One of the more interesting tidbits to surface about the Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ cast is scant details about Oscar Isaac’s years as an underground musician. Isaac plays Poe Dameron, a Resistance pilot who is one of the series’ more endearing debuting characters despite limited screen time. Before pursuing acting full-time, Isaac was involved in the Miami punk scene during the halcyon days of third wave ska.

Isaac’s ska-punk days became common knowledge after a December appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. During the interview, Isaac namedropped past bands the Closet Heterosexuals, the Worms, Petrified Frogs, and Blinking Underdogs. He jokes that the latter “opened” for Kimmel’s host Dicky Barrett’s Mighty Mighty Bosstones by playing the same festival stage five hours earlier.

While YouTube footage of Isaac’s bands and photos from Blinking Underdogs’ Facebook page have made the rounds since, there’s a downloadable set of songs that has yet to go viral online. Internet Archive’s IUMA (Internet Underground Music Archive) hosts a dozen Blinking Underdogs tracks, including five finished tracks, five demos, and a lengthy rough take that breaks from the third wave ska mold. Each capture Isaac as a singer and guitarist, pursing his punk rock dream years before catching a break in Hollywood.

The IUMA collection also includes a brief note from Sept. 24. 2001 from band member Nick. He reveals the reason for the band’s hiatus: Isaac attending acting school at Julliard in New York City. That worked out quite well and provided his bandmates with one degree of separation from a film that will still be engrained in popular culture when they have grandchildren. Stream all 12 songs via the player and follow along with our track-by-track commentary below.

1. “Away” (3:48)

There’s a gruffness to melodic tunes like this one that’s akin to Gainesville, FL post-hardcore and emo. Isaac is no Chuck Ragan, which is okay. There’s no guarantee that Hot Water Music’s front man could pull off being an ace X-Wing pilot or that robot-building jerk in Ex-Machina.

2. “Blame” (5:14)

The skanking guitar riffs and walking bass grooves that define this era are on full display on “Blame,” making the Blinking Underdogs a slightly meaner version of Saving Ferris—or maybe a clean-cut Rancid? It’s such a late ‘90s relic that you could totally convince someone who hasn’t seen 10 Things I hate About You in over a decade that this was on the soundtrack.

3. “Blue Alishia” (4:12)

Blinking Underdogs also toyed with the hyperactive, hook-laden pop-punk version of ska. This is the kind of carefree dance music that made standing around in the summer daylight worthwhile during the Warped Tour’s glory days. It’s also the same style copied by WWE wrestler Sami Zayn’s theme, so this take on ska still rears its head in popular culture.

4. Day One Demo 1 (3:11)

A handful of unnamed demos also exist. The first track—let’s call it “Dream On,” based on the chorus—is another cut of the hyperactive, melodic ska punk many 30-somethings associate with the ‘90s.

5. “Once” (5:23)

There’s a folk music undercurrent on “Once,” from its acoustic opening to Isaac’s sudden transformation into a pop troubadour. Considering folk’s infiltration of indie’s underground and the pop charts in recent years, Blinking Underdogs was ahead of the times. Plus it’s an ironic mix of a modern and less highfalutin Llewyn Davis (sans the orange cat, sadly) with the music Isaac played before pursuing an acting career.

6. Day One Demo 2 (4:52)

Track two is also like cracking open a time capsule, if you grew up on emo and post-hardcore.

7. Unnamed Track (10:36)

The other track, aside from five demos, is a 10:36 atmospheric odyssey that owes as much to Latin music and hard rock as it does to ska and other Caribbean styles. Sadly, this raw recording is scratchy and barely listenable at times. With a little patience, though, listeners can pick out the makings of what might have been a shift toward blending diverse musical styles into something unique.

8. “Salvation” (9:16)

Isaac and company’s skanking riffs briefly become effects laden transmissions from space on “Salvation.”

9. One Day Demo 3 (4:22)

The third track adds some new wrinkles, as it is a funky, horn-driven track—think Chicago meets the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Isaac and his bandmates probably did not set out to get Chicago comparisons this many years later. There’s no shame in that game though—the kings of horn wielding dad rock are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame now. 

10. One Day Demo 4 (3:07)

Track four starts with some pretty sweet blues-inspired guitar work. Maybe these rewarding curveballs are in the mastered and named tracks, and they are just drowned out by horns?

11. One Day Demo 5 (3:44)

The fifth demo finds Isaac mixing mellow Sublime style vocal delivery on the verses with gruff, chant-along choruses. The latter doesn’t really suit Isaac’s vocals or the band’s sound. Isaac dabbles in different vocal stylings that were popular at the time—street punk urchin, gruff rocker dude, and melodic post-hardcore songwriter to name a few. Even when he swings and misses, he pulls off what he’s attempting well enough that listeners won’t have to feel embarrassed for the future Poe Dameron.

12. “Trailer Park”

Lyrically, Isaac and his bandmates channel Rancid’s Lars Frederiksen on this ode to neighborhood pals and hangouts. Conversely, the music itself is more pop-accessible than other tracks. Had this band made a big impact, perhaps it would have been facilitated by this mix of streetwise punk rock and chart-friendly ska.