This is no place for the weak. With their matching suits and high-energy stage shows, the members of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra have spent the past three decades dispensing a relentlessly upbeat gospel, with barely a pause for breath.

"Everyone is playing like their lives depend on it," says drummer Kin-ichi Motegi — who, after 20 years of performing with the band popularly known as "Skapara," is still a comparative rookie. "You sweat like crazy. When we do a headlining show, I'll lose a couple of kilos."

Atsushi Yanaka, the band's debonair baritone saxophonist, lyricist and sometime vocalist, chuckles to hear his group's regime described as "spartan." But it's hard to think of a better description for the ensemble's unstinting devotion to keeping the good times rolling. With the exception of guitarist Takashi Kato — a veritable whippersnapper at 48 — the members are now all in their 50s, yet they're showing no signs of easing up.