In Defense of SKa Ep 111: The Abruptors (Mike Geraci, Toni LaMantia)

Buffalo New York ska band The Abruptors formed in 2015 and came out the gate playing 2 Tone and trad ska grooves. They looked around and didn't see very many new ska bands in their region playing a similar style of the genre. That didn't bother them. They just did their thing. However, Mike Park noticed and immediately forged a relationship with them. They released their latest record, Noticeably Cheerless, on Asian Man Records on Feb 24.

Today we talk with Abruptors members Mike Geraci and Toni LaMantia about their great new "upbeat bummer" record and get a sense of what the ska scene has been like in Buffalo. They had just opened for Sublime with Rome days before we recorded this interview!

We also talk about their cover of Brian Fallon's "Forget Me Not" (His retweet of song was apparently his first--of many--tweets about ska), their friendship with Greg Soden (Host of Unscripted Moments: A Podcast About Propagandhi), how Chicago ska band Deal's Gone Bad completely influenced them and why the British ska band Hotknives are so awesome (and so underrated!) 

We also talk about the band's cool fashion sense, how shitty vinyl turnarounds pushed their album release back several times, and we dive head first into the group's history with wild stories about disgruntled former band members. 

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon! 

If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music. 

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024. 

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023. 

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.