Indie rock band Minus The Bear created a unique sound that blended a multitude of genres: math rock, emo, pop, prog, and yes, ska. Well, at least, the bass lines were informed by ska and reggae. Bassist Cory Murchy grew up obsessed with ska music. And when it came time to write interesting and moving bass lines, he often drew inspiration from the bass masters in reggae and ska bands. Besides, who plays bass better than ska and reggae bass players?

Today, Cory joins us to talk about the secret ska influence of Minus The Bear. We break a few songs that lean the heaviest into ska territory ("My Time," Memphis & 53rd," "Pachuca Sunrise"), and we also talk about Cory's ska formative years growing up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He even discusses his high school ska band, Soulskats.

We talk about the impact seeing Mealticket live had on Cory, we discuss a few of the key New Mexico DIY spaces, and we talk about the Seattle indie rock scene that Cory joined when he got a little older (and its connection to Animal Chin)! We find out why Suicide Squeeze's David Dickenson has a "Cory Murchy" tattoo and we learn what ska tattoo Cory has on his body.

And during the interview, Cory casually drops a huge reveal on us. His mom used to babysit Kurt Cobain!

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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.

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