From the band…

Catch-it Kebabs from Yorkshire in England are one of the hardest working bands on the UK scene, notching up over 100 gigs a year . This year sees the 18-legged ska-beast turn 7 years old, and to celebrate this they are giving away their *NEW SINGLE* for *FREE* for 1 month prior to the release. To get this *FREE* goodies all you have to do is register before the 27th June!

You can register by visiting: www.catchitkebabs.co.uk and filling the form in (Takes 30 secs max.), and you will receive the track on the 28th/29th June just before it’s official release.

We are also building up a database of peoples age, music pref etc. so we can build up an idea of the current scene. So please reply to your email and help create the ska census 2008.
Thanks guys.
Jamie
Feet First Records
info@feetfirstrecords.com

Ska music is starting to gain more of a modern web presence with the launch of sites such as SkaPedia.com and SkaToob.com. As you can probably guess, these websites seek to emulate the success and popularity of behemoths WikiPedia and YouTube, albeit with a focus on ska bands and music.

SkaPedia.com is a standard wiki site, and it looks like (based on some band searches) much of the content comes directly from WikiPedia – not an uncommon practice in the wiki world. Still, there does appear to be original content, and SkaPedia does not have some of the silly restrictions regarding what content can be included in a wiki page. Hopefully the wiki-nazis won’t take over like they have at WikiPedia.

SkaToob.com appears to have quite a bit of content, and its focus on ska music means that people looking for ska videos don’t have to filter through the immense collection at YouTube just to find footage of their favorite underground ska bands. I think this is a great idea for a website – someone looking for ska videos is presented with focused content, and will be more likely to find what they are looking for, and possibly get turned onto something new. Sure, SkaToob will not boast the viewership numbers that YouTube has, but then again, ska is a fairly niche market. Just because you’re on YouTube, doesn’t guarantee that millions are going to see your video.

Both sites are part of the SkaSpot network.

The deal comes on the heals of a new Toasters Live CBGB recording that is also released by MVD. Hopefully this means that US ska fans will be able to purchase more European ska at local record stores. Of course, Megalith does not only put out releases by European bands. One of their latest releases is from southern California’s RiceRokit , and band that plays a SoCal flavor of reggae, with ska influences.

HCS will be playing lots of east coast gigs throughout the spring, check out show dates here. Definitely try to check out their live set, as it’s full of energy and these guys know how to bring the music to the stage.