For 34 years, NYC’s the Slackers have toured the world with their critically acclaimed – and widely beloved – blend of ska, reggae, and soul.
The Slackers have been called “the sound of New York” by the New York Times. They were described by Brooklyn Vegan as a “clean mix of ska, reggae, and soul that gets dirtied up by Vic Ruggiero’s tough New York accent.” Decades into their run, The Washington Post noted that the Slackers “remain at the top of their game.”
Since forming in 1991, the Slackers have released 16 albums, 5 EPs, and countless singles. They have performed thousands of energetic concerts for their global fanbase and remain unstoppably prolific.
In their 2025 releases on Pirates Press Records, the EP “Money is King,” an indictment of the powerful as only the Slackers can do, went straight to the top 25 of the Submodern Reports album list. Their single “My Last Star” was a tribute to Hepcat's Greg Lee, fulfilling the final creative vision of the late singer. The 11-track compilation “Lost and Found Vol.2” had a surprise boogaloo breakout streaming hit with “Diskambobulated.”
Their April 2022 album, “Don’t Let the Sunlight Fool Ya,” was the Slackers’ first charting record and qualified the sextet as a Billboard “new artist” – 30-plus years into their career! The power of the Slackers is nothing new to their fans, which number over 150K on social and thousands more via their direct-to-fan newsletter.
The Slackers regularly perform at clubs and festivals around the world. They’ve sold out multiple curated "slackfests" in London, Chicago, Austin, and Anaheim, as well as "5 days in LA" and their "5 boro tour" of New York City. The Slackers are currently booking 30 gigs throughout Europe between September 23-October 25, 2026.
Pour les fans de Reggae.
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It makes me a bit sad that Ska music never really took off, mainly because bands like The Slackers deserved more attention than they have been getting. I mean, how can you not love slightly quirky, big band music? The full (current) lineup of The Slackers includes Vic Ruggiero on keyboards and vocals, Jay Nugent on guitar, Save Hillyard on saxophone, Glen Pine on trombone as well as vocals, Marcus Geard on standing bass and Ara Babajian on drums.
With so many people providing sound to the band, its no surprise how crowded the stage looks once everyone takes their place with their instruments. Because of the awesome sounds of the horns and sax, there is a large jazz sound to the band, giving them a leg up on a lot of other live bands that I’ve seen. They also have the added plus of being dressed in suits, which makes them seem to embody the word “cool.” There is a lot of movement, both from the members of the band, as they sway to the beat of the music, but most of the audience is dancing about as well. You know that each show that you see The Slackers perform, you get a completely unique show because of all the solos that each instrumentalist will take at one point or another.