I'm looking for stuff similar to Streetlight Manifesto. Any suggestions would help alot!

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones perhaps. Streetlight is unique in their genre.

Well obviously you should check out Catch 22. Big D and the Kids Table can be amusing, I Voted For Kodos are nice guys but since they lost their entire horn section they sound more like a ska-influenced pop-punk band. You'd probably like Aquabats. Most third wave ska bands are terribly repetitive and bland so it's kind of hard to come up with suggestions.

Reel Big Fish is pretty sweet too.

I'd have to recommend Attaboy Skip (<3), early Less Than Jake, The Mad Caddies, MU330 and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones to a Streetlight fan, though I prefer more traditional ska.

I agree with Ethan, a lot of third wave ska is more like pop music if you want to shake it up a bit try :

Capdown (early)
The Flaming Tsunamis
The Fad

or go mellow and remove a lot of that pop punk crap:

The Toasters
New York Jazz Ska Ensemble Band
Toyko Ska Paradise Orchestra
Ska-P
Ska Cubano.

Howards alias
 

You should listen to the first album by Howards Alias(the chamelion script)

The second album is not so good but is titled "The answer is never".

The band are on domino recordings.

i guess and obvious one is reel big fish , considering streetlight supported them on their last tour

man that was one awesome night.

Cougar90

The Suicide Machines
Madness
The Specials

ye the specials and madness aregreat if your looking for the classic original ska bands. not so much streetlight -like tho

Cougar90

The English Beat
Goldfinger

As quite a few people have mentioned them, I thought I would checkout The Aquabats. What is all the fuss about? The album I am listening to is quite frankly; terrible. I have read on RYM that is not one of their best (Charge). Anything out there to change my mind.

Charge is a fun album but not nearly as good as their first two; The Fury of the Aquabats and The Return of the Aquabats (especially since these are actually ska punk while Charge is more like surfer rock/pop punk with synths).

The Floating Eye and Myth, Legends... aren't so bad either but has too much filler.

I might check out the first two then if you think I might like it.

its pretty poppy and goofy but I personally love them. Give it a shot, nothing much to loose.

big d and the kids table
the aquabats
the specials
reel big fish
operation ivy
leftover crack
bamf!
against all authority
buck-0-nine
the mighty mighty bosstones
less than jake
mustard plug
oreskaband
rancid
the skalls
the toasters
the aggrolites
bedouin soundclash

A few you might want to check out;

Don Drummond
The Skatalites
The Specials
Madness
Roland Alphonso

oh lulz

why don't you try "real big fish'?

It's Reel Big Fish and I can't stand them. They are like a pop band with a bit of skankin thrown in. I have been listening to The Aggrolites recently. They are not bad at all.

Yeah, The Aggrolites are pretty awesome. I haven't listened to them in a while though.

Damn I forgot The Japonicas too. One of the best bands I have heard for a long while. Those and Hepcat are exactly what pure Ska is all about.

Two I hadn't seen mentioned at first glance:

The Slackers - They're my favorite! :) They're a little calmer... think Aggrolites, only with more melodies.

Bomb the Music Industry! - more ska-punk, if ska at all. Kinda silly and even a little screamy. Good horns. The good part is all of their stuff is free to download on their site.

Reel Big Fish are absolutely terrible.

I saw them live and it was like listening to a bad college radio show... they just babbled to one another in between songs and seemed oblivious that they had an audience. And then they played more terrible music.

i like Reel Big Fish AND The Aggrolites. They both put on amazing shows at Warped.

The Slackers own! Red Light, The Question, Better Late Than Never and Close My Eyes are my favorites.

However they have a couple really crappy albums (think Peculiar and Boss Harmony Sessions).

I really liked Peculiar :(

Somebody earlier mentioned that Leftover Crack might be a bit too far on the punk side. I like them a lot, but their previous band, Choking Victim, is a bit less hard so you might like them.

You should also check out Suburban Rhythm. They're really great.

I really like The Impossibles, too. They may be a bit too poppy, but I grew up on them so I'm biased.

Most people are mentioning Ska- Punk bands which is obviously popular and I like quite a few bands from those genres. Many though are far removed from what Ska is, which is a shame. This is what Ska is about:

Some of the best first wave ska music is available in reissue collections on labels like Trojan and Studio One (Now owned by Heartbeat Records). The Rough Guide to Ska Music is also a decent compilation.

