In Defense of Ska Ep 156: The Iron Roses (Nathan Gray & Becky Fontaine)

Nathan Gray has played music with their band Boysetsfire for decades. But only once during the band’s run did they dabble in ska (“Deja Coup”). But that has completely changed now with Nathan’s new group, The Iron Roses, a joyful punk band with heavy doses of ska and reggae. The joy in the band is purposeful, a middle finger aimed at the rise in racism, homophobia, transphobia and fascism, making ska the perfect vehicle for the band’s message. 

This week we speak to Nathan and Iron Roses’ co-lead vocalist Beck Fontaine. The group released their debut, self-titled record in October 2023. They’ve already done some touring and are really excited about the band. And they have big plans for 2024. It’s a great record, and they play ska well. But the question on our minds was, where did this band—totally unconnected from the ska scene, with little history playing the genre—come from? And what motivated them to go all in on ska-punk in 2023? 

We talk about Nathan’s love for The English Beat, The Specials, Black Uhuru, Burning Spear and Trojan Records skinhead reggae. Also, we talk about Becky’s history with musical theater and how that informs The Iron Roses’ unique approach to lead vocals. Plus, we learn that co-host Adam Davis was an extra in the film adaptation of Rent! 

Nathan talks about the new ska bands that inspire them (We Are The Union, Catbite, Kill Lincoln), the important message in Iron Roses’ song “Old Guard,” and we learn about Nathan’s long and difficult journey in coming out as non-binary. Plus, we learn all about how Nathan spoke out against Pantera playing a music festival Boysetsfire was booked to play (due to lead singer Phil Anselmo’s history of racism). And they tell us about their long friendship and admiration for Frank Turner. 

Plus, we all took a moment to discuss how much we love the film Swing Kids. 

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If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music. 

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024. 

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023. 

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