THE WEEKLY SKANK
by Andrew Rossiter

"Let Me Introduce Myself..."

So this is my first column. So many things to write about and I choose writing about writing. Great, don’t you think? Well I thought I’d use this as an opportunity to introduce myself to the fine people viewing the XROXX site and give you an idea of what my column will be like.

My name is Andrew and I’m a 16-year old living in Toledo, Ohio. In my spare time I play music in a ska/punk band called Kick-Stand, run a webzine, promote shows, and all of that good stuff.

My life is surrounded by music and I couldn’t love it more, but the Toledo music scene, if you can even call it one, has failed to keep me occupied. So I find myself here now, writing for XROXX.

One thing you have to know about me is that I have two loves in my life; my girlfriend, who we will not talk about, and ska music. I have an undying love for two-tone, reggae, rock-steady, dub, and most forms of ska. “Oh no!” you say, “Not a full column devoted to that annoying music they call ska.” Well, I wouldn’t say that my column will be completely devoted to ska music, but… Hey, it’s me. I like ska. So to all of you people silently whining to themselves out there, deal with it.

Now I know not everyone hates ska, I know there are a lot of people who, like me, can’t get enough of it. But let’s face it; the majority of people can’t stand it. They can’t stand the upstrokes on the clean guitars, they can’t stand the overwhelmingly happy vocals, and most of all, they hate those goddamn horns. All the things someone like me appreciates in a band.

One of things that I mentioned I do is running my own webzine, which is Lakefront Ska. With my webzine, I tried to unite bands all over the great lakes region to come together and make the scene stronger. I host showcases with bands from the site, I plan on putting out a comp with the bands, and hopefully we’ll get even more done in the future. Without groups of people like this, there would be virtually no ska scene in most places.

The thing about ska is that it will get really popular for short periods of time and then people get tired of it. But there are always those people who just can’t let go, and that’s who will keep the scene alive, and that’s who I think my column is going to appeal to most.

I don’t want anyone to get the impression that ska music is all I listen to, because it sure as hell isn’t. I just thought me being the only writer on this site that is extremely into ska, it would be a good addition. I appreciate almost all types of music. Hell, punk is what I listened to for two straight years of my life and I’d be lying if I said I don’t still love punk rock too… I’m a sucker for classical music, love jazz, rock and roll is in my blood, new wave, electronic, hardcore, I like a little bit of everything. Hopefully my column will reflect that, but as I pointed out before, I dig the ska.

Well I hope you’ve gotten to know me. Don’t expect all of my columns to be this long, but you know, I had to let you guys know what I’m about. Expect to be hearing more from me in a few weeks.

Andrew Rossiter
andrew.rossiter@XROXX.com