The Slackers

This article is about the ska band. For other uses, see Slackers (disambiguation).

The Slackers
L to R: Vic Ruggiero, Ara Babajian, Marcus Geard, Dave Hillyard, Jay Nugent, Glen Pine
Background information
Also known as	The Nods
Origin	Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S.
Genres	Ska
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Hellcat, Moon Ska, Whatevski Records, Indication Records, Pirate’s Press Records, Special Potato Records, Paper + Plastick
Members	Vic Ruggiero Jay Nugent Dave Hillyard Glen Pine Marcus Geard Ara Babajian
Past members	Marc Lyn T.J. Scanlon Luis Zuluaga Jeremy Mushlin Allen Teboul Dunia Best Tobias Fields Eric "Erok" Singer Dave Hahn King Django
Website	Official Site

The Slackers are an American ska band, formed in Manhattan, New York in 1991. The band's sound is a mix of ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub, soul, garage rock, and jazz. The Slackers' notability is credited to their prolific career, tours of North and South America, Europe, and elsewhere, and signing to notable punk label Hellcat Records.

The members of the Slackers have also been known to perform in other bands and musical projects, including Reggae Workers of the World, David Hillyard & The Rocksteady Seven, Crazy Baldhead Sound System, Da Whole Thing, The Hall Trees, Stubborn All-Stars, and the SKAndalous All Stars. Vic Ruggiero performs as a solo act performing both original compositions as well as reworked Slackers songs, and has also played keyboards and piano on several Rancid albums.

Career

The band's second album, Redlight, released on September 23, 1997, ^[1] was ranked number seven in Billboard editor Carrie Bell's "The Year in Music (1997)" list. ^[2] The album's track with the same name charted at number 116 on the week of November 10, 1997—the song's third week—in CMJ Radio Top 200. ^[3]

Members

Current lineup

• Vic Ruggiero – keyboards, vocals
• Jay "Agent Jay" Nugent – guitar
• Dave Hillyard – saxophone
• Glen Pine – trombone, vocals
• Marcus Geard – bass
• Ara Babajian – drums

Former members and contributors

• Marc "Q-Maxx 4:20" Lyn – vocals
• TJ Scanlon – guitar
• Luis "Zulu" Zuluaga – drums
• Jeremy "Mush One" Mushlin – trumpet, vocals
• Allen Teboul – drums
• Dunia Best- vocals, flute
• Jeff "King Django" Baker – trombone
• Tobias Fields – congas
• Eric "Erok" Singer – alto saxophone, baritone saxophone
• Dave Hahn – lead guitar
• Ben Lewis – trumpet
• Justin Redekop – trumpet

Former producers and collaborators

• Victor Rice – producer and bass
• Zack Levine – producer
• Eric Sierra – songwriter
• David Lindome – producer

Discography

Studio albums

• Better Late Than Never (1996)
• Redlight (1997)
• The Question (1998)
• Wasted Days (2001)
• The Slackers and Friends (2002)
• Close My Eyes (2003)
• An Afternoon in Dub (2005)
• Slackness (with Chris Murray) (2005)
• Peculiar (2006)
• The Boss Harmony Sessions (2007)
• Self Medication (2008)
• The Great Rocksteady Swindle (2010)
• The Radio (2011)
• The Slackers (2016)
• Don’t Let The Sunlight Fool Ya (2022)

EPs

• International War Criminal (2004)
• The Slackers/Pulley Split (2004)
• My Bed Is A Boat (2013)

Singles

• "2-Face" (1996)
• "International War Criminal" (2004)
• "Pully Split" (2004)
• "You Must Be Good" (2006)
• "Little Joe" (2006)
• "Minha Menina" (2007)
• "Dreidel" (2009)
• "New Years Day" (Urban Pirate Records, 2010)
• "Xmas Every Day" (2011)
• "Crazy Baldhead" (2012)
• "Sarah" (2012)
• "My Bed Is A Boat" (2013)
• "By You With You For You" (2013)
• "Heroes b/w Always On My Mind" (2015)
• "I Can't Hide" (2016)
• "The Boss" (2016)
• "Wrongfull Suspension" (2018)
• "Peculiar" (2019)
• "The Way Of A Woman" (2019)
• "Baba Roots" (2019)
• "Sleep Outside" (2020)
• "Nobody Listening" (2020)
• "Blue" (2020)
• "Widowland" (2021)
• "Watch This" (2021)
• "人にやさしく / Wicked Must Survive" (2021)
• "Don't Let The Sunlight Fool Ya"(2022)
• "New York Berlin" (2022)
• "Kill You". (2023)

Demo cassettes

• Do the Ska with The Slackers (1992)
• The Slackers (1993)

Live albums

• Live at Ernesto's (2000)
• Upsettin' Ernesto's (2004)
• Slack in Japan (2005)
• NYC Boat Cruise 2009 (digital only, 2009)
• Slackfest NYC 2009 (digital only, 2009)
• Holiday Party With... (digital only, 2009)
• Live On the West Side 4/6/10 (digital only, 2010)
• Live In San Francisco 12/31/10 (digital only, 2011)

Collections

• Before There Were Slackers There Were... (1999)
• Big Tunes! Hits & Misses from 1996 to 2006 (2007)
• Lost and Found (2009)
• Stash Box (2011)
• Before Hellcat (2011) (USB flash drive release)
• Ganbare! (2011) (Japan only release)

Compilations

• Give 'Em the Boot
• Give 'Em the Boot II
• Give 'Em the Boot III
• Give 'Em the Boot IV
• Give 'Em the Boot V
• Give 'Em the Boot VI
• This Is Special Potatoe Vol. 1
• From New York to Luxembourg (Live @ the Kufa) (with P.O. Box, Kunn & the Magic Muffins and Toxkäpp)
• New York Beat: Breaking and Entering Volume 2

DVDs

• Give 'Em the Boot (2005): "And I Wonder"
• The Slackers: A Documentary (2007)
• The Flamingo Cantina Series with The Slackers (2009)
• The Slacker Live On Video (2014)

References

1. CMJ New Music Report. CMJ Network, Inc. 8 September 1997. pp. 51–.
2. Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. December 27, 1997 – January 3, 1998. pp.  71–.
3. CMJ Top 200, Page 7, 10 Nov 1997, CMJ New Music Report

External links

• The Slackers official homepage
• Interview with The Slackers on www.grundfunk.net
• Interview with the Slackers' singer Vic Ruggiero about the album Self Medication (2008)
• Interview and studio session with The Slackers on National Public Radio (2001)
• AMG entry
• The Slackers collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
• The Slackers' Chords, a website dedicated to The Slackers' music
• Management (Europe) Tourbooking (GER, AUT, CZ, DK, CH)