Skankin' Pickle
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Skankin' Pickle was an American
ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially Horn (instrument), horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones ...
band formed in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...
that was active from 1989 to 1997.


Biography

Skankin' Pickle first formed in December 1988, made up of students from Westmont High School and Los Gatos High School. The band, consisting of bassist and vocalist Mike Mattingly, saxophonist and vocalist Mike Park, guitarist and vocalist Lynette Knackstedt, and Drummer Chhuck Phelps, played its first show on April 28, 1989. The group recruited trombonist Lars Nylander several months later, then continued as a five-piece until the addition of second trombonist Gerry Lundquist in early 1990. In 1991, Park formed Dill Records, based out of San Jose, California, to release Skankin' Pickle's material, beginning with their debut album, the half-live, half-studio '' Skafunkrastapunk''. Dill Records would later go on to release early material by
Mu330 MU330 is an American ska punk band from St. Louis, Missouri. Formed by students of St. Louis University High School in 1988, MU330 played a self-described brand of music called "psycho ska", high energy ska punk marked by manic performances an ...
,
Slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as ...
, The Rudiments and
Less Than Jake Less Than Jake is an American ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1992. The band consists of Chris DeMakes (guitars, vocals), Roger Lima (bass, vocals), Buddy Schaub (trombone), Peter "JR" Wasilewski (saxophone) and Matt Yonker ...
. Throughout their career, Skankin' Pickle adhered to a strict
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
ethic, performing only all-ages shows, $5–$7 cover charges and selling their CDs for no more than $8 (Park would carry this DIY ethos over to his future bands and record labels). Skankin' Pickle toured full-time throughout the early 1990s, playing shows with such acts as
Bad Manners Bad Manners are an English Two-tone (music genre), two-tone and ska Musical ensemble, band led by frontman Buster Bloodvessel. Early appearances included ''Top of the Pops'' and the live film documentary ''Dance Craze'' (1981). They were at ...
,
The Skatalites The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including "Guns of Navarone (song), Guns of Navarone." They also played on records by Prince Bus ...
, Mustard Plug, Sublime, Let's Go Bowling,
Cherry Poppin' Daddies The Cherry Poppin' Daddies are an American swing music, swing and ska band established in Eugene, Oregon, in 1989. Formed by singer-songwriter Steve Perry (Oregon musician), Steve Perry and bassist Dan Schmid, the band has experienced numerous ...
,
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (informally referred to as The Bosstones and often stylized as The Mighty Mighty BossToneS) were an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. From the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky ...
, Rancid,
The Queers The Queers are an American punk rock band, formed in 1981 by Portsmouth, New Hampshire native Joseph “Joe” P. King (a.k.a. Joe Queer) along with Scott Gildersleeve (a.k.a. Tulu), and John “Jack” Hayes (a.k.a. Wimpy Rutherford). With the ...
, Primus,
Mr. Bungle Mr. Bungle is an American experimental rock band formed in Eureka, California, in 1985. The band is known for its eclecticism, cycling through several musical genres, often within the course of a single song, including heavy metal, avant-garde ...
,
Bad Religion Bad Religion is an American punk rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilities and ...
and
Green Day Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...
. The band strove to make their live shows as energetic and entertaining as possible, with the members dancing manically about the stage and engaging in such antics as baton-twirling and onstage wrestling matches. In 1994, ''
SF Weekly ''SF Weekly'' is an online music publication and formerly alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper ha ...
'' voted Skankin' Pickle as one of the best unsigned bands in the Bay Area. The band released their final studio album, '' The Green Album'', on Dr. Strange Records in 1996, a collection of cover songs and newly recorded versions of previously unreleased tracks. Shortly after its release, Mike Park chose to leave the band (news of which he announced in the album's liner notes), being replaced by Mike Liu of the Santa Clara ska punk band Janitors Against Apartheid. The group went through more member changes in the following months until only Knackstedt and Nylander remained from the "classic" line-up, though continued to perform as Skankin' Pickle for their final tour in Europe in June 1997. Following this tour, the title of Skankin' Pickle was retired as the current line-up (featuring former members of
Monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...
and The Rudiments) continued touring, re-inventing themselves as the ska punk/pop punk band the 78 RPM's.


