While ska and reggae stylings have always provided the common musical thread, over the past 15 plus years Ruder Than You has been mixing in dancehall, hip hop, rocksteady, and rub-a-dub – even adding elements of funk, jazz, and punk.
In 1992, Moon Records, officially MoonSKA NYC, put out their debut album, Big Step, and its follow-up Horny for Ska in 1996.
The album features Trish Johnson on bari-sax and several top Philadelphia guest musicians including jazz trumpeter, John Swana.
This included the demise of the band’s former label Moon Records, a 3-year incarceration of lead singer and toaster Freddie "3D" Weaver, and the death of bari-sax player Trish Johnson, who was killed in the morning while traveling to Shenandoah, PA, to visit her mother.
The band’s current roster of veteran members includes the Round Mound of Dub Sound - singer Freddie Weaver.