Pilfers at the Gramercy Theatre

New York City hosted a thriving third wave ska scene in the 1990s. Vocalist Coolie Ranx left the Toasters in 1997 and started assembling a new band. The Pietasters' vocalist, Steve Jackson, persuaded Ranx to team with trombonist Vinny Nobile of Bim Skala Bim. They then recruited guitarist Nick Bacon of the Erratics and bassist Anna Milat-Meyer and drummer James Blanck of Skinnerbox. The quintet became Pilfers, playing live, changing personnel occasionally, and releasing two albums until the band split in 2001. Ranx then launched a solo career and played the role of Little Jacob in Grand Theft Auto IV, Nobile played in Cenzo, Bacon joined Lost City Angels and landed gigs in films, and Milat-Meyer was in a Latin music band, Los Mas Valientes. Various line-ups of Pilfers began making sporadic comebacks starting in 2005. Pilfers' third and most recent album is 2015's From Far.

Pilfers reunited after a five-year hiatus to headline Radicsfest at the Gramercy Theatre in a night dedicated to Roy Radics, the late vocalist of the Rudie Crew who died in 2016. This time, Pilfers consisted of Ranx, Nobile, Bacon, Milat-Meyer, keyboardist Ricky Tepperberg, and drummer Mike Fuchs. Sharing the bill with five other ska bands, each of the performing artists added its own twist to the music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s. Blending ska with an awareness and affinity for rock and roll, hardcore punk and dub, Pilfers' set was fast and raucous, alternating punctuation between Ranx's toasting and Nobile's trombone playing. With no new songs to introduce, Pilfers stuck to fan favorites including "Kawaii", "Yakuza", "Roller Coaster," and "Climbing." Mid-set, Bacon paused due to technical problems with his guitar amplifier, and the rest of the band improvised a bit, but otherwise the only surprise was the show's abrupt end at midnight, eliminating songs on the printed set list on stage. Was it a curfew issue? The Pilfers Crew, as the band's avid followers are called, was left to wonder if Pilfers would reunite in the future for another area concert.