Ska Boom-Episode 003: The Specials in America/Paul Williams

The spirit of The Specials hover over nearly every chapter of my forthcoming book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History. The band's two star-crossed tours of America in 1980 and 1981 may well have broken them, but their impact and influence -- particularly their incendiary performance on Saturday Night Live in 1981 on the embryonic  American ska scene  -- is incalculable. On this episode of Ska Boom, I speak with Paul Williams, author of You're Wondering Now- The Specials from Conception to Reunion, the definitive book on The Specials and Stephen Shafer author of The Duff Guide To 2 Tone to discuss how 2 Tone spread across the UK in 1979 and Paul's ska conversion story as well as how The Specials approached their tours of America and how it changed them and the American music scene. In addition to being the leading expert on The Specials, Paul is the lead singer for The Skapones, a U.K. ska band and is the head boss man for the Specialized Project, a U.K. charitable organization that produces live ska events and compilation albums that raise funds for needy organizations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices