The Georgetown Orbits

Shout out to Skatune Network! I'd also like to point out that the article briefly mentions the Seattle scene 😁

Ska has always remained at the cultural fringe in North America. Despite its mainstream heyday in the mid-1990s, ska has never taken too seriously by critics and fans alike, the butt of self-deprecating compilations like SKA…Doesn’t It All Sound The Same?, and the ironically named Ska Is Dead Tour. Though ska scenes are today still kicking and skanking around North America, including niche pockets in Los Angeles, Dallas, Seattle, and San Diego, the genre is still very much an underground movement that often remains in the crosshairs of online trolls.

Enter Skatune Network, the one-person band fighting to redefine the possibilities in ska, one cover song at a time. Launched by Florida musician Jeremy Hunter, who uses the pronouns they/them, Skatune Network flips some of your favorite tunes into full-on ska remakes: From 80s pop ballads (George Michael’s “Careless Whisper”), to emo anthems (My Chemical Romance’s “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)“), to R&B jams (The Jackson 5’s “ABC”), no genre is left un-skanked. Hunter even reworks songs and theme music from popular movies ( The Rocky Horror Picture Show), TV shows ( The Office), and video games ( The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time). Their musical mission is clear: to make every song ever into a ska song.

Skatune Network has gone from novelty to niche favorite, with more than 60 ska cover videos that have collectively garnered nearly one million YouTube views. Hunter’s mushrooming online fanbase counts tens of thousands of followers across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, their YouTube page is flooded with positive and encouraging comments: “Accidentally came across this and I’m so glad I did; this dude is fu***ng nuts. Much love brother ,” reads one message. The range of genres, and combined with Hunter’s self-aware exploitation of meme and internet culture, like Steven Universe and Adventure Time stan communities, has given Skatune Network exposure well beyond ska and punk circles, with Hunter culling suggestions from fan comments and even bands. (The cover for La Dispute was a request from the band itself.)

The Skatune Network project began as a gag, when Hunter posted “Feliz NaviSKA,” an intentionally “bad ska cover” of the 1970 bilingual Christmas classic “Feliz Navidad,” to Facebook in late 2016. To Hunter’s surprise, the cover blew up, earning thousands of shares and views, and hundreds of comments and likes across their social media within a single day. They followed up with a ska version of the New Year’s Eve standard “Auld Lang Syne,” which reached nearly a quarter-million views, according to Hunter. “At that point, I knew this could be a thing, and I made a YouTube channel off of it,” Hunter says, and Skatune Network was born.

Big up to David Hatch for playing our song Downtown Strut during the Seattle Kraken game! 🌊🏒

We will be opening for the legendary Black Uhuru on March 4th at Get your tix now as this show will most likely sell out soon! ❤️💛💚

RIP Sly Dunbar 💔
Sly & Robbie were the riddim section on hundreds of albums in the 70s and 80s. Sly helped to define a generation of reggae music.

It's also on the setlist tonight! 😉

Happy Bandcamp Friday! 🎷🎺🎸🎹
We have both LP's and CD's of our latest album 'Constellations' available! ✨💫

Constellations, by The Georgetown Orbits 10 track album

RIP Jimmy Cliff 💔 😢 You were amazing and a huge inspiration. Ska and Reggae music is indebted to you.