I enjoyed this post! just thought I wanted to comment because I enjoy reading your thoughts but like I never comment or anything, I was never that into ska but I listened to a lot of it when I was a kid because my dad was a big fan. After leaving home I still followed some bands occasionally because its kinda a nostalgic sound, reminds me of the scotland and family without all the complications that real life brings to those memories. American Ska sounds so different to the british 2-tone kind of ska though. I'm not a scholar of the Ska so I don't want to make blanket statements about these things but I felt like that was why I was never able to get into things like We Are the Union that much. Didn't sound right, not had that long seethe in albion misery that really gives it the flavour I'm looking for. I don't know, I just wanted to say something. I guess its the way the whole internet used to work but it feels odd to read and enjoy someone's writing without letting them know somehow