The Slackers is an American band formed in New York in the early 1990s, led notably by Vic Ruggiero. Their music blends ska, rocksteady, reggae, soul, jazz and rhythm and blues, with a warmer and more organic approach than much of the ska-punk scene of the same era. Driven by prominent keyboards, brass and songwriting marked by melancholy, humor and everyday observation, The Slackers became one of the defining bands of the American ska scene.