The BombLog

We Are Bombskare!! (And So Can You!)

Scott McC — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:14:00 +0000

People occasionally approach me and say ‘Hey! Aren’t you him that plays guitar in Bombskare?’, to which I reply ‘Bawbag! that’s my Indian name, and by the way, your grammar is shocking‘. They sometimes follow these semi-coherent outbursts with the revelation that, they too, are in a band. ‘You don’t say!; It’s like we’re cousins!;’ followed by, do I have any ideas or advice on how I can make their band more Bombskare-tastic, to which I always reply, sorry pal no idea. I don’t even know how to make us more Bombskare-tastic. I suspect it has something to do with duct tape.

Just to be clear: I yield to nobody in my outrage over bad ska bands, and yes indeed, there are one or two of them. I won’t go into details but I can offer some general advice and opinions on the subject of ska bands to anyone who cares. I don’t know much but there are a few definite do’s and don’ts in my opinion. First thing you’ll need is a drummer, any kind will do, but preferably a ginger, and if not ginger then at least make sure that he is a dangerous bastard and that he can count to two. Next up you will need a saxophone player, two if you can get them. You can find saxophone players in a number of places, lurking about pubs in Leith busking for pickled eggs, in Universities, almost anywhere. I like to get mine in Sainsbury’s. Watch out for trumpet players; in my experience they are prone to violence and are complete bastards. If you can get any other brass or woodwind, all to the better. Next up, you will need a singer, someone to front the band, represent your ensemble and also, most importantly, kill time and distract the audience between songs whilst everyone else tunes their instrument, or refills their drink. It was once the case that your front man had to be attractive to members of the opposite sex/gender/persuasion. Thankfully that is no longer the case, although you should take your time in selecting a vocalist, as they can sometimes be hopeless idiots. If you do decide to go down the hopeless idiot route, try and emphasise the idiotic aspects rather than the hopeless aspects. Singers usually range in size, from the behemoth twenty stone variety (the Nebuchadnezzar), the fifteen stone variety (the Jeroboam), or the eleven or twelve stone variety (the Magnum). If you are going with the Magnum variety, best get two. After that you are almost ready to go. You will need an assortment of other personnel in your band to take up space between your singer, your horns and your drums. They will be required to play guitars, keyboards, lifting stuff, water carriers, etc. These nobodies can be in shape or condition. Best just to get them at the Job Centre; you can decide what instrument they will be playing once you get to your first rehearsal. If the Job Centre is quiet, try the Hospital, or else the Zoo.

Of course, then your pain has just begun. You’ll need some songs. It’s easiest just to get the most unemployed member of your band to write the tunes as it’s a tedious, thankless task. Most people in their ignorance think it takes about three minutes to write a ska tune, after all, that’s how long it takes to listen to one. In my experience it usually takes the same time it takes to smoke a fag, and maybe drink a small coffee to write a ska tune, depending on how long the song is of course and how good you are. As for the actual song itself, history and tradition dictate that only two or three chords are required in the composition. Any more than three or four chords and you risk being called jazz, and you don’t want that. Also it’s best to be in the key of G major, because everyone likes G. It’s the vanilla of musical keys. After that all you need are a few words, in any language. Lyrical content, or libretto, can make or break a tune, as good songs can be about anything; love, revenge, super lager. So choose wisely. Bombskare lyrics cover most subject matter; string theory, comparative female anatomy, alien invasion, and so on in that fashion, but my advice is stick to what you know.

Well that’s about it I think. After that you’re all set. Put everyone together in a small room, preferably with little air conditioning, and just add alcohol. You can use any kind but we like to use refreshing Charisma Artois. Once you’ve had a rehearsal or two, you’re all set. Time to get straight to that very important first gig, where your new ensemble will perform their debut, stunning the unsuspecting public with sheer raw ability and musical talent. After that you are on your own. By the way and for the record, I saw an early incarnation of Bombskare in 1998 at one of their first gigs, and it was so bad it nearly gave me cancer. I was puking blood, it was that awful!

That was then, this is now, and these days we don‘t suck so bad. We’ve got a busy year lined up for 2008, even compared to 2007, and last year has been a pretty busy year. We met The Skatalites and played two gigs with them, we met Lester Sterling and of course our patron saint Lloyd Knibb. Not many people can say they have met their patron saint. We met and played with Toots and the Maytals in front of a thousand people at the Arches in Glasgow. We played with Lynval Golding and Pama International. We played two dates with Jerry Dammers. Very strange. We played with Buck Hingley and The Toasters. Not to mention all the other amazing bands that we played with such as the excellent Underling, Taking Chase, Junction Pool, Tyrant Lizard Kings, Root System and loads of others. We also played Knockengorroch Festival, the Sound of Rhum Festival, the Wizard Festival and the World Justice Festival. We’ve met loads of new people, loads of new friends. A big thank you to all of them, and of course all youse lovely people who keep coming back to see us jump around like clowns. Still not bored, eh?

One other thing. We are also in the process of putting the finishing touches on our new single. Before we make any rash promises about when we will be releasing it, lets just get this appearance at Big Hand’s album launch out of the way first. It’s on the 8th of February and it will be an early one. Should be exciting stuff. Maybe.

