The best of the best of the best. Seriously, this may be the greatest thing in 2025, and it’s so great I don’t know where to begin. Let’s go in order.
In 1989 Operation Ivy put out one of the most important and incredible albums in ska punk history. It may have been their only full album, but it is still iconic to this day and is one of the most influential albums for both punk and ska music over the next 35 years.
Fast forward several decades to Laura Jane Grace, Against Me! and Catbite. Laura Jane Grace is the lead singer of the incredibly successful punk band Against Me! and fronts her solo project band Laura Jane Grace, while Catbite is one of the most successful current ska bands. In 2024 Laura Jane Grace joined with Catbite at Supernova Ska Fest and a few other performances and performed live tribute sets to the entire 28 track Operation Ivy “Energy” album- and these sets were amazing. Although I didn’t get to see them live, I was fortunate enough to see the Supernova set on streaming and it absolutely blew me away. This live set blew the cover off of anything I had expected. In my opinion, it was much better than anything a live reunion could achieve. This had so much raw energy.
Riot Fest, in Chicago happened to be one of those live performances, but they also played at an after party after Riot Fest, at the Empty Bottle, in Chicago, Illinois, where the set was recorded, and is now available. However, that’s not what is special about this- the album isn’t available everywhere right now, and I don’t know if they have any intention of putting it on Spotify or Apple, or any other major streaming website. It is exclusively available on Bandcamp- and it’s name-your-price. But the important part is that 100% of the money spent buying this album is being donated to charities helping with the Los Angeles wildfires.
I could tell you about the songs, but these songs are classics, and almost everyone reading this is familiar with them. I could tell you about what makes this better or worse than the originals (they are very true to form) but I’ll let you listen and tell me if you like this more or less, or why I am blasphemous for even suggesting these are better. I could even waste more time telling you about Against Me!, Laura Jane Grace or about Catbite, but there is a good chance that you already know all of them, and if not, I’ll just tell you to definitely check out their incredible catalogs. Instead, I’m only going to tell you to do yourself and everyone else a favor, go to bandcamp, pay whatever you want, it will be donated to a damn good cause, and listen to some of the best punk songs ever written performed by some of today’s best.
Catbite
Laura Jane Grace
Written by Gimp Leg

