Ska-ting back into fashion

5:20pm Friday 8th August 2008

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More often than not fashions and tastes are repeated over and over again throughout history.

Flares, disco music and mullets have all enjoyed renaissances recently, admittedly some briefer than others, and the same can now be said of ska music.

"People like it because it’s live music you can dance to . If you want to go and see a live band, ska is great for that as you can dance."

Drummer Mark Huggett

The blend of jazz, folk and calypso made popular by bands like Madness in the 1980s has been taken up by Amy Winehouse and Lilly Allen, with south London-based band Skamonics at the forefront of its revival in Croydon.

The seven-piece do instrumental ska versions of classic jazz songs and 1980s hits, and drummer Mark Huggett said: “I think it appeals to a wide range of people because it’s very close to reggae and also to rock. If you’ve listened to the Clash they did stuff that was almost ska.

“Now we have people like Amy Winehouse who does ska stuff live as does Lily Allen.”

Although it was made popular in the 1980s the music originates from 1960s Jamaica, with many of the later tunes covers of songs from the Caribbean island.

Mark, who is hoping that the Skamonics gig at The Brief is the first of many in Croydon, believes the main attraction for people is the fact you can dance.

“We play the old stuff with a positive upbeat dance style,” he said.

“People like it because it’s live music you can dance to . If you want to go and see a live band, ska is great for that as you can dance.

“We met playing around the jazz circuit in London. I do a lot of organising of different kinds of jazz and we just got together and thought let’s put a ska band together. We did some gigs and it was really good.”

The band also released an album this year, Hello Pork Pie Hat, on which they did many of their cover versions.

Mark said: “We do a version of Tainted Love and many other ska versions of songs from the 1980s.

“We do Kraftwerk’s The Model, Gary Newman’s Cars and a Kylie song too. Somebody that knows jazz would recognise the other songs we do but we do them as ska versions.”

• Skamonics, The Brief, George Street, Croydon, August 16, 8pm, £4. Call 020 8686 6878 or visit skamonics.co.uk.