Rollicking California ska-punk band
the Interrupters are another example of how the uptempo variation on the classic Jamaican sound remains a perennial favorite on the West Coast. The group banded together in the 2010s and teamed with producer
Tim Armstrong of
Rancid to crank out a series of albums, like 2016's
Say It Out Loud, that harked back to the classic sound of 2-Tone Records, but added a modern punk power.
The bandmembers were already music industry vets when they formed
the Interrupters in 2011, after vocalist Aimee Interrupter met the Bivona brothers (guitarist
Kevin, bassist
Justin, and drummer
Jesse) backstage at a show she and the Bivonas' band the Telecasters were playing. Previously, Aimee had appeared on the
Hairspray soundtrack, sung on
Jimmy Cliff and
Sublime with Rome records, and released a solo album in 2009. Meanwhile,
Kevin Bivona was an in-demand studio engineer, and
Justin and
Jesse Bivona played in
Sugar Ray's live band.
They dug deep into their ska-punk roots and soon caught the ear of
Rancid's
Tim Armstrong, who invited
the Interrupters to contribute to his solo project Tim Timebomb and Friends. They played live shows with
Armstrong and also appeared on his recordings.
Armstrong repaid the favor by signing them to Hellcat Records, and the band released two singles in 2013, "Liberty" and "Family." Both were produced by
Armstrong, as was their self-titled debut album, which was released in 2014, after which
the Interrupters hit the road and played with groups like
Rancid,
blink-182, and
Bad Religion. A song from the record, "Take Back the Power," was featured in commercials and video games, and played over the end credits of Michael Moore's 2015 film, Where to Invade Next.
The Interrupters and
Armstrong soon returned to the studio to record the band's second album,
Say It Out Loud, which was released in June 2016. They toured the world afterward as headliners and as support to
Green Day, as the album reached several Billboard charts, including Heatseekers and Top Rock Albums. Their next album, 2018's Fight the Good Fight, was again produced by
Armstrong, with
Tom Lord-Alge doing the mixing. Recorded live to tape, the record captured the band's live sound, which had been honed to a fine point by seven years of playing shows. Soon after the album's release,
the Interrupters joined the Warped Tour for the summer. ~ Tim Sendra & Mark Deming