Out of Nothing

Kick-dancing (skankin, if you will) in circles, the young high-school aged kids showed their commitment to ska and fun Thursday at Sluggo's. The ska genre sounds like a mix of reggae and punk, and is categorized by fast, upbeat guitar strokes and horned instruments. All three bands were different types of ska, some fast and some whose punk influences rang true.

Angry Banana is a seven-piece ska band, with two saxophone players, a trumpet player, a singer, guitarist, bassist and drummer. Their fast songs combined with positive lyrics put the crowd in a good mood and started off the circle-skank that continued all night.

The Taj Motel Trio played next. But don't get any impressions from their name. This six-piece band (I thought they said trio?) has a trombone, saxophone and trumpet player along with the standard guitarist, bassist and drummer. In the same vein of fast ska, these guys played a slightly tougher version of the fun music Angry Banana played. The definite pinnacle of their set was when they broke down into a hardcore version of the "Star Wars" theme, one of the first songs I ever learned.

Last, but certainly not least, local ska heroes Out of Nothing shut down the show. Most of the kids in the crowd knew the band's songs, and even joined them onstage a few times. I heard a rumor that they were going to play every song they had ever written at the show (which made me groan a little, thinking I couldn't stop working the door until later than 1 or 2 a.m.), but their set was punctual and had the crowd screaming for more.

During one of their songs, singer Josh rapped a verse of Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice," quite to my surprise. Snoop wasn't the only artist Out of Nothing covered. They also played The Pixies' "Where is my Mind?" as their last song, but the crowd wooed them back onstage to play an original to finish the set.

Although I'm much more partial to punk music, I love ska shows. Not only do they bring in a lot of kids, but the atmosphere is so chill and the bands usually have a positive message. Reggae and punk fans both have different ways of dancing, but ska bridges the gap. And even though my picture is probably in the dictionary next to "pessimist," watching kids dance always makes me smile.

- Melissa Howard of the Pensacola Independent News

So out of the blue I get this package in the mail. A great beginning right? You (the reader) are now intrigued about what it was that may have shown up, right? I suspect that my suspicion is correct, but I am a bit pretentious, so we’ll take that with a grain of salt. Never the less it was a CD in my mailbox from a band outta Pensacola (Wings of Gold) Florida (known to some as the Redneck Rivera) Let me tell ya though, Out of Nothing is on to something: 7 tracks blending punk and ska and gators … ok well maybe not enough gators, but they do have a nice 3rd wave thing going on, not unlike a mix of MU330 and Voodoo Glowskulls (if you can maybe imagine that, I know I am right now) … but I digress. There is guitar, there are horns, (and drums and bass and vocals et al.) Basically what I’m trying to boil down to is that Out of Nothing is a good band. They have a nice blend of punk edge and excellent horn chops (I would like to hear the horns a bit more upfront in the mix though. I’m sure the horn players would agree.) Mix aside, take note of Out of Nothing ’cause they got the rock goin’ on. Do what you can to get yourself a copy of “Everyone Perishes” because it’s good and despite the internet you can still impress your friend when you have some shit that they don’t already have. (unless they already do) - Jerry Actually of !upstarter Punk Reviews