In Defense of Ska Ep 68: Coolie Ranx (Pilfers, The Toasters, Grand Theft Auto IV)

In the early '90s, Coolie Ranx had his eyes set on being a dancehall star. That is until a friend dared him to audition to be The Toasters' new vocalist. He got the gig, and off to Europe he went (Though, a little uncomfortable with the Mohawk, spike-studded punks that came to these shows). He quit Toasters, but eventually came back and joined the group just before they did the Skavoovee tour, along with The Special Beat, The Selecter, and The Skatalites. At the time, Coolie was so entrenched in the dancehall world, he wasn't even familiar with any of these groups--even The Skatalites

That would change. After recording two studio albums with The Toasters (Dub 56, Hard Band For Dead), he quit the group and started Pilfers, a unique '90s ska band that mixed elements of rock, hardcore, reggae, dancehall, pop and punk. Coolie called their genre "raggacore," and the description was apt. There weren't other groups at the time that sounded like them.

On this episode, we talk to Coolie about his musical music. We talk about the 2000s UK ska-punk scene (King Prawn, Sonic Boom Six) that sounded a lot more like Pilfers than the 90s US ska scene did. We break down some Pilfers songs, like "Generation," and we all admire Coolie's amazing impression of Rob "Bucket" Hingely. We also talk about Coolie's new solo album, Days Gone By, which you should purchase immediately. 

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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.