Spirited, crowd-pleasing Ska-Punk rockers with roots in Oakland’s famous punk club 924 Gilman St. have been longtime fixtures of thriving SF Bay Area scene

The San Francisco Bay Area Punk and Ska scenes are now the things of legend and modern music history. And, it’s a phenomenon that Ska-Punk standouts Jokes For Feelings have long been heavily involved in – and helped form. The movement – particularly the latest “4th Wave” Ska scene – is one that has experienced a notable resurgence in recent years and continues to evolve and grow as veterans increasingly interact and meld with new generations of ever-pogoing, maniacally-moshing music enthusiasts. Jokes For Feelings have continually strived to find great local bands to play with to fully-entertain their enthusiastic, dedicated (and growing) fan base.

The band formed in 2006 when a number of childhood and college friends – mixed with the talent bounty from a couple of Craigslist ads – got together in the Bay Area and began crafting and perfecting what is now the band’s unique signature sound. While there have been various musician additions and changes throughout the years, the core band currently consists of:

•      Tony  – Drums
•      Billy – Vocals/Keys/Violin/Bass
•      Allie – Trombone/Vocals
•      Noah – Trombone
•      Michael  – Sax
•      Josh  – Guitar/Vocals

The band regularly plays at the legendary 924 Gilman St. Alternative Music Foundation in West Berkeley (known simply as “Gilman” by locals), a club that’s associated with launching the 90’s pop-punk scene that included Green Day, Rancid, and Operation Ivy. Jokes For Feelings have long-embraced and participated in the spirit and ethos of this largely DIY scene. “We have always been a DIY band, never been on labels, and put out all our own shows, records, events, merch, art work. We have been heavily involved in the ska scene up here and love finding great bands to play our music with”, added guitarist/vocalist Josh.

The energetic and colorful powerhouse have an extraordinarily contagious sound that has been compared to NOFX, The Specials, Rancid and Gogol Bordello. Throughout their career, Jokes for Feelings have played live with a number of world-famous Punk and Rock bands/musicians including CJ Ramone (The Ramones), Agent Orange, Mike Watt, Aggrolites, Voodoo Glow Skulls, The Specials (Roddy and Neville) and Guttermouth. The band has toured extensively throughout California and, to date, have released three EP’s and one full-length album, “The Island of Pissed Off Toyz”. Jokes for Feelings have been featured on numerous Ska-Punk compilations including two “Gilman Ska Night” compilations and on “Dale La Bota 2013” – which features all Latino Ska-Punk bands – on Hellcat Records and Smelvis Records. In January 2018 they released their EP “Too Much Too Hipster” on vinyl and digital format.

“The Ska group jumped straight into their energetic set, causing crowd members to dance and skank with enthusiasm. They already had a pretty decent sized following in the crowd to begin with, but by the end of the night it was clear that they had won everyone over with their Ska-Punk tunes.” – Big Wheel Magazine

“Entertaining…Jokes For Feeling had a violin complementing them as well as a horn section and it had a kind of Gypsy punk sound mixed with the ska that was an innovative style…” – Punk News