I'm gonna start this thing off with a personal confession – for a guy who works for an internationally known ska festival, I don't really listen to that much ska when left to my own devices. But at some point in the fall of 2022 whilst scrolling Twitter, a lot of people I really like were talking about this album called Got It by Stop the Presses. I'd never heard the band before, but I was really drawn to the colourful pineapple on the cover and wanted to try to find something new and pleasing to bring back to my ska festival family, so I fired up the streaming and put it on. From the first notes of the opening track “Make the Best of It” I was in. Then “Fat Cats” came on and I knew this album was going to be part of my regular rotation. Got It is a ska album seemingly made for me, a SKAptic – immaculately balancing ska, reggae and rocksteady, full of great hooks and really fantastic, crisp production. Danny graciously explained part of the process behind the album before I ambushed he and Ali with the 5 Questions. “Got It was kind of a return to us writing in the room as a band a little bit more. The past album, it was our proverbial “bedroom album”. in our living room, just Ali and I writing, cavemanning our way to demoing things, trying things out over and over again, getting better through the writing. And then this album [Got It] we were able to bring much simpler demo ideas to Jack and Steve, our rhythm section, and were able to write a lot more on purpose in front of each other, which gives you that dynamic, that extra layer – you put the physical work into it and the music kind of shows that.

The album became a personal audio touchstone, propelling me through intense winter and spring work with its infectious energy and big doses of fun. I made it my mission to get Stop the Presses on the lineup for the Victoria Ska & Reggae Fest 2023, but it turned out to be a pretty easy mission because they were as excited to come up as we were all to have them. I was lucky enough to not only get the whole band up to the Canadian west coast for an unreal set on the Victoria Ska & Reggae Fest main stage, but to rope Danny and Ali into a rousing instalment of 5 Questions with Rags. Which also apparently features a whole extra bonus question because the conversation was so good and easy that I lost the question count.

(I actually did this interview right before last years Ska & Reggae Fest, but through the combination of work with the Ska & Reggae Society/Festival, mental health struggles and living through the grind of life in 2023, this stayed in the vaults until now.)

1. What’s the first album you remember buying with your own money?

Ali – It was two. I was in third grade. I bought Alanis Morrissette’s Jagged Little Pill and Tom Petty’s Wildflowers. Both of those records bring back to a time in my life.

Danny – Mine are only slightly more embarrassing. The first Spice Girls record and Metallica Re:Load. That was the record. I was like 11 or 12, I was at a Sam Goody – the music store that actually had contemporary CDs, tapes and records – Wow! We just listened to Jagged Little Pill less than a month ago together. I’ve listened to at least half of that Spice Girls record in the last six months. I still go for earlier Metallica on the regular, Kill ‘Em All through like, the Black Album, but my brother already had those records already so I’m gonna get Re:Load ‘cause that’s MY record. There’s good stuff on there.

It could be argued that with the rise of dancehall, reggae music has strayed a long way from its roots. Inarguably, a lot of the new reggae that has managed to make it into the popular consciousness has seemingly lost its way, preoccupied with nights on the dancefloor and the amounts of weed one is going to smoke. But this is reggae and there will always be people making compassionate, intelligent reggae music. At the forefront of the new Roots movement is Hawaiian reggae troubadour Mike Love. His music – released entirely independently through his label, Love Not War Records – is rooted in those traditional reggae/Rasta ideals, while doing entirely new things with sound via his looping-station, powerful voice and ever-changing live configuration. His is the reggae of Love, Peace, Justice and an unyielding admiration for the Earth that we all call home. His YouTube videos have garnered him a worldwide audience of peace-seekers looking for something a bit deeper from their music. Rags Music was lucky enough to catch up with the good homie for a chat before he makes his way up to our home on the Canadian west coast for the first time. If you get a chance to see this guy live, make sure you jump on it. Your ears and your soul will thank me.

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1. When's the last time you did something for the first time?

I think every day I try to do something new. It's one of the most important parts of life. Seeing new places, doing new things, experimenting with new things. Even when we're playing music we're always trying to do new stuff. There are some songs that we've played thousands of times and keeping them fresh, being able to keep playing them and be excited to play them, means trying new things all the time. That's life too. If you just do the same thing day in and day out, you become stagnant. Trying and learning new things is so important. I think that's what's what the system tries to get us doing, is having these routines and doing the same things every day.

2. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

There was a couple. I think it was ...And Justice For All by Metallica and Bad by Michael Jackson. That was the first thing I got on tape. I had a cool older sister was into a lot of different stuff and I just sort of followed her.

5 Questions with Rags #81 - Stop The Presses (Ali & Danny)

5 Questions with Rags #50 - Mike Love