Moon Ska World

Moon Ska World, formerly known as Moon Ska Europe, was formed in 1998 as the European sister label of the defunct record label Moon Ska Records. It is based in the United Kingdom. The name change was revealed through the Moon Ska Europe website in 2006. Unlike Moon Ska Records, Moon Ska Europe released bands from genres outside of ska, but with the name change, the label shifted its focus exclusively towards ska and old reggae. Moon Ska World was a separate entity to Moon Ska Records hence why still exists today. All of it's early American releases were licensed in, and it was not owned by Robert "Bucket" Hingley of The Toasters but was run by his long term friend Lol Pryor former boss of Dojo Records and the legendary UK Punk label Link Records.

History

Moon Ska Records was one of the most influential ska record labels of the 1980s and 1990s.

The label operated from 1983 until 2000, and during those 17 years, only released ska and ska-influenced music. Originally named Moon Records, as a tribute to Sun Records, the label changed its name to Moon Ska Records because another label owned the copyright to the Moon Records name. The label was started by Robert "Bucket" Hingley, founding member of The Toasters as a means to distribute albums by The Toasters. The label became an American source for many British ska import albums.

The label rose to prominence in the early 1990s by releasing albums by many of the ska genre's biggest acts, such as The Toasters, The Slackers, Hepcat, The Scofflaws, Mephiskapheles, The Pietasters and the debut album of Dance Hall Crashers — as well as many up and coming bands such as Spring Heeled Jack and Mustard Plug. The label also promoted non-Moon Ska bands, such as The Allstonians, Gals Panic, Less Than Jake, through various compilation albums. Some of these compilations featured the earliest recordings by No Doubt. In 1997, the label branched out to form Ska Satellite Records, in order to produce albums from smaller acts at a lower budget. Moon Ska also produced patches and T-shirts that were sold at ska concerts around the world.

In the mid-1990s, the label operated its own store in East Village, Manhattan. The original storefront was located at 150 East 2nd Street in the Alphabet City section of the East Village. When space became an issue, the business moved to a larger location at 84 East 10th Street. The storefront was a way for fans to purchase albums directly from the source and at cheaper prices than those of chain stores. It also became a place of social interaction for both ska band members and fans from around the world.

Amidst the end of the ska boom of the mid-1990s, sales began to drop and many records were returned to the small label. Several distribution companies were filing bankruptcy while owing Moon Ska thousands of dollars in unpaid invoices, for albums that were already sent to stores. Those same record stores refused to keep the album prices in the suggested $10 range, and instead marked them up to between $17 and $19. All of these factors led to the end of the Moon Ska store, and eventually, the label itself.

The label is survived by Moon Ska World (formerly Moon Ska Europe), which is a licensed affiliate and is not owned by Hingley. The label, based in the United Kingdom, has released albums from acts such as Rhoda Dakar, Symarip, The Big, The Upsessions, Skaville UK and Go Jimmy Go. Unlike its American sister label, Moon Ska World has released albums from outside of the ska genre. With the name change, the label has shifted its focus to ska and old reggae.

In 2003, three years after the demise of Moon Ska Records, Hingley started his second ska label, named Megalith Records. The label has released material by The Toasters, New York Ska Jazz Ensemble, Victor Rice, Eastern Standard Time, Mr. T Bone, Bomb Town, Bigger Thomas & The Hub City Stompers.

Musical style

Unlike Moon Ska Records in the USA, Moon Ska Europe's “rasin d’etre” was completely different and released bands from genres outside of standard Ska, when interviewed on this point Lol Pryor remarked “we didn’t really have much of a choice, apart from the 2-tone heroes floating about the only good Ska bands like Intensified were already signed up and what was left out there in the UK was pretty piss poor, third rate 3rd wave Ska bands, while the whole UK Ska-punk scene was so more interesting and fresh”.

Although Moon Ska Europe released over 30 albums licensed from Moon Ska Records USA the labels most important first signing was Spunge who later went onto to be signed to Warners. The label also signed Whitmore and released King Prawns first two albums as well as releasing Less Than Jake’s debut European release. The label also licensed early best releases for The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Buck-0-Nine for Europe.

Due to both illness to both Lol Pryor and the other principle owner Sonia “Red” Bailey and subsequent deaths in their families the label was put on hold until the name change to Moon Ska World in 2006 where Lol Pryor took over running the label on his own.