Abnormal Service Has Been Resumed

Scott McC — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:30:00 +0000

Yes, I‘m back, in front of the computer, and in the words of Mark Twain, the rumours of my early demise are greatly exaggerated. Just because I leave town for a bit and have thrown my computer and mobile phone out the window, people assume that I have ran off and joined Hezbollah. Pure nonsense. My commitments to them have been fulfilled ages ago. I have simply been too busy, and also wasted, to think about Ska. Too wasted for Ska?! I know, I know; its crazy talk but what can I say? My father gave me two things before he died; male pattern baldness and a genetic predisposition towards alcohol. Don’t worry, we cremated him. It was the only way to guarantee there was no chance of him coming back as a zombie.

We have had a few gigs since our last update, most notably our big Skalloween show with The Toasters, all the way from Noo Yawk. It was a great success. Thanks to everyone who came down, especially everyone who came in fancy dress and there were plenty of you. Cheers again you nutters. We love you. We have also had a couple of gigs in the North, Inverness and Aviemore which were also good nights. Its our first trip back to Inverness since our gig at the Ironworks. Ah yes, The Ironworks. Fond memories of that place. This time, however, we were back to our old haunt Hootenannies, which was a lot more relaxed, just how we like it. We turn up when we get there, we set up, we play for two hours and everyone’s a winner. We played Aviemore the following day, right after the England v South Africa rugby game. I am always amazed that whenever England play anyone, at any sport at all, everyone in all the pubs across Scotland are rooting for the opponent, even South Africa, traditionally a very unpopular place. Even if England were playing a German side from the 1930’s there would probably be Scottish punters wearing ginger wigs and bunnets, silly wee Hitler moustaches and rooting for the Nazis. As soon as the game finished, with England being gubbed, we kicked off with the usual shenanigans; up-tempo, bombastic pop tunes with a strong emphasis on the off beat. Sounds fucked, I know, but when you hear it, it makes sense.

One other piece of band news is that we have finally disposed of our van. Yes it was emotional at the time, selling it for scrap. We got eighty quid for it as scrap metal. We could have fixed it up and made it road legal again, but it was going to cost too much, and anyway I need another piece of dodgy unreliable machinery like I need a hole in my head. I don’t have a good track record with cars, or vans. Invariably, I always end up with the one cursed car in the entire fleet. Don’t get me started on cars. Anyway our van is history. I was driving past the scrap yard about a fortnight ago and noticed that our van was still sitting in the yard, on death row and un-scrapped. I still had the key for it, and had the idea of breaking into the yard and breaking the van out. We could have drove on to the next scrap yard and I could have got another eighty quid. Not a bad plan actually. We could have went on a spree, across country, scrapping the van repeatedly, collecting the ’reward’ and then breaking her out. Scamming scrappies across the country, a life on the road. Sounds great. It would have ended badly though. Eventually I would have to leave it somewhere, abandoned in the back of beyond. Let’s face it, I don’t think I’d ever get more than eighty quid for it. Tragic but inevitable. Cue the music.

We have pretty much finished recording our album. Some bells and whistles and other bits and pieces. Should be done by crimbo. We are going to try and have a single ready for the end of January, but I‘m tired of predicting deadlines. Every single deadline we have set has been ignored or abandoned. Patience, my lovelies. We have a few more gigs before the end of the year, our last being back up in Inverness. Do we love that place or what? After that its 2008. Where does the time go? It seems like it was only 2006 when we said, ’hey, lets record an album. It’ll be super killer fun!’

Normal Service Will Be Resumed (Maybe)

Scott McC — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 22:59:00 +0000

Editors Note:  

Our regular Ska Desk correspondent the Reverend Scott McCafferty (RSM) was due to post the latest edition of Bombskare’s exploits; this hasn't happened. Three hours before deadline RSM left a voice message at the Bomblab; although we were only able to establish this as fact after we had ran the recording through a piece of  voice recognition software. The results were not pleasant.   For the previous edition we had asked RSM to write a piece on the recording of Bombskare's album; ‘One Year in Portobello’ was the result. Shocking.  Since then RSM has only been in contact through sporadic text messages with demands for microphone stands, heavy duty guitar strings for optimum detuning, coffee, and strong continental, fighting lager.  According to the Reverend, these requests are ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for the tasks at hand whatever they may be.   We were not concerned about this; after all he is a man of the cloth.  More worrying were the bills and invoices that started to arrive at the Bomblab.  A dentist's bill from Paris, a bar tab from Hamburg, a plastic surgeons bill for breast implants in Bucharest,  and most peculiar of all an invoice from an undertakers in the Hague. Frantic calls to RSM went straight to message service. When we finally contacted him he sounded delirious. Between the silence and the screaming it appeared that the Reverend had got closer to the story than as first imagined.  Too close, perhaps?  We had asked him to report on the two Toasters / Bombskare / Fandangle gigs in Edinburgh & Aberdeen. The Reverend had played guitar on both those nights, and was best situated to accurately witness the proceedings.  Pulitzer Prize winning stuff for Gonzo journalism in anyone's books. However the exertions seem to have rendered RSM house bound, unfound and unbound.   Incommunicado in terra incognito, so to speak.  So we have no copy for the gigs with the Toasters. Nor any photos. If any readers do have photos please be in touch with the Bombskare photo desk.   All we have to go on is the Reverend’s last voice message. An insane, curdling babble about Madness in Aberdeen. We are none the wiser.  

