In the late '90s/early 2000s, ska punk group Pimpslap rocked several venues in Kentucky. While the band split in 2004, the members remained good friends. Unfortunately, tragedy struck when singer Jeremy Pryor was killed in a drunk driving accident in 2014. Over the summer, Pimpslap bassist Josh Hines compiled a slew of unreleased material for the compilation Close Enough For Rock 'N Roll, which includes the unreleased album 13. The 44-track compilation will be released tomorrow (October 24), which would've been Jeremy’s 37th birthday. Hines spoke to us about finally releasing this music and shared some stories about his late friend.

MP3s and NPCs: What was the process for finishing up the unreleased album?

Josh Hines: Back in 2000, we laid down tracks to 13 songs, one of which was an instrumental. We ran out of money, and the album stalled. Sometime in 2003, Jeremy did vocals to four songs, and our trombone player Jon mixed those four. We had rough mixes of the other nine songs from the initial session, but Jon never put any time in them without the vocal tracks. Fast forward 16 years, those individual stems are long lost, and all I have to work with are those rough mixes from 19 years ago. There are flaws on some of the songs that we would have definitely fixed back in the day, but they're unchangeable at this point. Volume issues, sour notes, timing problems, etc. They all live on as they were when we recorded them.

I played with the EQ a bit to help it out, but I basically just laid down vocals on top of rough mixes that I really couldn't adjust at all and tried to blend them. I did some backing vocals on the four songs Jeremy did and did all the vocals on the other eight. Out of those 12 songs, when the band was going, I would have sang lead on maybe two or three of them and provided backing vocals for most of the others, so it was strange singing lyrics and melodies I'd never done before. Especially because Jeremy was very loose with his lyrics and melodies the entire time. They would change slightly almost every show, so I had to listen to a lot of live tapes to find the consistent parts and just decide what I thought sounded best for everything else. It was amusing singing about his girlfriends from 20 years ago, and it was a bit haunting harmonizing with him. There are two other recording sessions represented on the first disc of this collection, and I added some backing vocals to a couple songs from the 2003 session. For the live disc, I overdubbed some guitar, bass, drums, and vocals in various places to help even out some mixes that were just a little lacking on certain instruments but for the most part the live disc is truly what we sounded like as a live band 16-20 years ago.

MP3s and NPCs: What was it like looking back at old footage of the band?

Hines: Looking back at old footage was like revisiting a past life. I'd seen pictures, but I'd never actually sat down and watched any of the old videos. It's been nothing but good memories. It's made me miss Jeremy quite a bit, but we had so much fun that it's difficult to be sad about any of it. At this age, I'm old enough to be the dad of the people in those videos, so it's literally like watching somebody else do things that I somewhat remember doing myself. I've stayed active in bands the entire time, so some of the shows and recording sessions aren't as distinct in my mind as they once were and it all becomes a bit of a blur, but some of these performances I remember pretty well.

We were so young for most of it, doing such stupid shit, and acting like idiots, but we had so much fun, and the crowd was always into it. I can't imagine doing that stuff on stage now, but I'm glad we didn't hold anything back. Jeremy and I were constantly trying to one-up each other on stage, and it's awesome looking back at the relationship we had in those roles in the band. Trying to be the funniest one but also encouraging each other and doing little routines together that we'd organized. We played together in another band called Commander after Pimpslap, but Jeremy switched to drums so the stage dynamic between us was different. I'd give anything to have done just a single reunion show with Pimpslap.

MP3s and NPCs: What were some of your favorite memories playing with Jeremy?

Hines: It's difficult to pick out a small number of favorite memories. Between Pimpslap, Commander, and a few others, we played together for about 10 years and even after that our other bands would do shows together. If I had to try to make a short list, it would go something like this: During one song I would get on his shoulders for a section and we'd keep playing (you can it during the break of the live song "I Hate You" on the second disc). At the end of The Drunker They Are, I would stand behind him and we'd play the right hand of our own instrument and the left and of each other's instrument. There's plenty of video of that happening. During "Guitar Up," we always did a lot of moves and dances together. We used to cover The Cars song "Magic," and we'd run in place the entire song.

Along with our drummer Nick, we would sometimes leave the stage and come back out wearing Santa beards and call ourselves The Italyon Stallyonz, then play five minutes of improv metal. There were just so many things for each song and show over the years. This is going to sound corny, but more than anything I just miss looking over at his smile on stage. Every show was just so much fun and full of shit to laugh at. It was all smiles all the time. Sharing that with your best friend rather than somebody who was just a bandmate, nothing beats that.

MP3s and NPCs: How was the Kentucky music scene back in the day?

Hines: The Kentucky scene was a lot of metal back then. We'd find another punk band from time to time, but we mostly played shows with heavier bands. We almost never played with other ska bands. I think some people were under the impression that the punk and metal crowds had some sort of rivalry but that just wasn't true. We shared the stage with so many heavy bands, and everyone got along great and was very supportive. This was the 90s and early 2000s when it was more difficult to get a band off the ground without the help of social media and the internet, so everyone came out to shows to see bands and it didn't matter what they sounded like. The scene was much tighter back in those days. There weren't any little cliques that would blackball certain bands. These are all-ages shows back then. I don't have a clue what the bar scene was like because we broke up before we were all 21. I think we played one or two bars the entire time and they were out of town.

I'll admit we were cocky as fuck back then, and that rubbed some people the wrong way. Most of the time, we were the youngest band playing, and we sort of relished in that. Like we had more energy and could upstage the other bands on that alone. We'd show up and have a horn section while everyone else just had guitars, and we loved the attention that would get, especially from the older crowd that hadn't been exposed to ska. We always had a pretty strong fan base and a lot of female fans, too. Isn't that always the goal? Haha.

MP3s and NPCs: Did the band have any missed opportunities (tours, opening for bands) while they were active?

Hines: I think the biggest missed opportunity was not releasing all the music we recorded. We opened up for some good bands like Goldfinger, Show Off, Mustard Plug but we had nothing to hand them to listen to later. We had nothing for radio stations to play. No videos online. We played a lot of big shows, but there weren't any specific times when I felt like we really blew an opportunity. We got disqualified from several battle of the bands, but that got us more credibility than the bands that won.

MP3s and NPCs: What have been some life lessons you've learned from being in the band?

Hines: That's a tough one. This was my first band, and I think you learn more in that than any that comes later. How to handle yourself around fans and the crowd, things not to say on the mic, don't panic if something goes wrong, look like you're having fun, don't have too many cooks in the kitchen during song writing, be organized, be positive, know your goals, enjoy every moment, and most importantly release the goddamn music so you don't have to do it 20 years later.