For the last 11 years, The Specialized Project has been using the power of ska and reggae music for good. Through their network of musicians, volunteers, and music industry vets, they’ve been able to release compilation CDs, produce live events, and sell merchandise to benefit several charitable causes; most notably, The Teenage Cancer Trust.
One of their projects is a series of tribute albums. They recently released their tenth in that series. Entitled Viva! Songs of Freedom, the compilation features 70 bands covering protest songs spanning 100 years of music history. The musicians involved are a veritable who’s who including The Abruptors, The Prizefighters, Bim Skala Bim, and Sgt. Scag.
For their contribution, Sgt. Scag chose “One More Parade” from prolific protest singer Phil Ochs.
Ochs was extremely prolific in the ’60s and ’70s, focusing his work on Civil Rights, speaking out against the Vietnam War, and the labor movement. Sgt. Scag took his anti-war folk song and morphed it into a pounding ska punk song with an instrumental section towards the end channeling The Specials. Sgt. Scag’s rendition of the song comes off as urgent call to action, an appropriate tone for these troubling times.
To help get the word out about the compilation, and their contribution to it, a few members of Sgt. Scag stopped by to share some of their musical opinions. Take a look below, then don’t forget to check out the compilation. Proceeds go to a great cause.
Favorite Album
Dave (Drums) – “Aesop Rock, Skelethon. I’m such a huge fan of everything he does, but this album has always resonated with me. Back to front, the beats are on point with hooks for days. The buzzy synths and scrappy guitars are such ear candy. I’m not sure what the hipster term is for intelligent hip hop, but Aesop would be crowned king of that battle.”
Mike (Saxophone) – “The Clash, London Calling. Spans multiple genres showing their growth as a band. Three singers with definitive hit songs. Nuclear War, Fighting the Status Quo, Consumerism, More War, Bombs, two Jimmies all covered by an ode to Elvis on the most iconic album cover ever. A once in a lifetime photo slightly out of focus due to the reality of catching the moment. Does anything else need to be said? The answer is NO!”
Alex (Guitar) – “Superchunk, Foolish. Superchunk is hands down my favorite band, and Foolish is their best record. It’s punk, it’s moody, its poppy, it has endless riffs. When the drum fill kicks off “Why Do You Have to Put a Date on Everything,” I immediately crack the widest grin and feel compelled to run headfirst into a wall.”
Overrated Album
Dave – “Arcade Fire, Funeral. I could never get into these guys. Maybe it was my lack of owning a pair of suspenders in 2004, but the song writing was unimaginative and relied heavily on anthem chants as a crutch. But what do I know? Last I checked, I haven’t sold millions of albums. Moving on then, eh?”
Mike – “Anything by the Grateful Dead. They say overrated is in the eye of the beholder, or in this case the ear of the drugged-up hippies. Because anyone that heard the Grateful Dead should know that anything they did was Overrated.”
Alex – “Anything by the Grateful Dead. Getting older, there’s been a slow trickle of people around me with respectable tastes in music who decide that they now really like the Grateful Dead. Whenever someone makes this move, I revisit the records because maybe I’ve been wrong this whole time, and every time I am confounded by the fact that this band has anchored a significant slice of culture for over half a century. Sounds like dopey saloon rock.”
Underrated Album
Dave – “SkyTigers, Eulorgy. I’m late to the game with these guys, but they’ve become one of my favorite thrash/hardcore bands. To say that their work is underrated isn’t quite a fair statement, as they’ve won many accolades in the Boston music scene. I hope to see them in the national spotlight someday soon.”
Mike – “Spring Heeled Jack, Songs from Suburbia. Our good friends from Connecticut. They made the record at the famed Hit Factory in NYC (RIP). Another album with multiple singers, horns that killed any horn section out there, and a rhythm section that kept it all together. Pop songs meet ska. Even a nod to Phish aka Grateful Dead replica (see not a total hater).”
Alex – “Hostage Calm, Hostage Calm/Lens. Here comes some extreme Connecticut homer bias. Last year, the band Turnstile put out an incredible record, and everyone was rightfully losing their shit over how good it was and how they incorporated sounds coming from outside of traditional hardcore. This brought back some great memories from a decade ago when all of CT was stoked on the release of Hostage Calm’s self-titled record. They took the foundations of being a great hardcore band and introduced inventive, eclectic songwriting and instrumentation without it feeling contrived. The record before it, Lens, should be in the conversation as one of the best melodic hardcore records ever made.”