My favorite ska collection is a three disk collection The Best of Ska which has 56 beautifully remastered classic songs from both the first wave era and second wave 2 Tone era. I copied the song list from Amazon:

1. One Step Beyond - Madness
2. A Message To Rudy - The Specials Featuring Rico
3. Three Minute Hero - The Selecter
4. Double Barrel - Dave And Ansel Collins
5. Liquidator - Harry Johnson And The All Stars
6. Sea Cruise - Rico
7. I Can See Clearly Now - Pauline Black
8. The Israelites - Desmond Dekker
9. Guns Of Navarone - The Skatalites
10. Free Nelson Mandela - Special AKA
11. Im In The Mood For SKA - Lord Tanamo
12. Monkey Man - The Maytals
13. Let Your Yeah Be Yeah - The Pioneers
14. Skinhead Moonstomp - Symarip
15. Lets Do The Rock Steady - Bodysnatchers
16. Train To Skaville - The Ethiopians
17. Bonanza Ska - Carlos Malcolm
18. On My Radio - The Selector
19. The Prince - Madness
20. Jamaican SKA - Byron Lee And The Dragonaires
21. Ghost Town - The Specials
22. Carolina - Rico
23. Missing Words - The Selecter
24. Long Shot Kick The Bucket - The Pioneers
25. Monkey Spanner - Dave And Ansel Collins
26. Red Red Wine - Tony Tribe
27. 007 (Shanty Town) - Desmond Dekker
28. Doctor **** - Lee Perry
29. Free Man - The Ethiopians
30. Im So In Love With You - The Techniques
31. The Tide Is High - The Paragons
32. Baby Come Back - Pato Banton
33. You Belong To My Heart - Lord Tanamo
34. Gansters - Special AKA
35. Don De Lion - The Skatalites Featuring Don Drumond
36. James Bond - The Selecter
37. Too Much Too Young - Special AKA
38. You Can Get It If You Really Want - Desmond Dekker
39. The Selecter - The Selecter
40. Sweet Sensation - The Melodians
41. Return To Django - The Upsetters
42. Mantovani - The Swinging Cats
43. The Feelings Gone - The Apollinaires
44. Rat Race - The Specials
45. The Dog - Harry Johnson And The All Stars
46. Hurry Up - Lord Creator
47. Lets Jump - The Maytals
48. Yea Yea - The Riots
49. Monkey SKA - Derrick Harriot
50. Girls Town SKA - Baba Brooks
51. Get Up Edina - Desmond Dekker
52. The Whisper - The Selecter
53. FBI (I Spy For You) - The Untouchables
54. Stereotype - The Specials


I'm not too crazy about third wave bands like the Bosstones because the players are nearly as good or rooted in the Jamaican music tradition as the first and second wave ska players.

^^^

You should check out the Japanese Ska scene. Bands such as Japonicas take the Ska tradition full circle and pay homage to the instigators. The Toasters are one of the more traditional sounding 3rd wave bands.

I agree on the Toasters. The Toasters are techincally 3rd Wave but I've always thought of them as more of a second wave band because Rob Hingley's British roots and his love of the 2-Tone label. The Toasters formed in 1982 which puts them right on the cusp of the 2nd and 3rd wave.

I've been meaning to check out the Japonicas and will do soon. My problem is there's too little time and too much music out there.

I came across an an old 3rd Wave ska band Maroon Town on my AltNet music service. They released one album in called One World in 1994 and were never heard from again. The All Music Guide doesn't even carry a bio of the band, so I have no idea of where they're from or any other history of the band.

A Message To You Rudy is definitively my fav ska song.

You should check out the original Message to Rudy by Dandy Livingstone. It's on the Trojan Originals box set.

I love the Specials even if a lot of their stuff is derivative. Each member of the band is an a great player with muscular musical chops. They're one of the better live bands I've seen and nobody can beat them for audience partcipation in the show.

Thx for that. ;)

yeah yeah, i got all those bands on my ipod

real nice selection Gavin B.

Toots and the Maytals for some good old school ska and reggae

Lets face it, pretty much all 'ska-punk' is absloutley appalling.

Edited for accuracy