The Editors.

One Year in Portobello

Scott McC — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:59:00 +0000

Has it really been a year? Tempus fugit.

When we started the recording, Sam had only been in the band two months. He was so young back then. Innocent. Fresh. Now look at him. Tarnished. Spent. Completely ruined as a human being, his hopes and dreams crushed; a soulless, tired hack like the rest of us. Only good for one thing. Jumping about like an idiot, making a bloody racket. And whilst I admit, it is fun, isn’t there more to life? Nothing that’s worth recording, that’s for sure.

Over the last year we have spent a considerable amount of time in the studio, but don’t forget, we aren’t exactly the hardest working band in the world. Whenever we get together there’s usually an hour spent smoking, drinking, talking shite and generally taking the piss out of and abusing one another. Oh aye, you should hear the banter! Even at a three hour rehearsal we’ll spend an hour sitting about scratching ourselves before we even play a note. Sort of getting into character. It’s very important for the esprit de corp. And so it is in the studio. The difference is that we have to be a bit more professional (ha!) and also flexible because we have been sneaking into the studio when we can, doing bits and pieces. Time is money and all that. And of course we aren’t signed to a label or anything, and so we are financing the whole thing ourselves from what we get paid for playing live. It’s quite a lot to juggle; our reasonably busy gigging schedule, the availability of studio, availability of Gav, availability of myself and the availability of whoever has to record. Only a couple of weeks ago Murray was in New York, Tom was in Italy and Matt was in Spain, so as you can imagine, it can be a headache juggling everyone‘s schedule, especially when no one is being paid. Planning is the key, as far in advance as possible. I’m the only person I know with a 2009 diary. I’ve said it so many times over the years, and I’ll say it again. Organising anything involving Bombskare is a bit like invading Iraq: it takes a year to plan, and if you don’t do it right, a lot of innocent people are going to get hurt. I’ve actually used a very similar strategy in the past, for getting the band to gigs that they didn’t really want to do. When we first gigged in Aberdeen, for example, I told the guys we were going up there to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Of course when we got there, the guys realised that this was bullshit, so then I explained that, actually, we were there to bring democracy to the region. They calmed down after that, and didn’t suspect for a second that what we were really there for was all that delicious north sea oil. Yum.

Almost everything is actually recorded now except for keyboards. We had recorded keys at the same time as the drums, followed by some overdubs later, but they were used as a guide for tuning, not the definitive takes. Now that everything else is down we wanted to re record the keys with our new Hammond organ. We were in the other day for five or six hours and got through about a quarter of what we need to do so another few days of that before we’re done. It was sounding great. Matt’s a terrific player and the organ sounds amazing, Ideally I would like to spend a lot of time trying out different sounds and experimenting a bit, but of course, time is of the essence. The trouble is that Matt is so busy working, and he is constantly out of the country, the bastard. He’s missed two out of the last four gigs so getting him into the studio is nigh on impossible at the moment. In fact he’s away for the next two weeks as well, in Ireland, and after checking his diary, my diary and Gav’s studio diary, there simply is no time before November that we can do even one session in, let alone two or three which is what it may well take to finish his parts on all the songs. Which brings me straight to the matter at hand. It doesn’t look like we will have this project finished before the end of the year. We will have the recording actually completed by Nov but its unlikely we will have it completely mixed and mastered before Christmas. We have been pressuring ourselves to have it done and dusted this year, but then there is the danger that we would rush the process, and start making compromises because of a self imposed deadline. We will probably have a single ready by December with some live tracks on it. Maybe. I will take this opportunity to mention again how fortunate we are to have Gav engineering. I’ve worked with Gav a bit before this recording. I played bass in Disciples of Panic Earth, Gav’s old band, for a couple of gigs. After this past year, Gav has become the eleventh member of Bombskare. I quite frankly don’t think that Verden is a particularly great studio, I mean, its OK, some decent outboard and microphones, but in the end its an Apple Mac with Cubase SX. Nothing special. The real advantage to working at Verden is working with Gav who knows his shit and has never once grown impatient or annoyed about the long hours or working with a band like us with our unusual and controversial work ethic. Hats off to Gav.

