The Auskanites Are Born On Easter Sunday
Dance, dissent, and a debut on the most appropriate day of the year
From Lunch To Launch
I have news I've been dying to share for the last year: I’ve started a new band, and it’s shaping up to be a dream come true.
Last year I went to lunch with my friend Darrel, a musician and music teacher I greatly admire. I was telling him about my plan to perform and share music mostly online and his response sent me down a totally new path.
He said, “Jason, that sounds lonely. Why don’t you start a ska band? You already play that music, and Austin needs one.” He reminded me about the joy of making music WITH people. His wisdom stopped me in my tracks and set me on a new groove.
Putting the Ska in Austin
I went home thinking about how I could combine my “folk dub” music with the classic tunes that inspired it — upbeat, brass-driven Jamaican and British ska, reggae and dub. I dreamed of a real horn section over a solid drum and bass.
I knew what I wanted to call it: The Auskanites, putting the Ska in Austin. It follows the old tradition of working “ska” into the name — The Skatalites — and the classic Jamaican bands that sound like tribes — The Abyssinians, The Maytals.
Why Ska? Why Now?
I want to throw, as Ziggy Marley says, a conscious party. Ska has the social and spiritual consciousness of the folk music that inspired me as a teenager — Woody Guthrie, Billy Bragg — mixed with the infectiously upbeat wisdom of a uniquely syncopated soul music coming out of Jamaica and its influence in England — Bob Marley, Sting. It’s a magical combination of conscience and joy, dissent and danceability.
But why now? We are in dire need of music that sees what’s happening, names it, and refuses to let it steal our spirit and solidarity, not just protest or despair, but music that refuses to be complicit or controlled.
This music was born in Jamaica in the ‘60s and England in the late ‘70s, where the powerful exploited the vulnerable, creating economic anxiety, absurd inequity and authoritarian oppression. Sound familiar?
Jimmy Cliff, Joe Strummer, and the artists who made this music didn’t retreat into cynicism. They played a righteous groove that makes you move and channels anger into awareness and accountability. Someone needs to sing these songs. Let it be me!
Consider the timeliness of these lyrics and check out these clips from our rehearsals.
🎵 The Auskanites — “Gangsters” by The Specials
Said you’ve been threatened by gangsters
Now it’s you that’s threatening me!
Can’t fight corruption with con tricks
They use the law to commit crime
Dread, dread! to think what the future will bring
When we’re living in real gangster time.
(Don’t call me Scarface!)
The Auskanites — “The Harder They Come” by Jimmy Cliff
I’d rather be a free man in my grave than living as a puppet or a slave
So as sure as the sun will shine, I’m gonna get my share now, what’s mine and then
The harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all
To these classics we add our own.
🎵 The Auskanites — “Welcome To The 21st Century”
Welcome to the ones born yesterday
First you see the con for what it claims to be
Then you learn to laugh at all the irony
Welcome to the 21st century
Welcome to the table where we break bread
First you learn that we are all connected
Then we sing the songs they can't commodify
Welcome to the 21st centurye
The Band
Two of my best friends anchor the rhythm section, Gray Parsons on bass and Danny Piccuirro on drums. They are degreed and experienced musicians who have played in some of Austin’s most respected bands over the past two decades.
For the horn section, I reached out to two local legends who played on my second and third albums: trombonist Mark “Speedy” Gonzales and trumpeter Oliver Steck. Mark is a Grammy Award-winning horn arranger for his longtime Austin band, Grupo Fantasma. Oliver has been named Best Musician in the Austin Chronicle poll twice — in two different categories.
We also welcomed two other old Austin friends: percussionist Doug Marcis and keyboardist Gus Manzur, who toured with Morrissey for over a decade. Honestly, I’m a little star-struck.
Our repertoire draws from the classics, with about a third of it my own ska and reggae originals, songs I’ve been writing and recording for years, finding their full sound.
Celebrate With Us
We’ll take the stage on Easter Sunday, April 5, at 5 PM at the Sahara Lounge — an old Austin institution and bastion of reggae music. The Higher Ups — Gray’s band, featuring Danny and Doug — open at 4. If you’re in Austin, come celebrate the birth of this band with us. If you’re not, we’ll live stream it — details to come.
The resistance will be streaming and the groove will be righteous.
🐣 Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026 🕓 4–7 PM
🎶 4 PM: The Higher Ups
🎺 5 PM: The Auskanites — Debut
📍 Sahara Lounge, 1413 Webberville Rd, East Austin
🎟 $7 Presale at Eventbrite, $10 at the door
More info at the Facebook event.