MU330 are an American

ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. (sometimes spelled skacore) is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 tone and ska with hardc ...

band from

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, United States. Formed by students of St. Louis University High School in 1988, MU330 played a self-described brand of music called "Psycho

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 ...

", high energy

marked by manic performances and humorous, often strange lyricism. Since 1997, however, the band's musical direction has shifted towards a more melodic and lyric-driven ska/

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

sound, a combination that's been described as "

Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backing v ...

meets

The Specials The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English Two-tone (music genre), 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall (singer), Terr ...

Dan Potthast MU330 are an American ska punk band from St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Formed by students of St. Louis University High School in 1988, MU330 played a self-described brand of music called "Psycho Ska", high energy ska punk marked by manic p ...

(

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

), Ted Moll (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

), Chris Diebold ( bass) and Robert Bell (

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

) have remained with MU330 since the band's inception, while trombonist Gerry Lundquist has been a member for over two decades. Though several different frontmen have been featured in the past, Potthast has always acted as the band's principal songwriter and lyricist.

Biography

The original members met in St. Louis University High School music class 330 (hence the name of the band). ''AllMusic MU330 - Biography''/ref> Singer Dan Potthast has released solo work and has also started a second band The Stitch Up with former

Slow Gherkin Slow Gherkin is an American ska punk band from Santa Cruz, California, United States. Slow Gherkin was formed in 1993 by AJ Marquez, Zack "ZK" Kent, Phil Boutelle, and James Rickman; they released their first album, ''Double Happiness'', which ...

frontman James Rickman. He also started a ska/rocksteady group called "Dan P and the Bricks" along with former MU330 saxophonist, Matt Knobbe. As of 2018, Potthast is part of

Jeff Rosenstock Jeffrey Ernest Rosenstock (born September 7, 1982) is an American musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter from Long Island, New York. He is known for his former bands Bomb the Music Industry! and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches, as well ...

's touring band. Drummer Ted Moll has a side project band called Bagheera. Most members of MU330 have performed with Mike Park's

Bruce Lee Band The Bruce Lee Band (or B. Lee Band) is the name given to the releases of Mike Park and his backing band which up until 2005 included members of Less Than Jake and the Rx Bandits. As of 2014, the collective consisted of touring and recording memb ...

throughout the band's history, although Dan Potthast is the only member who has played live with The Bruce Lee Band in the past few years. MU330 continues to perform live sporadically across the United States.

Band members

''Press'' (up to 1994)

*John Kavanaugh - vocals,

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

*Dan Potthast - vocals,

*Ted Moll -

, vocals *Chris Diebold - bass *Robert Bell -

*Matt Knobbe -

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

''Chumps on Parade'' (1995-1997)

*Jason Nelson - vocals *Dan Potthast - vocals, guitar *Ted Moll - drums, vocals *Chris Diebold - bass *Rob Bell - trombone *Traygen Bilsland - saxophone *Nick Baur - Trumpet

1997 - present

*Dan Potthast - vocals, guitar *Ted Moll - drums, vocals *Chris Diebold - bass *Robert Bell - trombone *Gerry Lundquist - trombone

Discography

Albums

Live albums

Compilations

Singles, demos and non-album tracks

References

External links

*
Dan Potthast's Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mu330 Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups from St. Louis Musical quintets American punk rock groups American ska punk musical groups Third-wave ska groups Asian Man Records artists Indie rock musical groups from Missouri