#15: The Pietasters

I want to get to know you in the present tense. I want to get to know you in the biblical sense

Kicking off the top 15 are The Pietasters. The following 5 bands will have 15 favorite songs.

Wiki Says: The Pietasters are a seven-piece ska/soul band hailing from Washington, D.C., with additional members from Maryland and Virginia...In 1990, a group of friends were attending college at Virginia Tech in the mountains of Virginia. Among them were Stephen Jackson and Chris Watt who had previously dabbled in playing punk rock covers.

Soon after, a mutual friend, Tal Bayer, began attending nearby Radford University. He was very much into ska and reggae and suggested that they form a ska band. After recruiting a high school friend, Tom Goodin, and an Architecture classmate, Ben Gauslin, The Slugs were born. Soon, they were skipping classes, melding ska, reggae, R & B and punk rock while practicing for hours to learn songs by Madness, The Specials, Bad Manners, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Skatalites, The Business, and others. Unfortunately, the name The Slugs was already taken and the band needed a new name. For a few months, the name was changed to the Dancehall Crashers. It was too similar to another ska band out west so the search for a new name continued. Some British neighbors used to refer to the heftier guys in the band as Pietasters, which is British slang for "fat guys". The name stuck and The Pietasters were born.

Discovery: The Pietasters (1993)

Oolooloo (1995) -Favorite album all time #25

Willis (1997)

Awesome Mix Tape Vol. 6 (1999)

Turbo (2002)

All Day (2007)

Favorite Songs: 15. New Breed

14. Same Old Song

13. Can't Stand It

12. Don't Wanna Know

11. Night Before

10. Wasted

9. Biblical Sense

8. Drunken Master

7. Girl Take It Easy

6. Ordinary

5. Out All Night

4. Maggie Mae

3. Movin' On Up

2. Oolooloo (Favorite song all time #65)

1. Freak Show (Favorite song all time #62)

Years Active: 1990-Present

Seen Live: 5 times

July 2006-Asbury Park, NJ

January 2009-Baltimore, MD

August 2009-Asbury Park, NJ

November 2009-Baltimore, MD

June 2010-Baltimore, MD

The Pietasters are special because my friend Andrew has been playing drums with them since this summer. Also they're very good. Songs about drinking, prostitutes, cheating, oh the wonderful topic they'll cover. They also have very sweet songs like "Time Won't Let Me" which is playing now on my iTunes. They are fantastic live, even better than they are recorded, which is no easy task. As the live shows indicate, I've gotten into them much more recently from being down here in Baltimore and fully intend on listening to them every more as time progresses.

Up Next: Band from Boston, singer from Essex County, New Jersey