MU330

Last updated

MU330
MU330largeincharge.jpg
MU330 performing live at the 2007 International Ska Circus in Clark County, Nevada.
Background information
Origin St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Genres Ska punk, punk rock, indie rock
Years active1988–present
Labels Asian Man Records
Members Dan Potthast
Ted Moll
Chris Diebold
Robert Bell
Gerry Lundquist
Website www.mu330.com

MU330 is an American ska punk band from St. Louis, Missouri. Formed by students of St. Louis University High School in 1988, MU330 played a self-described brand of music called "psycho ska", high energy ska punk marked by manic performances and humorous, often strange lyricism.

Contents

Since 1997, the band's musical direction has changed towards a more melodic and lyric-driven ska/indie rock sound, a combination that has been described as "Weezer meets The Specials". [1]

Dan Potthast (guitar/vocals), Ted Moll (drums), Chris Diebold (bass guitar), and Robert Bell (trombone) have remained with MU330 since the band's inception, and the trombonist Gerry Lundquist has been a member for over two decades. There have been several different frontmen in the past, but Potthast has always been the band's principal songwriter and lyricist. [2]

Biography

The original members met in St. Louis University High School music class 330, hence the band's name. [3]

Potthast has released solo work and has also started a second band, The Stitch Up, with the former Slow Gherkin frontman, James Rickman. He also started a ska/rocksteady group called Dan P and the Bricks with former the MU330 saxophonist, Matt Knobbe.

In 2018, Potthast was part of Jeff Rosenstock's touring band. Moll, the drummer, has a side project band called Bagheera. Most members of MU330 have performed with Mike Park's Bruce Lee Band throughout the band's history, although Potthast is the only member who has played live with The Bruce Lee Band in the past few years.[ when? ] MU330 continues to perform live sporadically across the United States.

Band members

Discography

Albums

YearTitleLabel
1991Salamander StewSelf-released
1994Press [4] Moon Ska Records / Asian Man Records
1996Chumps on Parade Dill Records / Asian Man Records
1997Crab RangoonAsian Man Records
1999MU330 [5] Asian Man Records
1999Winter Wonderland! [6] Asian Man Records
2002Ultra Panic [7] Asian Man Records

Live albums

YearTitleLabel
2001"Oh Yeah!" Live [8] Asian Man Records

Compilations

YearTitleLabelNotes
1998Best of MU330California RollJapan-only compilation with four unreleased songs

Singles, demos and non-album tracks

YearTitleLabelFormatsNotes/Track(s)
1991Salamander StewSelf-releasedCassetteDemo recorded and mixed at Profound Sound
1996"Jason" b/w "Now" 7" Moon Ska Records "Jason", "Now"
1997MU330 / Blue Meanies Split 7" Asian Man Records "Vacation" (Caffey, Valentine, Wiedlin)
1998Time Bomb EP 7"H.Y.R."Hoosier Love", "LA", "Ireland"
Split with Punishment Park. Released only in Norway.
2000Doppel Pack soundtrack"Better Than Pork" (Potthast)
2000Metalliska: A Ska Tribute to 80's MetalToo Hep"Motorbreath" (Hetfield)
2007Ska Is Dead Compilation CDAsian Man Records"Please Don't Run"
2017Don't Worry Don't Stress [9] Asian Man RecordsDigital"Don't Worry Don't Stress"

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reel Big Fish</span> American ska punk band

Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Huntington Beach, California. The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold-certified album Turn the Radio Off. Soon after, the band lost mainstream recognition but gained an underground cult following. As of 2006, the band was no longer signed to a major record label and has since been independent. After numerous line-up changes, frontman Aaron Barrett is the last remaining founding member still performing in the band.

Ska punk is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones, making the genre distinct from other forms of punk rock. It is closely tied to third wave ska which reached its zenith in the mid-1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Five Iron Frenzy</span> Christian ska and punk band

Five Iron Frenzy is an American band which formed in Denver, Colorado, in 1995. Best known for playing ska punk music characterized by an offbeat sense of humor and prominent Christian themes, Five Iron Frenzy was one of the pioneering figures of the Christian ska movement which emerged with ska's mainstream revival in the 1990s. Since 2000, the band's music has shifted away from straight ska to include and embrace stronger alternative rock and pop punk influences, though it continues to create ska music and feature Christian lyrical themes despite several members' changes in religious beliefs.

Asian Man Records is a DIY record label run by Mike Park in Monte Sereno, California. Park started a record label and began releasing music in 1989 under the name Dill Records, with the Asian Man label established in May 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Streetlight Manifesto</span> American ska punk band from New Jersey

Streetlight Manifesto is an American ska punk band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States, formed in 2002. They released their first album, Everything Goes Numb, which was distributed by Victory Records, on August 26, 2003. The band headlined and sold out their first concert at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on December 9, 2003. Several of Streetlight Manifesto's members were well known in the New Jersey third wave ska community for their roles in past ska punk bands from that area, primarily Kalnoky's Catch 22 and fellow New Jersey band One Cool Guy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The O.C. Supertones</span> American ska band

The Orange County Supertones were a Christian ska band from Orange County, California. The band was signed to Tooth & Nail Records and its imprint, BEC Recordings, before becoming an independent band. The band temporarily disbanded in 2005, reunited in 2010 to resume touring and recording, and permanently disbanding in 2017. The OC Supertones were one of the first widely successful Christian ska bands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skankin' Pickle</span> American ska punk band

Skankin' Pickle was an American ska punk band formed in San Jose, California that was active from 1989 to 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Park</span> Musical artist

