Skaville OK

Can you believe that even when we play for seventy minutes people still think it is a short set. I dont know. There's no satisfying some people. I've got a good mind to.. nah, who am I kidding. We love you all really. I think if most bands had played for seventy minutes you would think it was a decent sized show, but we be Bombskare and we be expected to absolutely exhaust the audience and if people havent collapsed and puked by the time of the encore then we are clearly not doing our jobs.

Saturday saw us back up to Cafe Drummond in Aberdeen. We were billed to support Skaville Uk who are a new ska band comprised of founding members of Bad Manners and The selecter. We knew two of them from gigs over the years, Martin and Nick who played keys and bass with both BM and the S. However when we arrived we discovered that they wanted to go on first so we were the headline. Skaville UK were good, even though they played less than seventy minutes (shocking), and sounded awesome for only their fourth gig in their current line up. During their set they very nicely told the audience that they thought Bombskare were one of the best ska bands in the country and that they had played with the best ska bands in the country so they should know. Aaaaw that was nice. Their sound was huge for a four piece, thanks to Martins lovely digital Hammond organ with leslie. We've always wanted to use a real hammond organ, but fuck moving the bloody thing

We went on without a soundcheck with a huge crowd already in attendance, and yet it sounded awesome thanks to Callum our stalwart engineer who just always seems to get it right. It was a terrific night, hot and sweaty. Thanks again to Reggae Dod, and to Toxic Effex Dod. I have heard a bootleg of this set and it was actually not too bad for a recording from the desk. Most times a desk will be set up for front of house so recordings tend to be heavy with drums and vocals. I always hate hearing recordings of gigs, especially gigs where I thought it was good. I'm nearly always disappointed with the recording. For once it actually reflected the gig pretty well, warts and all. All seventy minutes of it.

Solar E Y E? Solar E Why No!

Wow. What an amazing weekend. And I didnt even get drunk properly, although I will say this. If a strange man approaches you at a gig and offers you crystal MDMA, punch him the teeth and run like hell, or alternatively say yes and take it off him and start licking his face.

We return to Inverness after the last time. We were late getting there because of peoples work and uni and babysitters but after a hair raising dash through the mountains we arrived only two hours late to set up. The place was already packed as we and the Disciples started soundchecking, which is far from ideal, as people get to see all that special preparation that goes on before the show which makes the ,eh, magic possible, such as Solareye Samurai getting into his make up, or our Andy P doing his carefully prepared ska meditation (eh medication, surely). Once we started the place erupted. The bouncers said it was the busiest it has been in a very long time. Quite a few were turned away. DOPE played a good set, which included a new track I hadn't heard, and by the time we came on there wasnt room to move. I know there are quite a few people who doubted that you could get ten of us on to that stage. What can I say? We do it with mirrors. We played for more than an hour and included a cover of 'Ghost Town' by the Specials, the first time ever live (needs practice!). We also had some unusual audience participation on 54-46 as somebody preempted andys big solo intro. Its good to keep him on his toes.

Apologies to the inhabitants of the Eastgate hostel, that had the misfortune to have Bombskare and Disciples of Panic Earth land on them at three in the morning. They took it well.

The gig in Dingwall was even better. We had a nice relaxing saturday in Inverness followed by a nice slow drive through the mountains to Dingwall, and we had hours for a soundcheck. By the time we were ready to open it was sounding cracking thanks to our engineer Gareth. DOPE came on sporting their free gifts of Bombskare T shirts, which I'm sure they will tell you are top quality gear. Made them look very smart, I thought. They tried to convince the crowd that they were Bombskare, but the crowd werent buying it for a second. DOPE played a blinder and included a cover of Sir Psychosexy, that so pleased one girl she grabbed Solareyes mic off him for half a verse. I had been chatting to G-Rizzla earlier about how often I broke strings (thats a lot by the way) and he had been saying that he had never broke a string on stage before. So guess what happened. I just need to talk about breaking strings and it puts an unbearable tension on the strings.

