Three incredible ska tracks from Sluggo (Derek Grant from Suicide Machines / Skolars).
This was posted a couple days ago on a YouTube channel called Chairshot to the Skull. It's a rare ska punk (more punk than ska) six-track demo tape from this Naperville, Illinois band.
If you're looking for a copy of this tape then HERE's the eBay listing.
If you want to hear it first then this download is for my rip of the tape I used to own.
1 Skunknutti
2 Mc Bird
3 Zero
4 Marcella
5 Polyester
6 Loyal Pawn
7 Mr. Moon
8 Michael Row Your Boat Ashore / Ed's Promise
9 Rearrange
10 In the Rain
11 Stupidity
12 Right Ground (live)
13 Party at My House (live)
The last two songs are live versions of songs that were on the 1995 album "Which One of Us is Me?".
I have all of their albums but last I checked this tape is rare but their other releases are readily available online. If you can't find them anywhere else, let me know and I'll rip them and make a post.
I still plan on uploading everything that was requested as a re-up. I'm way behind schedule but I will get around to it. Bear with me. Thy will shall be done.
They hand made this tape for their fans and they sold it at their last show.
I was holding off on posting this because I wanted to include both of their singles and a live tape which includes a compilation track (which is not ska) but I didn't have time today to work on a post so I just decided to put this out. It's very rare but a little hard to listen to because of the sound quality. The other stuff I have by them is even more rare but even more hard to listen to. I will post the other stuff at a later date. Sorry for the inconvenience.
1 We are Plumbers
2 Chips and Beer
3 Berserkers in Babylon
4 Pluggage
5 My Bicycle
6 Interval
7 Why is Life so Complicated
8 B. Brain
9 In My Oriental Garden
10 Oh Dear!
...
This is not my own rip. I thank the original uploader.
1 Make No Mistake
2 Wake Up
3 Love Seals Destiny
4 Gold Digger
5 Nice 'N' Easy
6 Looking for a Way
I made a post in 2019 with everything else I had by them. I'm still missing the other demo tape. If you need me to re-up the other releases let me know.
...
1 Spy Version#
2 Hold On
3 Oppression
4 I Don't Understand
5 Who's Lovin You?
6 King Darry's Rude Boy Rap*
7 Wicked*
8 Right for My Heart
9 Ipso Es Victium
10 Haunted World
# I'm guessing these tracks are not in order of how they were played. At the end of the first track Spy Version he says "Thank you! Good night!" like it was the end of the show. I didn't re-arrange anything, I left it as it is on the tape.
*The song King Darry's Rude Boy Rap flows directly into the song Wicked. I tried separating them but without any real line of demarcation it sounded terrible so I left it as one single track. There are ten songs on this tape but you'll see only nine in the download.
I know nothing about this band. The tape says it's live but it doesn't really sound like a live recording and there is no audience noise.
Male and female vocals sung in English and French.
1 Sally Brown
2 Les Milchiens
3 Destroy Fascism
4 Mister Pile
5 Riot
...
Thank you Marcel!
1 Scooby Doo
2 Mixed Messages
3 Darlin'
4 Groovy Doo
5 Last Night
6 No Exit
7 Road Trip
8 Studio J
9 Give it Up
...
It seems that there was a reggae band in Cleveland, Ohio in the 80s called Kaya. I know nothing about this band and I can't find anything online about them. But I do know their lead singer Max Nuhu went solo and released one record in 1987. The song "Let Me Be the One" was the A-Side and "Give It Up" was on the B-side. It is highly sought after and I have never found a copy in my life. Thankfully somebody posted the A-side on YouTube.
He even had T-shirts.
Here's the full "War Games" demo tape by Max Nu-Hu with the re-recorded version of "Let Me be the One" from the record and a re-recorded version of the song "War Games" that would have been the title track of the album if he ever released an album, plus another song he recorded later called "Third World Woman".
Max Nuhu passed away in Jamaica in December 2020.
1 Blood Money
2 Retribution
3 Give it Up
4 Give it Up Version 2
5 Let Me be the One
6 Ezy Come
7 Go Getta
8 Island Summer*
9 War Games
10 Bubbla
* Let Me be the One 7" version
* War Games
* Third World Woman
* (The song Island Summer is very low quality. The quality of that song is much different than the other songs on the tape. I tried multiple times to get a good rendition of it but this is the best I can do).
Some sound effects that are on the CD are absent on this recording so, even though the recordings are the same for all three songs these are unique versions not found anywhere else.
1 Vampire
2 Skaville Express
3 June
...
2. La Sigaretta
3. Io Non Ballo (Sono Un Duro)
4. Circoli Viziosi
5. Quello Che Puoi
They had two other recordings. SEE HERE for details.
1 Intro
2 Skasso
3 Mr. Skazz
4 P.G.R. '96
5 Babylon Style
6 Luglio
I am not happy with how this tape sounds. It's very low sounding. The bass sounds great but the rest of the music suffers because of it.
I think I might have to re-rip it with modified settings.
