We had a great time playing at a fund raising event for a Jamaican charity last Saturday.
This was held at the Jamaican High Commission (the equivalent of an embassy) just by London’s Royal Albert Hall – and a rather grand Victorian building too.
It was something of an honour for a British ska band to be asked to play in the High Commission, and to be honest we were a little nervous. A carpeted reception room with no special lighting is perhaps not the ideal conditions for a gig, but perhaps helped by lots of rum punch, it turned into a great evening, with lots of dancing.
We’ve had a lovely message back from the organiser:
Awesome! Amazing!
You guys are just amazing.
I cannot get over it.
Cannot.
You were such a hit.
I hope we can grow together because this isn’t the last of Mangia!
Please give the Band my special thanks.
Perhaps even better was what was said in the ‘thankyous’ speech at the end of the evening:
“If I had been walking past in the street I would have had no idea that this was bunch of white people – they were playing with such energy.”
The Italian/Jamaican food was also rather special.
We were also told in no uncertain terms that we should not call it ska – with a long a as in ‘art’ – but with a short a as in ‘ass’.
We had a terrible journey to what turned out to be a great gig near Dorchester in Dorset.
It was lucky that we had all set out in good time, as a combination of torrential rain, and endless bank holiday traffic hold ups meant that it wook hours longed than we expected to get there.
However once we were there it quickly became an immensely enjoyable evening.
The reception was in a giant tent constructed from two tipis. We had enough time to set our equipment up and sound-check.
We were also able to provide our PA for the wedding speeches and to use for the first dance and disco parts of the evening – courtesy of the groom’s ipod.
Most exciting for us was the debut of Nick’s new blue plastic trombone.
Astonishingly it sounds pretty indistinguishable from a traditional brass instrument. But it’s a shame you can’t get them in a 2-tone black and white check pattern.
This is what we played. One highlight was one of the guests proving to be an accomplished rapper to Skaravan. Whether Duke Ellington would have approved is another matter …
We’re getting ready for our gig on Friday at Round Midnight near the Angel.
Their website is down at the moment as it’s been hacked, but their address is
13 Liverpool Road London, Greater London N1 0RW.
It’s very near the Angel tube.
We’ll be playing two full sets. The first will start at around 9pm, and the second will kick off at about 11pm. That means that we will have to play almost every song and tune we know as there will be about two and a half hours of music.
More a marathon than a sprint.
Best of all it’s free to get in.
And if you are wondering what we are like live, here’s one of our instrumental tracks recorded at a recent gig. there will be lots of songs too on Friday.
We’re getting ready for our gig on Friday at Round Midnight near the Angel.
Their website is down at the moment as it’s been hacked, but their address is
13 Liverpool Road London, Greater London N1 0RW.
It’s very near the Angel tube.
We’ll be playing two full sets. The first will start at around 9pm, and the second will kick off at about 11pm. That means that we will have to play almost every song and tune we know as there will be about two and a half hours of music.
More a marathon than a sprint.
Best of all it’s free to get in.
And if you are wondering what we are like live, here’s one of our instrumental tracks recorded at a recent gig. there will be lots of songs too on Friday.
