Save Ferris Steps Out of O.C. Ska Pack

Call them No Doubt with a horn section or Reel Big Fish with a glamorous frontwoman, but Save Ferris is out to separate itself from the pack of rapidly multiplying Orange County ska bands. A step away from No Doubt’s rock-ska blend, Save Ferris also rides on a spunky blend of pop and big-band swing.

After years of developing a strong following in the Orange County underground that spawned No Doubt and Sublime, Save Ferris saw its first album, “It Means Everything,” debut as the No. 3 seller in the area earlier this month.

To classically trained singer Monique “Mo” Powell, discovering ska’s upbeat sound was a blessing. She stumbled upon the genre while studying jazz, opera and folk at Cal State Fullerton.

“I used to go to all-ages clubs and fell in love with the whole scene,” says Powell, 22. “I was tired of being depressed and miserable and listening to music that would make me cry. Not all ska music is peppy and happy, but there is an undeniable energy that I loved. It was wonderful.”

The band members--Powell, guitarist-singer Brian Mashburn, bassist Bill Uechi, drummer Marc Harismendy, saxophonist Eric Zamora, trombonist T-Bone Willy (Brian Williams) and trumpeter Jose Castellanos--met through the tight-knit live-show scene.

Uechi says it was a concert that hooked him early on. “I saw Fishbone at 15 and just loved the performance aspect, it was really wild,” says Uechi, whose onstage trademark is an ever-present bear hat. “They were crazy and had cool haircuts, and I thought that any music that let you dress how you want to, play what you want to and say what you want to--that’s where it’s at.”

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Uechi’s first band was a mariachi-tinged ska outfit called Los Pantalones, which also included Mashburn and Zamora. At the time, Williams was flexing his flamboyant style with the Knuckle Brothers, and Powell was working on several projects, from an all-girl ska band to an experimental ensemble called Larry.

After forming the core of Save Ferris, Uechi and Mashburn worked up the courage to call Powell, but Mashburn says that it wasn’t easy. “Bill and I kept leaving messages with her mother and father. Finally, Mo called back and said, ‘Please stop calling my parents, they’re scared.’ ”

Mashburn discovered the name--stemming from the film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”--scrawled on a study hall cubicle wall.

In 1996, after only one month of practice, the group released an EP, “Introducing Save Ferris.” The self-distributed CD sold an initial 12,000 copies, and it wasn’t long before the group was chosen to compete in the national Grammy Showcase for unsigned bands.

David Massey, senior vice president for A&R; at Epic, was there when the band won the final round in New York in February. “I absolutely fell in love with them on the spot,” says Massey. “They were signed immediately, with no hesitation whatsoever. That was one of those spontaneous things. They simply drove the crowd wild.”

Now, the band is gearing up for another round of shows on the East Coast, where they have to woo new crowds unfamiliar with their rowdy, no-holds-barred sets. “If you don’t feel like dancin’, you can just look at us and get tired,” Uechi says. “We get pretty wacky.”

And how are they going to address those irritating No Doubt comparisons?

“That’s one of the comparisons we have to face,” says Mashburn, “But hopefully, over time, we’ll prove ourselves and rise to the top.”