This is an excerpt of a post I originally published on my personal blog. While it’s got nothing to do with the Boston Ska scene, the Brooklyn Rocksteady documentary covers the scene I was a part of before I moved to Boston. No scene lives in a vacuum. I’m also incredibly proud to have been a part of it and wanted to share it.
I moved to New York City in 2008. By early 2009, I had found my way into a few bands. One of those bands was the instrumental reggae band The Hard Times. By 2010, we were a part of a really great scene. How did that happen?
In 2011, my friend Sam started filming a documentary about the Brooklyn rocksteady scene. His kickstarter was funded, Agent Jay from The Slackers started to pull together a soundtrack, and Sam started interviewing. He got lots of big names involved. I was both surprised and honored when he asked me if he could interview me. Part of me thought it was just a nice gesture; I knew he’d get a ton of footage and not necessarily use it all. I was happy to just to be interviewed and didn’t expect to make the cut.
Sometime later the trailer came out. I was excited to get a taste of what it would look like.
http://vimeo.com/24473512
Continue reading my story here.
Further reading and listening
- Brooklyn Rocksteady home.
- ReadJunk has a great review.
- Listen to The Frightnrs, featured heavily in the film.
- Watch this clip of The Hard Times performing “Use Me” at The Lake.
- Whatevski Records has music by a handful of the bands featured on the soundtrack.