Suds and Buck-O-Nine’s ska-punk to fill North Park at annual Festival of Beers

Beer lovers and ska-punk fans unite: the 15th annual North Park Festival of Beers returns on Saturday, April 5, from noon to 4 p.m., and beloved local band Buck-O-Nine will perform.

Held in front of the historic Lafayette Hotel on El Cajon Blvd. this year’s event will showcase more than 50 local craft breweries. Popular brands such as Alesmith, Belching Beaver, Karl Strauss, and Stone Brewing Co. will pour alongside up-and-comers worth exploring, like 3 Punk Ales, Black Plague Brewing, Weir Beer, and Hopworks Brewery.

General admission tickets cost $50.90 all in, and include unlimited beer sampling from 1-4 p.m. VIP ticket holders ($72.10 inclusive of fees) gain early access at noon, along with exclusive pours from select breweries. Designated drivers are also welcome; for $35, they can enter the event and enjoy the live music, but they cannot drink.

All attendees must be over 21. Festivalgoers can also purchase food from various vendors, including Full Belly BBQ and Doggos Gus, at an additional cost.

A portion of the event’s proceeds will benefit the San Diego Music Foundation to help fund the Taylor Guitars in Schools program.

The afternoon will include a DJ set from 91X Loudspeaker’s Lou Niles, a performance by emerging rock act Mistress 77, and Buck-O-Nine is scheduled to play a 75-minute set kicking off around 2:15 p.m.

Buck-O-Nine formed in 1991 — when bassist Scott Kennerly placed an ad seeking musicians and drummer Steve Bauer and alto/tenor saxophonist Craig Yarnold responded. Adding four more members, including vocalist Jon Pebsworth, the group released 11 albums, contributed to numerous compilations, and appeared on three film soundtracks from 1994 to 2022.

Their biggest hit, “My Town,” from the 1997 album Twenty-Eight Teeth, is a local anthem. While the song was inspired by La Jolla, its high-energy music video was famously shot in Mission Beach, and the band has said the track is a tribute to San Diego overall.

Ahead of their Festival of Beers appearance, Times of San Diego caught up with Yarnold:

There’s a lot of confusion over the band name’s origin. Some think it’s connected to a joke’s punchline, referring to 109 lbs.; others believe it stems from the band trying to scrounge up $1.09 for beer. What’s the real story?

It’s kind of a combination of those things. The way I remember it, the Buck-O-Nine phrase came from an Eddie Murphy joke, but his joke was about someone weighing no more than a buck-o-five. And someone said, ‘Hey, that’s got a nice ring to it.’ At the same time, in those days we were drinking budget beer at practice, and I think there was a certain brand of 40-ouncers that cost about that at the local liquor store. So, there’s a bit of truth to both stories.

One of your earliest gigs was opening for The Mighty Mighty Bosstones in 1992 at Brick by Brick (then named The Spirit Club). What do you recall most about those formative years?

We were very fortunate to get that gig because a band backed out last minute for some reason and they called us up. I think that was our first public performance ever. I don’t think we had even played at a backyard party yet so we were thrown into the fire, opening for a band that we already looked up to. In those early days, we were lucky getting to open up for a lot of bands we were influenced by. It was exciting and nerve-wracking, trying not to suck too bad, and also learning from the other bands.

What’s your take on the current ska-punk scene? Besides yourselves, what bands do you think are pushing the genre forward?

There seems to be a new wave of ska and ska-influenced bands, like Bad Time Records’ roster, their bands like Catbite, Bite Me Bambi, and Half Past Two. It’s starting to feel like a year or two before it [originally] broke mainstream. I follow those bands online and see they’re on the road a lot and playing bigger venues, so it feels like it’s coming back around again.

This likely won’t be the first time you play “Irish Drinking Song” at a beer festival. How does the crowd usually respond when you perform that song in that kind of environment?

It gets a little wild. I remember back in 2004 we played Hooley Fest, a St. Patrick’s Day event, and it got pretty crazy. There were people getting kicked out and it got a little outta hand, I think because people tend to overindulge on St. Patrick’s Day. Sometimes we have to remind people, “Hey, this is tongue in cheek. Don’t really start fighting.”

Buck-O-Nine has a new album coming out this year. What can you tell us about it?

The album is called “Cut Out the Noise” and the release date is May 16th. I think we’re going to play the first single, ‘Razor Face,’ at Beer Fest. We started writing this album right as Covid lockdown started, so we haven’t played any of these songs live. It took us almost five years to finish because of one thing or another.

Stylistically, it’s pretty much in line with what we’ve been doing the last few albums. I think there’s a maturity there to the songwriting. A lot of the topics are based on what was going on during lockdown; unfortunately, some of those situations still exist today. So there’s a timeliness to it. The theme of the album, I suppose, is trying to escape from all the extraneous noise in the world and just find your own inner calm.

Donovan Roche, a longtime music, entertainment and events writer based in San Diego, is a frequent contributor to Times of San Diego. Send your story ideas to droche617@gmail.com.