Mike Park

During the early and middle years of the 1990s, Mike Park participated in the third wave ska revival alongside his group Skankin' Pickle. The ensemble blended humorous elements with ska beats while drawing from hardcore, punk, and metal sources, issuing five albums via their independent Dill label prior to their 1996 dissolution. Subsequently, Park established Asian Man Records, an outlet that put out ska and punk material by acts including Alkaline Trio, MU330, Screeching Weasel, along with Park's project the Chinkees, which put forth Peace Through Music in 1999 and Searching for a Brighter Future in 2002. As someone of Korean heritage, Park consistently addressed matters relevant to Asian Americans through his artistic output. This approach carried over to the Chinkees, where the group subverted the potentially derogatory implications of their moniker via anti-racist lyrics; similarly, Park founded the Plea for Peace nonprofit in 1999 to promote arts education aimed at fostering peace and cultural understanding. In addition to serving as a record label proprietor, ska-punk musician, and nonprofit initiator, Park also enjoyed pickup basketball games and pursued a solo career as a singer and songwriter. His first solo effort, For the Love of Music, came out in 2003, with North Hangook Falling arriving in 2005. Unlike his band-related projects, these individual recordings featured a more subdued, primarily acoustic sound.