Stick ‘em up!
Forget ‘SexyBack,’ Dime Store Heist is bringing ska back

RACHAEL WORKMAN/St. Albans

Dime Store Heist is (clockwise from top left) lead vocalist and bassist Michael Stidham, guitarist Logan Patton, trombonist David “Beau” Chaffin, tenor saxophonist Aaron Payne, trumpeter Lucy Sharp and drummer and backing vocalist Keaton Neely. The band performs with Neutral Agreement and Eleventyseven in St. Albans on March 15.

By Rachael Workman
St. Albans High School

Ska originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s as a form of dance music that combined American jazz and R&B and Jamaican mento music. As for the origin of the word “ska,” one theory is that it is a shortened version of one musician’s greeting of “Love Skavoovie” to friends.

Ska music next moved to the UK, where it reinvented itself with faster, more complex rhythms and a new name: bluebeat. It wasn’t until the 1990s that ska reached the United States and, once again, it adapted to fit its new audience.

Now, ska is changing once more, growing to include a number of “ska fusions.” These include salska (ska with a Latin beat), skakakore (hardcore rock + ska), freestyle ska (ska + hip-hop) and chachaska (the cha-cha + ska). There’s also Christian ska, which includes bands like The Supertones, Five Iron Frenzy and West Virginia’s own Dime Store Heist.

The members of Heist all attend Winfield High School, with 5/6 of them being seniors. The group is Michael Stidham (lead vocals, bass), Logan Patton (guitar), Keaton Neely (drums, backing vocals), David “Beau” Chaffin (trombone) and Winfield marching band field commanders Aaron Payne (tenor sax) and Lucy Sharp (trumpet).

Dime Store Heist started after Payne saw Five Iron Frenzy perform at the Christian music festival Ichthus in Kentucky.

“Once I got home, I bought all their CDs I could find and passed them on the Keaton, who said ‘OMG, this is good,’” Payne said. “So then we decided that somehow, some way, we were going to start a ska band.

“We picked up Lucy and Beau, and a different lead vocalist, bassist and guitarist, and played the Five Iron Frenzy song ‘Pre-Ex Girlfriend’ for band camp a couple years ago. Nobody really liked us — I don’t think they got it.

“Then we got Michael, who’s like two band members in one, and Logan, and our band was complete.”

Heist performs a mixture of original songs and cover tunes. Payne said the group didn’t start writing its own songs until recently. “We learned three covers: ‘Pre-Ex Girlfriend’ and ‘Vultures’ by Five Iron Frenzy, and ‘99 Red Balloons’ by Nena. We actually took Nena’s version and mixed it, adding a pinch of ska to make it our own.”

“Our first original was called ‘Skinned Knees/Gravel Dessert,’” said Patton. “Then came ‘Put ‘Em Down,’ our reggae song. Our next song, temporarily called the ska-ska song was later renamed to ‘We Sound Better on MySpace.’ Then the name was changed every time we played it.”

“The premise was that we sounded better anywhere other than where we actually were,” explained Neely. “Like...”

“On an eight-track,” Patton said.

“Or under your pillow,” Stidham added.

“Or on Sputnik, which doesn’t exist,” Payne chimed in.

“After that, we wrote a song which still remains unnamed, and then I wrote ‘The Grace of a Moonlit Dead End.’ And that’s what we’ve got so far,” Patton summarized.

Ska can be a hard concept to define because it consists of so many different genres. Dime Store Heist spans sounds from “semi-hardcore metal” to rap to reggae to jazz.

“When I first heard ska, I thought rock, jazz and hardcore had come together and made a really weird baby,” Chaffin said. “That’s one really cool thing about our music — no matter kind of music you listen to, you’re bound to find something that you like at a ska show.”

But it isn’t all about the sound for the Heist; it’s also about the message.

“Although we love to come together, play music and have a lot of fun, we feel that that would not be possible without our foundational Christian beliefs,” Stidham said. “We also try to include God in our lyrics and songs and remain a positive influence on people through our music.”

Having spent time on the local music scene, the Heist has an interesting explanation of it — or Neely does, at least. He compares it to a candy store.

“Well, first you have your hardcore bands that are like your peanut brittle clusters or jawbreakers — they’re good, but if you bite too hard, they might break your face. Then, you’ve got your emo bands, which are nougat bars — nice and chewy and good. Those are different from the scremo bands (emo + hardcore), which are crunchy nougat bars — hard on the outside but still nice and chewy on the inside.

“Then you have pop music, which is comparable to Little Debbie Cakes or cotton candy — sweet but not a lot of sustenance. Then you’ve got us, your ska. It’s like the candy that the kid threw on the street because he didn’t like it, but he just doesn’t know what he’s missing.”

Since five of the six members of Heist are seniors, they are preparing to go their separate ways soon. However, they plan to play together “until the last possible minute,” Payne said and continue to get together and perform during school breaks.

Chaffin plans on going into the Coast Guard and working with computers. Payne will attend Ohio University and major in music therapy. He’ll be joined by Sharp, who plans to major in music or broadcast journalism. Neely hopes to attend the Cincinnati Conservatory and be a drummer with an emphasis on jazz music. Stidham will attend Liberty University and major in graphic design.

The only junior of the bunch, Patton said, “Well, in the fall I’m going back to Winfield High School since I’m a year younger than everyone else. I might also start another band. Which reminds me, is anyone looking for a guitarist?”

You can catch Dime Store Heist in action at 7 p.m. March 15 when the band opens for Neutral Agreement and Eleventyseven in a concert at First Baptist Church in St. Albans. The cost is $5.

For more on the band, visit www.dimestoreheist.com or www.myspace.com/dimestoreheist.