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The Skamonics are an eight strong London band of jazz musicians who play ska, and ska musicians who can play jazz. With an irreverent repertoire and a proven ability to fill dance floors across the capital their musical roots go back to the birth of ska.
You can hear tracks from the Skamonics first cd Hello Pork Pie Hat on the player on this page or buy a copy.
When Jamaica’s sound system owners wanted to end their reliance on US imports in the 1960s they turned to the island’s jazz musicians. From a blend of New Orleans rhythm and blues, mento - Jamaica’s own calypso style, Rastafarian drumming and the musicians’ own jazz and swing roots came forth ska.
The unique combination of offbeat guitar chops - the ska - and a driving drum rhythm could take almost any tune and use it fill to fill a dance floor.
The pioneers of ska were a horn-led instrumental band - the Skatalites. They wrote their own tunes, reworked jazz standards, borrowed pop songs and even raided the classical repertoire. Anything was fair game.
The Skamonics fast-forward the same attitude 45 years. They play some of the classic ska tunes - such as The Guns of Navarone - and season them with two-tone favourites from Britain’s 1980s ska revival - such as Gangsters.
But they have the advantage of 45 extra years of popular music to raid, ensuring that they are no simple 60s tribute band.
So alongside the ska evergreens such as Chinatown, Man in the Street and Alley Cat Ska, all originally recorded by the Skatalites, you may hear covers ranging from Kratftwerk's The Model to Fly me to the Moon, from Tainted Love to Gary Numan's Cars.
For function gigs the Skamonics can draw on the very fine vocalist, Veronica Martell, who guests on the Skamonics CD singing I'm in the Mood for Love (which can be heard in full on the band's myspace page. With vocals, the Skamonics range even wider and include two-tone classics from Madness, the Specials and early ska songs, rediscovered by Amy Winehouse.
The Skamonics were formed by pianist Leo Hornak in 2005. (Leo is now back in the band after a spell working in India - where he made his mark as a member of the band that won South India's version of Pop Idol.) They regularly gig at London's top ska venues such as Gaz's Rockin' Blues and Brixton's Hootananny. They have also played other prestige venues and club nights such as Ska Burlesque, the 100 Club, Ginglik, the Borderline and Cross Kings.
With members from their 20s to their 50s the Skamonics can draw on a wide range of influences and experience, and have got audiences from West End clubs to East End pubs, summer festival stages to private functions on their feet.
The Skamonics appeal is the same that first filled 1960s Jamaican dance floors – a driving rhythm section underneath, with tight arrangements, thrilling horns and quality improvisation on top.