In Defense of Ska Ep 144: Pall Jenkins (Three Mile Pilot, The Black Heart Procession, Ugly Casanova, Mr. Tuba And The Flying Objects)

The Black Heart Procession were one of the coolest indie rock bands in the 2000s. Creative songwriting, downer vibes and a general steering away from pop sensibilities while still maintaining catchy melodies. But before the band started to blow up in the indie scene, their singer Pall Jenkins fronted the band Three Mile Pilot, a struggling San Diego indie band that released Another Desert, Another Sea (1997), one of the greatest albums of all time (in the opinion of Aaron and Adam). Though not ska, Pall agreed to join us on this ska podcast to discuss the album.

In our conversation, we also found several connections to ska and reggae. Pall is a huge fan of dub and old Jamaican music and says that the swinging groove has always been an influence on his music. We even gives us a tour of his vinyl ska/reggae/rocksteady collection, which includes records by Prince Buster, Roots Radics, The Upsetters, Horace Andy, Tapper Zukie, Augustus Pablo and many others.

We talk about San Diego skinheads, Pall's interest in punk rock and skateboarding in the 80s, San Diego ska bands (Donkey Show, Gangbusters, Buck O' Nine, Unsteady) and we talk extensively about knives. We also talk about the origin of Three Mile Pilot (They were almost called Taco Pilot). How they got signed to Geffen Records, and how frustrating the process of working with Geffen on Another Desert, Another Sea ended up being. (Geffen ended up giving the album back to the band, who released it on Cargo Records)

We talk about their cover of Brian Eno's "By This River," what it was like for Pall to meet Lee "Scratch" Perry, and we dissect several songs off of Another Desert, Another Sea. Speaking of, be sure to pick up the 25th anniversary double vinyl re-issue of Another Desert, Another Sea, which was released earlier this year!

Plus we talk about Pall singing on the reggae song "Reboot The Simulation" by Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra. 

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon! 

If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music. 

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024. 

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023. 

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.