End of Semester, End of Days…whatevskis

So it’s been a good semester, and lot’s of great stuff went down for the band. We had a whole bunch of shows this season, and a great turnout of fans. I think we all were really happy to see the progress we’ve made over the last year. Shit, even the performances are getting better, who would have thought? But now as the semester is over, and finals are coming to an end, we’re going to take a little break and situate ourselves over the holidays. Come winter session, it looks like we’re going to have a lot of new music on the way, some new tricks to present at shows, and hopefully, not too long after that, we’ll get some more recordings going on for everyone.

But for now, we will all return to our respective homes, located across this great east coast. From North Carolina to Maine, and from Long Island to Pennsylvania, and then there’s New Jersey…we’ll be spread fucking eagle for a while. Back to Newark soon enough I suppose.

I’m finished now. No more talky. Have a good break everyone, and we’ll ska the shit out of you in the new year. PEACE!

Wow. It’s Been a While and A Lot Has Happened.

So here I am, sitting at work, thinking about this awesome show we just played last night. It’s just out of nowhere that I think to myself, “wow I haven’t written a blog post in while. How will people know what’s going on with DHTD?” So it is my quest to sit here and inform the world about the immense amounts of ska that has been going on in this great little state over the past couple of weeks. Wish me luck…

Working backwards; Last night we had a show at East End. The show opened up with Diego Paulo, which are fucking awesome if you don’t already know them. The night closed off with Brixton Saint. They are an awesome foursome, who put out really cool and energetic reggae-ska-rock. Great band, and you should all check them out too. We were sandwiches between the two, and had an awesome time playing. Crowd was fucking awesome, and it was great to see the other bands out in the audience digging our shit. Definitely one of the more fun shows we’ve ever played, so if you missed it..sucks for you. If you were there, thanks a fuck ton for coming out and supporting all the bands.

A couple weeks ago we played a double header weekend. Friday night, the 23rd, we played at the Pale Dog Live. That was one of the more interesting shows I’ve ever been a part of. We had to fill two 45 minutes sets, which we did surprisingly. The only crutch? Noone was there to see it, haha. Due to people being generally mia, the bar not really pulling people out much, and an unforeseen 21 and over policy, we weren’t able to pull more than a half a dozen people out. Good new? The bartenders dug us!

The next night we played at the Spot in Wilmington. Yo. If you haven’t been there ever, GO. Awesome little fucking place with a great local showing and a good fucking vibe. Just go there. We played that show with Tit Patrol and the Adelies. Second point: CHECK OUT THE FUCKING ADELIES. That show was without a doubt the most entertaining night of punk and ska ever. Good friends, good bands, good energy, lots of fucking fun. We were playing a tight set, and had such a good audience interaction going. I mean straight up, at the end of the set, we just had people on stage with us rocking out, singing along. We even played a couple songs with some guest Adelies singing hardcore. p.s. That was the loudest I (Steve, the drummer) has ever needed to play. Granted I wasn’t miced or anything, but I drew blood. I have a huge stains all over those shorts to prove it.

As far as any other news, I guess we’re just working on a few more shows. We have some future ones planned out so keep an eye out on the Myspace and Facebook pages to stay in the loop. We’re working on some new tunes also, but we haven’t had much time to practice recently. Now that marching band here at UD just finished literally about 3 hours ago, we’re going to get out shit back together and come out with some new bangers for you guys. Can’t wait to see you all out at our next shows.

ONE!

Streetlight Manifesto in Allentown

So last night a bunch of us went up to Allentown, PA to see Streetlight Manifesto play at Croc Rock. It was a good night. It was me (Steve), Daino, Jim, Nick and Colman, and we all drove up after a long day of classes and rehearsals. Venue was great, the band was awesome, and the night was a good time for sure. Gotta love getting together, watching some killer ska and having a fucking blast. Not to mention, any night with some ska is going to be a good night.

