All photos by the author.

Growing up in Northern Virginia and going to high school in DC from ’95-’99, The Pietasters‘ name was definitely well known to me. I wasn’t a particularly huge fan, but I remember classmates always talking about them and their music would always be on mix-tapes playing in our darkroom during photography class. A few of my friends would go to their concerts and rave about what a good live act they were, but I never got a chance to see them. While I was in college in North Carolina, one of my friends was a big fan so their songs like “One Dollar Bill”, “Maggie Mae”, and “Movin’ On Up” became staples of our car rides back to Northern VA.

I appreciate ska music but it’s never really been in my constant rotation and since college The Pietasters have drifted off my radar. But when I was picking and choosing what bands to cover for WLDC a couple weeks ago and saw that they were playing a hometown show at the 9:30 Club on January 8th, I knew it was an opportunity for a fun night.

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