We’ve had a few gigs since Knockengorroch, the most anticipated of which were the two with Jerry Dammers. Apparently he’s quite well respected as a DJ, which I find quite a bizarre notion. Respecting a DJ? Nah! Only kidding, it’s a real skill (honest, they’re just like real musicians). Both gigs were pretty quiet, being billed as a Jerry Dammers night, with only slight mention of ourselves. The Amphetameanies had been playing with him on the Friday in Glasgow, so the following morning I asked Gordon how it went. He said it was dark, drunk and echoey, and that was just Jerry Dammers. In other words, pretty quiet. So the Saturday night was in Dundee in this mental wee place next to the bus station. Apparently it used to be a casino, and then a strip joint. Nice. We went on around 11pm to a reasonably quiet place. By the second half of our set the place was pretty busy and everyone was bouncing, so by the time Jerry came on to do his thing, the place was warmed up. Jerry himself is quite a reserved chap and didn’t really speak much to anyone, although he did shake Andy‘s hand after our set. We’d hoped to get him up with us and play some Specials tunes but it didn’t happen for some reason. I was a bit disappointed about that, but also secretly relieved (I don’t think he’s really good enough to be in our band). In the end, even though it wasn’t heavily promoted, most people were there to see us and left after we finished. Still, Jerry played a decent DJ set although I personally found it bizarre when he played Ghost Town and other Specials tunes, when he could have actually played them with us, but there you go, that’s the kind of guy I am, that’s the way I roll! The Sunday night was in Edinburgh at the Citrus Club and was basically an exact rerun of the previous night except it was a lot quieter. We hadn’t played in the Citrus since 2003. That was the night we were playing with Bad Manners, and Buster Bloodvessel had a hernia the same size as Oor Wullies bucket, and had to leave the stage half way through the set, leaving the band to finish the set instrumentally. It was awful watching him lurching about, clearly in some distress, trying to sing. He should have been in a hospital. I was convinced he was going to die that night. I was urging people who cared about such things to get his autograph that night, because he definitely looked like he would pop his clogs there and then.

We also played a gig in the student union out at Heriot Watt last week, on a Wednesday night which is unusual for us. We went down well with the students. We introduced a brand new song that night, ‘The Ballad of Lloyd Knibb’ (working title), dedicated to the patron saint of Bombskare, Mr Knibb. Not many people get to meet their patron saint, let alone have a drink and a smoke with them. But we did. That’s why we wrote a song about it. It went down surprisingly well considering it was its debut. One young lady kept flashing her lovelies at the band which was distracting. This has happened a few times of late and although I am a red blooded heterosexual male with all the accompanying benefits and design flaws, I confess to being confused. Is it intended as an insult, like flashing your arse at a policeman, or is it a compliment (‘hey guys, you’re doing a great job, I thought you might enjoy these’)? Don’t get me wrong, I aint complaining. Its just that if I was at a gig and wanted to express approval, I probably wouldn’t get the lad and shout “Hey, you ever seen one of these before? It’s a wee cracker, no?” Quite inappropriate I’m sure you would agree. Anyway I’m going to start calling these people breast hecklers, because their intent is clearly to disrupt our carefully planned and meticulously timed set.

We’ve a couple of gigs up in Inverness and Aviemore next week. However our next big gig is going to be our Skalloween party at the Exchange on the 2nd of November, which we are promoting ourselves. I realise we have over-played Edinburgh a bit this year but this is going to be the one. We are bringing New York Ska legends, The Toasters, up to Scotland as part of their 25th anniversary world tour. This is guaranteed to be a belter so get ready. Tickets will be £8 in advance. It might seem a pricey one for us, but the short answer to that is, buy a fucking ticket ya cheapskate! Do you think good Ska grows on trees! It costs twenty odd quid to watch Hearts ‘perform’ and they usually don’t play longer than a ninety minute set, excluding stoppage time, so in comparison it’s a total bargain. Plus unlike Hearts, after our performance you’re guaranteed to go home with a smile.

(I’ve included some shots with this post, from the last twelve months in Verden. Enjoy.)

Love and Peace or Else

Scott McC — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 09:57:00 +0000

Time to catch up. I will forego my usual preamble which normally goes,’ me so busy, me so busy’. People have actually complained to me, that’s right complained. That I haven't been

updating the blog. Writing blogs?! I ask you? Whose got time for that? No one, that’s who. I’ve got twenty minutes before I need to go so here goes.

After we returned from our gig in Hartlepool, which included every possible reference to monkeys including a cover of Monkey Man, we were off to the Knockengorroch Festival, somewhere south of Ayr and west of the rest of Europe. It featured an impressive line up including The Herbaliser, Aberfeldy, Nizlopi, Mungo’s HiFi, Son Veneno, some clowns called Big Hand (!) and many others. The weather had been really bad over the weekend apparently. Most of us only arrived on the Sunday around five o clock, just as the rain stopped and the sun came out. Those who had been for the duration, looked cold and a bit miserable. Apparently a number of festival goers had baled by the Sunday. I suppose two days sleeping in a puddle might test the mettle of most music lovers. Can’t say that I blame anyone who did bale. The place was just a sea of mud, great festival conditions in my opinion. I was at a festival once when it was dry and the sun was out the whole time. It was crap. T in the Park I think it was called. I just remember that Pulp were headlining. Says it all.

