Pre-order the Mike Park & Catbite split on exclusive blue vinyl.
Last year, the fast-rising DIY ska-punk label Bad Time Records launched its Wavebreaker series with a split 7" between label founder Mike Sosinski's band Kill Lincoln and ska-punk vets Less Than Jake. As the cheeky name implies, Wavebreaker is a series of splits with one artist from an older "wave" of ska and one from the genre's current generation, and the concept is to break down generational barriers, break down the gatekeeping mentality, and bring ska fans of all ages and subgenres together. The second installment in the series comes from Mike Park (of Skankin' Pickle, The Bruce Lee Band, The Chinkees, and Asian Man Records) and the newer, Bad Time-signed Catbite, who Mike has referred to as his favorite band in the new generation of ska, and who he put out a collaborative song with in 2020.
The split has two songs from each artist, including two originals by Mike, one of which features Dance Hall Crashers vocalist Karina Deniké, and two songs by Catbite, one of which was written by Mike ("Spiral") and the other of which is a ska cover of Neon Trees' 2011 pop hit "Everybody Talks." The first singles are "Spiral" and Mike's "Lose With Me," both of which are super fun, super catchy songs, and which pair really well together. Catbite and Mike Park both have a way of pulling from 2 Tone and more traditional ska sounds in a way that works perfectly with the more modern, ska-punky stuff, and these two songs are great examples of that.
"It was honestly a fucking honor [to record a song written by Mike Park]," Catbite's Tim Hildebrand told us on the new episode of the BrooklynVegan podcast. "It was really fun to just like, 'cause usually me and [singer] Brit [Luna] are the ones doing the bare-bones skeleton of a song and bringing it to the band, so to have this skeleton given to us, the four of us just sat down one day at practice and just started fucking with it. And it was cool for all four of us to just come at a song with just hearing it and learning it and then just going to town on it. [...] It's such a great song, and it was really fun to Catbite-ify it."
"And I love it too," Mike added. "From a songwriter's perspective, I love giving someone a skeleton and going, 'Put your touch on it,' and then hearing what comes out."
Mike also added, "I'm really excited about all the new bands like Catbite, Bad Operation... that's why I wanted to [release this split on Bad Time Records]. It's because I just want to be part of this community too. I wanna be part of the Bad Time community and now I am."
Check out both songs below. We've also teamed up with the bands on an electric blue 12" vinyl variant of the split, limited to just 100 copies. Pre-order yours while they last. Here's a mock-up of the vinyl:
For much more, listen to our new podcast episode with Tim, Brit, and Mike, in which we discuss the new split, the current ska scene, some ska history, why ska still gets a little bit of a bad reputation (and why it really shouldn't), the recent divisive AltPress article on The Interrupters, and much more. Check it out on Spotify, Apple, Google Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
You can also get Catbite's great 2021 album Nice One as part of a limited bundle with exclusive variants of the latest albums by their Bad Time labelmates JER, Eichlers, and Abraskadabra.
Pick up our electric blue vinyl variant of the new split here.