Road to Ska Nation Brisbane

The sixth edition of Ska Nation returned to the live music scene in 2019 after five years hiatus to much acclaim and returns in 2020 even bigger and better!

In 2019 the Road to Ska Nation featured Mexican ska punkers Los Kung Fu Monkeys and in 2020 we introduce to Australia for the first time ever, Grand Rapids, Michigan, pioneers of ska punk Mustard Plug to lead the road to Ska Nation, culminating in the Ska Nation Festival over the labour day long week end on March 8 and 9 in Melbourne.

We here at Focus Group Music have been trying to get Mustard Plug to Australia for the past 15 years and we are excited to introduce Australia to the rawkus fun and dancing that Mustard Plug bring to every live performance, with bangers such as Mr Smiley, The Beer Song, You and many others from their back catalogue.

Mustard Plug started out in the punk clubs, basements and dive bars of the Midwest, playing punk-influenced ska music before most people in the U.S. had ever heard of ska. They clung to a DIY work ethic that had been ingrained in them growing up in the 1980′s hardcore punk scene and applied it to everything they would ever do together as a band. Mustard Plug released their first cassette tape themselves (1992′s Skapocalypse Now!), and played constantly to earn enough money to record their first album—1994′s Big Daddy Multitude. Their debut full length was released on legendary NYC label Moon Records (home of Toasters, Hepcat, Dance Hall Crashers, and pretty much every other 90′s ska band of note). With their new national distribution and exposure, the band climbed into their van and performed their music to new fans across North America. Twenty-one years, 1500 shows and 200,000 album sales later, it cannot be denied that the band has surpassed all expectations and permanently staked their claim in contemporary music.

Catch Mustard Plug for their first ever visit to Australia along with Australia’s favorite ska punk brats The Resignators and Alla Spina on the road to Ska Nation.