guess I would say it's a play on the term 'popcorn'. See, 'chouchou' is a type of candied nut that sometimes accompanied candied popcorn (Crackerjacks). But I don't know this is true. I'm just kinda making shit up.
The most popular version of Ska Chou Chou came from the Italian radio DJ Claudio Cecchetto who released his version in 1982 and he played it on the air regularly. The B-side is 'Goodbye Everybody' with him giving a send off at the end.
It was released at least twice with different covers. One of which attributed the song to himself and the DeeJay's Gang. That one was released in 1982. The first one was released in 1981 and listed a song on the cover called Voltare! that was not actually on the record. Ska Chou Chou was labeled as Ska Chou Chou (82)
Claudio Cecchetto e la DeeJay's Gang - Ska Chou Chou 7" (1982)
A - Ska Chou Chou
B - Mr. Bunch (Ciao a Tutti)
This was not the first recording however. It was written and first recorded by Enrico Il Pazzo (Henry the Fool) a year prior in 1981. I can't help but think that Claudio Checchetto may have known Il Pazzo personally.
Enrico Il Pazzo - Ska Chou Chou 7" (1981)
A - Ska Chou Chou
B - Comunque Grazie
Then a Belgium disco band called Baseball did a cover that stripped the song of any semblance of ska that it ever had. Popcorn music was popularized in Belgium so it makes sense that a Belgian band would carry the torch into the 80s.
I once had a copy of the record. The song in this download is of my own rip, but for some reason I didn't keep a copy of the B-side. I remember it being a disco song. If you really have to hear it you can currently get a copy off Discogs for 88-cents.
Baseball - Ska Chou Chou 7" (1984)
A - Ska Chou Chou
B - ...yeah, sorry, there is no B-side. Disco sucks.
Then there's this. It's a children's educational / nursery rhyme channel from Greece. I can't imagine what they are trying to teach kids other than 'ska sucks!'. (Guest appearance from Admiral Ackbar for some reason. I don't know either.) I did not include this in the download. Why would I?
I'm off to the store for more beer. This whole post makes me feel unclean.
