Remember when ska was the big thing back in 1996? Thats ok, neither do I. It just wasn't worth getting into ska because any effort put into it would be shot down when ska wasn't trendy anymore. 1996 was my sophomore year of high school and I was desperate to be the cool kid and would be into anything trendy (it didn't work)... but ska never worked for me. I never got into No Doubt, Smash Mouth, Reel Big Fish or any other band that made it "big" because of the ska explosion. (I did however like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones... and still do)
Now its 8 years later and ska isnt cool anymore. People who used to want to be "ska" and wore the plaid shorts and the overalls and all that are now buying black thick rimmed glasses, small sweaters, and flood pants in an attempt to be "emo". And I... and still not cool. But this time its because I just dont care anymore... I have accepted my uncoolness and just aceept myself for who I am. And I finally came around and started to like ska.
Big D and the Kids Table was a ska band around in the start of the ska explosion and when the ska explosion ended they were still a ska band (unlike most of the trendy ska bands... No Doubt, Smash Mouth blah blah blah). Big D and the Kids Table is STILL a ska band and even through all the shit people in the punk scene talk about hating ska and how ska sucks Big D and the Kids Table is still a ska band... and a mighty good one at that.
A few years back (2 to be exact) Big D and the Kids Table released "Good Luck", their debut full length. While the good songs on that album were VERY good... the bad songs were VERY bad and I would have to say I only enjoyed half of the album. But on "The Gipsy Hill EP" I cant say there is one song on it I dont enjoy. Starting with the first song, Checklist, all the way to the last song, New England. Gipsy Hill is a lot faster and shorter than Good Luck but they pack 3 times as much into the short amount of time it takes to play 10 short songs... well 8 if you dont want to count "What the hell are you going to do" and "Find out damaged destroyed" which arent actually songs.
Big D and the Kids Table has a lot of ways to play the ska-punk bill. They can speed things up and get everybody moshing (Check List, Those Kids Suck, Evil Girl Angry Girl), they can slow things down and give all kids a chance to skank it up (Scenester). And they can provide a great fucking party anthem for everyone to get into (New England).
Big D doesnt do anything groundbreaking. There is nothing that is going to make you say "Holy SHIT!" Nothing that will ever be jawdropping. But what they do do (haha I said doodoo) is play some good music that is going to get everyone going. It's fast, it's fun, it's... ska! And who doesnt love ska?