The eleven-piece, all-female, all-star ska/reggae crew, Rude Girl Revue is giving the holiday gift of new music to their fans with the release of two brand new, original songs on their label, Chicago-based Jump Up Records’ annual Holiday 45, and the band is making a rare club appearance at Metro Baltimore in support of that release on Friday, December 13.

The disc kicks off with “Behind Every Santa, There’s A Mrs. Clause”, a vintage-inspired tune that fits nicely between tracks by Brenda Lee and The Beach Boys, while tweaking the old “behind every good man, there’s a good woman” adage for the holidays. It is backed by “Slay Belles”, a dub reggae sound collage of femme empowerment partially inspired by the bitch tracks of drag queens. Both songs were recorded at the legendary Version City Studios with NYC ska capo King Django engineering the session. Django himself mixed “Slay Belles”, while “…Mrs. Clause” was mixed by Rob George.

With members from some of the hottest ska bands on the East Coast, including Baltimore’s Scotch Bonnets, as well as Hub City Stompers, Stop The Presses, The Skluttz and more, Rude Girl Revue is on a mission: to inspire women not just to move to the front of the crowd but to see themselves onstage in front of that crowd, to be the change desperately needed in this world, and to play the anthems for that revolution. The group formed during the 2020 pandemic and made their debut at the 2021 Supernova International Ska Festival, becoming one of the highlights of that year’s festival. Also at Supernova, the band self-released a two-song, self-titled digital single, which was then re-released on vinyl by Jump Up Records that December. In 2022, the entire crew flew to England for a featured slot at the Big One 11 Festival and a headlining gig in London. Rude Girl Revue also flew to Colorado that year to open for LA trad-ska heavyweights, Hepcat at Ska Brewing’s 27th Anniversary party in Durango, CO. 2023 saw the band releasing singles on Stubborn Records and Specialized compilations and playing another memorable set at Supernova.

All eleven women recently returned from a weekend trip to the Midwest, to play the holiday 45’s release show at Slackfest Chicago. Held at Reggie’s on November 15-16, Slackfest is the annual residency of NYC’s Jamaican rock’n’roll stallwards, The Slackers and Rude Girl Revue was direct support on Night Two. The group also played in Toledo at The Ottawa Tavern on November 15, with punky reggae rockers J. Navvaro & the Traitors as well as polka-rockers, The Polka Floyd Show. The Toledo show was sponsored by Reverend Guitars, with whom guitarist Lady Hatchet and bassist Jade Tremba have endorsements.

With joyful artwork, the Holiday 45 will be a limited pressing of 500 records on red and green vinyl. This release closely follows the band’s five-song Supernova EP, self-released digitally last September during this year’s Supernova International Ska Festival. Rude Girl Revue performed two sets at this year’s Supernova: one of their own repertoire and one backing LA chanteuse Queen P, from 90s ska preservationists Oceans 11, on a set of classic ska and rocksteady by Jamaican female legends.

The December 13 Metro show is being promoted by Baltimore’s independant music champion, Feed The Scene. Also playing is Baltimore’s hip-rock and soul crew, East The Cake Band, New Jersey ska-punkers Best Of The Worst, and Baltimore ska-soul group, The Soularites. Doors are at 6:30, and the show is all-ages. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased on Metro Baltimore’s website: https://metrobmore.com.