tracks

Panic!
Say It Again
Not Right Now
How It Has To Be
Less And Less
We Need To Talk
Trouble
We Wear The Mask
King For A Day
It's Been Done
You Know Seh Mr. Radics
Dub The Mask

notes

Long time ska players, coming from the mid 80's era or the NY/NJ ska scene, Bigger Thomas are gracing us with their hardest worked and most solid release to date. These guys have been steadily working in the scene for many years and now is the time for them to bust out of the tri-state area and let the world know that old school NY/NJ ska sound is still alive and kicking!

Line Up
Jim Cooper - Percussion and Drums
Marc Wasserman - Bass
Spencer Katzman - Guitar
John DiBianco - Drums and Percussion
Roger Apollon Jr. - Vocals and Melodica

<b>Special Guests</b>
Roy Radics (The Rudie Crew) - Toasting on 1, 2, 7 and 11
Rev. T.D. Sinister (Hub City Stompers) - Toasting on 1, Spoken Word on 7
Tommi Infamous (Bomb Town) - Toasting on 1
Michael Ambrose - Organ on 7, Piano, Organ and Synthesizer on 8
King Django - Harmonica on 3
Nate Birkey - Trumpet solos on 3, and 9
Scott Palmer - Organ and Keyboards
Kevin A. Sztam - Trombone
Rick Nagle - Trumpet

We Wear the Mask
A poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,≠-
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream other-wise,
We wear the mask!

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872-1906

For more information please visit www.dunbarsite.org

Special thanks to :
Bucket, Jeremy Patton and the whole Megalith family, our Ska Triptych brethren ( AKA La Ska Familia ), Hub City Stompers, The Rudie Crew, Bomb Town, Steady Soundsystem, The Bigger Thomas Extended Family ( you know who you are! ), King Django and the crew at Version City, Snow White, Dave Beckerman and Alexis Scherl for their wonderful pictures, Thomas Cunningham at Sacque Suit for the great threads, Steve Parker, Rob George, Nate Birkey, Michael Ambrose and Chris Malone. To all the clubs who've booked us as well as all of you who've stuck by us and never gave up!

This collection of work is a homecoming and a rebirth on many different levels. We recorded in a studio that is walking distance from our very first rehearsal space in New Brunswick, NJ. We've known and played along side the man who produced this CD for over 15 years. The bulk of the material recorded was written, rehearsed, forgotten and rediscovered over the course of 15 years. The special guests who have contributed their talents to this project did it out of love and respect. They are a combination of old, trusted friends and young upstarts who share our passion for not only the music but the cultivation of a musical scene. We hope you enjoy listening to what we had a tremendous time creating.

This release copyright Megalith Records © 2005.
Please visit www.megalithrecords.com for more great ska and ska related releases.
All artwork layout design, Megalith logo and inside sidewalk photo by Jeremy Patton.
Cover photo by Dave Beckerman www.davebeckerman.com, band photos by Alexis Scherl www.flybutterphoto.com, back sidewalk photo by Dorothy Patton.

Please visit www.biggerthomas.com for more information.
All music by Bigger Thomas except where noted.
Produced, engineered, recorded and mixed by King Django at Version City Studios, New Brunswick, NJ Dec. 2004 to July 2005.

credits

Harmonica – King Django (tracks: 3)
Keyboards – Scott Palmer
Organ – Mike Ambrose (tracks: 7, 8)
Toasting – Roy Radics (tracks: 1, 2, 7, 11), Tommi Infamous (tracks: 1), Travis Nelson (tracks: 1, 7)
Trombone – Kevin A. Sztam
Trumpet – Nate Birkey (tracks: 3, 9), Rick Nagle

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