added a much needed edge in the guitar department. In the summer of 1996, LGB released the single "Spy Market", which the video for was in heavy rotation on the new rock affiliate, MTV2, and was prominently featured on a special for MTV's 120 minutes, entitled "The Third Wave". Along with the Toasters, Let's Go Bowling was then dubbed, on national television, one of the flagship bands of the genre. The energy at the shows, from the audience and the band itself, was at an all-time high. The band was touring the US as a headliner, whose national prominence had given them greater control over their live shows and opening acts. Ska was exploding in the West where Sublime and No Doubt had become KROQ-FM darlings. The OC, home to Reel Big Fish, Save Ferris, and The Aquabats (with the then unknown Travis Barker on Drums). Let's Go Bowling was the original West Coast ska band, and enjoyed the laurels bestowed upon them by these bands, who had cited Let's Go Bowling as an influence in interviews, and also in record releases (No Doubt thanked LGB in the liner notes of "Tragic Kingdom"). LGB, whose tourmates included The Specials, Bad Manners, and The Selecter, recruited ska/swing auters Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Reel Big Fish for a tour of the US in 1997. It was at this time, that the Ska explosion had opened the door for the Swing Scene, which included the Daddies, who recruited M. Rey DeLeon as a touring Trombonist, and Tom Mattot, who was the LGB soundman since '93, and an Oregon native, as their Front of House Soundman. Freeway Lanes era 1997 - 1998 With things really going on, Let's Go Bowling released a live record for Asian Man Records (Mike Park's Skankin' Pickle label) entitled Freeway Lanes. This captured the band at its most innovative, with the band performing freely, and capturing golden moments of interaction between the band, and its beloved scene. It is at this time that the band started to become more free form, and detached with the rigidness of its structure, and would routinely stretch out its Skatalite covers into 15 minute episodic affairs. M.Rey's solos over "Man In The Street" and "The Reburial of Marcus Garvey" were highly innovative in its use of delay to create a ricochet of brass, inspired by Dub music. These solos would extend, and lend