Bim Skala Bim

Bim Skala Bim arose in the early 1980s as one of the earliest American answers to Britain’s 2-Tone wave, taking further cues from the Clash, UB40 and Bob Marley. Founded in Boston in 1983 by vocalist Dan Vitale and bassist Mark Ferranti, the ensemble ranks among the longest-running ska acts in the United States and has maintained an unchanged lineup since 1989 that still features Vitale and Ferranti alongside drummer Jim Arhelger, percussionist Rick Barry, keyboard player John Cameron, guitarist Jim Jones and trombonist Vincent Noble. The band issued its self-titled debut album in 1986 and contributed a track to the Boston ska collection Mash It Up two years later. Although it signed with Celluloid Records in 1988, Tuba City remained the sole release on that imprint. The group handled its own recordings of How’s It Goin’? in 1990 and Bones in 1991; Relativity then agreed in 1992 to distribute subsequent material through the band’s Bib Records label, also known as Big Indie Beat. Later albums continued to appear on Bib, which also handled reissues of earlier titles dating back to Tuba City. Live at the Paradise, released in 1993, documented the group’s high-energy performances, and its sixth full-length album, American Playhouse, arrived in 1995. Universal followed two years later, with Test Patterns emerging in 1999.