We took to the main stage just as the sun was setting, perfect timing. Like most festivals, when we went on it wasn’t all that busy as people are spread over the length and breadth of the whole site, but a few tunes in and we definitely had most of the crowd. We played for over two hours and by the end, it was proper nightfall and the whole festival crowd was there to see us. Top marks to everyone who managed to dance for two hours in First World War conditions. One courageous young lady even had her top off for half the set. Fantastic but a little drastic to my mind. We included our famous cover of ‘Trying to Grow a Chin’ by the great Frank Zappa which hadn’t been aired for a while. I sing lead vocals on this one, ostensibly because I am the member of the band with the closest physical resemblance to Frank Zappa. (“It’s my eyes!“, I remember saying.) We don’t usually play covers these days unless we are playing an unusually long set, or as part of an encore or as a special request. I don’t know what it is about Ska bands and covers. I suppose it must stem from the fact that Ska music initially derived from re-workings of classic or traditional tunes, but with that catchy beat behind it. And of course the Two tone era had a heavy reliance on covers. All the great Two Tone bands, in fact, had hits that were covers. When we started gigging back in 98-99, our set was approximately 50/50 covers and originals. We even had reviewers confusing our material with classic Ska tunes (one time a reviewer said that we do an excellent cover version of Dance to Ska!; eh yeah, it is good, some might say definitive!) These days we have so much of our own material we can’t play all the old tunes we used to. Not enough time. On this particular Sunday we did two or three covers. The aforementioned ‘Chin!’ (as Andy calls it), also ‘Inspector Gadget’ which is a cover but also has a rip off of the Ska King Crab version at the beginning. Also ‘Sally Brown’ by the late great Laurel Aitken, which nearly always sneaks into the set at the end, and has been a staple in our set since mediaeval times. I met Laurel Aitken once, when we played with him. He had gold teeth. I expect they’re still gold. We also played ‘Ali Baba’ by John Holt which is a bit of a cigarette break for us, and the audience too obviously. I personally don’t smoke cigarettes so don’t see the need for cigarette breaks, but it does allow Tom to get his flute out. Coincidentally some of us even took the opportunity to actually smoke on the stage, since we were outdoors. All in all a great day. After we came off the lady who was MC, and whose name eludes me, said that we were one of the best bands that they had ever had down here. After being described as a musical highlight, we came back on and played an encore. Check out the festival’s myspace page (www.myspace.com/knockengorroch) for photos of the whole event. Thanks to everyone there who stayed in spite of the mud, and to the organisers for having us down and all their hospitality. We saw lots of friends from Rum and it was also good to see Uri, Jules, Tamir, and Orren from over in Coldstream.

Back to the Burgh. We keep working in the studio. The first anniversary of this recording approaches and we are all getting cabin fever. Surprisingly no one has quit the band and there have been few major disturbances in the force. Even Colin and I haven’t really fought. We both believe in the McCafferty family motto; ‘Love and Peace or Else’, a sort of Mutually Assured Destruction. Everyone more or less agrees on the approach we have taken so far. Recorded live at first, but then edit the shit out of it so it sounds good, and then multi-track the shit out of what’s left for about a year. The Stevie Wonder method. The trouble is knowing when to stop. We’ve already nearly fell out over whether or not we should have strings on the album. The correct answer is, aye right!

Next gig will be with the elusive, and some say, magical figure of Jerry Dammers doing a DJ set. Some people say he doesn’t really exist. They say he’s this mythical character conjured up to frighten children, like Jeffrey Archer, or Davina McCall. If so, then who was it that formed the Two Tone label, and played in The Specials? We are going to find out soon enough.

Toots, Man! Part Two

Scott McC — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:20:00 +0000

We have just recently received some photos of our gig with Toots and the Maytals, including a few shots with us and the legendary Toots Hibbert. Behold!

Harry Potter and the Bastard Ska Band from Hell

Scott McC — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:31:00 +0000

Been hammered with the cold last week. Since we finished in the studio last Sunday, I have felt like death.

So I wasn’t looking forward to last weekend’s Wizard Festival near New Deer up in Aberdeenshire. At least Joe was driving the whole weekend, so I could sit in the back, feeling sorry for myself with a blanket, an MP3 player, and the world’s smallest bottle of whisky, for medicinal purposes. The plan was to play on Friday evening as Bombskare on the main stage, the Voodoo Stage (ooooohh!), then play a Skaramanga set on the smaller stage on Saturday, the Banshee stage (aaaahh!), and then drive back down to Aberdeen and play with none other than the Root System boys at our beloved Café Drummonds (wehaaay!). However after some confusion, naturally, we only discovered on the Monday beforehand that we were expected to be up there at the Wizard Festival at 5pm to kick start the whole event off. If we had known this, we wouldn’t have agreed to do it, because it was too early for us to get up there. With so many of us unable to get off work at such short notice it was looking like we wouldn’t be playing on the Friday, and possibly not the Saturday either. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and also by sheer luck that Joe was on holiday, seven of us out of ten had managed to be off on Friday, so we agreed we could do it. However that plan was far too straightforward and likely to succeed for us. After even more confusion and some general tardiness we set off an hour later than planned and by about a third of the way up we realised we were not going to make it on time. In fact we would be hitting Aberdeen in rush hour at approximately the time we were supposed to be playing. After some phone calls back and forth, it was agreed that we wouldn’t be playing on the Friday, because they couldn’t change the running order at this point in the proceedings. Darkwater would be filling in our slot on the main stage and then heading over to do their own set on the wee stage. We were gutted obviously, travelling all the way up there and not playing. At least we were still playing on the Saturday, and I liked Darkwater, I’ve played with them before in Aberdeen.

