The Uptones
Encyclopedia
The Uptones were one of the first bands devoted to playing ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...

 on the West Coast of the United States.

History

The Uptones formed in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

 while band members Eric Dinwiddie (aka, "Din"), Paul Jackson, Ben Eastwood and Charles Stella were attending Berkeley High School and Cazadero Performing Arts Camp
Cazadero Performing Arts Camp
Cazadero Performing Arts Camp is a performing arts camp located in the Sonoma redwoods in Northern California, United States...

. They were originally inspired to start a ska band in 1981 after attending an English Beat show in San Francisco. The Uptones were heavily influenced by the English 2 Tone
2 Tone
2 Tone is a music genre created in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s by fusing elements of ska, punk rock, rocksteady, reggae, and New Wave. It was called 2 Tone because most of the bands were signed to 2 Tone Records at some point. Other labels associated with the 2 Tone sound were Stiff...

 sound, as well as the British mod scene, punk rock, and the original Jamaican ska sound from the late 1950s."

Live shows

Their first gig of 1981 was at Barrington Hall in Berkeley with MDC
MDC (band)
MDC is an American hardcore punk band formed in Austin, Texas in 1979. The band were subsequently based in San Francisco, California, and are currently based in Portland, Oregon. MDC originally formed as The Stains before changing their name...

 headlining. The Uptones, consisting entirely of 15- and 16-year-olds, would continue to play sold-out shows throughout the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

 for the next seven years.

East Bay venues included The Keystone Berkeley, Berkeley Square, and Ruthie's Inn. San Francisco gigs took place at the On Broadway, The Farm
The Farm (San Francisco)
The Farm, located at the corner of Army Street and Potrero Avenue in San Francisco, California, was a community center from 1974-1987.Adults and children would gather at The Farm across a park from Buena Vista Elementary School...

, the Old Waldorf, The Stone, the Kabuki, and Wolfgang's, which sold out to large audiences consisting mainly of high school students. With this success, Bill Graham Presents
Bill Graham
William Carvel "Bill" Graham, PC QC is a former Canadian politician, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of National Defence, and Leader of the Opposition and interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.-Personal life:...

 started booking the band as support for major acts such as the Go-Go's
The Go-Go's
The Go-Go’s are an all-female American rock band formed in 1978. They made history as the first all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts....

 and UB40
UB40
UB40 are a British reggae/pop band formed in 1978 in Birmingham. The band has placed more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. One of the world's best-selling music artists, UB40 have sold over 70 million records.Their hit singles...

 at the Greek Theater in Berkeley; X, Madness
Madness (band)
In 1979, the band recorded the Lee Thompson composition "The Prince". The song, like the band's name, paid homage to their idol, Prince Buster. The song was released through 2 Tone Records, the label of The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The song was a surprise hit, peaking in the UK music charts...

 and the English Beat at the Kabuki; Oingo Boingo
Oingo Boingo
Oingo Boingo was an American new wave band. They are best known for their influence on other musicians, their soundtrack contributions and their high energy Halloween concerts. The band was founded in 1972 as The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, a performance art group...

 at the Warfield; General Public
General Public
General Public were a band formed by The Beat vocalists, Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger, and which included former members of Dexy's Midnight Runners, The Specials and The Clash...

 at the Henry J. Kaiser Center; and Billy Idol
Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad , better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X...

 at the Oakland Coliseum.

Influence

Jesse Michaels of Operation Ivy
Operation Ivy (band)
Operation Ivy was an American ska punk band that formed in Berkeley, California, and was often credited with spurring the 1990s punk revival in California. It is well-known as one of the first bands to "mix" hardcore punk with elements of ska, known as ska-core...

, has cited the Uptones as a key influence. His bandmates Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman were also influenced by the Uptones, having opened for them in their earlier band, Basic Radio
Basic radio
Basic Radio was a ska band, formed in 1985 in Berkeley, CA, mainly from members of Urban Noise, and played shows in the San Francisco Bay Area with other East Bay bands such as The Uptones, Freaky Executives and Primus...

. Michaels describes the Uptones' place in the underground Berkeley ska scene in an interview:
There was a ska scene in Berkeley that most people don't know about, in the mid-80s, and it was like high school, really young scene. The bands were intense...like punk bands. There was this great band called the Uptones that would get on stage [and do] the whole 2-Tone thing...and they looked and played like a punk band, really dynamic and exciting. People would be stage diving and going crazy at their shows.


By the time the Uptones broke up in 1989, they had become an influence on other popular California bands such as Rancid
Rancid (band)
Rancid is an American punk rock band formed in Berkeley, California in 1991. Founded by Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, both of whom previously played in the ska punk band Operation Ivy, Rancid is credited—along with Green Day and The Offspring—for reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the...

, Sublime
Sublime (band)
Sublime was an American ska punk band from Long Beach, California, formed in 1988. The band's line-up, unchanged until their breakup, consisted of Bradley Nowell , Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh . Michael "Miguel" Happoldt also contributed on a few Sublime songs, such as "New Thrash." Lou Dog, Nowell's...

