It's had to beliebe that it's been 3 months already since the reunion show on June 1 and it's even harder to put into words how much the show and everybody who came out meant to us. We've always been told by friends and family that the photo blog we posted from the Victoria Ska Festival was a favorite so we've done it again below with some of the photos from the show. Special thanks to Jon Harkel for some of these awesome images.



One of the things that was so awesome about the night was doing a show of that size in a venue as small as The 449 Room. Here's the line outside before the show



Once inside, things got a little crazy



It was awesome to see Fatter Than Albert again (we last played with them in Philly in June of '05), and The Sneaky Sea Lions were off the hook. Third up was Whiskey Flask Revenge and you could tell by the crowd reaction why they're one of the most popular artists in the area.

Up next were The Distorted Penguins, who were performing for the last time in Jersey that night.



One of the best things about playing shows with DP is that since we started doing them we've had the honor of doing a ton of guest appearances with them on stage. Anybody remember the wall of horns at the old American Music Cafe outside of Pittsburgh in the spring of 2003? Sean Hur played keyboards through most of the set and Joe Pulito who joined them on stage for a tune on guitar.



Afterwards, I and the rest of the horns joined them on drums for a cover of "Metuchen." I had to give Court a fist punch afterwards.



Gotta say that right before we went on the energy in the club was incredible. Here's the crowd just before we started.



As soon as we kicked in with our first tune (Somethings Never Change) Joe Fucking Pulito went up and started crowd surfing.



Frankie C killed it on vocals that night too for the first time in 5 years!

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/PhillySka/SGR/_MG_2501edit.jpg

May I also add that Josh Ecochard is the fucking man.



Toward the end of the set, Larry Butts, Jeff Hanna, and Pete Silipino joined us on stage for the loudest version of Overlord I have ever heard.



It was also awesome to see Johnny Smile (Vertical Smile/The Dickheads) there who helped us sing the gang vocals he pretty much invented at the end of Irish Breakfast.



We closed the show with V-Town and then did Centerfold as an encore tune. It was certainly a night that we will remember forever. Here's the

So, how do you put the perfect ending on a night like that? Well, a party of course! After the show we all headed over to The Break Away house in Bristol, PA to blow off some steam and then play some softball the next morning. How did the game go you ask? Check back in a couple of weeks and we'll have more!

We're back...

Friday June 1 SGR will return for a special show with our good friends the Distorted Penguins. When the guys all found out a couple of weeks ago that DP was breaking up after 10+ years together we figured that was the best reason we could think of to man up and rock out with them one more time.

But we have one more surprise in store for you. Fronting the band that night will be none other than our old friend Frankie C who sang on For The Crazy Indian, Livin The Good Life, and The Tenby Chase, and who we last performed with over 5 years ago.

Below is the info on the show. We should have a link up for advanced tickets via paypal very soon. Hope to see you then!

Friday June 1, 2007
@ The 449 Room
449 S Broad Street
Trenton, NJ

SGR
Distorted Penguins
Whiskey Flask Revenge
Sneaky Sea Lions
Fatter Than Albert

7:30pm doors | $8 adv $10 dos | All Ages | 21+ to drink
449room.com
myspace.com/jvconcerts

~ SGR

So I was bored the other day (which seems to happen more frequently now that there aren't any SGR shows on the schedule) and I decided it might be fun to google "Atomic Pony" and see what's out there.  I've already googled "SGR" a thousand times and usually the results are either websites for Sigma Gamma Rho, Scientists for Global Responsibility, or the Society of Gastrointestinal Radiologists.

Well anyway, one of the results that came up after googling "Atomic Pony" was a recent review of the EP done by The Local Music Network Compendium.  I figured it was going to be bad becasuse the preview line said something like "it is a shame that such good musicians..."

But I read it anyway (because what the fuck, we always seem to get bad reviews) and it goes like this:

"Along the Northeast corridor, the tunnel is a muffled roar and strangers shuffle baggage past your feet" are the opening lyrics on the first track "Metuchen" on Atomic Pony.  The song opens first with the drum rhythm and horns that are familiar to any ska song but SGR offers something special on their 5 song release.  The thing about Atomic Pony is that SGR seems to be playing music for the love of music.  there are no fancy breakdowns, no overly dramatic lyrics to try and impress the listener.  The songs are fun and will make any rude boy or rude girl want to get up and dance for sure.  With the 3rd track, "Constellation", SGR slows it down to a chill, reggae-esque song.  The 4th track, "Looking Down", calls for dancers to show off their skill in the pit.  The final track, "Potter's Field", is a nice way to end the CD and cool everything down.  Check out Atomic Pony if you need a pick me up or are driving and want something to blare in your car with the windows down. - Kristen

Maybe it's the mood I'm in, but I don't think I've ever read a review of us more right on than that one.  Thanks so much Kristen...  I really needed that.