This is a re-post deluxe. I got a request to re-post the two demo tapes so, instead of just posting the two demo tapes, I also included a live recording and a collection of songs recorded at practice sessions that were never recorded in a studio.
...
(Posted by request)
1 Man on the Scene
2 The Upsetter
3 Jimmy Hate
4 Waiting Game
5 From Cairo with Love
6 Sally Brown
This was a reggae band from Raleigh, North Carolina and from what I have gleaned from the comments on YouTube this song got some radio play and was considered a Christmas classic by some.
1 Ganja Man is coming to town
2 Look at the People
When I was younger some of the best shows I have ever seen were band rehearsals when the band invited people to watch them rehearse and it always started out for the first hour or so as a serious band rehearsal but morphed into a party a couple hours later.
Ah...the good ol' days.
This tape is a live recording. I don't think they ever recorded in a studio. This recording is available on Bandcamp but it's not complete. This download here is for the complete tape including "Rudi, a Message to You" and "Rat Race" which are not on the Bandcamp version. "Rudi..." is a cover song but, surprisingly, "Rat Race" is not.
1 Liberty
2 Revenge
3 Dumb Stormtrooper
4 Me with You
5 Roadkill Restaurant
6 Funky Smell
7 Rudi, A Message to You
8 Character
9 Attitude
10 I Wanted it All
11 San Francisco
12 Rio
13 There for Me
14 Rat Race
...
1 Go Out Anymore
2 Do the Dog
3 Qu'est-ce Qui ne Tourne pas Rond Chez Moi?
4 Give Her
5 Time Hard
6 Get Crazy
7 A Message to You Rudy
8 Cure the Redeem
When I saw that somebody requested this I went looking through my old stuff and I could not find it. I sold the original tape years ago but I was certain I kept the MP3s and the scans. Well, not certain, but pretty sure. But I couldn't find it anywhere. Luckily I found this version on Soulseek. It was originally WAV files and I converted them to MP3 and I think it sounds pretty good. I don't remember what my old rip sounds like so I don't know if this is a better version or worse or exactly the same. But it seems it's the only copy I have and I am lucky to have it and to be able to share it so I thank the anonymous person who took the time to do their own rip and share it with us.
1 Mint Julep
2 One Eyed Giant
3 Batman
4 She Sure Can Cook
5 Sonic Boom
6 Solomon Gundey
7 Nut Monkey
8 Hi-Ball
1 One Night Stand
2 Nica's Dream
3 I'd Rather Stay In
4 Youth
2nd Hand Sneakers was formed immediately after Son Of Blob broke up in 2003. This is possibly their only recording.
Let's take this back a bit. Son Of Blob was a Dutch ska band that formed in the mid 90s. They played De Melkweg in Amsterdam alongside bands like Catchup Squad, Venus Hill and De Hardheid and shared the stage with The Slackers, The Toasters and The Selecter.
The known Son Of Blob line-up was:
Skippy - vocals
Michiel Leeuwenburgh - bass
Maurice Bierhuizen - guitar
Kris van der Heyden - drums
Hessel van der Flier - keyboard
Jeroen Mullié - trombone, trumpet
Lodewijk Reijs - alto sax, baritone sax
Son Of Blob had a music video for their most well-known song Rode Fiets (Red Bicycle) but the drummer in the video was called Ron and he was one of the founding members of The Upsessions.
Some of you may remember a post I did in September 2023 about a blank cassette I had and I didn't know who the band was.
I don't know what happened to their iconic lead man Skippy but it seems like people were used to the original lineup with Skippy at the helm and Nina was a hard sell. I don't know for sure that's what the situation was but that's my observations as an American 20 years after the fact.
Nina was the vocalist for the demo tape as well as for their only full-length.
The band didn't break up after that, they just changed their name to 2nd Hand Sneakers with the intention of changing their sound to incorporate more mellow reggae sounds as well as aiming for a pop sound.
This post includes the 2nd Hand Sneakers demo as well as everything I have by Son Of Blob which is not complete.
I do not have their full length The Hippest Cats in Skaville (2001)
I also don't have their "Venus" 7"
Here's what I do have:
Son Of Blob - S/T cassette (1997)
1 Rode Fiets
2 Lady Marianne
3 Mighty Spliff
4 Tweedle Kans
Son Of Blob - Rode Fiets 7" (1998)
1 Rode Fiets
2 Make Me Feel
3 Penetration*
4 Fantast
Son Of Blob - Skagiddyboogiddy (1999)
1 Britishlessness
2 Er Uit
3 Mr. PC
4 A-Team
Also included is a live song called "Het Strand" (The Beach) which was recorded on the same night that the first demo tape was recorded but it was not included on the tape.
DOWNLOAD the three Son Of Blob recordings and the 2ndHand Sneakers tape
* The song Penetration is a cover of "Penetration" by the first American skinhead band The Pyramids.
They were skinheads before skinheads were a thing.
NEW for 2026: My MEGA Re-Up folder. Help yourself.