For the better part of the last decade, I have been the frontman for a ska punk band called Dad Jokes. But that whole time, I’ve been harboring a dirty secret.

I actually never really got that into ska.

My “ska phase” as a teen consisted of a couple Five Iron Frenzy CDs, the Tony Hawk Pro Skater soundtrack, and the necessary singles from Mighty Mighty Bosstones, No Doubt, and the O.C. Supertones, and basically nothing outside of that. I’ve been trying to fix that since playing in a ska band, but that section of my collection is exceptionally slow-growing.

That said, when the opportunity comes to close that gap a little, I jump at it. Like this copy of Mustard Plug’s seminal Evildoers Beware! which I found at a vendor tent at Furnace Fest ’21 (I told you my backlog was ridiculous) and bought it without a thought.

As impulsive as it may seem, that decision has proved to be a prudent one. This is as essential an entry in the Third Wave Ska canon as anything, even if none of the songs are as remembered as “Superman” or “The Impression That I Get.”

But that lack of a monolithic standout might actually be a blessing. Those tracks loom high above the other songs around them, casting long shadows on the record as a whole. But on Evildoers Beware! the track list is on even ground. This is twelve tracks of killer with no skips. The horn lines, upstroked guitars, tight drum fills, walking bass lines, and sardonic vocals are the Platonic ideal of what Third Wave Ska was all about.

The most impressive thing though is that this is Mustard Plug’s third album. While 1997 is right around when Third Wave Ska broke out, Mustard Plug had been at it since 1992. Five years later, the land they pioneered was ripe for settlement. And this record is their City on a Hill.