Ska, Stories & Stage Invasions: The Incredible Skank Brothers’ Journey
‘We have fun playing live and it’s great to see the audience enjoying themselves as much as we are. We’ve also had more than our fair share of other good stuff happening, sometimes completely out of the blue… ‘
– So, for people who might not know who you are, despite your decade-long history, who are The Incredible Skank Brothers?
We’re a 7-piece ska band who’ve been playing live throughout the Midlands for over 10 years now, and we recently celebrated playing our 300th gig. We’ve been fortunate enough to have played at a lot of great festivals, scooter rallies and all-day music events as well as the bread and butter pub and club gigs. We have fun playing live and it’s great to see the audience enjoying themselves as much as we are. We’ve also had more than our fair share of other good stuff happening, sometimes completely out of the blue… we’ve been endorsed by Madness; had our stage invaded by Lynval Golding from The Specials when he grabbed the mic and asked to sing A Message to You Rudy with us; we’ve supported Neville Staple, and we’ve released our debut single, Summer Town. It’s been a lot of fun and we promise that anyone who comes to see us will have a great time!! [Andy]
– How do you feel the ska scene has developed within the last 10 years?
There’s really been quite an explosion of interest in the local ska scene in the years that we’ve been active. One of the reasons why we felt the time was right to get the band going back in 2014 was that there weren’t so many ska bands doing the rounds in the area at the time but nowadays the scene is really booming. Now there are a lot of bands playing to packed grassroots venues, which is great to see. It means that more people are getting out and about and enjoying live ska and the live scene is where the heart of ska really lies. The great thing is that it isn’t showing any signs of slowing down at the moment… venues are packed out on gig night and to be quite honest, we could play twice as many shows as we do if we had the dates available. It all shows that there’s a real healthy interest in the genre right now and a lot of people who want to come and see ska bands play live. [Andy]
– Who are some of the bands that get you excited these days?
Whilst our own set is drawn from original 60s ska and 2-tone from the late 70s and early 80s, that doesn’t mean we don’t keep an eye and an ear on what’s going on in the current ska scene. My own favourite band is Rancid, and if anyone hasn’t heard their song, Time Bomb, they really should – it’s what third-wave ska is all about!! The Interrupters are another great band who’ve broken through in recent years and they’re really good. Have a listen to ‘She’s Kerosene’ and you won’t regret it. There’s not as much new ska music being made right now as there was 10 or 20 years ago… we seem to be somewhere between a third and fourth wave at the moment… but there’s still some great stuff out there. [Andy]
– If there was one song that encapsulates the energy and essence of The Incredible Skank Brothers, which one is it and why?
Aside from our debut single Summer Town, our signature song is “54:46 to Skaville”, which is our own mashup of “54-46 That’s My Number” by Toots and the Maytals and “Train to Skaville” by The Ethiopians. Both of those songs use the same riddim and it made sense to put them together and see how it sounded.
The first time we tried it, it sounded pretty good to us and so it stuck. It seemed to strike a chord with our audience as soon as we put it in the set, so it’s now a centrepiece of the show and it’s definitely one that I look forward to playing the most.
We put a strong Skank Brothers take on both of the songs rather than just playing them like the originals… we generally work to a rule of thumb that says “play it like The Specials would” and with that particular song, it works a treat – although at just under 5 minutes long I’m pretty knackered by the end of it!! [Andy]
– When the dust settles with The Incredible Skank Brothers, what do you want to be known for and remembered by?
We’d like to be remembered as a band that always put on a great show and if we can have reminded a few people how much they like ska as well we’ll certainly take that! And of course every band would like to have their own music remembered, so the more people who listen to and like Summer Town, the better. But the bottom line is that ska is good time music and if the audience goes away having enjoyed themselves as much as we did then everyone’s a winner. [Andy]
– What’s the deal with the animal themed locations that you play?
We’ve played at a lot of festivals and rallies over the years but they’re all Summertime events. Once the weather turns and it starts getting colder, we head straight indoors so the Winter months tend to be more likely to be gigs in pubs. And as you know, there’s a lot of pubs in England named after animals or with animal-related names. We’ve played them all, as they say, from the Axolotl to the Zebra, from the Dog House to the Fishpond! [Keith Moonstomp]
– Any original projects in the works right now?
The Incredible Skank Brothers are Ska revivalists more than an original band. There’s so much fantastic music within the history of the ska genre that I don’t think we’d ever reach the end if we tried to play it all. We released Summer Town as an original a while ago and we do have some others ready to go when we have time to record but we’re so busy playing live that there hardly seems time to go into the recording studio again! [Keith Moonstomp]
– Do you think that online presence is important for fans to find you and critics to find your music to write about?
There’s ‘no doubt’ (referencing another band who started out playing ska) that our online presence has made a difference to our success. Everyone in the band has played in other projects before, but being able to communicate with ska fans and the ska community via Facebook, other social media and streaming services has really helped us reach a wider audience. We keep in touch with our followers and regularly interact with them, answering questions and keeping them up to date, but there’s nothing like the live experience to truly connect with an audience or for them to feel the force of The Incredible Skank Brothers in full effect. [Keith Moonstomp]
– Last but not least, if your creativity could only come from either your heart or your brain, where would you choose and why?
Music comes from the heart but the 2nd wave of ska, from the late 70s to 80s, was really founded on an intellectual principle; yes, it was a revival and development of the music built on a love of the original sounds of 60s ska (which then developed to become reggae and influence Punk, Hip Hop and other genres) but at the forefront of the movement at that time was the record label, 2-tone. 2-tone was built on the basis of promoting racial harmony – it’s literally a black and white label – and the bands from that era were all about communities living and working together to create a better future, a future that seemed doomed when most of those musicians were growing up in the early 70s. They wanted to change the division that had been generated by political groups like the National Front. They wanted to create social cohesion by bringing people from all communities and genders together in the pursuit of creating great music and working together to create a better future instead of the ‘no future’ view of the Sex Pistols. It’s an intellectual principle we’re proud to be associated with and continue to promote in these days where divisions can sometimes appear to be widening. So, creativity from the heart but motivation and drive from the brain. [Keith Moonstomp]
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