#2 - The 2006 Arizona Ska Punk Awards Ceremony

The fourth Annual Arizona Ska Punk Awards Ceremony was one of this year’s most outstanding shows, featuring live performances from 20 of the Valley’s most cherished acts! The memorable event took place on March 4th of last year, and hundreds of music lovers flooded into the venue, allowing them the chance to see their favorite bands, and mingle with various people in the local music business.

In order to fully take in all that the awards ceremony had to offer, our staff arrived early, and even attended the Awards Pre-Show at Cooperstown from 4:00pm-6:00pm, and watched 30 minutes live performances from the ska band, Captain Squeegee and The Soap Suds and the punk pop band, Adam Don’t Care. The pre-show ended with a 45 minute set from the all female punk band, The Dames, who put on an amazing show scorching full of positive energy that set an optimistic tone for the nights festivities.

The Awards Ceremony officially started at 6:00pm, with host and local comedian, Jeff Delay thanking everyone for coming out to support local music, and thanked everyone for voting for their favorite bands. Delay explained that the Arizona Ska Punk Awards nominees are chosen by a select group of over 400 individuals in the local music scene, including record label and venue owners, promoters, writers, recording engineers, producers, and many more. Each member of the select group submits a form on the first of every year, featuring their top five choices for each of the categories. Laundromat Productions counts up all of the votes and choses the top five selections in each category. After Laundromat Productions has calculated all of the nominees in each category, the nominees are officially announced at the Arizona Ska Punk Awards Nomination Party in late January or early February. The nominees are then posted on the official website, and fans are invited to vote for their favorite choice. The site only allows one email per IP address, as an attempt to prevent hardcore fans from voting for their favorite band multiple times.

The winners in each category are announced at the awards ceremony, and after Delay finished explaining the awards process, he announced local promoter, Will Anderson, and local record store owner, Kimber Lanning to the stage to deliver the award for Best Fanzine. The local rag, S.L.A.M. Magazine, also known as Support Local Art and Music Magazine, took home the award, and was followed by a raw and thundering three minute song from the punk band, Helen’s Wheel’s. The evening went on like this for the rest of the night, and every single time that a winner was announced, a happiness filled the air and it was nice to see the winners so excited thankful to everyone in the scene.

After an award was given, it was followed up by a short live performance from various bands throughout the state. Sandpaper Love from Flagstaff performed a fast paced ska song that made you want to dance, and Shark Pants from Tucson displayed their old school style of punk rock in a quick set under five minutes long.

Most of the bands only performed a single song, although a few bands like the pop punk band No Gimmick and horror punk band Calabrese did manage to cram two or even three songs into the short time slot. Some bands, like the horror surf punk band, The Route 66 Killers, performed a blend of their songs mixing several of their tracks into one short five or six minute long tune.

The melodic pop punk band, Idiot Kin, performed their comedic cover of the Outkast song, “Hey Yeah”, and the skate punk locals, All Too Much (ATM), performed their popular song, “Blindside”. The newly formed screamo/metal band, Asperity, displayed an incredible performance that was strong and focused. The very young group of teenagers allowed their music to flow through the bones of everyone in the venue, blasting the crowd with an array of distorted alternating guitars, a booming bass, tight and captivating drums, and distinct sounding keyboard and synthesizer tones that flow through the air with a familiar and mind numbing style.

Another memorable performance came from the new post hardcore punk band, The Revenge, featuring several veterans of the local underground punk rock scene, including members of bands like Sam the Butcher and Adams’ Alcoholic’s. The bands heavy phase shifting guitar tones with heavily distorted bass lines are enhanced with the gritty screaming vocals that accompany the music.

Bad Stain Recording Artists, Numbers On Napkins also executed a stunning performance for fans at the ceremony, when the wild and impulsive punk band performed their very popular single, “Runaway”, followed by the hilarious, “My Girlfriend Bit My Dick Off”, and also a short two minute long version of their upbeat pop punk cover of “Baby Got Back”, originally performed by Sir-Mix-A-Lot.

The evening was a kaleidoscope of sounds and emotions, with a ton of familiar faces in attendance. The big winners of the evening were the local band Haffo, who took home awards for Best Ska Band, as well as Album of the Year for their “Greens” CD, and North Side Kings, who took home Best Hardcore Band, and Best video for their single, “Bad Guy”. The Twits tok home Best Retired Band, and the Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Chris Lawson, Micah Allen, and Bryan Sandell, the three founders of the popular local social media website, AZPunk.com.

The final band of the evening was a surprise twenty minute performance from the local skate punk band, D-I-X, who reunited for the event! D-I-X were somewhat local legends in the mid to late ninties, after the band released their very popular debut album, “Non Compos Mentis” on Bad Stain Records in 1995, and the crowd was full of joy as the band took stage for the first time in nearly a decade!