Music Scene
So you wanna be a rock-ska?

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

On paper, it seems Skanabata and Kite Festival have nothing in common.

The members of the band Skanabata have known each other from, well, hanabata days. The Christian ska band will be among the performers at Saturday night's punkfest at Pink Cadillac.

One has roots in a Waipahu church; the other is from Kalani High School.

But actually, these bands have much more in common than you'd think.

Both have demos out, hoping to cut a full-length release by the end of the year. Both are high-energy live bands, recently home from summer West Coast tours. And both will perform at Pink Cadillac tomorrow night, for the first time together.

Skanabata, which has been around for four years, released its first demo last year, "For Good Health," featuring praise-influenced ska ditties fueled with the high energy of 10 guys who've known each other from hanabata days (hence the band's name).

Unusual for a ska band to belt out Christian lyrics, Skanabata, in typical ska fashion, doesn't care what anyone thinks.

	Punk show
•	Featuring Skanabata, Scare Tactics, HoInDaWall and Kite Festival
•	7 p.m. Saturday; doors open at 6:30 p.m.
•	Pink Cadillac (formerly Club Four78 and Evolution), 478 Ena Road
•	$5
•	All ages show
•	Also: The first 100 paid admissions will receive a free 7-inch 20th anniversary edition vinyl record of The Squids (originally released in 1981).

The message they deliver is more personal than preachy, he said. Their sound is what lures listeners who, they hope, will get that message.

Because people who appreciate ska music won't be dismayed by the lyrics. Not if the music is kicking.

"There's a lot of well-known Christian bands, so people don't really mind," said Tandal, whose two brothers also play in the band. "But some people personally don't like Christian music. But to me, if people like music, they'll like any kind of music, Christian or not."

This summer Skanabata played in shows from San Diego to Stevenson, Wash., where they participated in the 7th annual Tomfest, a festival of alternative Christian bands. More than 2,000 people turned out to watch 150 bands, such as Project 86 and Five Iron Frenzy, duel it out on dual stages.

Kite Festival just got back from its own tour, playing in clubs from California to Oregon.

Touring has given the band perspective — and fueled their enthusiasm to perform locally.

"We had a lot more fun up there because we were on vacation," said 24-year-old bassist Reynold Higa, a delivery driver for Kinko's Copies. "It's kinda exciting to play down here now because I think we performed better up there."

Like Skanabata, Kite Festival, together for about three years, is trying to produce its first full-length album by the end of the year. But it's not as easy as writing a couple of money songs and spending weekends holed up in a recording studio.

"We want to go fulltime; I don't think anybody wants to work," Higa said. "I think anybody would just be happy to at least put out our record and find a way not to lose so much money. We're pretty much working to pay for that stuff and we're all broke."

Higa, like Skanabata's Tandal, respects what organizers are doing to expand the local underground punk and ska scene.

"I admire guys like Jason Miller (the punk show's promoter), who invest a lot of time into shows," Higa said.

Miller, who has been organizing these shows since 1995, promotes, in a small but effective way, these bands by showcasing them in a natural habitat. So far the club at 478 Ena Road, now named Pink Cadillac once again, has been an ideal venue.

"We get a lot of diversity," Miller said. "We get young kids 'cause it's an all-ages show. We get older adults 'cause there's a bar. It's a pretty broad mix."

He does this because he believes in emerging local bands.

"I'm certainly trying to keep (the scene) alive," said Miller, who's not a musician or in a band. "That's why I keep doing shows. It's a supply-demand thing. There's plenty of both."

And he believes in variety at these shows. The Christian ska band will perform on the same stage where, at the last show, the Satanic metal band Magnum Carnage played.

"I try to be completely neutral on everything," he said. "If that's what they're into, let them play to the audience and have them decide."