Mahalo.

~Rossi

What an amazing trip to British Columbia and Seattle we had this past weekend.  I hope this photo blog can do it some justice…

The trip to JFK for the flight out to Seattle on Thursday (July 14) went surprisingly smooth.  Other than the heavy traffic we had to face on the Belt Parkway to get out to JFK from Jersey the ride in was pretty uneventful.  Turns out that JFK is fairly easy to get to (again other than the traffic) and is clearly marked with signs.  As soon as we got there we put Bryan’s Exterra in a long term parking lot and then boarded the monorail to get to our gate.

Hunter and I on the monorail to the terminal.

After checking our gear, going through security, and a very shitty meal at one of the airport restaurants we boarded the plane and took off.  I found out later that this was actually Jeff Hanna’s first plane ride...  he took to it pretty well and seemed to be enjoying himself.  One of the best things about the flight is that Song (Delta’s discount airline) has TVs in the seats in front of you so I got to watch the Yankees-Red Sox game for the first couple hours of the flight.

About 3 hours after the end of the game we landed in Seattle, where Skouf’s buddy from high school, Ted, was awesome enough to pick us up from the airport, and let us crash at his sweet place for the night.  After getting off the place we also discovered that Jeff’s guitar case was damaged pretty badly – it looked like they just dropped it or ran over it or something.  Fortunately we were renting extra gear for the trip so I knew we’d be in good shape.

Skyline of Seattle and the infamous Space Needle

One thing about Seattle – it is a fantastic town but the traffic there is horrendous because there is no mass transit to speak of.  Also, people there for some reason don’t quite understand the concept of merging.  For any driver used to the way we do things in the northeast, this gets extremely annoying.

After a good nights rest Hunter and I set out on Friday morning (July 15) to get the rental vans and rental equipment while Skouf and Ted checked out some of the forests the Pacific Northwest has to offer.  A little after lunch we got back to Ted house and while I took a brief nap the rest of the guys checked out the rental gear we got from American Music.  If you are ever in Seattle and need backline, these are the guys to go to.

Sean and Jeff checking out the rental gear

That evening we met up with Ted’s girlfriend Jayme and ate dinner in Seattle before heading up to Everrett, WA for the show at Jimmy Z’s with Long Beach Short Bus. 

Ted and Jayme during the ride to dinner

A couple of hours later we arrived at JimmyZ’s.  Soon after we got there the place was absolutely packed.  We found out later that the show actually sold out which was awesome.  I was a little worried we would be rusty because of the two week layover we had between shows but we hit the stage with a lot of energy and the crowd really dug us.

Shot of the stage at JimmyZ's

The front of the crowd at JimmyZ's

Packing up the van immediately after the show on Friday night

Thanks so much to Greg Gibson from Local Chaos Productions and Mind Candy for hooking us up with the show!

Immediately after our set we had to pack up our stuff and head back towards Seattle to catch the 1:00am Edmonds-Kingston ferry to cut off some of our journey to Victoria.  It seems as if to get anywhere you need to take a ferry and they can be really expensive.

Bryan Havoc loves the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry at 1:00am

 

Why is Jeff so gay?

After getting off the ferry we made our way to Port Angeles to catch the Coho Ferry to take us from Washington to Victoria.  We ended up making it to Port Angeles around 3:00am which gave us enough time for about 3 hours of sleep in the really shitty Chinook motel.

The shittiest motel in Port Angeles.  I guess you get what you pay for.

We woke up around 6:00am to catch the first ferry of the morning and we were a little punchy as you can see here…

The Coho Ferry is amazing.  The ride lasts around 90 minutes and the sights you can see from the ship are breath-taking.  It was a slightly overcast day on Saturday morning (July 16) but when the ferry crossed into Canadian waters the sky all of a sudden became really clear and a rainbow appeared.  We took it as a good omen of things to come.

I am shocked at how overcast the sky is.

 

Here comes the sun

We got to Victoria at around 11:00 am after getting through customs.  Victoria is seriously the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life.  I don’t know if these pictures do it justice or not but the place is wonderful.

This is the view of Victoria as you come in on the Coho Ferry

 

Port of Victoria

 

Capitol Building

We got to our stage (The Open Air Stage in Centennial Square), loaded up our gear and then walked around the town for a little bit before getting ready for our set. 

