Mustard Plug

Mustard Plug came together in 1991 and built a reputation as a tireless independent act rooted in Grand Rapids, Michigan. With backing from the California indie ska-punk label Hopeless Records, the band logged repeated tours through the United States, Europe, Japan, and South America, appeared on two Warped Tours, and joined the Ska Against Racism tour. Their earliest effort arrived in modest form with the 1992 cassette Skapocalypse Now!, issued on their own Dashiki Clout imprint and later reissued on CD by both Dashiki Clout and Hopeless in 1998. The group’s first proper album, Big Daddy Multitude, arrived in 1993 under the guidance of the influential ska label Moon Records, which later went bankrupt; Hopeless re-released the record after signing Mustard Plug in the mid-1990s. That album launched the band into a heavy schedule of live shows. As ska-punk edged toward the mainstream, they placed Evil Doers Beware in stores in 1997. The release sold more than 90,000 copies and marked a collaboration with punk veterans Bill Stevenson, formerly of Black Flag, and Stephen Egerton, both members of All and the Descendents. The same year the band contributed its skanking, rollicking version of the Verve Pipe’s maudlin alt-rock hit “The Freshmen” to a charity compilation; the track drew enough attention to earn radio play on major Midwest stations. Stevenson and Egerton returned to produce the Simpsons-referencing Pray for Mojo, which reached stores in 1999. Yellow #5 appeared three years later, and the hits collection Masterpieces: 1991-2002 followed in 2005. On its website the band asked, “A punk band releasing a best-of album?” before adding, “Hey NOFX did it, so it must be OK!” Still operating without major-label involvement, the group issued its seventh album, In Black and White, through Hopeless Records in 2007.