The nice part about seeing Streetlight is that they have the same instrumentation as us. The usuals (guitar, bass, drums, vocals)…but they have the same horn section; Trumpet, Trombone, Tenor Sax, and Bari Sax. Man, I love seeing how a great band like that utilizes their horn section, and it really gives us something to think about and work towards. They have such a handle on their instrumentation, and the crowd just loves it. I hope that people, when they watch us play, get the same excited feeling seeing that many guys on stage, with that wide of a range of sounds. There’s just something great about seeing a shit ton of talented musicians on stage playing their hearts out to some ska.

P.S. Their horn section is so amazingly talented and energetic. Musicianship? Beyond that. Shit, the trombone player was adjusting his tuning slide in between songs! And as far as energy goes…well they play hard, loud, fast, dance, sing, the works!

Check them out, try and tell me they don’t put on a killer show…

I Have Commitment Issues…

So as the start of the semester has taken all of us by storm, we’re starting to get back into the swing of DHTD action. We had our first show of the semester last weekend!. It was at our buddy’s house; Aaron Fisher. It was his birthday and to celebrate he put on a show in his backyard. It was a good time and we had a lot of play playing outdoors. Also, it was our CD release show so people finally got their hands on the goods.

One week the CD’s been out and we already offloaded about 25 discs. Can’t wait for the next wave of people to buy them so we can start to get that stuff out there. So far, feedback has been great but we’d love even more. So if you already own a copy, tell us your thoughts. If you want to buy one just to criticize us…well you’re more than welcome to do that to. Oh and FUCK YOU (lol).

New songs in the works, new shows in the works, new everything and lots of good shit going on these days. Look out for it all, baby.

CD Packing and Banner Making

Hey Guys,

Lots has been going on and everything is going wonderfully. Now we have offically finished packing up the new record and it is ready to go. We were waiting on some key components to come in the mail, and they finally arrived today. Almost the whole crew (plus some groupies), got together in my place and packed everything up. They are awesome. Seriously, buy one. It’s only 3 dollars for 6 tracks and a whole lot of artistic fun.

In addition to putting all of these customized CDs together, we also got the ball rolling on a banner. We’ll finally have something to put up behind us at shows. It, as you might have expected is awesome, checkered, neon, and awesome again. With a little help from some very sexy ladies, we were able to get moving on that stuff as well.

So now that we’re all ready to go for this Saturday’s season opening show, we’re coming back with more music, more fun, more ska, more tracks, more face melting like you’ve all come to expect from your boys at Dancehall Throwdown. We look forward to seeing you all out at the shows this year and don’t forget to pick up your very own 3 dollar EP and 10 dollar Banana Shirt. Get ‘em while they’re hot(ska)!

Wiffle Ball and Ska

Hi. This is Steve and Daino from Dancehall Throwdown. We’re here to tell you all about our new EP. We play ska. Ska is (click here to to find out). See also http://www.myspace.com/dancehallthrowdown.

Anywho, we just wanted to tell everyone that we have finished the EP. We have finished recording, producing, and packing the EP. Buy the EP. Listen to the EP. Enjoy the EP.

Yesterday we saw Ingorious Basterds. Go see that too.

This is Ska

So all the time I talk to people about how I love to listen to ska and how my band is a ska band, and how all of my favorite bands play ska. But I get the feeling that noon ever really knows what I’m talking about. I mean sure, I can drop names like Reel Big Fish and Mighty, Mighty Bosstones and people can get the drift of what I’m referring to, but it’s not enough. I don’t they realize what exactly is going on and what the style is comprised of. Not to mention, it’s more than just a style of music, but a whole subculture and way of thinking and acting. The beautiful part about Dancehall Throwdown is that not all of our music is necessarily adhering to the strictest definitely of the genre, but we have it at the heart of everything we do and every song we play. I think what I’m really trying to say is, that I just wish more people were familiar with it and that more people would give it a chance.

I mean…let’s be serious…THIS IS SKA!!!

