Bim Skala Bim

Universal (Bib)
An interview with singer Dan Vitale
by Kerry Joyce

How did you first encounter ska?
I guess it was with The Harder They Come which is a soundtrack compilation album that has a lot of great Jamaican artists. I also bought this Bob Marley album, because I’d heard him on the radio, at Woolworth’s. It was a cut-out album so it was pretty cheap. I was surprised that instead of what I’d heard on the radio it turned out to be Marley with the Skatallites backing him up and I liked it a lot.

The laid-back ska movement doesn’t seem to get in as many turf wars as some other genres about what is true “ska,” why is that?
There is more of that than I wish there were. But people who understand the whole history of ska know that it has always opened itself to many different influences. Ska as a foundation with R&B thrown into it, jazz thrown into it, soul thrown into it, rock ‘n’ roll thrown in with calypso, mento, African, all of these things thrown into it very comfortably. What Bim Skala Bim and other American ska bands have done is that in addition to those other things, we’ve added funk, and American alternative, or punk. Lots of ska bands accept all of these different influences and it does upset some purists, but it’s important for any kind of musical form that it develops and mutates. All innovators are at first given hell from some purists. But eventually, the best became, years later, the musical cause of other purists, and then somebody else’s music mutated from that. It definitely happened with jazz and with rock, and it’s happened with ska too.

What’s the ratio of males to females at Bim Skala Bim shows?
It’s around 50-50 but it hasn’t always been that way. Touring America and Europe many years ago, it seemed more a boys club. It was fun then too, but I like it mixed.

You guys have sort of resisted the fashion angle all along, right?
Yeah, we’ve never really had any kind of dress code. There’s always been band members with all different lengths of hair in the band. We never really fit into a Two-Tone ska sort of a mold. All that sort of stuff is really a mistake as far as we’re concerned. You wanna be your own band, and Bim Skala Bim is just based on the fact we love to make music and we’ve always had as a foundation of an island kind of sound with a tremendous amount of other influences.

So you’re going on a national tour with the Dropkick Murphys, The Amazing Royal Crowns and, of course, the Bosstones. Where are you going?
Pretty much everywhere except Florida, and we’re going to tour there on our own. For mostly all of September and October we’ll be on tour with the Bosstones, about 40-some odd dates with them and about 15 of our own.

Are you going to play mostly songs from Universal?
We really mix up the sets on any given night. We’ll play maybe a third of the songs from Universal each show. We play some songs from all of our albums every time.

How’s the fan’s response to your latest CD?
All of our albums have charted on CMJ OK, but this CD has charted better than any of the others. It went to number 25 in the top 75. But the best thing for us is that it’s started to cross over from college radio to some commercial stations around the country.

Do you credit a growing interest in ska generally, or did you do better creatively this time?
Well, some major labels have begun signing ska bands like the Bosstones and Real Big Fish and Less Than Jake, and put a lot of effort into promoting them, which helps other bands like us too. Ska has being selling out in clubs all over the world for many years consistently: no breaks, no big ups and downs, but commercial radio and the majors have only recently tuned in. It’s helped.

You’ve been around a long time and received a lot of credit for jump- starting the ska scene in America. What do you feel your influence has been on other bands?
We’ve been around for 15 years and for many people and musicians, we were their first exposure to ska. We were just around at a time when there really weren’t many ska bands touring the country at all. There were less than a handful, and as one of those bands we did have an influence on many other musicians. They became interested with what we were doing and decided to do it as well.

On the flipside, it’s always been really heartening when we’ve been able to open for the Skatallites and have them enjoy our music. They gave us a lot of motivation just by saying “oh, this is great, some young kids are playing ska and keeping it alive.”

What changes did you make for the latest album?
We tried not to fuss over the little things and just go and do it on the first or second take so we’d have a more raw sound. So it’s a little like our live album and our shows.

What song from Universal is getting the most airplay?
“Pete Needs A Friend” and “Shakin’ All Over” are the ones getting the most commercial radio play. So it’s actually two song.

What’s your favorite song on Universal?
My favorite is “Same Mistake” even though it’s very rarely mentioned, but I like it because it’s very roots-oriented and I just like the feel of the song. It’s got kind of a voodoo feel to it, a weird kind of reggae. But I like “Pete Needs A Friend” as sort of a faster song as a single.

You’re still actively involved in writing songs, right?
Absolutely.

What are your non-musical influences?
I like to vacation in tropical islands and places where herb is legal or practically legal like Amsterdam, Prague, and Jamaica.

Because it’s fun or because it helps you write songs?
I think it helps me be in the state of mind to write good songs.

Like ska itself, you’ve been a steady, consistent presence on the Boston music scene for a long time now. Has it been a lot of laughs or have you had your own ups and downs?
Sure, we’re glad that we’re doing what we’re doing. The club scene for us has been very steady. And we’re looking forward to doing some bigger venues with the Bosstones. They say we gave them one of their biggest breaks and I guess we did. We’ve done a few shows with them lately and it’s been a blast. Their audiences like us a lot and the bands respect each other.

It seems like a good mix, those four bands on a tour.
Yeah, it’s a show that I would want to go to. I don’t know how many people know that The Amazing Royal Crowns are really good or that Dropkick Murphys are too, but if they come to see a show they’ll find out.