Post Skankin' Pickle

Knackstedt and Nylander continued playing in the 78 RPM's, recording two albums before disbanding in 2003. Following his departure, Mike Park founded his own independent record label
Asian Man Records Asian Man Records is a DIY record label run by Mike Park in Monte Sereno, California. Park started a record label and began releasing music in 1989 under the name Dill Records, with the Asian Man label established in May 1996. History Asian Man ...
and later went on to form the ska punk bands
The Chinkees The Chinkees are an American ska punk band fronted by Mike Park (formerly of Skankin' Pickle). The group debuted with 1998's ''The Chinkees Are Coming!'', and followed with 1999's ''Peace Through Music'' and 2002's ''Searching for a Brighter Fu ...
and
The Bruce Lee Band The Bruce Lee Band (or B. Lee Band) is the name given to the releases of Mike Park and his backing band which up until 2005 included members of Less Than Jake and the Rx Bandits. As of 2014, the collective consisted of touring and recording memb ...
before branching out as a solo acoustic artist. Gerry Lundquist became a member of the
St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
ska punk ensemble
Mu330 MU330 is an American ska punk band from St. Louis, Missouri. Formed by students of St. Louis University High School in 1988, MU330 played a self-described brand of music called "psycho ska", high energy ska punk marked by manic performances an ...
in 1996 and Jay Vance formed the
robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...
-themed rock band Captured! by Robots. Mike Mattingly created former band Neosoreskin and the Deviled Egg Heads Music label. He currently performs solo shows and continues to write, record and release albums under the name Tingly, including the acoustic album Beautiful View. On December 7, 2007, Lynette Knackstedt died in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
from a drug overdose. On April 19, 2008, a benefit show was staged in her memory at
924 Gilman Street The Alternative Music Foundation located at 924 Gilman Street, almost exclusively referred to as "Gilman", is a non-profit, all-ages, collectively organized music club. It is located in the West Berkeley, Berkeley, California, West Berkeley ar ...
, featuring a number of local bands and headlined by Mike Park. The evening concluded with Park and Lundquist joining Monkey on stage and performing Skankin' Pickle songs. The benefit concert raised a net profit of nearly $2,000, which was donated to the Ohlhoff Recovery Programs, a Bay Area rehabilitation foundation. On November 20, 2010, Park, Lundquist and Nylander, backed by the band
Monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...
, performed at the San Francisco stop of the ''
Yo Gabba Gabba! ''Yo Gabba Gabba!'' is a Children's television series, children's Musical film, musical television series created by Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz (producer), Scott Schultz and developed by Kay Wilson Stallings. The series is about five cos ...
'' live tour, playing a cover of the
Marcia Griffiths Marcia Llyneth Griffiths (born 23 November 1949) is a Jamaican singer best known for the 1989 remix of her single " Electric Boogie", which serves as the music for the four-wall " Electric Slide" line dance. It is the best-selling single of ...
/
Bad Manners Bad Manners are an English Two-tone (music genre), two-tone and ska Musical ensemble, band led by frontman Buster Bloodvessel. Early appearances included ''Top of the Pops'' and the live film documentary ''Dance Craze'' (1981). They were at ...
song "Feel Like Jumping".


Musical style

Skankin' Pickle was unique for their unconventional melding of various genres: though primarily recognized and categorized as ska punk, the group frequently utilized elements of traditional
ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...
,
punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
,
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
,
hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...
,
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
,
metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...
,
reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...
, rap,
hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
,
speed metal Speed metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) roots.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' (Berg Publishers, 2007), , p. 31. It is desc ...
and
polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...
into their music. Though after the departure of front man Mike Mattingly, Mike Park was generally regarded as the front man, songwriting responsibilities were evenly distributed throughout the band; lead vocals were usually split between Park, Knackstedt, Nylander and Mattingly/Miller, though the remainder of the members had sung lead on at least one recording. Lyrically, the band also showcased diversity, ranging from silly, comedy-oriented songs ("Fakin' Jamaican") to serious and sociopolitical ("Racist World"), promoting racial equality and unity, often touching upon then-current events such as
David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American politician, neo-Nazi, conspiracy theorist, and former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for the ...
's 1992 presidential campaign ("David Duke is Running For President") and the racial controversy surrounding
Ice Cube O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...
's album ''
Death Certificate A death certificate is either a legal document issued by a medical practitioner which states when a person died, or a document issued by a government civil registration office, that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death, a ...
'' ("Ice Cube, Korea Wants A Word With You"). Most of the latter songs were written by Park, who would continue to write about themes of anti-racism in The Chinkees, The B. Lee Band and his solo work.


