Mustard Plug

Mustard Plug started up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1991, and the plan was simple: take the skanking upbeat of ska, crank it through punk rock amps, and make the whole room move. Dave Kirchgessner and Colin Clive were there from the first year and are still at it, and the current lineup piles on the brass: Brandon Jenison, on board since 1994, plays trumpet, Jim Hofer plays trombone and Mark Petz plays tenor sax, with Nate Cohn on drums and Greg Witulski on bass.

This is a band that lives on the road. They have toured across the United States, Europe, Japan and South America, done the Warped Tour twice and signed up for the Ska Against Racism Tour, and they record for Hopeless Records. By 2024 they had eight studio albums behind them, and "The Freshmen" is the track that has kept surfacing on countdowns.

Ask them what it's all for and they'll tell you: there may be a message in there somewhere, but mostly they want everyone to loosen up and have a good time. Judging by the horn blasts, it works.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.