Michael Brian Park is an American musician and progressive activist. His musical ventures include Skankin' Pickle for whom he both played the saxophone and sang, The Chinkees, The Bruce Lee Band, and Ogikubo Station, as well as an acoustic solo project under his own name. After his time with Skankin' Pickle he went on to found Asian Man Records, a label which he has run out of his garage in California since 1996 with only help from his parents and friends. Asian Man Records supports mostly ska and punk bands. Park has used Asian Man Records to release his own music, in addition to providing a start for smaller bands to allow them to grow, including Less Than Jake, Alkaline Trio, and The Lawrence Arms. In 1999 he formed the Plea for Peace Foundation an organization whose aim is "to promote the ideas of peace through the power of music", something which Park has been trying to do with his own bands and with the help of other groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomas Kalnoky</span> American musician (born 1980)

Tomas Kalnoky is a Czechoslovak-born American musician. He is the lead singer/guitarist and songwriter of the bands Streetlight Manifesto and Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, and goes by the pseudonym Toh Kay as a solo performer. He is the former lead singer/guitarist for 3rd-wave ska band Catch 22, but left the band after making only one album to attend Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, for visual art. According to the booklet of Somewhere in the Between, Kalnoky attended Rutgers University. He is the owner of Pentimento Music Company, a record company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buck-O-Nine</span> American ska punk band

Buck-O-Nine is an American ska punk band which was formed in San Diego in 1991. The band has toured internationally and released several albums and EPs, as well as appearing on compilations and film soundtracks. During the mid-to-late 1990s, they experienced mainstream success with the release of the album Twenty-Eight Teeth and its most successful single, "My Town". As the popularity of third-wave ska waned, Buck-O-Nine stopped touring full-time in 2000, but continues to perform regularly throughout California and much of the Southwestern United States. Since 2001, the band has also performed in Japan, the UK, Canada, Mexico and Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Link 80</span> American punk rock band

Link 80 was an American punk rock/ska punk band from San Francisco's East Bay, United States.

The Skoidats was an American band that played music combining elements of ska, Oi!, jazz, and punk rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Rosenstock</span> Musical artist

Jeffrey Ernest Rosenstock is an American musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter from Long Island, New York. He is known for his former bands Bomb the Music Industry! and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches, as well as for his work as a solo artist and as a composer for Craig of the Creek. He is the founder of Quote Unquote Records, the first donation-based record label.

The Bruce Lee Band is the name given to the releases of Mike Park and his backing band which up until 2005 included members of Less Than Jake and the Rx Bandits. As of 2014, the collective consisted of touring and recording members from Skankin' Pickle, MU330, Hard Girls, The Chinkees, Bomb the Music Industry, The Arrogant Sons of Bitches, among others.

<i>Somewhere in the Between</i> 2007 studio album by Streetlight Manifesto

Somewhere in the Between is the third studio album by American ska punk band Streetlight Manifesto.

The Chinkees are an American ska punk band fronted by Mike Park. The group debuted with 1998's The Chinkees Are Coming!, and followed with 1999's Peace Through Music and 2002's Searching for a Brighter Future before a greatest hits album was released in 2003. According to the liner notes for the band's debut album The Chinkees Are Coming!, the music was recorded by members of the band Tuesday with vocals provided by Mike Park. Subsequent albums were recorded all or in part by members Park, Miya Osaki, Greg Alesandro, Jason Thinh, and Steve Choi, as well as "guest" musicians, including Slapstick and Tuesday drummer Rob Kellenberger and Link 80's Steve Borth, often with members trading and playing different instruments than listed. All of the members were involved with the ska/punk scene. Jason Thinh was from the band Short Round, Miya was a member of the Santa Cruz punk trio The Muggs, Greg Alesandro a member of San Jose band Statue Man, and Steve Choi later becoming a keyboardist and guitarist for Rx Bandits in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slow Gherkin</span> American ska punk band

Slow Gherkin is an American ska punk band from Santa Cruz, California, United States.

The Supervillains is a five-piece reggae, ska/punk band from St. Cloud, Florida. The band has released nine studio albums.

<i>99 Songs of Revolution: Vol. 1</i> 2010 studio album by Streetlight Manifesto

99 Songs of Revolution: Vol. 1 is the fourth studio album by the American ska punk band Streetlight Manifesto, released March 16, 2010. It was proposed to be the first part of a multi-album cover songs project by several associated acts including Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, although no other parts have been released as of 2024.

You By Me is a series of split albums featuring Tomas Kalnoky, best known as the lead singer of Streetlight Manifesto. The first release, Vol. 1, was released on November 16, 2010, through Kalnoky's Pentimento Music Company, with the second, Vol. 2, released on August 12, 2014.

References

  1. "MU330 "Crab Rangoon" CD/LP". Asian Man Records. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
    - "MU 330". MTV. Archived from the original on June 20, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  2. "mu330". VH1. Archived from the original on April 26, 2005. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  3. "Biography MU330". AllMusic.
  4. Greene, Jo-Anne. "Press Review". AllMusic. Archived from the original on December 9, 2021. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  5. "MU330 - MU330". AllMusic. Archived from the original on August 4, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  6. Phares, Heather. "Winter Wonderland Review". AllMusic. Archived from the original on November 23, 2021. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  7. Anderson, Rick. "Ultra Panic Review". AllMusic. Archived from the original on May 3, 2021. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  8. Wiznitzer, Ari. "Live Oh Yeah! Review". AllMusic. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  9. "Don't Worry Don't Stress by MU330". Bandcamp. Asian Man Records. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2020.