Potato 5 on ’80s Ska, Mad Professor, More: In Defense of Ska

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In England, two-tone ska was absolutely huge — but only for a brief time. By the early ’80s, the country had moved on to other sounds in pop music, and most of the two-tone bands broke up or moved on to play non-ska tunes. But in this vacuum, a band called Potato 5 formed. This week on In Defense of Ska, the band’s four original members jump on the horn to chat about the unlikely story of Potato 5. Listen above, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Potato 5 wasn’t exactly a two-tone band, per se. They were, however, directly and profoundly influenced by The Skatalites. During their original run (which ended in 1989), they had three different lead singers: Floyd Lloyd, Spider Johnson, and the legendary “godfather of ska” himself Laurel Aitken. Plus, they worked with Mad Professor early in their career. The gang gets into all of this and more!

Additionally, the In Defense of Ska crew and Potato 5 use the band’s story as a means to explore the burgeoning reinvention of traditional ska that would eventually blossom in the years following their initial disbandment.

Listen Potato 5 chat about all of this and more above, and make sure to like, review, and follow the series wherever you get your podcast. Then, check out all the Consequence Podcast Network series here. Additionally, you can support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy the new expanded, 2nd edition of his book, In Defense of Ska. Meanwhile, Davis’ Omnigone released their latest record, Feral, last year.