The Upstarts profile picture

The Upstarts

About Me



The Upstarts debut album now available!

Check out our music video 'Salvation Day', directed by the acclaimed Fackrell Brothers. 'Salvation Day' is a single from our new self-titled album.
View the music video below on Youtube, or for a high quality Quicktime version, Click Here

The Upstarts came together in the fall of 2003 from a combination of different Ska bands from the Utah area: Earthbound, the Late Shakers, My Cousin Gina, the Squares and others. Commited to playing original and authentic music, we combine ska, rocksteady, reggae, and second and third wave ska with an element of soul to create our sound. Although ska music is grossly misunderstood in the pop-culture world and vastly under explored in the Indie scene, we will continue to make it and present our best representation of it.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 15/11/2004
Band Members: James "the James" Bradley-Bass, Kevin Davis-Drums, Andy Fackrell-Lead vox & rhythm guitar. Lifferth-Lead gutar, backing vox, Issac Moneres-Alto Sax, Rory Sandberg-Tenor Sax & backup vox, Brandon Smith-Trombone & Organ, Todd Smith-Trumpet.
Influences: Artists spanning the entire Ska-Rocksteady-Reggae spectrum. From Desmond Dekker, Laurel Aitken, the Maytals up to the Slackers, the Debonaires, and the Aggrolites.
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

Farewell Address

One and all, some have asked why it is that we are breaking up after almost 5 years as a band. There are no scandalous or dramatic reasons. There has been no band differences, no loss of motivation...
Posted by on Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:05:00 GMT

CD Review in Slug Magazine

A rare occurance took place this last week; two local ska reggae acts were recognized among a group of Indie Rock bands.  Our pals Fews and Two and us were given a record review in Slug Magazine....
Posted by on Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:47:00 GMT

Skalloween/CD release

So Skalloween this year was the best I've seen in a long long time. I was surprised by the turnout. It's a real encouraging sign for the ska scene. If you look at one of our old blogs from a couple...
Posted by on Sun, 28 Oct 2007 21:44:00 GMT

Salvation Day Music Video

So we just got done shooting our music video for our upcoming album opener "Salvation Day." I have to say, I think it's gonna be pretty slick. We filmed it on 35mm film so the quality of it is going ...
Posted by on Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:31:00 GMT

From the studio

Hey everyone, Just wanted to drop a quick line to all of you and let you know how the recording process is going. We haven't been doing any shows because we've been recording long hours every week for...
Posted by on Thu, 12 Oct 2006 15:25:00 GMT

Set to Record

So in case you haven't noticed, we've had the same six song EP representing our music now for the last year and a half. Since that time, we have grown and developed quite a bit as a band. It really is...
Posted by on Sat, 25 Mar 2006 14:41:00 GMT

Current Events

So our show on Friday (Jan. 27th) went really good. We didn't have an enormous crowd but we had a good reaction. The turnout wasn't that bad really, especially considering that 2 1/2 was playing the n...
Posted by on Mon, 30 Jan 2006 19:20:00 GMT

Skalloween 2005

Skalloween was a success! Five bands played. That's a lot of set up and take down time, but everyone was patient. All 100 of them. Yeah, that's about all that Skalloween drew this year. If it was in P...
Posted by on Tue, 01 Nov 2005 13:20:00 GMT

Up and Running!

Hey everybody, the Upstarts are up and running again. After we lost Tony as our drummer to San Fransisco, we turned around and lost John to New York. But we have Kevin now and are sounding as good as ...
Posted by on Thu, 27 Oct 2005 14:11:00 GMT