By the time we came on the place was stowed. Within one song the suit jackets were off and so were the ties. And by half way through our set the place must have been a hundred degrees. When I came off stage there was steam rising off me. It was one of the hottest gig we have played since Bannermans last summer. Thanks to all the girls who had a shot at pole dancing around those two conviently placed poles near the stage. Even the guys were doing it. I guess we played about an hour and twenty minutes inluding most of our new tracks, and Inspector Gadget for an encore. Thanks to everyone involved; Robbie, Gareth, Steve, everyone at Hootenannies and the Rock, to Fraser, to Lara for driving Andy and Joe up and back, and of course to the Disciples of Panic Earth. The trip back was also quite a feat, but thats another story. We will be returning later in the year.

Apologies again to everyone about the confusion over our gig at the Bongo Club on the 4th of March in Edinburgh. We had been double booked at the Bongo (an uncharacteristic lapse on the part of the Bongo), which was a pain especially since we had 500 posters printed for promotion. It means that we cant get a big enough venue to play in Edinburgh until at least April. I know it seems like we are avoiding Edinburgh but its not. There has just been a slight fuck up, and for once it wasn't us. Honest.

Dundee was Fun for me

Dundee is the place to be!! Controversial? Perhaps. Its the home of Dundee marmalde, Oor Wullie, Oor Mathew and once had Winston Churchill as an MP, but it curiously has a chronic shortage of ska. No more. We played our first proper gig of the year in Fundee on Saturday. And it was a pretty exceptional gig thanks to a crowd that were definitely up for it. Thanks again to our good mates Big Hand for inviting us to play on their tour, and for letting us use their stuff. I had to borrow Tims lovely mother of pearl Tele when I broke a string on my badly abused thinline. Ta for that. It was also the 'night of the sticky valves' as both Phil and Colin had trumpet issues. In my opinion these horn players spend too much time jumping around on stage like nutters, and not enough time at home in the bath with their horns. Bit of soapy water goes a long way. Hmmmm.

But what a great night on Saturday. I have never been to the Doghouse before but I recommend it as a venue to play in and to watch bands. The band room is at the top of a two storey cast iron spiral staircase, which is hilarious when everyone is drunk. We played first for about an hour. Kicked off with our spaghetti western theme tune 'A Fistful Of Dynamite. Tried out a couple of new tunes including 'Hand of Fate', 'Damaged Goods' and also 'Panic Button', and also threw in a couple of our covers 'Trying To Grow A Chin' by Frank Zappa and '54-46 was my number' by Toots and the Maytals, both of which we have been playing for years, but what the hell, we hadnt been there before and everyone should experience them once. Thanks to Fiona for doing our merchandising at short notice, and to Lara for driving Andy and Colin up. We will definitely be up to The Doghouse again.

Big Hand played a blinder. Sounds like they have been having a great time down in London, recording in George Martins recording studio and hob nobbing with the rich and famous. Nice. We were invited to join them on their other Scottish dates but couldn't make it, cos we're all so busy, see? Anyway we have recording matters to attend to ourselves, mainly our long awaited album. Drums are safely recorded and guide vocals and guitars. Next up are Matts keys.

Next gig is up north again, this time away up in the hielands, with our compadres, the stupendous and splendiforous Disciples of Panic Earth; they are very dangerous, no? Inverness on the 17th, and then Dingwall on the 18th. Thats fifteen of us and a five hundred mile round trip. You know its going to be pretty messy because last time we were there, although we played a great gig, there was the incident with the clock, and I was so drunk that I wasnt allowed to sleep indoors. Not this time though cos I'm driving. Anyway this time is going to be even better/worse. After that its Aberdeen on the 25th. Those lucky highlanders. When are we playing Edinburgh next? The question on everyones lips!! Probably sometime in March. Not sure where. Watch this space