In Defense of Ska Ep 78: Dunia Best (Agent 99, Dunia and Aram, Brave New Girl, Dubistry, Rude Girl Revue)

Dunia Best was a member of the very first incarnation of The Slackers. And after she left the band, she took a song she'd hope would be a Slackers song, "Walk," and started playing it acoustically. A friend suggested she could start her own band. That band, Agent 99 (1993-1995) played all over New York with No Commercial Value (Scott Sturgeon's first band), The Slackers, as well as punk and funk bands. 

Though Agent 99 was short-lived, many great musicians came through, like Ara Babajian (The Slackers, Leftover Crack), Alec Baillie (Leftover Crack), Jayson Nugent (The Slackers), and perhaps the most famous of all: Dunia's brother Ahmed Best, who would go on to play Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars prequels. 

On today's episode, we talk to Dunia about her time in Agent 99 and the Slackers, but also get into newer projects like Brave New Girl, Dubistry, Rude Girl Revue and Dunia and Aram, who just released their debut LP called Bedfellows. 

We also talk about Dunia's non-ska influences (Steely Dan, Sade, Joni Mitchell), mind-numbing data-entry jobs, the trials of teaching music, and how being a fitness instructor doesn't pay a living wage. We also discuss the Fierce Pussy Fest and the formation of Riot Grrrls (Agent 99 was there!), and Dunia's deep friendship with Ari Up from The Slits. 

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.