Thursday, December 11, 2008

DVD Review: The Up Beat



I've been a ska fan ever since I went to my first Stretch Armstrong show at UVSC when I was 14. By the time I was 17, we'd morphed our grunge band, The Twelfth of Never, into the ska band Left Foot Forward. Thus making us one of the 8 million high school ska bands at the time.

Local dude Brandon Smith recently made a documentary of Utah ska's golden age. Buy a copy or come over to my house and we can watch it together.

Here's a review I wrote for IN.

The Up Beat

If you grew up in Utah in the '90s, whether you'll now admit it or not, you likely spent at least one weekend skanking in Provo. Thanks to the combination of great local bands, great promotion, and a lot of high school and college kids with nothing better to do, Utah was once the ska music mecca. Lest we forget, Salt Lake City filmmaker (and trombonist for the Upstarts) Brandon Smith, gives documentary treatment to the scene's heyday.

The Up Beat follows the history of ska from its roots in Jamaica to its export to England, as told by pivotal players Toots Hibbert of the Maytals and Buster Bloodvessel of Bad Manners. From there, the genre eventually made it to the States, with Utah at the forefront in the movement.

Local bands like Swim Herschel Swim and Stretch Armstrong weigh in on how they helped make Utah one of the largest ska scenes in the country. Corey Fox, owner of the Velour club in Provo, comments that at the height of it all, Stretch Armstrong played a CD release show to a crowd of more than 2,000 and every national ska act made Utah a touring destination.

Though the scene peaked in the late '90s, this film helps the memory live on for anyone who has a soft spot in their heart for a good horn section or just wants an excuse to bust out those two-toned shoes.

www.theupbeatmovie.com. $12 + shipping.

5 comments:

Matthew said...

Does he touch on the early, mid-80s ska band called 004? They were outstanding. My older sister had an ep cassette from them with 4 or 5 original songs. I saw them at the Utah Arts Festival in '84 or '85 when I was about 13-14 and it was great. They had male and female signers on lead who would do some great harmonies like "X" does. Sorry if I am dating myself here, but mostly I would like to just find some MP3's from 004.

su-tang 3000 said...

The oldest Utah reference was Swim Herschel Swim. It looks like he did a lot of research, so maybe he'd have a connection. Brandon's email is info@theupbeatmovie.com.

su-tang 3000 said...

The oldest Utah reference was Swim Herschel Swim. It looks like he did a lot of research, so maybe he'd have a connection. Brandon's email is info@theupbeatmovie.com.

Anonymous said...

Ditto, Matthew!

I miss 004.

"I don't love you... And I never wanted you... 'round too much... (I know and I'm sorry but...)"

Anonymous said...

Ditto again! Where are the MP3s of 004? ("What?! What do you mean?!")