In Defense of Ska Ep 39: Max Collins of Eve 6

Up until last year, alt-rock group Eve 6 was best known for their hit 1998 single, “Inside Out,” or as some people refer to it, “the heart in a blender song.” But times have changed. Now Eve 6, specifically lead singer Max Collins, is best known for taking over Twitter. It started last December when he tweeted that he was a virgin when he wrote “Inside Out.” Since then, he hasn’t stopped tweeting a chaotic mix of weird jokes, hot takes, embarrassing rock n roll stories, and leftist political rants. It’s everything a band’s Twitter account shouldn’t be. But it’s also the very thing that makes Twitter a little bit more tolerable in 2021.

And in Max’s Eve 6 tweetstorms, oftentimes ska pops up. But it has been unclear to what extent he was a fan of the genre. That is until October 7th, when he and ska band We Are The Union surprise-released a collaborative cover of Operation Ivy’s “Sound System.” It’s a brilliant version of the ska-punk classic that doesn’t veer from the joyous spirit of the original. In fact, it highlights just how good the song is. And clearly, everyone is having a lot of fun playing the song.

We were fortunate enough to get an exclusive interview with Max a few months before the song was released. We asked him to predict how the song will be received. We also learned about his very real ska roots, what he thinks about #SkaTwitter, which Gorilla Biscuits song he plans to cover at Fest this year, and he dug pretty deep into his perspective on life, including a recent proclamation that he is a Christian Anarchist. And at the end of the interview, Max told us that we have been his favorite podcast he’s ever done. Take that other podcasts!

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This week, you can hear our extended conversation about Adam's former bandmate, Steve Borth. Adam shares several road stories during his time on the road with Steve when they both played in Link 80 together.