Epic records
Save Ferris is moving up in the ska world.
All ska, all the time
Save Ferris finds its niche
By John Berger
as a specialist
Star-BulletinWhen opportunity knocks, a serious musician gets busy. Brian Mashburn was doing a little bit of all kinds of music -- including few ska songs by groups such as Fishbone and the Untouchables. He'd never considered an all-ska playlist until opportunity posed an offer a young musician couldn't refuse.
"Someone asked me if I wanted to do a ska project because this girl that he knew had a boyfriend with a record label who'd record us. I'd never done any recording, and being the musician that I am, I was like, OK, I'll play anything, whatever, I can do that. ...
"When we did our first show, the minute we started playing, all the people started going crazy. It was an instant reaction that I'd never had with any of my other bands."
Jump forward -- Mashburn is guitarist, vocalist and primary songwriter for Save Ferris. In a little under three years Save Ferris has become one of the hottest bands in modern ska. A self-produced "Introducing Save Ferris" EP sold more than 11,000 copies in Southern California. Named "best unsigned band" by NARAS early in 1997, Save Ferris was signed by Epic Records two months later. A full-length album, "It Means Everything," soon followed.
Save Ferris was an unanticipated highlight at last year's Big Mele. The band returns this weekend with Hepcat and Dance Hall Crashers in a Spring Ska-lebration at Andrews Amphitheater Saturday.
The show will be a revelation for anyone whose acquaintance with ska begins and ends with the contemporary, frenetic, Southern California style. Save Ferris has incorporated elements of swing, rock, reggae and jazz, and fans have dubbed the band "the sound of the future in ska."
Hepcat, on the other hand, takes the music back to its origins.
"Most of the (American) bands have gotten their sound from the English, as opposed to the way we did it by adopting it from the Jamaicans," Hepcat vocalist Greg Lee explains.
English bands were combining Jamaican ska and reggae with punk in the late-'70s to create a frenetic new hybrid that became ska for a new generation.
"When we first started touring, people actually thought that the style of ska we were playing was something that we had created," Lee said.
Hepcat's roots-ska has earned the band a solid following. "Open Season ... Is Closed" -- from the band's third album, "Right On Time" -- reflects the positive attitude of ska musicians.
"A friend of ours in another band wrote a (challenge) song called 'Open Season' and (vocalist) Alex (Desert) kinda RSVPed," Lee said. "Five other ska bands -- three in America and a couple in Europe -- are writing responses to Alex. It's wonderful that we all do this, but we all still recognize each other (in a friendly manner)."
Jose Castellanos of Save Ferris echoes that sentiment: "Ska music is all about fun. You do what you do because you love it. If other people like it, it's cool. If they don't, it's cool. We feel very lucky that people do."
Castellanos says the Andrews show may be the band's last small show for a while. Save Ferris hits the road as headliners next month in shows across North America and Europe.
And, no, they still haven't heard from Hormel regarding "Spam" -- Save Ferris' catchy anthem to the "pink and oval ... special treat" in the blue can.
"Our bass player's parents are from Hawaii. They actually eat it (and) we learned that in Hawaii it's actually like a food group."
A Spring Ska-lebration
Featuring: Hepcat, Save Ferris, Dance Hall Crashers