In 2006 Moon Ska World signed UK underground Ska act The Big featuring vocalist and guitarist Ed Rome, European Dirty reggae specialists The Upsessions and award winning Hawaii Ska–soul act Go Jimmy Go, Bodysnatchers and Special Aka vocalist Rhoda Dakar, as well as releasing records by The Toasters, The Riffs, 2-tone Supergroup Skaville UK and Skinhead Reggae legends Symarip releasing their first ever live album and DVD recorded at the infamous Club Ska

Lol Pryor has been quoted as saying that his most important signing of his 28 year career in the music business was the Dub City Rockers the Jamaican and UK based collective. The bands track “Trojan City Love” was the most downloaded track from the labels free mp3 page with 120,000 downloads in the few months, almost double that of other established acts. Due to these figures and the positive reaction caused by the track appearing on Sunday newspaper giveaway Ska and Reggae CD, Pryor convinced the band in 2004 to start recording an album which took nearly six years to finish. It was finally released in October 2011 in the shape of their debut album “Peace, Love, Faith, hope, Respect Co-exist”.

Bands

Bands with Moon Ska World releases

• Big D and the Kids Table (USA)
• Dub City Rockers (Jamaica/UK) ^[1]
• Dumpster Pop^[2]
• Fandangle (UK)
• Farse (UK)
• Go Jimmy Go (USA)
• Graveltrap^[3]
• Less Than Jake (USA)
• Lubby Nugget (UK)^[4]
• Mighty Mighty Bosstones (USA)
• Mixtwitch (Ireland)^[5]
• Chris Murray (USA)
• Pama International
• The Rudimentals (South Africa)
• Rhoda Dakar
• Sadie's Doll^[6]
• The Selecter (UK)
• Shootin' Goon (UK)
• Skaville UK
• Solabeat Alliance (UK)^[7]
• Sonic Boom Six (UK)
• Spunge (UK)
• The Toasters (USA)
• Uncle Brian^[8]
• The Upsessions (NL)^[9]
• Whitmore (UK)
• Zen Baseballbat (UK)

Bands released on Moon Ska Records

• The Adjusters^[10]
• Laurel Aitken
• The Allstonians
• The Articles^[11]
• The Bluebeats^[12]
• Lloyd Brevett^[13]
• The Busters
• Bad Manners
• Critical Mass
• Dr. Ring-Ding & the Senior Allstars
• Dance Hall Crashers

• Easy Big Fella^[14]
• Edna's Goldfish
• Hepcat
• Inspecter 7
• Let's Go Bowling
• Los Hooligans
• Magadog
• Tommy McCook and Friends
• Mento Buru^[15]
• Mephiskapheles
• Mobtown
• Mr. Review^[16]
• Mustard Plug

• Chris Murray
• New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble^[17]
• One Groovy Coconut^[18]
• The Pietasters
• The Porkers
• The Press
• Regatta 69^[19]
• Rude Bones^[20]
• Ruder Than You
• The Scofflaws
• The Skalars^[21]

• Skanic^[22]
• Skavoovie And the Epitones
• Skinnerbox
• The Skoidats
• Skunks
• The Slackers
• The Strangeways^[23]
• Spring Heeled Jack U.S.A.
• Solabeat Alliance^[24]
• The Toasters
• The Trojans

Notes

1. ^ Label News, Moonskaeurope.com. June 2007.
2. ^ Dumpster Pop Discography at Allmusic
3. ^ Graveltrap discography at Allmusic
4. ^ Lubby Nugget discography at Allmusic
5. ^ Mixtwitch discography at Allmusic
6. ^ Sadies Doll discography at Allmusic
7. ^ Solabeat Alliance discography at Allmusic
8. ^ Uncle Brian discography at Allmusic
9. ^ The Upsessions discography at Allmusic
10. ^ the adjusters at Allmusic
11. ^ The Articles at Allmusic
12. ^ Bluebeats Discography at Allmusic
13. ^ Lloyd Brevett Discography at Allmusic
14. ^ Easy Big Fella Discography at Allmusic
15. ^ Mento Buru Discography at Allmusic
16. ^ Mr. Review Compilation Discography at Allmusic
17. ^ New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble Discography at Allmusic
18. ^ One Groovy Coconut Discography at Allmusic
19. ^ Regatta 69 at Allmusic
20. ^ Rude Bones Discography at Allmusic
21. ^ The Skalars at Allmusic
22. ^ Skanic Discography at Allmusic
23. ^ The Strangeways Discography at Allmusic
24. ^ Solabeat Alliance Discography at Allmusic

See also

• List of record labels

External links

• Official site