Mad Caddies

TheOwlMag on Mad Caddies

Artist: Mad Caddies Album: Keep It Going Label: Fat Wreck Chords Genre: Reggae/Ska/Dub, Rock/Pop Rating: Buy it >>

Did anyone forget to tell these guys that Ska music peaked about the same time as me…during my high school graduation? Probably not and that’s just fine. The Mad Caddies hail from the Santa Barbara area and formed around 1995 – during the ‘Third Wave Ska Movement.’ Keep It Going reps a mish-mash of sounds circling the Ska foundation, so don’t pickle em’ just Ska. Call them a nicely formed mature sound with excellent composition and mainstream sensibilities: drawing from reggae, jazz, swing, rockabilly, pop, and polka.

For all of us who grew up skankin’ in middle high school, and later joined the corporate masses, Keep It Going is for us. It is sensible music to play while working at home, or dancing with toddlers, even cooking dinner for hubby. Of course it’s for young and angry too, but it slices a little bit of ‘easy on the ears pie’ for everyone. And it’s no wonder Fat Wreck picked them up, because they are growing just like the rest of us who started out simply doing what we love and found out what it means to be the masters of our craft. Good luck to those who keep on making music that represents who we are and how we change.

- Review submitted by Grant Inaba.