I’ve had several Joplin natives tell me that Hubcap was one of the best local ska bands back in the day, often sharing bills with Big Bad Chubba. I for the life of me can’t remember ever seeing or hearing of them, but their tape is pretty solid 90’s ska stuff. The quality is a little rough, but this is apparently a hard one to track down, so once again I guess we have to be happy with what we can find. Thanks again to John, and if anyone has clearer memories than I do about these guys, please share them in the comments.
1. Let’s Go!
2. Pokerface
3. Go Hair
4. Rob n Roll
5. Noodles
6. Wes Side Story
7. Agent 99
8. Go
9. Obstruction
Enjoy
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9 comments:
I've always loved this tape, but never had a chance to see Hubcap live.
Can someone familiar with the band verify something for me? Is that Chip Gubera (of Sodomites fame) singing lead on the song "Go"?
We were fortunate in Joplin in the 90's -- it was such a great scene.
Ha! Yeah, I have a few vague memories of Hubcap, like that one time when I played the drums with them for this (their only) album and all of their shows (like, all fifteen of them).
This was a side project for me (along side of, at the time, The Richards), but it was a lot of fun. It was my first and last foray into performing ska. That style never was my strong suit (as evidenced throughout this recording), but I enjoyed the novelty of it.
Very happy that a copy has been preserved on something other than cassette. I think I still have a copy of the tape, but it's almost certainly disintegrating in the bottom of a box in some South St. Louis basement at this point. I'd be hard-pressed to track it down.
Maybe the most noteworthy thing about this group is what several members went on to do musically afterward. Raul Camacho (bass) and Jeff Carillo (guitar, vocals) went on to head the very good and moderately successful ska band The Secretaries. I'm kind of surprised that the only mention a quick search yields is this. Not to advertise for this ebay seller or anything, but if you feel like some extremely solid (and occasionally great) '90s 3rd wave ska with thick ties to the old Joplin scene, throw down $2 for this disc. Hubcap was a lot of fun and sometimes quite good, but Jeff really hit his stride songwriting-wise with The Secretaries. If the ska "bubble" hadn't burst when it did I think they could've really risen to prominence.
A few years later, Jeff moved to Chicago and joined the highly regarded indie dance outfit Mahjongg (who recently signed to the major label K Records) with whom he regularly tours across the globe.
As for myself, I'm currently with The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. We write and perform original scores to films from the silent era.
P.S. Yes, John, that is Chip singing "Go." The story of that song is kind of interesting. Chip originally wrote that for his very short-lived and largely forgotten ska band The Chickens (circa '94). It was then covered at one time or another by I think every single Joplin ska band who came after them. If you were a Joplin ska band, it was just sort of understood that you HAD to play that song a few times. It was kind of a rite of passage.
P.P.S. Raul (who I haven't seen in a number of years) and I will be in Joplin playing a one-off reunion show with the all-covers punk band we were in back in the late '90s, The Reruns. This is especially pertinent to this topic of discussion, as another excellent '90s ska band from Joplin, The Rowskabouts, will also be reuniting and performing for only the second time in the last decade. This will be at The Kitchen Pass on Wednesday, December 23rd at 8 p.m. Not to be missed!
P.P.P.S. Thanks for the memories, Gabe. I really love this blog.
Thanks for all the info Robert. One more question, if I may... was Jeff Carillo also the frontman for Clockwork? They put out a tape called "greasetime" around 94 or 95... Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who's ever heard of any of these bands...
By the way, I absolutely LOVED the Reruns shows back in the day! Wish I could make it up to Missouri for the gig.
Ok I have to chime in on this one. Yes, Jeff Carillo was in Clockwork. In fact I think that as far as songwriting goes, they may be the best band Joplin ever had. I recorded both Hubcap and Clockwork in my mom's living room. Hubcap was a four-track recording and Clockwork was an 8-track reel to reel. I wish I could have afforded better equipment to preserve the sound of these bands better. But at least we got them.
By the way it was hilarious to watch Chip laying his vocals down. And yes, the Rowskabouts will be doing "Go" at the upcoming reunion show. I'm excited to be singing in the Reruns again. This will be one of the highlights of my year for sure.
My first live ska experience was hubcap, and it was all downhill after that. i just found this blog. it's amazing. sooo glad to know it's here. does anyone have that clockwork tape? post it up!
I have the Clockwork tape but I don't know how to transfer to computer world. If anyone wants to do that I will send them a copy to do it. And if you would do me the favor I wouldn't mind putting Guilty Party's EP on here as well.
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