We arrived a good hour and a half late. It was a pity because it looked like a great festival. Definite memories of Shetland in 2004, travelling a distance and not playing at a great festival, and The Undertones headlining the night we were supposed to be playing. I couldn’t help but thinking The Undertones were bad luck for us. Or was it The Bluetones. Andy came back with a bit of good news at this point. Fortunately for us someone from Eddie and The Hotrods injured themselves when they fell over drunk or something, so they had to bow out of their slot on the Saturday afternoon. Ouch for them, great success for us. Isn’t that always the way? One man’s Angel Delight is another mans kick in the balls! We would be playing their slot and we now had the time to get the rest of the boys up in time. Nice. I love it when a plan comes together.

We scrapped the Skaramanga set on Saturday and just got ready for the main stage at around four. We were going on after, wait for it, The MacDonald Brothers, of X Factor infamy. Yes indeed. They played a set of covers and came off stage to a bit of a mob of autograph hunters. If I hadn’t had the cold and wasn‘t feeling rubbish, who knows what I could have said or done while I had the chance, I mean, they were right there! Curse this mortal frame!

So we came on and played for forty five minutes, in between The McKaraoke Brothers and Sandi Thom, strange bedfellows for us. It was surreal. I thought I was having a psychedelic experience brought on by the potent combination of max strength Lemsip and Bells whisky. Anyway the sound was awesome, and the crowd was excellent, maybe close to a thousand bodies, including kids. I broke a string. Thanks to the organisers for having us up and rescheduling us, after all the confusion and panic, our normal bedfellows. Thanks to Dod and Sally as usual for the photos, and our mate Dod Copeland who unfortunately had a run in with the local constabulary. We hung around for the rest of the afternoon and early evening to catch some of the other bands including Sandi Thom and The Cuban Brothers, but we had to leave before the great Hayseed Dixie. Still not managed to see them live. Didn’t see any real magic either. Don’t know why it’s called the Wizard Festival.

Another late one At Café Drummonds and not the busiest night we’ve ever had mainly because of the competition; two festivals within an hour of Aberdeen, but it was still a cracking night in Drummonds as always. We were supported by Root System who were awesome as usual. Kev insists that their band is more attractive than our band. That’s nonsense. He even suggested that our Papa Joe is so scary he looks like he eats people. Crazy talk. I will admit that the Roots guys do have that certain boy band charm about them, a rough sweaty boy band perhaps, one that you definitely wouldn’t want to meet in the back streets of Glenrothes, but a boy band charm, nonetheless. They definitely have that X Factor factor, or maybe it’s the X Files factor. And they have Handsome Dan, their secret weapon. Also, admittedly there are a few bodies in our band that might be described as ‘could do with losing a few pounds’, such as myself. In spite of that, I would say that the overall beauty of our band is far greater than their’s. Our beauty is of a more spiritual quality, a harrowing, appalling beauty, kind of like a Picasso. You could say that we’re so beautiful, you might be sick. Anyway, by the time we came on it was about midnight, and it had been a long day. We still managed a ninety minute set at least, and included a cheeky cover of Root System’s ‘Don’t Worry’ as a tribute to the boys, who unbelievable weren’t even upstairs when we played it, so they missed it. That’ll teach them to be relaxing in the green room while we were full effect on stage. Prima donnas. We also had a small fridge on stage with us, that we squeezed in behind one of the amps, so we had chilled drinks on stage. Excellent. Thanks again to Nathan for the photos, and to Eric and Callum. Back into the van around three and down the road to Edinburgh, rolling in at dawn.

Next gig is in Hartlepool. Note to self; don’t mention the monkeys!

Welcome Back Again My Friends, To The Show That Never Ends

Scott McC — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:31:00 +0000

After what seemed like ages we managed to spend the weekend in the studio recording vocals. It was our first time back in the studio for almost a month. We have been gigging every weekend for months so we have simply struggled to find the time. As you can imagine this is the main reason for the recording taking so long. There is so much to record in a ten piece band, over thirteen tracks, with a gigging schedule like ours. We may have to take a break from gigging for a bit. In addition Gav has been in California for three weeks. So it was great to get back into it, especially since we were recording vocals. Once vocals are on the tracks, they start to sound more complete. It was interesting as well, watching Gav’s reaction to hearing some of these vocal parts properly for the first time, hearing the songs come together. Some of the tunes he obviously didn’t get, when the vocals were missing, but as soon as the vocals were there, I could see the realisation on his face. We worked all day on Friday and went home around midnight, dropping Gav off on London Road, as he headed off to a party with a bottle of tequila. Next morning when we arrived at the studio, Gav was already there, passed out on the couch in the kitchen. The steamer had just rolled in from his party a full hour before us. As a result we left him passed out in his sleeping bag since he would have been useless, and I did the engineering on Saturday. We moved our Sunday recording session to the following weekend because Murray was busy that Sunday, splitting the weekend session over two weekends so to speak. After two days we got a substantial part of the vocals on about two thirds of the tracks completed and at least some vocals on the other tracks. Some tracks obviously take more work than others. Plus we like to try stuff out, experiment with different parts, different harmonies, different lyrics. Its starting to sound really good. We’ve also come to realise that Murray is almost definitely an android. When we have been getting him to double track his vocals, each take he does is identical to the last, right down to individual waveforms. It’s scary. No human could possibly do that.

