Over the past few years, the Las Vegas ska scene has experienced its fair share of ups and downs. And though a few Vegas ska bands have fallen by the way side or abandoned the style altogether, new groups with a fresh take on ska keep popping up. But unlike hardcore and indie rock, ska faces an uphill battle. If a ska band lacks soul, the music comes off as corny and juvenile. Unfortunately a few lame ska bands have given the whole genre a bad name. But when ska is done properly, you’d be hard pressed to find a happier audience. “We’re just trying to play good music and make it fun for the audience. Geesh that sounds so lame. Um... uh fuck, I don’t know, just make us sound like cocky rock-star assholes!” Cocky rock-stars are not the words to describe OTL. Their on-stage demeanor is charmingly down to earth. The typical pretentious rock show facade is replaced with various silly comments poking fun at one another. “Theres so many bands that take it way too seriously. They don’t even have fun on stage. It’s like bullshitting the audience when you try to act all mysterious or cool. We’re so un-cool it’d be futile to try to convince anybody that we were cool so we just act like our typical retarded selves.” Cool or not, OTL’s stage show is always a fun experience filled with high energy and catchy songs. “The music is really important to us, we always try to make every song better than the last one.” Over The Line is one of Vegas’ best new punk-ska-reggae outfits. Its music is fun and danceable. Its musicians are talented and witty, and unlike some of their Vegas punk-ska predecessors, Over The Line has got soul to spare.

Over The Line is:
Nate: vocals and bass
Jess: drums and vocals.
Kirt: vocals and guitar.
Ryan: guitar.

How did you guys decide on punk-ska?
Kirt- Everyone was in a ska band before this, except Jessica, she was in Pinhead, a sort of Christian punk band.

Who are your some of your favorite ska and punk bands?
OTL - Operation Ivy, Bad Brains, Fishbone, The Return, Sublime, The Mighty Mighty Bostones, Less Than Jake.

So how did you decide on the name Over The Line?
Nate- It was the only name we could agree on.

Is it from the movie The Big Lebowski?
Nate- Yes.
Kirt- The Big Lebowski is the best movie ever.

What music have you been listening to lately?
Jess- Today I was listening to Buju Banton, and Ani DiFranco.
Ryan- Outkast Stankonia.
Nate- I listened to They Might Be Giants’ Mink Car today.
Kirt- I’ve been listening to Jurassic Five, Del the Funky Homosapein and Metallica.

Where do you like to perform in Las Vegas?
Nate- My favorite place lately has been Doggy style, just cuz the kids are really responsive.
Jess- Our worst show was Ska Summit. I whish it was our best. But our sound guy totally screwed us. We ended up playing for less than fifteen minutes.
Kirt- The rest of the show was good though. Watching was more fun than playing.

Which bands were good?
Jess- Save Ferris.
Kirt- Jess is dying to get with Monique Powell.
Hmmm…

Do prefer playing to an older audience or a younger audience?
Kirt- Kids are cool cause they move more but adults are cool cause they drink more.
Nate- We were in Ely Nevada recently and we had a lot of cowboys digging on our set.
Jess- They were really drunk cowboys.
Nate- They weren’t digging it until they were drunk.

Did you change your set for them?
Nate- Oh no. It was the same punk style we always do.
Kirt- Our music just sounds better when you’re drunk.
Jess-We covered the rap songs and everything it was really funny.

What rap and r & b are you covering now?
Kirt- The new shit we’re working on is Fifty-Cent and Lil’ Kim.
Jess- We did Missy Eliot at the Doggy Style show.
Kirt- We’re also working on the new Ludacris.
Jess- They’re making me rap Lil’ Kim and I hate her. She may be a good raper but she is nasty as hell.
Kirt- That’s the coolest thing about her.
Jess- I just can’t handle the nastiness. I’m a little church girl.

So are you sort of dissing these bands?
Jess- No, we’re totally not making fun of them.
Nate- We are just trying to bring some hip hop type fun to the show. We call it “Club O.T.L.” It’s a break from the punk. We just want to throw down a few dance grooves.
Jess- One day we may not have Kirt in the band because he really wants to be a rapper so we give him a little of bit of the rap stuff in our sets, hoping maybe he’ll stay with us.

Can Kirt bust a freestyle?
Nate- Only when he’s drunk.

What are your plans for the future?
Nate- We have a seven song demo and we are working on a new three- song demo. Then we’re going to tour as much as possible.