DeKALB | There was a lot of skankin’ in town over the weekend – but not the kind you probably think.

Punk and ska fans came out of the woodwork – or perhaps their parents’ basements, as some longtime punks insinuated – Thursday evening to catch ska veterans Mustard Plug at Otto’s Niteclub and Underground, 118 E. Lincoln Highway.

And 117 patrons paid the $10 ticket price to dance that little dance known as the “skank.”

“Ska is always something nice to come back to,” said Carlene Truitt, a senior English and art major. “It’s always really beautiful to reconnect with more simple times, when all you needed was third-wave ska.”

Mustard Plug’s hour-and-a-half set began at 11:30 p.m. and didn’t wrap up until after 1 a.m. Friday. Chicago-area bands The Methadones, Instigator, Danger Boy and I Am Culprit also performed.

Jamie Apperson, NIU freshman and Danger Boy drummer, said his band landed the gig out of the blue.

“One day, I had a MySpace message asking if we wanted on the show,” he said. “Uh, yeah, of course.”

Though the band originally formed in 1991, Mustard Plug is perhaps most famous for launching the “Ska is Dead” tour in February 2004 – an answer to critics’ long-standing notion that the ska scene’s time has passed. Mustard Plug kicked off the original with co-headliner Catch 22. Three years later, it’s the country’s premier ska tour.

The death of ska has never been a sensitive point to the bands that play it, but rather a gag. On Reel Big Fish’s “Our Live Album is Better Than Your Live Album,” singer Aaron Barrett screams, “Don’t yell at me! Do you know who I used to be 10 years ago? During the summer of ska? That was the ‘90s! I had a moderately successful single!”

“That’s the joke,” said Mustard Plug trombonist Jim Hofer. “It’s more for fun. We don’t really make money. We’re not here to get rich.”

Methadones drummer Mike Soucy, though never involved in ska, said he thinks the scene is far from dead.

“Of course there’s still a scene,” Soucy said. “There are kids playing in bands all over. I’m 35, but ska isn’t dead. The scene constantly evolves. Just because I’m not in the scene or you’re not in the scene doesn’t mean it’s not thriving.”

“I would have to say I’ve kind of grown out of ska,” Truitt said. “I’ve seen [Mustard Plug] probably seven times, but all of that was in high school. It’s not completely dead in my heart, though.”

The show was booked by mP Productions, which recently took over booking at Otto’s, as part of a three-day weekend tour. Mustard Plug kicked off the weekend Thursday night at Otto’s before making stops Saturday at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Sunday at the Triple Rock in Minneapolis, Minn.

Mustard Plug has found critical success with the “Ska is Dead” tour, but hasn’t proven to be commercially viable enough to support playing in the band full-time.

Hofer said he works in a restaurant when he’s not touring in the band. Guitarist/vocalist Colin Clive said he works at a coffee shop on his off days.

I Am Culprit singer/guitarist Ronnie Erickson, 22, said he’s returning to NIU in the fall to pursue a master’s degree in computer science. Erickson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications in 2006.

“I don’t want to make [music] a job,” he said.