Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Buck O Nine’s Jon Pebsworth talks “third-wave” in Pick It Up! Ska In The ’90s documentary

This era included such acts as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, Hepcat, and Goldfinger

Buck O Nine won’t let ska die.
Buck O Nine won’t let ska die.

Longtime Buck-O-Nine lead singer Jon Pebsworth pops up as a talking head in the new documentary Pick It Up! Ska In The ’90s. The film details the history of ska music while concentrating on the bands that broke in the so-called ‘third-wave’ of the movement. Besides Buck-O-Nine, this era included such acts as the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, Hepcat, and Goldfinger.

The ska scene had been simmering since the late ’80s due to influential bands such as Operation Ivy. It wasn’t until around 1997 that the music exploded into the mainstream. Ska’s moment was fleeting though, as the movement quickly drifted back underground by 1999 as nu-metal bands began to take over the airwaves. Twenty years removed from the genre’s peak popularity, the documentary makes a point of showing that ska is so far off the mainstream radar these days that many people have no idea what it is.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“That wasn’t really surprising to me, because I remember even back in the ’90s when the third-wave thing was really popping a lot of people would be like, ‘What’s that? I don’t know what ska is.’ Then to explain it to them would be almost painful. There’s times when people have asked me and I kind of feel like going ‘I’m just not even going to answer. Let’s just talk about something else,’” Pebsworth said with a laugh.

The band may not be as busy these days as they were during the third-wave era, but they’re still active. They’re not averaging two to three-hundred dates a year like they were in the mid-’90s, but they still get together for shorter tours and to work on albums, the latest of which is 2019’s Fundaymental. Logistically, it’s a bit trickier now that half of the six-member band lives outside of San Diego.

“Andy [Platfoot — the band’s bassist who lives in Yosemite] will jump in a rent-a-car, come through LA, pick me up, and then we’re in San Diego,” Pebsworth explained. “Steve [Bauer, drums] just flies in on a cheap flight [from Colorado]. So, it’s not that hard to get everyone together, but it does take a good three to six months out to kind of plan something.”

The band is already at work writing songs for a follow-up to Fundaymental. Pebsworth said that they have four new songs they’re working on right now, and that they are hoping to have twelve to fourteen on the finished LP.

“At the pace that we work, it’s going to be 2021 at least probably,” he explained. “But, who knows, we might get it together quicker than that.”

One thing that fans can count on is a lack of constant updates about the status of the new album on social media. At this point, the band is more concerned with discussing their songs than scheduling Instagram posts.

“We don’t think too much about marketing and stuff like that anymore,” he said. “Maybe we should. Maybe it doesn’t matter. I don’t know. We’re just kind of on our own little pace at this point. When we have discussions over text messages or phone calls, it’s more about ‘what about the bridge of this song?’”

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Big kited bluefin on the Red Rooster III

Lake fishing heating up as the weather cools
Buck O Nine won’t let ska die.
Buck O Nine won’t let ska die.

Longtime Buck-O-Nine lead singer Jon Pebsworth pops up as a talking head in the new documentary Pick It Up! Ska In The ’90s. The film details the history of ska music while concentrating on the bands that broke in the so-called ‘third-wave’ of the movement. Besides Buck-O-Nine, this era included such acts as the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, Hepcat, and Goldfinger.

The ska scene had been simmering since the late ’80s due to influential bands such as Operation Ivy. It wasn’t until around 1997 that the music exploded into the mainstream. Ska’s moment was fleeting though, as the movement quickly drifted back underground by 1999 as nu-metal bands began to take over the airwaves. Twenty years removed from the genre’s peak popularity, the documentary makes a point of showing that ska is so far off the mainstream radar these days that many people have no idea what it is.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“That wasn’t really surprising to me, because I remember even back in the ’90s when the third-wave thing was really popping a lot of people would be like, ‘What’s that? I don’t know what ska is.’ Then to explain it to them would be almost painful. There’s times when people have asked me and I kind of feel like going ‘I’m just not even going to answer. Let’s just talk about something else,’” Pebsworth said with a laugh.

The band may not be as busy these days as they were during the third-wave era, but they’re still active. They’re not averaging two to three-hundred dates a year like they were in the mid-’90s, but they still get together for shorter tours and to work on albums, the latest of which is 2019’s Fundaymental. Logistically, it’s a bit trickier now that half of the six-member band lives outside of San Diego.

“Andy [Platfoot — the band’s bassist who lives in Yosemite] will jump in a rent-a-car, come through LA, pick me up, and then we’re in San Diego,” Pebsworth explained. “Steve [Bauer, drums] just flies in on a cheap flight [from Colorado]. So, it’s not that hard to get everyone together, but it does take a good three to six months out to kind of plan something.”

The band is already at work writing songs for a follow-up to Fundaymental. Pebsworth said that they have four new songs they’re working on right now, and that they are hoping to have twelve to fourteen on the finished LP.

“At the pace that we work, it’s going to be 2021 at least probably,” he explained. “But, who knows, we might get it together quicker than that.”

One thing that fans can count on is a lack of constant updates about the status of the new album on social media. At this point, the band is more concerned with discussing their songs than scheduling Instagram posts.

“We don’t think too much about marketing and stuff like that anymore,” he said. “Maybe we should. Maybe it doesn’t matter. I don’t know. We’re just kind of on our own little pace at this point. When we have discussions over text messages or phone calls, it’s more about ‘what about the bridge of this song?’”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

East San Diego County has only one bike lane

So you can get out of town – from Santee to Tierrasanta
Next Article

San Diego beaches not that nice to dogs

Bacteria and seawater itself not that great
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader