Ara Babajian (born July 9, 1972) is an American drummer who has been a member of such bands as

Leftöver Crack Leftöver Crack is an American punk rock band formed in 1998, following the breakup of Choking Victim. The band is currently signed to Tankcrimes for CD releases, and Alternative Tentacles for vinyl releases. Leftöver Crack spans several ...

and

The Slackers The Slackers are an American ska band, formed in Manhattan, New York in 1991. The band's sound is a mix of ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub, soul, garage rock, and jazz. The Slackers' notability is credited to their prolific career, tours of Nort ...

Etymology

Ara is of Armenian descent, and is named after

Ara ARA may refer to: Media and the arts * American-Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences * '' Artistička Radna Akcija'', compilation album released in former Yugoslavia * Associate of the Royal Academy, denoting membership in the British Royal Aca ...

, an Armenian king.

Career

Together with Dunia Best,

Jay Nugent Jayson Nugent (born 1972; also known as Agent Jay, and Crazy Baldhead) is a guitarist and DJ from New York who plays in the style of several Jamaican music genres. Nugent's experiments with ska, reggae, rocksteady, dub music, and skinhead re ...

and

Alec Baillie Alec Baillie (died November 10, 2020) was an American bassist. He played in the bands Choking Victim, Agent 99, and Leftöver Crack. Biography Baillie grew up in Manhattan and attended the same high school as his future bandmate Scott "Stza" ...

he started the

third wave ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

band Agent 99 in the early nineties. In 1998 they released the compilation album ''Little Pieces 1993-1995''. In April 2000, Babajian joined Baillie to play drums in

under the pseudonym "Ara Crack" until 2002. In early 2003 Ara joined

. In 2005, he rejoined Leftover Crack, though he is no longer an active member. He is also a former member of

The World/Inferno Friendship Society The World/Inferno Friendship Society (also referred to as World Inferno, or Inferno) was an American band from Brooklyn, New York. Its style merged punk, soul, klezmer and jazz, while its collective membership featured horns, piano and guitar ...

. Ara Babajian has played in a number of other bands, including

King Django King Django (born Jeffrey Baker) is an American bandleader, singer, songwriter, arranger, engineer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, especially in the genres of ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub, dancehall, rhythm & blues and soul. Other infl ...

, Ruder Than You, The Trick Babys, Skandalous All Stars (a

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

supergroup featuring several members of the Slackers), and Sic & Mad. He is an endorser of Pro-Mark Drumsticks He was also the original drummer of the Star Fucking Hipsters. During the 80's, Ara also played drums in the funky-style band Das Booty with Brian Pitts on bass, Matthew Moreno on Horns (for a short time), Michael Cardenas on guitar and James Boyce on vocals. Demos of this band were to later circulate on YouTube mistakenly as lost Red Hot Chili Peppers recordings. It was eventually cleared up and credit has been given to Das Booty.

References

External links

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

br>Pro-Mark Drumsticks
* Allmusic Entry American musicians of Armenian descent Living people 1972 births 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 21st-century American drummers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians Leftöver Crack members Star Fucking Hipsters members The Slackers members {{US-drummer-stub