Two gigs that week, the first on Tuesday night at King Tuts in Glasgow with The King Blues. We were the first band on the bill because we had sold almost no tickets. Going on first in the evening is usually good news for us because it means we sound check last and so have a reasonable chance of getting everyone there to the venue and sound checking on time. We went on first to a decent sized crowd and played a rapid fire set of about thirty five minutes. I have to say even I thought it was a cracking performance from us. The crowd and the promoters were certainly glad of our efforts. Next up were The Hostiles, who we liked a lot. Third wave of Ska type stuff, with horns and lots of jumping around. Finally, The King Blues who are really nice guys, and an incredible band. They didn’t have their regular drummer and were being helped out by the drummer from Capdown, who was excellent as a dep. I will confess to being only slightly aware of these guys before this gig but they were fantastic. They came back on for an encore and gave a big up to our good selves but also their three favourite Scottish bands, Junkman’s Choir, Ex Cathedra and The Amphetameanies. They then kicked into a medley of covers, mainly dictated by the crowd shouting out song titles randomly, including 54 46, Pressure Drop, and the theme from Bob the Builder, oddly enough. Good to catch our friends in the west, Esperanza, and of course, Gordon and Jane from the Meanies. Hope Gordon got home safely with his leaky petrol scooter.

Back in the Burgh. We’ve been overplaying Edinburgh a bit of late. Four or five gigs in two months or so. That’s way too much for a wee place like Edinburgh. The gig at the Exchange on Friday, was a bit of a last minute affair. We had moved the gig from The Ark because of health and safety concerns from the last gig, and we had left off promoting the gig until the last week because promoting music events during the festival is impossible because of all the competition. The Foo Fighters gig at Meadowbank was even struggling to sell out because of all the shows going on. They were practically giving tickets away outside the stadium last Tuesday. So with all of that in mind it was going to be difficult for us to fill the place, therefore getting two hundred of you down was not bad. I think most of the crowd were there to see Taking Chase and Big Hand, to be perfectly honest. Taking Chase kicked off the evening and included a couple of new tunes. Lee at one point broke a string on his SG so borrowed one of my back up guitars, my purple Tanglewood flying V, which is a bit much for most people, but not our Lee. I love Taking Chase. Even when they think they haven’t played a good set, its still usually twice as good as most other bands. Big Hand were up next. Also outstanding as usual. Anyone who doesn’t like Big Hand is quite simply wrong. They played most of their usual classics but also featured our Andy on harmonica (the name of the song temporarily escapes me) and also myself singing lead vocals on their final tune ‘Big Hand’. Our set went down well I thought, except for a few technical issues on the bass. I’ve started breaking strings again. It must be a lunar thing. Thanks to everyone who came out that night. Thanks to Jamie our engineer, who he haven’t seen since he did our sound in Lochinver in 2003. We only have two more gigs in Edinburgh this year. Hopefully October with Jerry Dammers, and then our Skalloween party with The Toasters. It’s the first time they have been to Scotland in either nine or ten years. Can’t wait.

Back into the studio the following Sunday, a bit hoarse from the gigs, but keen as a shed full of mustard. We got more backing vocals done and also more of the lead vocals from Andy. There are now only two songs needing vocals done. Which means we don’t have much more to do. Some more horn parts, a little bit of harmonica, and some more keyboards which we’ll do last. The only trouble is the more that we do, the more that we want to do. We put something down and then decide that something else needs changed or re done. Realistically another few days of studio time should have nearly everything actually recorded. Unbelievable!

York, York! So Good They Named It Once

Scott McC — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 09:27:00 +0000

Sometimes when I’m bored, which is often, I imagine what element each of the band members would be if Bombskare were the periodic table? Colin would be Lithium of course, highly reactive and popular with mental people. Jay would be Argon of course, abundant and inert. Murray would be Copper, mildly valuable and highly conductive. And so on in this manner. What about me, you say? I would be Iron obviously. Iron is the most stable element in the universe. Essential and stable. All other elements are trying to combine with others to become as stable as iron. Well, that’s me to a tee.

We don’t often gig in England, and no, its not a racist thing. Some of my best friends are English. It’s simply the logistical difficulties of transporting a small army and all the gear so far south. Ask William Wallace. So it was with a great deal of planning, and a hire van for a change, that we set off the other Friday for Ashington near Newcastle for the first of two dates down south, Travelling on Friday is always shit, especially if your starting point is Edinburgh. Leaving The Burgh on Friday is like trying to escape from quicksand. The more you struggle, the slower you go. However because we had a sexy hire van, we could travel fast once we hit the A1. We arrived in Ashington around eight which wasn’t too bad and got into our set pretty soon after that. The Elephant is a nice wee place and the natives definitely appreciated our efforts. Wasn’t too busy but apparently there was a scooter rally up the road which explains a lot. Thanks to our host Tony, and all his family, who put us all up in his house. We got to play pool at night and swing ball in the morning. Civilised. We’ll definitely be back down soon.

York, York! So good they named it once. The York gig wasn’t as straightforward as Ashington. We were playing at a place called The Junction and the first thing to mention is that both Murray and Tom wouldn’t be featuring with us. They were busy doing other things with other bands. Sluts. Sam arrived at York first in his wee van ahead of us by about an hour. He phoned me and said “I’m here. What should I do?“ Now, it’s a popular belief, thanks to Mel Gibson, that William Wallace sacked York in the thirteenth century, but there is no evidence for this. It’s too far south, but still, while we were here we wanted to make a good impression, for Wallace‘s sake. “OK Sam here’s what I want you to do. Surround the place for three days, then set fire to it.“ It’s what he would he would have wanted, sniff! The rest of us also arrived in York early, even earlier than This R2 Tone who we would be supporting yet again. This meant that to kill time we all went into York for drinks. You would think we would learn from our mistakes but no. To cut a very long story short, everyone got pretty drunk before the gig and ended up fighting and falling out. I know lots of shenanigans happened in my ‘absence’. I excuse my own behaviour because I was pissed off with everyone plus I had been doing all the driving again and was decidedly unhappy. Anyway our Mike has thoughtfully filled in some of the blanks.

Mike says:

“The hostel in York proved a problem. Up front it was straight forward, £14 per person per night with breakfast thrown in; we had already paid in full. It transpired, upon arrival however, that there was an undisclosed £20 cash insurance per person for the night. This was returnable at checking out time the next day (10am), subject to good behaviour. The manager summed it up like this. "Look, you're a group of British blokes, we know why you're here. If you tell me you're here for a prayer meeting, I'll know you are lying". I bit my tongue; I was tempted to say that we were but humble musicians in York to join in fellowship with the faithful of York Minster to hear the organ recital from Colin Andrews & Janette Fishell that evening after Evensong. I bit my tongue a second time. Paradoxically, the hostel bar would be open as long as the bar staff were tipped. We paid up. The next problem was some time after the gig. The Skebabs were leaving in their mini bus to head back up the road to Edinburgh, so Andy jumped in to get home early to be with his kids. Half an hour later we couldn't find the keys to our van / dressing room. A phone call to Andy quickly established that he had the keys and that he was somewhere on the M1; along with a dozen or so merry Skebabs and their mates. He was unable to persuade his fellow travellers that the best course of action was to turn around and head back to York. (selfish bastards - Scott)

Now, it is a little known fact that we, Bombskare, are like Santa Claus in that we keep a Who's Been Good, Who's Been Bad list. Our Good list has a new top 10 entry. This R2 Tone had organized for the whole night to be filmed and had got a friend in to operate the cameras. Borrowed cameras, so he was being extra careful all night to the extent that he was on soft drinks. "I'll drive up to catch them", said Michael. "I haven't been drinking and I am fully comprehensively insured". Andy phoned back. In a compromise to all concerned, the van keys had been left at the desk of a service station somewhere on the M1. A quick conversation between Andy & Michael established which service station. It was at least 40 miles away. Our wellbeing was now dependant on the milk of human kindness lactated from the breast of a night shift worker on minimum wage somewhere in the Midlands of England. No matter, we had a plan. Michael would drive Sam's van to the service station, pick up the keys & drive back. Sam was reluctant to the whole idea. In a 20 minute impassioned outburst of emotional rhetoric Sam refused to hand over the keys. As was his right. Could we persuade Sam that it was perfectly legal for Michael to drive his van and sort out this mess? 10 minutes later Sam was won round with a compromise. Michael would drive the van and Sam would be the co-pilot. Great success. Off they went.

At the back of 3 Michael phoned. They had picked up the keys. However, Sam's thinking had become more lucid and he had started to ask some pressing questions. "Who are you? Why are you driving my van? Where are we? Where are we going? What's happening". Michael & Sam finally arrived back with the van keys. Now, what to do with an unlocked van full of amps, instruments & a ‘fatigued’ Scott asleep in the van? We lock the van, head back to the hostel, persuade the night porter to let us in, go straight to bed only to be awoken at 7 in the morning by a group of hill walkers heading off for the Yorkshire Dales. And the hostel had shut the bar at 1 o'clock because there was a school party staying that night. No matter, after multiple rounds of toast, coffee & cereal on Sunday morning we got our insurance deposit back and left.”

Cheers Mike.

I woke up the next day in the van, which I didn’t immediately recognise, in a car park in York, which I didn’t immediately recognise and I had somehow vomited down my own back. I was quite disorientated at first. Even though I was crippled from alcohol abuse I had to drive back to Scotland. Not a problem because remember folks, I am Iron. Stable, except at high temperatures. I had definitely cooled off and was too poisoned to care about much except making it back home without killing myself, and others. Thanks again to This R2 Tone for having us down there, and thanks to everyone in York for putting up with us. In spite of all the nonsense we actually played a pretty good set considering we were two pipers down so to speak. Hopefully be back down there sometime next year. