Having grown up with Sesame Street, like so many others, it doesn’t really ever leave you. The reason being, the quality of the songs, as well as the fairly novel approach to them, making them universally infectious.
What started the youtube marathon of Sesame Street was Gen putting me on to a reggae tune about a rubber duck, after I’d bought her a St Pauli FC one for her birthday. A favourite topic of Ernie, of course. With the wonderful credit, from the motion picture The Harder They Scrub, it is an extravaganza of muppets, introduced by the Count, and catchy to boot.
For fans of: Ska acts who offer genre variety and good musicianship, but know their main job is to make people move on the dance floor.
I don’t know how Ruder Than You were never on my ska radar – they’ve been together off and on since 1989 and have released a bunch of records including 2 on the most prominent ska record label of the 90s, Moon Ska Records.
The band, hailing from Philadelphia, have a sound that sits quite strongly in the USA third wave, but with the benefit of different influences and time to hone their craft, something which many bands lacked around 1998 in the USA. If I had to find another reference point, bands like Let’s Go Bowling or even Moon Ska’s Bucket Hingley’s own band The Toasters come to mind. However, Ruder Than You are probably a little harder to pin down than these other two groups because of their wider mix of ska, rootsy reggae with some dancehall and punk influences.
The bass driven intro instrumental pRaise HaVoc (as it reads on the CD cover) reaches a crescendo, leading into the rather horny thrash metal-like (at least in the chorus) Baby Tonight and the upbeat Creation Sounds, where saxophonist Doug Dubrosky really shows what he can do. The next track is Faith, which has a strong groove and a nice enough sentiment (even if I disagree about the source of the sentiment).
The last two songs of the album are the highlights; with the kicked back Give the People What They Need showing how well a simple upbeat ditty can work and The Witch making it clear Ruder Than You’s talents are broad with a minor key rootsy number.
Favourite tracks: Give the People What They Need
Overall: An impressive album that sits well in the contemporary setting, while still having strong connections to America’s most popular period for ska music.
For fans of: Crude, obnoxious punk fashioned in way that will be fairly new to you.
With a style described as gutter calypso, I found it hard to form any sort of expectation of this record. Consequently, I’ve never heard anything quite like it. It’s not pure novelty, although there is plenty of that. It’s not what I would call youthful rough-round-the-edges DIY recording, although that it is at the essence. So what is it? It’s well polished uninhibited smut, with a splattering of steel drum, and I actually quite like it.
I’d like to say the humour in this record, which is plentiful, was clever and layered, but it’s difficult to claim with songs such as Pee in the Butt and Commando. Calypso was already in the gutter, but this band takes it one step further to cross a line I would imagine not everyone would be comfortable with.
The music is what makes the record for me. Take away all the joke lyrics and what you have is a fusion of punk rock and a West Indian sound that is not often attempted, but in this case works well. The Donkey Song is an infectious catchy example of these two styles. The band’s cover of Jump in the Line, is close to being sacrificial, but it fits with their style.
Favourite tracks: Donkey song, Jump In the Line
Overall: The band doesn’t claim to be everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m sure that’s the case, but if you like a laugh with you dose of punk, have a listen to this record.
As we begin to look ahead towards what 2010 will offer in terms of ska and reggae, I thought I’d take a moment to look back at 2009, particularly in the Australian context, because it was a fairly significant period. I suppose The Specials heading down under for the first time was the biggest story. While Neville Staple and Roddy Byers had been to Australia before to perform songs from The Specials’ catalogue, there was definitely much more hype this time around, with much larger venues booked and a sense of excitement evident not only amongst the die-hard fans, but also the more popular music press. Jerry Dammer’s absence was unfortunate, but it was a good performance by the remaining members. I wouldn’t go so far to say great because of the fairly poor sound and the amount of dickheads in the crowd, but Terry Hall was at his wonderfully aloof best.
Before The Specials arrived, Madness had wowed crowds with a performance of both old material and material from their newest album The Liberty of Norton Folgate. They were seamlessly interwoven, and the crowd at Luna Park’s Big Top in Sydney responded very positively. We’d seen them the year before in London, but this experience was even better, perhaps because of the people we were able to share it with.
Neither Madness nor The Specials were my highlight for the year, however. Pauline Black, whose voice is as strong and stage presence as mesmerising as ever, tied with a little known band from Montreal, Canada known as The One Night Band for the award of well and truly exceeding expectations. The One Night Band are everything I want in a contemporary reggae band – lots of energy, organ driven, good song-writing and a nice bunch of people. While they suffered a little from underexposure on many of their dates – even Sydney was poorly attended, they always put on a great show and were rewarded with an excellent response in Melbourne at Ska Nation, a great event run by The Resignator’s Francis Harrison.
Melbourne continues to be the city to buck the downward trend of ska and reggae in this country. While some bands from the Victorian capital broke up or played fewer shows, new groups emerged such as The Melbournians, The King Cannons, The High Tides and a returning Loonee Tunes. Sydney continues to suffer from too small a pool of musicians, so that the few bands still entertaining us – Backy Skank, Trenchtown and Steppin’ Razor, share many of the same personnel. Club nights are more prominent in Sydney, with Take It or Leave It having completed three years and still very well attended, Sunday Dub Club continuing to give Sydney Park a reggae injection, Uptown Top Ranking making an occasional appearance and our own Garageland once on a month on a Thursday night at UTS offering up some variety. While not ska and reggae, The Rumjacks, with their Irish folk-punk, are probably the band I most enjoyed following in Sydney this year, and I look forward to seeing how their year unfolds.
In 2010 I’m not sure we can expect the same amount or quality of international acts as we had last year, although there are rumours Chris Murray might make an appearance, and if you can manage to sit through Shaggy, Steel Pulse would be good when they play the crudely named Raggamuffin series of gigs. Backy Skank are launching a new album on March 13 at the Sando and there’s a Ska-B-Q in Melbourne on February 5 and 6 that looks as though it will be quite big. So by no means a barren wasteland in Sydney and Melbourne, but here’s hoping for a few new bands to pop up too.
There aren’t many bands doing the organ driven reggae in the UK, unlike in Europe or North America, but Erin Bardwell’s Pop-a-Top stable of groups are, with a sound closer to that of the late sixties than many of their contemporaries.
We’ve reviewed material featuring Neville Banton on vocals before, but this is the most authentic and polished offering of his to date. Guns, Bombs & Madness is a melodic yet not overly downcast track with an obvious yet important message. The organ is less prominent than in most Pop-a-Top record tracks, but it isn’t missed.
The other offering from the label is by a new signing (with familiar names) The Raydiators. The A-side of this 12″ record is a great instrumental dub-reggae track called “The Raydiator”. It’s all about the fantastic guitar hook, which drives the song along wonderfully.
The B-side features two tracks – the first of which is a vocal track called “Gloria”, which is fairly upbeat in contrast to the record’s reverse. The vocals should be out the front of the song, but unfortunately they get absorbed by the organ, which is as usual very nice.
The second track, “Django’s Gypsy Biscuit” is another instrumental with yet another great guitar lead. The track achieves a nice balance between melancholy and driving.
Buy all Pop-a-Top releases from their website: http://www.popatoprecords.co.uk
Well, at least once a month. If you’re in Newcastle for the second Saturday afternoon of the month, get along to Soul Shakedown Party at the View Factory for some sweet sounds in a really nice venue.
We made the nearly three hour train trip north from Sydney yesterday and were surprised to find such a lovely venue in Newcastle, close to both the railway station and the beach. It was a really inclusive crowd, and the music was a great balance of standards and lesser known rocksteady, early reggae and soul tracks.
I’ll post details for the next event when they come to hand, as it is a nice little day trip.
It was at over two and a half years since Gen and I has been to Melbourne, so the opportunity of a weekend of ska and reggae featuring Canada’s The One Night Band was not to be given up.
Early bad luck including a rip-off cab trip to the airport, overweight hand luggage and a late flight was quickly turned around with some warm-up beers at Ska Vendors HQ and one of the best Saturday night’s entertainment I think I will ever experience with the all-singing all-dancing Bama-Lama.
This month’s Bama-Lama was held at a new venue, The Order of Melbourne. A traipse up a few flights of stairs and we reached a high-ceilinged, wooden-floored open bar with booths up the back and a generous dance floor bordered by a long bar on one side, a small stage on the other and a larger stage at the front. The rhythm and blues, most of which was being played on 78s, set the scene and had people dancing early. It didn’t take long for the place to fill up and by the time The Rebelles took to the stage the place was crammed, though the atmosphere friendly. You won’t get more impressive opening acts than The Rebelles: 14 well-dressed young ladies banging out sixties girl group tunes backed by a three-piece band demonstrated the quality and variety of the night. They had the crowd whooping and shaking with their renditions of The Shangri-las’ Remember, Walking in the Sand and Leader of the Pack and The Ronnettes’ Be my Baby, among others.
Club nights that mix DJs and bands could learn a lot from Bama-Lama and the healthy gap they leave between performances to allow the crowd to dance to the great tunes on offer. Most of the crowd had no problem having their dancing interrupted by the striptease of Sarah Lea Cheesecake, and shortly following her and her troupe, I stood in awe as the act billed as the Masked Marvel turned out to be C.W. Stoneking, the amazing blues guitarist. As it was late enough to ensure the crowd to be well boozed-up, many didn’t offer the hush that Stoneking deserved, but it was an engaging performance nonetheless, and the final cover of That’s All right Mama was chillingly on the mark.
After some more rhythm and blues and even a hint of early ska by DJ and co-organiser Mohair Slim, Midnight Woolf took to the stage and took the energy levels to a new high with their mix of r&b, garage and surf. They capped off a line-up of wonderful variety that I’ve never really experienced before. The acts and music were linked closely enough together, but offered something very different, and we went home thinking that such a combination would be difficult to achieve in many places, including our own town of Sydney.
Ska Nation Night One @ the Evelyn
Ska Nation was never going to offer up band after band we were in love with – that wasn’t its aim. Rather, it offered up something for every different ska taste. Some were there for the ska-punk-pop of Addiction 64 who had reformed after seven years, while others were there for another reformation in Australian 80s 2-tone act Loonee Tunes. The room was perhaps at its fullest for them, but still healthy as The Hightides came on stage. It was great to see a man always busy behind the scenes in Melbourne ska, Gary “Skaman” Rosch, fronting a band and sounding great. Their originals are well polished and as they replace more of their 2-tone covers with their own, they will go from strength to strength. MU330′s Dan Potthast (or as we prefer, Dan Posthaste) started to grow on me the second time around, with his one man show, and I thought even more of him as he made up the extra guitar on the two songs The One Night Band snuck in at the end of the night. Trigger and Good Times were music to my ears and I couldn’t wait to hear the Canadians play a full set the following night.
Ska Nation Night Two @ the Corner
Despite having been to Melbourne a number of times, I’d never been to the Corner Hotel even though it regularly plays host to the larger ska and reggae gigs. It’s a great venue, with heaps of space, but the ability to provide an atmosphere no matter what the crowd numbers. Crowd numbers weren’t a problem on this occasion, however. By the time the Ska Vendors were through their first song, the place was jumping. It had been over two years since I’d seen the band, who themselves had taken a six month break and adjusted the dynamic. A cut down horn section and a return to the keys changed the focus slightly, but it had no effect on their energy. The crowd responded fittingly, and set the tone for the night. Let’s hope we see more Ska Vendors soon. Following the early ska of the Ska Vendors were another favourite in The King Cannons. I was really impressed at their performances when they played in Sydney recently, and they didn’t disappoint this time around. Their set is predominantly made up of originals, mixing organ driven reggae and punk to create a wide appeal. They complement The One Night Band on a bill particularly well. Following on were The Resignators, who receive their best response in their home town of Melbourne. Lots of young guys and girls were at Ska Nation and really got into The ska-punk styling of this band. It’s easy as a lover of early Jamaican music to turn ones nose up at a band like The Resignators, or even Area 7, but if it gives attention to The One Night Band and the Ska Vendors that they wouldn’t normally receive, then I have no complaints. The Resignators do, after all, have an infectious energy that many other bands will never match, so their appeal is quite obvious. Music is a continuum however, and I like that Dan Potthast is doing something a little different from MU330 with his solo project.
A lot of people I spoke to were distracting themselves with the support acts in wait of The One Night Band. Not a lot was known about them, but there was a hum around the venue about how good they were. It was great to see them at the Corner – the sound was as big and heavy as it should be with a reggae band such as this, and sensing this energy they just kept playing song after song, not allowing things to slow with useless banter. Most of their songs were from their latest album Hit & Run, an album that is now a favourite of ours. Post-gig and it was a case of (fairly) mature reggae fans acting like 14-year-olds at their first unsupervised concert. There’s nothing like drunken reggae discussions with people from across the other side of the world who know just where the rant is coming from.
So all in all, a fantastic event. Well done to Francis for all the hard work in putting something like this on. Any disappointment about crowd numbers in the other cities will have been forgotten after Melbourne. Decisions to have bands like Area 7 on the bill divided a lot of people, but it did broaden the event’s appeal, and gave us old ska snobs a chance to catch up with everyone, which is half the fun of a trip like this. A big thanks must also go to Stevie and Anna who put us up while we were in Melbourne. No doubt we’ll return to Melbourne sooner rather than later.
The Ska is Dead tour, a well established regular jaunt around the USA, has come to Australia. The premise is intelligent enough – include a mix of bands likely to appeal to different tastes to maximise interest. The Australian tour featured The Resignators from Melbourne, Dan Potthast from the United States and One Night Band from Montreal, Canada. Our interest was in One Night Band, having reviewed their excellent CD Hit & Run last year while in the UK. We caught the band’s first Australian show @ the Annandale. The turnout was fairly good for a Thursday night, though disappointingly most weren’t there for the Canadians. Local Sydney act Chris Duke and the Royals, The Resignators and Dan Potthast all got good receptions, but I couldn’t help but being surprised that the ’98 sound that was so big is still around. Still, if it gets people into ska it must be a positive thing.
One Night Band were even better live than they were on their record. They were energetic, tight and most importantly great exponents of the organ driven reggae sound, which is perfect for dancing. I think a lot of the “third-wavers” were surprised at how good they were. Their set included fantastic covers of Desmond Dekker’s Keep a Cool Head and the West Indian favourite Shame and Scandal. Their own material should not be discounted however, as it just as infectious, and enticing enough to win over those who had never heard the band before.
We left their Sydney gig determined to head to Wollongong on the Sunday to see them. Talking to some of the guys on tour, there was a fear that a drive from their Brisbane gig on Saturday night to get to Wollongong Sunday evening was cutting it a bit fine, but we were keen to see the band again. Long story short, it was cutting it too fine, and not all of One Night Band (or The Resignators for that matter) made it to Wollongong that afternoon, so we were left to watch some Wollongong locals – including Val the Greek’s new band Steel City Allstars – and wallow in the misery of missing a performance by one of the best bands knocking about at the moment.
Still, on to Melbourne and the Ska Nation weekend, where we’ll get to see One Night Band for a final time before they head home.
I am a little bit addicted to, the former host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Mark Lamarr’s BBC radio show God’s Jukebox. Each three hour episode streams for a week to help alleviate the time difference pain. Each week he features a live session, which in recent months has included the likes of Pat Kelly with Intensified, The Heptones and The Blockheads. It’s not just reggae mind you, but a wonderful mix of soul, blues, rocksteady, ska, bluegrass, gospel and everything in between.
The Joe Strummer tribute at the Hopetoun Hotel in Sydney on Saturday night was probably the best local gig I’ve been to since I got back from England at the beginning of this year. While I have previously complained of a lack of positive invigorated musical projects in Sydney, seeing bands like King Cannons, The Rumjacks and Trenchtown brought back memories of how enjoyable the Sydney live music scene can be. As well, Backy Skank, stalwarts of the Sydney ska scene, benefited greatly from being on such a positive bill. They really needed to rise to a certain level, and they did so.
Over the next few months, I will have the pleasure of seeing King Cannons a number of times, in Sydney, the Blue Mountains and their hometown of Melbourne. This band puts on such a great show, and while I would love them to play a whole set of reggae, their stage performance and musical ability makes their other tunes still very enjoyable. Get along to see them if you can.
Neither Madness nor The Specials were my highlight for the year, however. Pauline Black, whose voice is as strong and stage presence as mesmerising as ever, tied with a little known band from Montreal, Canada known as The One Night Band for the award of well and truly exceeding expectations. The One Night Band are everything I want in a contemporary reggae band – lots of energy, organ driven, good song-writing and a nice bunch of people. While they suffered a little from underexposure on many of their dates – even Sydney was poorly attended, they always put on a great show and were rewarded with an excellent response in Melbourne at Ska Nation, a great event run by The Resignator’s Francis Harrison.
