Search - Artist/Band: The Toasters

• Band Name: The Toasters
• Formed: 1982
• Decades Active: 1980,1990,2000
• Genre: Rock
• Styles: Alternative/Indie Rock, Punk/New Wave, Ska Revival, Third Wave Ska Revival
• Moods: Boisterous, Exuberant, Freewheeling, Fun, Rambunctious, Energetic, Gleeful, Irreverent, Manic, Playful, Quirky

Title	Release
One More Bullet	04/24/2007
You're Gonna Pay	07/13/2006
Rare as Toast W	04/26/2005
In Retrospect: The Best of the Toasters W	10/21/2003
Best of the Toasters WA	07/03/2002
Enemy of the System	04/16/2002
Dub 56 Plus Live in L.A.	06/26/2000
Don't Let the Bastards Grind You Down (D.L.T.B.G.Y.D.) WA	10/28/1997
History Book	1997
Hard Band for Dead WA	06/25/1996
Ska Killers WA	03/05/1996
2-Tone Army WA	1996
Dub 56 WA	08/23/1994
New York Fever	1992
This Gun for Hire WA	1990
Thrill Me Up WA	1988
Skaboom! WA	1987

One of the most important American ska bands, the Toasters did much to popularize the genre on the underground scene in the mid- to late '80s, laying the groundwork for later third-wave bands like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and ska's subsequent explosion in popularity in the mid- to late '90s. British expatriate Rob "Bucket" Hingley formed the Toasters in New York City in 1982 after discovering that the 2-Tone ska he loved had made virtually no inroads into the American music scene. He gathered several employees at the comic-book store he managed to form the band's first incarnation, releasing their first single, "Beat Up," in 1983. hingley also formed his own label, Moon Ska Records, to counteract skepticism from major labels that ska would ever prove popular in the U.S.; Moon Ska has since grown into the largest independent ska label in the country. A demo EP, Recriminations, was released in 1985 and produced by Joe Jackson, the first of several collaborations; two years later, the Toasters issued their first full-length American album, Skaboom, for Celluloid. Thrill Me Up (1988) and This Gun for Hire (1990) helped consolidate the band's following, as the New York ska scene and Moon Ska's artist roster mushroomed behind them. The Toasters' lineup continued to shift through the '90s, eventually leaving guitarist/vocalist hingley the only original member; some of the musicians remaining fairly steady in their '90s lineups have been bassist Matt Malles, saxophonist Freddie Reiter, trumpeter Brian "The Sledge," trombonists Rick "Chunk" Faulkner and Erick "E-Man" Storckman, keyboardist Dave Barry, drummer Johnathan McCain, and vocalist Coolie Ranx, as well as frequent guest appearances from saxophonist Lester "Ska" Sterling. In addition to Hingley's activities with Moon Ska, the Toasters continued to release albums throughout the decade, including New York Fever (1992), Dub 56 (1994), Hard Band for Dead (1996), and D.L.T.B.G.Y.D. (1997). The Toasters soldiered on in the new millennium with 2002's Enemy of the State and a new compilation, In Retrospect: the Best of the Toasters, released in 2003. When not in the studio, hingley and his ever evolving Toasters line up can be found touring the US, Europe and other ska hungry corners of the globe. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide