As a wintry wind whipped through the patio of North Gate Tavern, the warm sounds of The Stellaphonics resonated through a small crowd huddled around a propane heater.It didn’t take long for the band’s beachy reggae beats and high-energy horns to get the crowd moving, or “skanking,” as the specific kicking-style dance move is called in the ska genre.”This is what we do in Colorado to stay warm,” joked Tina Ufford, who teaches a ceramics leisure class in the Student Union. Ufford is originally from the snowy state, where she said ska has a long history.She and a group of friends danced relentlessly throughout the show, even skanking a circle around the patio at times.”It’s very danceable music,” said lead singer and guitarist Phillip Zimmerle, creative writing senior.The Stellaphonics play what Zimmerle calls “early ska with a hint of Memphis and Detroit soul.” While not the rollicking, punk-inspired style of bands like Reel Big Fish and Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the local band play smostly upbeat numbers complete with a lively trumpeter, organist and saxophonist. But there are also slower, more soulful songs in the band’s repertoire.”They go from full-out ska to reggae, and they tap into all these little areas in between,” said audience member Leah Wolfe, psychology senior. “The fusion of different styles together is awesome.”Zimmerle said the band reaches back into the history of the genre for their inspiration.”We try to capture that vintage feel,” Zimmerle said. “We try to make it sound authentic.”Artists such as Desmond Dekker, Alton Ellis, the Skatalites and early Bob Marley and The Wailers have influenced his songwriting. He said the contemporary band The Stellaphonics sound closest to is Boston-based Westbound Train.”Most of our songs have a kind of throwback sound to it,” said bassist Peter Cagnolatti, graphic design junior. “It’s influenced by things that have long been dead.”But lately Zimmerle said the band has been branching out with their newer songs.”We used to just play rock steady [the genre form which reggae evolved],” he said. “We’ve started doing a lot more infusions of Detroit and Memphis soul and put in a lot more rockabilly riffs and a little country, honky-tonk feel.”Zimmerle, the band’s songwriter, said he writes about his own troubling life experiences and tries to make them universally relatable.”You listen to it, and you feel happier because you think, ‘This guy can do it. Maybe there is hope,'” he said.Cagnolatti said the upbeat nature of ska lends to an optimistic point of view.”It’s a very optimistic thing,” Zimmerle said. “Things happen, and you get over it.”He also said the danceability of the music is cathartic.”Everyone always compares dancing with purging yourself of your troubles,” Zimmerle said.The Stellaphonics formed more than a year ago and played their first show last October. Most of the band members have been playing together in ska and punk bands since high school, with the exception of alto and bari saxophone player Danny Nixdorff. Zimmerle found him on the Facebook marketplace.Zimmerle said the band’s name comes from Quilter’s former free jazz show on KLSU called Stellar Regions, the name of a posthumous John Coltrane album.Two of the members, bassist Cagnolatti and drummer Patrick Quilter, also play in Spring Break Shark Attack!, a local surf rock band.The Stellaphonics has a few songs recorded, but Zimmerle has written a slew of new songs they plan to put on tape soon.He said the band isn’t dead set on MTV fame, but they aren’t ruling it out.”We treat [the band] like professionals and work to get ourselves out there,” Zimmerle said. “But we don’t necessarily expect anything.”- – – -Contact Lauren Walck at [email protected]