MR. CRANKY

Just a few words about what Mr. Cranky was. We were never supposed to be a Ska band. We were a bunch of punks and skins who picked up instruments and started playing the music we liked best. Like many of you, that was a mix of punk, soul, ska, skinhead reggay, and Oi. We were not polished. In fact, virtually every member of the band had never played their instrument before. We just picked it up as we went along.The history of Mr. Cranky is also strongly linked to another band with which we shared members: Stomp! You're likely to have never heard of this band, unless you ran with a certain crowd in the early 80's. Stomp! was Boston's first Oi! band, formed in 1984 and continued until 1987 under a variety of names (Shock 7/7, The Banned, 54-46). This was durring the period Al Barr once called 'those dark days': the period running from the collapse of the first wave of Boston hardcore, to the years just before the revival of ska and street punk. These were lonely times for anyone who liked The Business better than SSD, or the Melodians better than the Toasters. The original bands, be they '77, 2-tone, or Oi! were almost entirely retired. If you longed for Business show in 1985, you were in for a long wait. A few years after the final break-up of Stomp! Mr. Cranky was formed to carry on. That we eventually became an all "Ska" outfit was really just an accident. Still, the roots of the band are evident in the choice of cover tunes like Alchohol by GBH and Get Out Of My House by the Business. The "Ska" Label was really a misnomer, as we were really one of the very first trad Reggay/Rocksteady bands. We played a few straight Ska numbers, but really focused on the '65-'72 period (with a subliminal '77 UK influence) If Mr. Cranky is remembered for anything, it should be for being a group drawn from the same scene as our audience. Just a bunch of punks and skins who got so bored waiting for a good show, that they decided to do it themselves.