The question is...does the world really need another poppy, ska-esque, band from Orange County, California? Oh, why not? Listening to the stuff No Doubt is putting out these days, it's hard to tell that they were once a killer show to go see -- back when they were playing small clubs filled with teens and twentysomethings dancing -- AHEM-- "skanking" with joyous abandon. Way back when Eric Stefani was writing their songs and including silly lyrics about getting his wisdom teeth pulled and lusting after Paulina Porizkova.

Back when No Doubt was big, dumb ska with a wicked cool horn section.

Not that No Doubt's recent endeavor, Tragic Kingdom, was bad, but it really lacks the sense of whimsy and fun that drew me to the band back in the late 80's. Besides, it is possible to have too many songs about one break-up.

In walks Save Ferris. Billing themselves as a ska/pop/swing band, these Orange County residents have made ska fun to listen to again. Vocalist Monique Powell, 21, has a gorgeously full, opera trained voice that just fills every song with character and tongue-in-cheek inflection. Just listening to either of their recent releases -- the EP Introducing... Save Ferris or the full length It Means Everything -- you can tell she's not trying to be deep or introspective. She's trying to have fun. And she wants you to have fun with her.

Throw in one of the better horn sections in today's music scene, and youÌve got a band that'll make you smile and want to get up and -- AHEM -- "skank." Songs like "Spam" and "Superspy," the latter to be their next mainstream radio release, are just good old fashioned ska tunes, and their song, "Under 21," is sure to send any underage kid who's tried (and failed) to get into a club to see one of their favorite bands into hysterics.

The real breakthrough for the band is their cover of Dexys Midnight Runners "Come On Eileen." This boppy rendition of the 1983 new wave classic is one of the most enjoyable cover songs to be released in recent years, and has been receiving heavy radio play on alternative radio stations around the country, garnering enough listener response to have It Means Everything, debut at 75 on the Billboard charts.

Regrettably, for older fans, It Means Everything contains most of the songs on the EP, but for newer fans it's fine because the EP is getting tough to find. Besides, newer songs like the Reggae-based "Lies" are already indicating that the young band, who were just signed to Epic Records earlier this year at the infamous South X Southwest music showcase, is already demonstrating some range.

Save Ferris is currently touring nation-wide with Goldfinger and the costumed Superheroes of ska, the Aquabats (recently voted by the editors of the Orange County Weekly as "The best band who deserve to have their own Saturday morning cartoon.") Don't just take my word for it -- check out this high-power, freewheeling act for yourself. But when you hear them, be prepared to toss that Gen X angst out the window and to get down and, oh, I'll just say it, "skank."

VICTOR D. INFANTE, nimue@ziplink.net, graduated in 1993 from the British campus of New England College. He is a staff writer for Next... Magazine and has worked as a music critic for several newspapers and periodicals. He has published three books of poetry, and is the editor of the forthcoming "Roadside Distractions," an anthology of contemporary American poets on the subject of travel. He currently lives in Southern California.