Mustard Plug: 20 Years of Beers (& No Fear)

What a wild ride it has been the last 20 years for the members of Mustard Plug as they have not only been able to watch their musical career blossom, but also embark on tours all over the world, sharing their distinct and energetic form of Ska music.

“When we started out, our goals were really modest,” says founding member and lead singer Dave Kirchgessner. “We were basically looking to have fun, get some free beer and help make Grand Rapids a more interesting place to live.”

And did they ever as the band not only acted as part of a retention magnate for our region, but they also were able to showcase when out of town what was possible here for musicians who wanted to live a life devoted to their music.  

“Even when Ska exploded in the late 90s we stayed put,” said Kirchgessner. “Grand Rapids is centrally located in the U.S., so it works as a good tour base, and, as always, it’s dirt cheap place to live.”

The reward for being so steady in their approach to touring while making good music was that Mustard Plug sold more than 200,000 records, played 1,500 shows and traveled to four different continents.  

“We continue to tour and write new music.  Most of us are in our forties now and yet, Mustard Plug performs 50-60 shows a year,” Kirchgessener said. “Many of our friends that moved on to Portland or Chicago or Austin have now returned back to Grand Rapids as the city has evolved into more of a cultural Mecca while maintaining its small-city, Midwest quality of life.”

The 20thAnniversary show is a chance for our entire music-loving community to come celebrate a living history of Grand Rapids.  At some point, I think we need to reward these chaps with a street named after a bunch that could have fled, but in turn, led people to our community by being true to their sound.  Paging, Mayor Heartwell: we need Mustard Plug Lane in Eastown.  

Admission: $8 in advance / $10 day of show