Finished Tracking and Working on Horns

So today we finished tracking all of the horn parts for the EP. By my count that means we have finished tracking everything we need to put out a good old fashioned ska album. Over the next week we will finish cutting up the tracks and mixing everything together. There’s a lot to do and a lot of tracks to do them on. Looks like we should have all of that finished within the next week. After that, it’s time to start putting together these cd packages.

As I mentioned last post, we have some really great ideas for the packaging of the demo. We’re going to make it special so everyone will be getting more than just a shitty local band demo CD. I, as well as everyone else in the band, feels like it would be really awesome to make something that we’re proud of, and that people will be into and find fun and interesting. I don’t really want to give away our idea, but I’ll throw down (get it?) some single words and see if it leads you in the right direction….neon spray paint, lunchbags, checkboards, sleeves, “inspected by” stickers, candle wax, and plutonium.

Hopefully that clears it up for everyone. And for my last tidbit of the night. I want you to thank everyone who’s been checking out our sites, talking about us to their friends and supporting us in general. We hope you can keep up the deal and keep the momentum moving. We look forward to seeing you all at our next show!

Enjoy this…

It’s Been Far Too Long…

So here’s the deal. It’s been pretty much all summer since I”ve last updated the blog. So much has been going on and it’s all awesome stuff. I don’t really have a good excuse as to why I have written anything but I suppose i wasn’t expecting much to happen over this long break. So as per the suggestion of our lovely bassist, I will continue to update everyone in installments.

First on the list will be this new EP. We’ve had multiple sessions over the summer and recorded almost every last track. Things are sounding awesome and we’re almost ready to finish the mixes and get this CD’s out to people. Tomorrow will be the last day of tracking, and our Bari Sax player (Twat) will be coming down from PA to get in the studio with us. I think it’s going to be a really productive day and we look to get a lot done. Then all we have left is to finish off these mixed and get these puppies mastered.

You know it’s really nice being able to record, produce, and print this whole EP on our own. I think it allowed for a nice personal touch along with some sense of accomplishment. It’s safe to say we did all of the work on this and therefore can reap the benefits. I think you’ll all know what I’m talking about in a few weeks when you have your own copy in your hands.

On that note, I want to drop a quick note about the CD pressing we’re going. We will be releasing 100 special edition discs. We are still in the planning stages but from the sound of everything we’ve been discussing it’s going to be really amazing. Frankly, it will be more of an art item then a CD. Plus you get the blazing sounds of ska.

Well that’s me being nice and vague until I can find the time to write some more entries that get a little more in depth as to what we’ve been working on. I promise I’ll keep everyone updated and let you know exactly what’s been going on and how you guys can stay up to date.

Scranton, EP, Video

So this Friday the band was supposed to have a show in Scranton, PA. We were all looking forward to it for a couple of reasons:
1. First show outside of the Newark area
2. We seen each other, let alone played music, all summer.
3. Ska is so painfully awesome that none of us can bare to be away for so long.
4. (Insert another reason here to make this list look long enough to be worth making a list)

Well anyway, the show was overbooked and in the end, show’s off for us. Unfortunate for us? Yes. Will there be another show to come in the near future to replace it? Yes. Will we melt faces off of everyone in the room when we play that show? Fuck yes.

And now for the good to come from the bad…

We’re going to spend the weekend finishing up these tracks that we’ve all been waiting for for so long. SInce we’ll have the weekend free without traveling, we hope to get these tracks done as well as an additional song or two we have written recently.
1. Zombie Nazis
2. Grogan
3. The Nacho Song
4. It Can’t Be True
5. Nick’s Song (New)
6. Bang Your Best Friend (New)
Worst case scenario is that we don’t get the two new ones down, but hopefully we’ll have the time for it. That means as soon as we get these tracks laid down, and the horns in there, we’ve got a 6 track EP for everyone to ska the shit out of. We’re all excited to get this stuff done finally. Hope you are too! Oh and by the way, Zombie Nazi video already in the works and going to be…what’s the word?….oh…FUCKING AWESOME!