A book would be Sublime, No Doubt

Radio host who helped bring ska bands into the mainstream now seeks help funding his musical memoirs.

October 17, 2012|By Brittany Woolsey

From left, Greg Raelson (Ska Parade intern), No Doubt's… (HB Independent )

If you've heard a ska band on the radio or live, Tazy Phyllipz probably had something to do with it.

After helping bands like No Doubt and Sublime find their place on the musical map for more than 20 years, Phyllipz, an Irvine resident, is hoping to get something back so he can fund a tell-all book about his musical adventures.

Phyllipz is looking to hire an editor and co-writer for the upcoming memoir. He hopes to raise $35,000, an amount he said may be too high for the positions he is hiring. Through an agreement with IndieGoGo.com, he has to raise the money by Oct. 27.

Phyllipz said that even if he doesn't raise the full amount, IndieGoGo will still pay him what he did raise and take a percentage of it.

"My thoughts behind IndieGoGo were, basically, it would suck to go through all this work to make this happen and have the possibility of not being funded. That wouldn't be good," he said. "At least with this, I'd be able to continue as best as I can, but I'm hoping to raise as much as I can. I'm grateful for every contribution."

Phyllipz said the money raised will be well spent.

"Even though I've been around for a long time, I am sort of still very underground," he said. "However, the stories are golden, and I don't have any bad things to say about anyone or anything. I just want to tell them from my perspective. I've always been collecting stories. I just tend to talk them out more than write them down. But now it's time to write them down."

Dan Regan, trombonist of Reel Big Fish from Huntington Beach, said his band wouldn't be where it is today if not for Phyllipz and his radio program, "Ska Parade."

"Reel Big Fish was just a little club band, and we could always go out and do Tazy's show on the radio," Regan said. "If you were within a couple miles of the station, you could hear a Reel Big Fish song on the radio."

Tbone Willy, trombonist of Save Ferris, also said Phyllipz is a great asset to the ska scene.

"He created a part of the puzzle that helped create a sense of a scene in the early days," he said via Facebook.

Phyllipz said he has never asked for money before and instead has helped the bands purely for the love of music.

"Asking for money has not been an easy thing for me to do," he said. "I usually love being part of the process to help bands. That's just me. I've just always been that way."

Phyllipz, who was originally a jazz fan, said he discovered his love for ska music in his early teens when his brother took him to a Let's Go Bowling concert.

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