In Defense of Ska Ep 36: Mike Park (Asian Man Records, Skankin' Pickle, Chinkees, The Bruce Lee Band)

In Defense of Ska

Asian Man Records will be remembered as one of the best outlets for ska-punk in the 90s, with bands like Slapstick, MU330, Slow Gherkin, Less Than Jake, and other bands that still hold up decades later. The label is the brainchild of former Skankin Pickle singer/saxophonist Mike Park. Initially, Skankin Pickle started Dill Records, as a means to release their own music, and eventually, put out the music of other great bands. It was Mike’s idea for Dill to be a serious venture, and he did much of the legwork. So when he went out on his own, of course, Asian Man Records (1996), was a big indie success.

Mike has a long, influential career as a musician and label owner, and remains active and highly respected. On today’s episode with Mike, we discuss his days with Skankin Pickle, the early releases of Dill and Asian Man, and we hear all kinds of great stories from various times in his career. Mike tells us about discovering Less Than Jake, meeting Jeff Rosenstock, and all about the time he suggested Skankin Pickle reject an offer from Restless Records in 1991! Thanks to watching a documentary of MC Hammer and getting really into Fugazi, he figured that he could do it himself much better. And he was probably right.

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon!

If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music.

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024.

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023.

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

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