Me at sound check

The Open Air Stage is located right next to Chinatown in Victoria, so Sean Hur had some fun checking out some of the shops.

The set at The Victoria Ska Festival was amazing.  We found out that we had 50 minutes so we pulled out the stops and gave everybody one hell of a show despite the fact that we had very little sleep the night previous.  The people there who came to see the show were really supportive of us even though they had never seen us before – a rare situation indeed.

 

 

The Afterbeat

After the set we packed up, watched The Afterbeat from Winnipeg, Manitoba perform an incredible set (you will see these guys in Philly soon!) and then grabbed some dinner at The Reef, which is a Caribbean restaurant in Victoria that was one of the sponsors for the ska fest.  Unfortunately, soon after we had to leave to catch the 7:00 Coho ferry back to Port Angeles because our flights were leaving Seattle the next morning.

The Reef

No worries though…  on the ride back we got to see the sunset which again was amazing.

That night after getting back on the ferry (and dealing with US customs!) we headed back to Seattle.  We stayed the night in The Seatac Inn, a hotel close to the airport, packed our bags and then got some well deserved rest.

We got to the airport later the next morning and flew home.  I was so sick of Skouf I almost strangled him with my air phone cord.

Ah…  what a wonderful trip.  We must go back…  and soon!  We've got some other pictures on the site HERE if you want to check them out as well.

Mahalo

~ Rossi

Well, right now we're just north of Baltimore, MD and in the homestretch of the 11 hour drive home from Ska Weekend 2005. The show there was absolutely nuts. It was awesome to see so many awesome bands in one place. We also saw a ton of familiar faces - a real testimate to the national draw that Ska Weekend has. I mean, hell... If ska does really well, even all the way down south in Knoxville we all must be doing something right! Mahalo. -Rossi

Oh man... I just spent the last couple of minutes laughing at the finalized artwork for The Atomic Pony EP. Check it out: This is the front cover: and this is the back cover: HAHAHAHA oh yea... thats an ass... Mahalo. -Rossi

It’s finally here… In what is likely to be the biggest all-ages show of Spring 2005, SGR will hit the mainstage at the historic Trocadero Theatre in Center City, Philadelphia on Sunday, April 17, to commemorate the release of its new EP, Atomic Pony. "We’ve been waiting a long time for this,” said SGR drummer Dave Rossi. "It’s been two-and-a-half long years since we released a CD at The Trocadero. To headline a show there is incredibly special to us. I can say without a doubt in my mind that our set that night will surely be something to remember!” Doors open at 6:00pm and tickets are only $10 when purchased through sgrband.com or at any upcoming SGR show; they will be $12 at the door. Credit-card holders may also purchase tickets through The Trocadero Box office (215-922-LIVE), or online at Ticketmaster.com. Copies of Atomic Pony will be offered for sale for the first time that night at the special price of $7, as will a new line of SGR merchandise, including buttons, stickers, and t-shirts. The Trocadero Balcony Bar will be open for guests of drinking age, and the show is open to music fans of all ages. The show will also be filmed for use in a Philly Ska Live DVD Compilation. Celebrating the launch of Atomic Pony with SGR will be Philly ska scenesters Ruder Than You, which have not been seen at the Trocadero mainstage since their fall 2003 team-up with SGR and The Slackers. Dirty Larry and No Regrets will be making their Trocadero mainstage debut appearances that night. "We talked at length as a group about which bands we wanted to play this show with," said SGR frontman Matt Skoufalos. "Ruder Than You, Dirty Larry, and No Regrets have all been so integral in the revival of the ska scene in Philly these last two years. It's such a pleasure to be able to share this night with them.” To top it off, spinning a constant stream of peace, love, and unity in between sets will be DJ Nuno Rodrigues—a.k.a., "The Green Goblin," of Hub City Stompers fame—and Steady Sound System. Steady Sound System boasts the best collection of ska, rocksteady, reggae, and dub in the area, rocking out Philly venues from the Rotunda to the Balcony Bar, and is guaranteed to keep the evening moving along smoothly. "Expect a ton of surprises," said SGR guitarist Sean Hur. "We're pulling out all the stops for this show. It will definitely be a memorable evening, and one insane party! You will be sorry if you miss it."

The SGR Perspective This week's perspective by SGR bassist, Jon Bon Butts The past few weeks have been really exciting with the band. We have played some great shows in Canada, Connecticut, New York, and Jersey. It is so much fun to whip out some of the new material at shows and to get such a positive audience response. The EP, Atomic Pony, will be coming out soon. I cannot wait for you guys to hear this thing. I am so proud of everyone who has worked so hard and with so much heart to make this album great. We decided, after much debate, to call the album “Atomic Pony.” It is true that I came up with this intriguing title, and it is also true that no one else in the band knows its real meaning. Therefore, I will now share with you the true meaning behind this most amazing and philosophical name. This knowledge may change your very sense of being, or it may cause immediate paralysis. I caution the reader not to continue if he or she suffers from any sort of heart problem or any other health-related weakness. You have been warned. With that having been said, “Atomic Pony” is actually an anagram. It means: C A MINTY POO. If that doesn’t sit well with you, then you probably have more common sense than I do. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Currently in Jon's CD player: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Torq 195 - "195" - An excellent hardcore band that I used to see around Old Bridge years ago. Unfortunately, they have been broken up for some time. I’m not usually a fan of really hardcore thrash, but these guys knew how to do it right. 311 - "Grassroots" - Great band, great album. Always a standard in my CD player. Bob Marley - "Rastaman Vibration" - Anything Bob Marley did was always outstanding, but this album is probably my favorite. It’s really funky, and "Roots, Rock, Reggae" is soooo good. Oasis - "(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?" - Wait--this isn’t my CD. Sean, stop leaving your crap in my car! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Currently Hooked on: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pool - I’ve been playing far too much pool lately. Teaching guitar lessons - I love my students. I never wanted to be a teacher, but I’m really starting to enjoy it. It’s great to pass on knowledge to someone else and see it make a difference. Ibanez Soundgear Series Bass Guitars: After playing a SDGR bass for years, I’ve recently developed a whole new appreciation for these instruments. Ibanez really knew what they were doing when they came out with these. They’re great basses for both stage performance and recording. Family Guy: Watch it; love it; learn from it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best and Worst Thing to Happen to Me This Week: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BEST THING: I won $50 million in the lottery, and bought a small tropical island made entirely out of brown M&M’s. WORST THING: The M&M’s melted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Props To: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Props to Tommy Joyner and everyone at Milkboy Studios for doing such an incredible job recording and mixing the new EP. Additional props to Jason Candler for hooking us up with a great, final, mastered product, and props to everyone in the band for giving it everything they had and more in the studio. You guys are gonna love this thing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Karma's Gonna Catch Up to: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pirate hookers. It’s just not a very good way to make a living. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What I Learned at Rehearsal This Week: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good songs are a dime a dozen—it’s the shitty ones that you have to work for.