References in other bands' work

On
Alkaline Trio Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band from Chicago. The band's current members are Matt Skiba (guitar, vocals), Dan Andriano (bass, vocals), and Atom Willard (drums). Founded in late 1996 by Skiba, bassist Rob Doran, and drummer Glenn Por ...
's Halloween at the Metro DVD, Matt Skiba references Skankin' Pickle while playing "Goodbye Forever": "Remember last April when we saw Skankin' Pickle; Somehow the singer showed the Fireside exactly how I feel" Canadian punkers
Fucked Up Fucked Up is a Canadian hardcore punk band from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 2001. The band consists of guitarists Mike Haliechuk and Josh Zucker, bassist Sandy Miranda, lead vocalist Damian Abraham and drummer Jonah Falco. From 2007 to 2021, t ...
have a
diss track A diss track, diss record or diss song (an abbreviation of ''disrespect'' or ''disparage'') is a song whose primary purpose is to verbally attack someone else, usually another artist. Diss tracks are often the result of an existing, escalating feu ...
about fellow Canadian rock band
Billy Talent Billy Talent is a Canadian Rock music, rock band from Mississauga, Ontario. They formed in 1993 with lead vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz, guitarist Ian D'Sa, bassist Jonathan Gallant, and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk. There have been no lineup change ...
in which they reference Skankin' Pickle twice - a nod to Billy Talent's previous
ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially Horn (instrument), horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones ...
incarnation known as Pezz. On Sublime's rarities box set '' Everything Under the Sun'', front-man Bradley Nowell mentions Skankin' Pickle in an interview with WBCN Boston (Disc 2, Track 12):
WBCN - "...so, welcome to town. Playing TT's tonight, in Cambridge..."
Nowell - "With Sprung Monkey."
WBCN - "With Sprung Monkey?"
Nowell - "I mean Skankin' Pickle. I'm sorry, I always confuse the two."
WBCN - "Heh, heh, heh... It's easy to do..."
Nowell - "Skankin' Pickle is way better than Sprung Monkey..."


Band members


1989–1993

* Lynette Knackstedt -
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
, vocals *Gerry Lundquist - slide trombone, vocals *Mike "Mr. Clean" Mattingly -
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
, vocals *Lars "Slim" Nylander -
valve trombone The valve trombone is a brass instrument in the trombone family that has a set of valves to vary the pitch instead of (or in addition to) a slide. Although it has been built in sizes from alto to contrabass, it is the tenor valve trombone pitched ...
, vocals * Mike "Bruce Lee" Park -
tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...
, vocals *Chuck "Mod" Phelps -
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...


1993–1996

*Lynette Knackstedt - guitar, vocals *Gerry "Hulk Hogan"/"Lungs" Lundquist - slide trombone, vocals *Ian "Guru" Miller - bass, vocals *Lars Nylander - valve trombone, vocals *Mike "Bruce Lee" Park - saxophone, vocals *Chuck Phelps - drums


Post-''Green Album'' (early 1996)

*Lynette Knackstedt - guitar, vocals *Mike Park - saxophone, vocals *Gerry Lundquist - slide trombone, vocals *Jay Vance - bass, vocals *Lars Nylander - valve trombone, vocals *Chuck Phelps - drums *Michael Liu - saxophone


Discography


Albums


Demos


Singles/EPs


References


External links

* Skankin' Pickle on Allmusic {{Authority control 1989 establishments in California 1996 disestablishments in California American ska punk musical groups Asian Man Records artists Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups from San Jose, California Punk rock groups from California Third-wave ska groups