For Bluecoats Rhythm IN BLUE — the longstanding SoundSport program under the heading of the two-time DCI World Champion Canton, Ohio corps — it’s always important to find fresh show elements. It’s also important, according to program coordinator Hannah Wise, to keep the ensemble tied to its Bluecoats roots.
Enter Jer Hunter, who, as a result of their music, has garnered the nickname “the CEO of Ska.” More commonly referred to solely by their first name, the Bluecoats alum has built a multifaceted career as a YouTube creator, musician, composer, and music educator, best known for hosting the Skatune Network channel.
The result of a perfect partnership, Rhythm IN BLUE — which has, in various forms, performed in the SoundSport arena for more than a decade, and has won multiple “Best of Show” honors at the SoundSport International Music & Food Festival in Indianapolis — will place Jer’s Ska music at center stage of its 2026 program.
“We set out to explore a genre of music that has not really been explored in the marching arts very much and that is the genre of Ska,” Wise said. “We are very excited that we are collaborating with an up-and-coming Ska artist who is also a Bluecoats alumni.”
Ska music is a fast, upbeat style that began in Jamaica in the late 1950s, combining elements of jazz, rhythm and blues, and Caribbean music. It’s best known for offbeat guitar or piano rhythms, strong horn lines, and dance-oriented energy.
The genre has gone through several revivals over the decades, including a major resurgence in the United Kingdom and later in the United States, each time adapting to new audiences while keeping its lively, feel-good sound.
Skatune Network, which has more than 250,000 subscribers, showcases much of Jer’s music, including many Ska covers of well-recognized songs; most-viewed covers include Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” — Jer’s cover of the 2019 hit eclipsed one million views on YouTube — as well as multiple Blink 182 and Paramore songs.
“The show itself came from one of my friends actually sending me one of Jer’s songs and saying, ‘Can we please do a Ska show?’” Wise said. “And I took that and filed it away, and then it all just kind of came together from there. We knew we wanted to use Jer’s music.”
Jer’s contributions to the Bluecoats organization go beyond Rhythm IN BLUE’s 2026 repertoire; they marched with the Canton corps in 2016 and 2017, and served on its brass instructional staff in 2023.
And while this partnership checks many of Rhythm IN BLUE’s boxes as it pertains to priorities in show design, it also checks one box on which the Bluecoats organization as a whole prides itself — innovation.
”That’s how we try to innovate the activity, is to always bring to the field something that you can’t really do on a traditional football field,” Wise said. “We’ll bring something new to you.”