, and Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...

.--all of whom would go on to blend ska, power-pop, punk and reggae.

Reformation

Despite critical acclaim and a devoted following, the band went their separate ways after seven years together. Original band members Din, Jackson and Eastwood formed new rock bands, first Hobo and then Stiff Richards, playing a combination of alt-rock, ska and reggae. They would eventually reunite the Uptones in 2002, noting that the other bands, according to Din, "were just keeping the heart of the Uptones alive."

The new line-up includes original members singer/guitarist Din, singer/keyboardist Jackson, bass-player Eastwood and saxophonist Adam Beach, along with new members Musashi (Moose) Lethridge on guitar, Mike Stevens on drums, and a horn section featuring Jeanne Geiger on trombone and Scott Bertrand on trumpet. The band plays live shows throughout the Bay Area and was featured in a cover story in the San Francisco Chronicle Datebook in March, 2008.

In 2008, the Uptones recorded a new CD, Skankin' Foolz Unite! with producers Matthew King Kaufman
Matthew King Kaufman
Matthew "King" Kaufman was owner and chief producer at leading independent label Beserkley Records in Berkeley, California from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s, successfully producing records by Jonathan Richman, Greg Kihn and others.-Biography:Raised in Baltimore, Kaufman graduated from law...

 and Michael Rosen for the Fun Fun Fun Recordings label.

In 2009, Moose Lethridge and Eric Din, at the behest of Matthew King Kaufman
Matthew King Kaufman
Matthew "King" Kaufman was owner and chief producer at leading independent label Beserkley Records in Berkeley, California from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s, successfully producing records by Jonathan Richman, Greg Kihn and others.-Biography:Raised in Baltimore, Kaufman graduated from law...

, constructed a Ska Shrine devoted to skanking
Skank (dance)
Skanking is a form of dancing practiced in the ska, ska punk, hardcore punk, reggae, and other music scenes.The dance style originated in the 1950s or 1960s at Jamaican dance halls, where ska music was played. British mods and skinheads of the 1960s adopted these types of dances and altered them...

, hosted at the Ska4u website.

Early in 2010, Moose Lethridge joined the English Beat and was replaced in The Uptones by singer/guitarist Emily Jayne.

In June, 2010, the Uptones played four California dates on The Warped Tour.

Critical acclaim

Allmusic praises the Uptones for being ahead of the mid-1980s Third wave ska ska movement:
Their impact upon the evolving ska scene was enormous ... With a musical maturity far beyond their years and a groundbreaking third wave sound ... the Uptones knocked out high-energy songs quite removed from anything or anyone else ... Light years ahead of their time, the Uptones were a pivotal band and a seminal one."

The review notes the Uptones' rabid hometown following and strong influence on later ska practitioners.

San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...

music critic Joel Selvin
Joel Selvin
Joel Selvin is a San Francisco-based music critic and author known for his weekly column in the San Francisco Chronicle which ran from 1972 to 2009. Selvin has written books covering various aspects of pop music and has interviewed a large number of musical artists...

 includes the Uptones in his list of top 100 Bay Area bands:
Along with Operation Ivy, the Uptones formed the core of the Berkeley ska-punk
Ska punk
Ska punk is a fusion music genre that combines ska and punk rock. It achieved its highest level of commercial success in the United States in the late 1990s. Ska-core is a subgenre of ska punk, blending ska with hardcore punk.The characteristics of ska punk vary, due to the fusion of contrasting...

 scene that paved the way for the likes of Rancid. A hard-edged, upbeat band that would have been huge if it hadn't been years ahead of its time."


Crawdaddy!
Crawdaddy!
Crawdaddy! was the first U.S. magazine of rock and roll music criticism. Created in 1966 by college student Paul Williams in response to the increasing sophistication and cultural influence of popular music, Crawdaddy! was self-described as "the first magazine to take rock and roll...

called the The Uptones Live!! 924 Gilman album, issued in 1995 after the discovery of a DAT tape of a 924 Gilman Street
924 Gilman Street
924 Gilman Street is an all-ages, not for profit, collectively organized music club usually referred to by its fans simply as "The Gilman." It is located in the West Berkeley area of Berkeley, California about a mile and a half west of the North Berkeley BART station and a quarter-mile west of San...

 show, "the best live ska record ever."

Trivia

Rancid
Rancid (band)
Rancid is an American punk rock band formed in Berkeley, California in 1991. Founded by Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, both of whom previously played in the ska punk band Operation Ivy, Rancid is credited—along with Green Day and The Offspring—for reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the...

 covered The Uptones song, "Get Out of My Way" on their 1993 self-titled album.

Discography

  • Skankin' Foolz Unite!, Fun Fun Fun Recordings, 2008
  • The Uptones Live!! 924 Gilman, Son of Beserkely, 1995
  • KUSA, 415 Records
    415 Records
    415 Records was a San Francisco record label created in 1978. The label focused its efforts on local punk rock and new wave music acts of the late 1970s through the late 1980s, including The Offs, The Nuns, Romeo Void, and Wire Train...

    , 1984

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK