The Maka Sticks in a new ska band out of Washington DC who just launched their debut EP on September 5th titled The Nation’s Skapital, and this album makes me feel like they’ve been playing together for decades. It’s definitely heavily two-tone influenced, but it FEELS like it came straight out of the late 80s UK. It doesn’t sound outdated at all, but it captures the essence so perfectly that I can’t believe they weren’t plucked directly from that scene, brought to 2024 Washington and asked to write an album. While the band is based in DC, members of the band are from the UK, the US, and from Colombia- all adding to the rich sound.
True to the two tone movement, the album begins with an homage to the working class, in what is definitely my favorite lyrical track on the album. Titled “Friday Night” I was expecting a party/ drinking song or and dare night song. Instead, I was awakened to a song that begins by telling the listener about a statue downtown paying homage to the working class heroes while the working class experience a different reality with workers being laid off, factories closing, and the workers being abandoned to stare at an empty promise in the form of the statue. The song goes on to describe a tombstone of the owner of the mines, a man who got his wealth from the labor of the working class, and ensures the listener knows who’s to blame for the poverty. The song ends walking up a hill, seeing 60 workers, all collected, watching as the factories that once employed them are being blown up. The song isn’t just a description, it is a call to action. The keys and horns, the rhythm of the song, the two tone beats, the bridge that begs you to dance- all a call to action, a call to take to your feet.
From the politically driven “Friday Night”, The Maka Sticks pick up the pace in what, at first, feels like a much more light hearted track. “So Far Out To Sea”- is a much more upbeat and catchy reggae influenced song that includes “pirate chants” and other fun bits (be sure to catch the horn melody). This track features some of the best backing vocals/ gang vocals on the album and the end of the song has an instrumental outro that steals me away every time I listen to it (probably because I tend towards ska punk, and it’s one of the more ska punk aspects of the album) . The song seems to be about losing a friend and the memories of them, the longing and missing comes through in the song even as it maintains its upbeat rhythms.
Every song on this 6 track EP is terrific. The sound of tires peeling out on 295 is one of many excellent textural inclusions on the album that makes each song stand out. The album is always engaging and rich, it always feels classic and current, present and real and fantastical. These are experiences and memories made to the sound of two tone and brought to 2024. It’s perfect for anyone who wants something that is somehow both familiar but different.
After listening to the album, and writing this review, I reached out to the band to ask about the song, and it’s a true story. The statue of the worker with a pickaxe in his hand is in Merthyr Tyfdil, in South Wales. The gravestone in the cemetery is of Richard Crawshay, who closed down the mines leading to the loss of jobs of many of the city’s workers. The only inscription on the tombstone reads “God Forgive Me”. The story of climbing the hill and seeing the workers watching as the factories were blown up is also a true story. In 1989, as a child, vocalist Barry Williams went with his family to a hilltop and dozens of other families were there, all watching as the chimneys of the factories were demolished with dynamite. Too young to understand the impact on the families at the time, the memory and smell left a lasting impression.
This may be their first EP, but I can assure you, The Maka Sticks will be around for a while, and if you haven’t heard them yet, you’re going to.
Written by Gimp Leg
