LA ska band Hepcat once appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. They were an early signing to Epitaph subsidiary Hellcat Records and were flown all over to open for a wide variety of bands. But they were—and the band admits this—never going to blow up. The group consisted of several LA ska scene kids from the 80s who loved original Jamaican ska. Not a commercially viable genre. And back then, you would have to search far and wide to find these old records. This love they shared for the music united them and led to the formation of Hepcat. Their original plan was to replicate old ska music, but they realized that not only was that not possible, but mixing it with newer influences made it more interesting. And that they did, but rather than blend it with punk, they pulled from R&B, soul, Latin, and pop. And they produced some fantastic songs in the process! On this episode, we spend some time with Hepcat’s singer Greg Lee and drummer Greg Narvas to learn about LA 80s’ ska scene, so that we can understand the culture that created Hepcat. We dive into both Gregs’ origin stories, learn how they discovered ska, and why they gravitated to the older stuff. We also talk about Hepcat too: from fights at shows to being scared out of their mind right before playing “Can’t Wait” on Conan O’Brien. And how through all the highs and lows of the “third wave” ska boom, the members of Hepcat just wanted to make the music they wanted to make. Support the show