Class Action

Class Action is local seven person ska band that helps keep the ska scene alive in Calgary. The group has been performing since 2006 and they mostly play music rooted in third wave ska-punk, with some reggae and dub mixed in.
They played at the Palomino this past Valentine's Day opening for Lazer Cake and The Boom Booms. The crowd was shy at first but by the end of the set they were skanking and singing along.
A few songs were played in honour of the Hallmark holiday, though they were more of the anti-love variety. Among that they played their own brand of upbeat ska and a cover of "Life of the Party" by The Planet Smashers. It was drummer, Scott Shpeley's, first show, which he played with an energetic passion. - Calgary Journal

There’s a ska band on your street and their name is Class Action. You might have heard of them? No?

I hadn’t until recently, when the upbeat group opened for The Flatliners back in April. Their performance had me wondering in bewilderment, “Calgary has a ska scene?”
“It’s little,” laughs the band’s saxophone player, Garielle Brown. “You can count the number of Calgary ska bands on one hand.”

“And I think you can exclude your thumb,” adds bassist and vocalist Alex Free, going on to name Roy G Biv, The Relays, and Hats and Black Ties as their company in the Calgary ska scene.

Class Action dubs themselves as the longest running Calgary ska band, having formed in 2006. This title certainly has its benefits.

“When there’s big ska shows in town, we’ve kind of established ourselves as the local ska band and position ourselves to try to open those shows,” Free says. The band has opened for the Mad Caddies, the aforementioned Flatliners and, quite recently, Bedouin Soundclash.

Of the Canadian ska scene however, things look a lot less sparse.

“When you look at the North American ska scene, there are a number of Canadian ska bands I love,” Trevor Richards, guitarist and vocalist, says. “Proportionally you’d think the U.S. is so much bigger, you’d get a lot of U.S. ska bands, but out of Canada we get so many good ska bands.”

“It’s not 1995, but it’s not dead,” Free sums it up.

The band just recently branched out from the Alberta scene to explore a bit more of Canada, doing an 11-day, nine-show tour through B.C. and ending back in Calgary. It was their first time playing outside of Calgary, Edmonton, or Canmore and an interesting time for sure.

“People say things are going to go wrong on tour … lots of things went wrong,” Free explains, going on to say how their drummer rolled his ankle early on in the tour and was therefore hobbling around on crutches for the remaining dates, unable to play certain songs due to his injury. Free also got sick halfway through the tour and had to visit a doctor in Vancouver. He was forced to sit out of doing vocals for a few shows due to this.

The band speaks of this with a degree of humour, but they’re unfortunate things to happen on a tour that was five years in the making. Ska bands have a tendency to have a lot of members - Class Action boasts eight at points - and this can make it difficult to plan a tour.

“We’d talked about touring before and someone always, or multiple people, couldn’t get the time off,” Richards explained. When Class Action isn’t keeping the ska scene skanking, the band members have jobs, school and life to deal with. But it finally happened and was overall a success for their first tour.

Looking to the future, the band doesn’t seem too fussed about reaching a set goal or level of fame.

“I think we just keep wanting to get better and bigger and expand the Calgary ska scene,” Richards adds.

“Keeping it alive in Calgary, for sure, is a big part of it,” says Free. “There’s so many good Calgary bands. And I’d just like to see people in the city support them, regardless of what genre because there’s great bands in Calgary and the support is still lacking. There’s so many ignorant people that think, ‘There’s no good bands in Calgary, it’s all in Vancouver or Toronto,’ or whatever. But they just aren’t looking.” - BeatRoute

There’s a ska band on your street and their name is Class Action. You might have heard of them? No?

I hadn’t until recently, when the upbeat group opened for The Flatliners back in April. Their performance had me wondering in bewilderment, “Calgary has a ska scene?”
“It’s little,” laughs the band’s saxophone player, Garielle Brown. “You can count the number of Calgary ska bands on one hand.”

“And I think you can exclude your thumb,” adds bassist and vocalist Alex Free, going on to name Roy G Biv, The Relays, and Hats and Black Ties as their company in the Calgary ska scene.

Class Action dubs themselves as the longest running Calgary ska band, having formed in 2006. This title certainly has its benefits.

“When there’s big ska shows in town, we’ve kind of established ourselves as the local ska band and position ourselves to try to open those shows,” Free says. The band has opened for the Mad Caddies, the aforementioned Flatliners and, quite recently, Bedouin Soundclash.

Of the Canadian ska scene however, things look a lot less sparse.

“When you look at the North American ska scene, there are a number of Canadian ska bands I love,” Trevor Richards, guitarist and vocalist, says. “Proportionally you’d think the U.S. is so much bigger, you’d get a lot of U.S. ska bands, but out of Canada we get so many good ska bands.”

“It’s not 1995, but it’s not dead,” Free sums it up.

The band just recently branched out from the Alberta scene to explore a bit more of Canada, doing an 11-day, nine-show tour through B.C. and ending back in Calgary. It was their first time playing outside of Calgary, Edmonton, or Canmore and an interesting time for sure.

“People say things are going to go wrong on tour … lots of things went wrong,” Free explains, going on to say how their drummer rolled his ankle early on in the tour and was therefore hobbling around on crutches for the remaining dates, unable to play certain songs due to his injury. Free also got sick halfway through the tour and had to visit a doctor in Vancouver. He was forced to sit out of doing vocals for a few shows due to this.

The band speaks of this with a degree of humour, but they’re unfortunate things to happen on a tour that was five years in the making. Ska bands have a tendency to have a lot of members - Class Action boasts eight at points - and this can make it difficult to plan a tour.

“We’d talked about touring before and someone always, or multiple people, couldn’t get the time off,” Richards explained. When Class Action isn’t keeping the ska scene skanking, the band members have jobs, school and life to deal with. But it finally happened and was overall a success for their first tour.

Looking to the future, the band doesn’t seem too fussed about reaching a set goal or level of fame.

“I think we just keep wanting to get better and bigger and expand the Calgary ska scene,” Richards adds.

“Keeping it alive in Calgary, for sure, is a big part of it,” says Free. “There’s so many good Calgary bands. And I’d just like to see people in the city support them, regardless of what genre because there’s great bands in Calgary and the support is still lacking. There’s so many ignorant people that think, ‘There’s no good bands in Calgary, it’s all in Vancouver or Toronto,’ or whatever. But they just aren’t looking.” - BeatRoute

"Class Action started the night. They’re a Calgary-based ska band that’s been going since 2006. How I hadn’t heard of them prior to this is a mystery to me. Calgary has a ska scene? I think I just peed a little. They put on a great show, with some really excellent third wave ska-reggae songs that started a solid skanking pit and got the crowd stoked" - BeatRoute

"Powerful instrumentation and songwriting chops that left well balanced and crafted melody hooks ringing in the audience’s heads long after the set was finished." - BeatRoute

"Powerful instrumentation and songwriting chops that left well balanced and crafted melody hooks ringing in the audience’s heads long after the set was finished." - BeatRoute