Chase Long Beach

In 2002 Karen Roberts (vocals) and Patrick Fitzgerald (bass/vocals) launched the ska-punk ensemble Chase Long Beach, a globetrotting Southern California outfit that had swelled to eight members by the arrival of its first EP, Attack of the Fuzzy Things, in 2004. Echoing third wave ska revival groups such as the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, and Less Than Jake, the band refreshed the high-energy ska blueprint by threading occasional darker tones through the genre’s characteristically bright, major-key optimism. The group followed with the EP Chase Long Beach Hosts a Molotov Cocktail Party in 2006, then issued its full-length debut Lebec in 2007 and the 2009 sophomore album Gravity Is What You Make It, both produced by Reel Big Fish frontman Aaron Barrett.