Mustard Plug

Mustard Plug formed in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1991, becoming one of the most enduring bands of the American third-wave ska scene. Where West Coast ska bands drew heavily from punk, Mustard Plug's Midwestern roots gave their sound a tighter, more structured quality — songs built on precision horn arrangements and Dave Kirchgessner's guitar riffs that owed as much to pop-punk as to traditional ska. Kirchgessner played a Fender Telecaster — its bright single-coil snap perfect for ska's upstroke rhythm — through a Marshall JCM900, running the amp clean for ska sections and pushing it into crunch for punk breakdowns. The Telecaster-to-Marshall chain gave Mustard Plug a heavier, more aggressive guitar tone than most third-wave bands, bridging the gap between the Bosstones' ska-core and Reel Big Fish's pop-ska approach. On Big Daddy Multitude (1997) and Pray for Mojo (1999), produced by Bill Stevenson at the Blasting Room in Fort Collins, the rhythm section locked into tight ska grooves while Kirchgessner's guitar pushed into hardcore territory during choruses. The horn section — trumpet, trombone, and saxophone — was arranged with more complexity than typical third-wave fare, drawing from traditional Jamaican ska voicings rather than simple unison lines. Rick Johnson's bass work on a Fender Precision through an Ampeg SVT provided the deep, punchy low end that anchored the band's energetic live shows, which became legendary on the Midwest punk and ska circuit.