Well, the guys and I are all home now safe and sound from or weekend journey to Canada, and what an insane weekend it was! We left from our temporary practice home in Piscataway, NJ on Friday (2/18) afternoon at around 2:30pm. Joining us for the trip were: Jeff Hanna’s girlfriend Jen, Sean Hur’s friend Carly, two of my friends Jason and Greg, and the infamous (meaning MORE than famous) Teri Wang, my girlfriend. After driving for around 4 hours, we arrived at The Funny Farm in Broadalbin, NY for the kickoff show with our good friends in Public Access. The SGR caravan got to the club around 8:00pm, just in time to catch Rusty Ward, the headliner of the comedy show which took place right before our set. Apparently Rusty has done work with Comedy Central and he was unbelievable funny. So, of course, we started drinking… Now before I continue with the story of the weekend, I must tell you that every year for Lent I give up some of my vices. Unfortunately for me, this trip was scheduled a week and a half after Ash Wednesday (2/9). As the weekend progressed those promises came tumbling down one by one. The crack in the dam first appeared when I got pretty buzzed before the set and then even more buzzed as the night went on. But I digress…after the comedy show was finished Public Access arrived and we began setting up for the ska portion of the evening. We went on first and played a set that was probably noted most for frequent breaking of guitar strings. Thank God the guys in Public Access were there to save our ass. For the show those guys loaned us their amps, guitars, drums…pretty much all of their equipment! As soon as Public Access went on was when the real fun began. Appropriately, Jay, Chris, Derek, Bob, and Matt opened their set with “Immigrant Song” by Led Zeppelin. During their set, our crew made really good friends with Ester, the bartender at The Funny Farm (who is also the wife of owner Mike Irwin) and all of us ended up drinking way way too much. Tony, the promoter for the show, got so into Public Access that he started pulling a Bam Margera/Jackass-influenced tirade all over the club, jumping on top of tables, smashing glasses, and running all over the place in hopes of starting a mosh pit. By the time the lights went up the club was a total mess. It was about 1:00 am when we finally left The Funny Farm and found three people sober enough among the 12 of us to drive the two hours west on I-90 to our hotel rooms at The Fairfield Inn in East Syracuse, NY. We arrived at the hotel in East Syracuse around 3:00am and passed right out. On Saturday (2/19) we woke up bright and early for the free continental breakfast and to get ready for our run across the border to Canada. Before leaving, we had heard so many nightmare stories about bands getting stopped and refused entry for the stupidest things so we came prepared. We took a total of three passenger cars up there, each loaded up with a minimum of equipment and merchandise which was strategically hidden by our luggage. As we got closer to the Canadian border, we realized we also had another problem. Jason and Greg had brought along some special supplies for the trip that would cause a HUGE problem if discovered at the border. An additional problem we encountered was that the quantity of said supplies was far too much to consume in the hour and a half we had left between Syracuse and the Canadian Border. Thinking quickly, we came up with a brilliant plan. The solution we came up with was to stop at some out of the way restaurant and then bury our excessive supplies in a strategic location – one which was so exceptional I dare not mention it here. Not for fear of being caught, but because in the future we will probably need to continue to use this great plan. Thus, around lunch time on Saturday, we stopped off, buried our package and headed along our way to Canada. About 4 hours later all of the cars found their way to Oshawa for the Ontario Ska Fest. We had absolutely no problems at the border, except for Jon Bon Butts who disregarded all our previous research and brought only his drivers license with him. Fortunately he was lucky and got a “nice” border guard who let him into the country anyway. We got to The Dungeon where the festival took place and the place was packed full of people going nuts for the ska bands on stage. We hung around for an hour or so before our set and talked to the folks there for the show, who happened to be some of the nicest people we have ever met. Our set was banging and everybody there really dug us. After we performed, Hub City Stompers and Bigger Thomas, both from the tri-state area, brought the house down as well. All in all an excellent time was had. After a couple more drinks we headed to the Best Western. Most of us were pretty tired from the long day, but Skouf, Jason, Hunter, and Jon Bon Butts decided they were ready for some more action. So they went out to a club in downtown Oshawa, ironically named “Catch 22.” When they got there they found out that the place was an 80s bar and people were all freaking out and dancing like crazy to Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” Immediately after that song, everybody in the crowd slow danced to Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing in the Name of,” which is probably one of the strangest things I have ever heard. So then Jason, Hunter, and Jon Bon Butts all came back to the hotel, leaving Skouf in the very capable hands of a caring and nice female Oshawa resident. The next morning we all met up for breakfast at the Golden Griddle in the Oshawa Centre for the all-you can eat breakfast buffet and planned out the next day. Unfortunately, just before we left for the trip we found out that the third show of the weekend at Club Rockit in Toronto, ON was cancelled because the club shut down the week before. We were all bummed, but figured we’d play it by ear once we got to Sunday (2/20). After the night we had on Saturday, we all decided that since we were in the area anyway we should stay in Canada the extra night and find out what the night life was like in Toronto. So we drove an hour to Toronto and checked in to our field-view hotel rooms rooms at Skydome, where, coincidentally, the Canadian International Auto Show was taking place. Some kind of mix up happened at the front desk and we ended up getting a suite for free…got to love those nice Canadians! (Note: we’ll have pics on the site soon of the view of the stadium) Soon afterward we headed out to see the CN Tower (come on…what else is there to do for tourists during the day in Toronto?). I am deathly afraid of heights, but I went up there anyway for the amusement of everybody else. After returning from the observation deck, we decided to head out for dinner and some drinks. Unfortunately, as we discovered, Toronto is much like other cities we know…there is really not all that much to do on a Sunday night, especially during a snow storm. So we ended up heading back to the hotel bar for a nightcap where, as had become customary all weekend, we drank way too much and pretty much took over the bar. The next morning we headed home after our Canadian adventure. Skouf, Jon Bon Butts, Sean Hur, and Carly all stopped off at Niagara Falls on the way home while Jason, Greg, Teri, and I all headed back to the restaurant just past the border, grabbed lunch and retrieved the special package we had left for ourselves on Saturday. The final one of my Lenten promises was broken on the way home from the trip, and I have to say it was well worth it. Mahalo. -Rossi

Hahaha... boy am I going to hear it for this one... Anyway, there's been so much going on lately... On Thursday 2/10 we'll be joining Too Short Notice and Tipping Point for a huge show with Reel Big Fish at Rutgers. Atomic Pony is being mastered on Friday and the we'll be taking a couple of days off this weekend to get ready for our two shows in the great white north from February 18-20. After coming home from Canada we'll be hitting the road again with shows in Hamden, CT (2/25), Farmingdale, NY (2/26) and Bridgewater, NJ (also 2/26). I'll be sure to post updates and let you all know how they went! Mahalo.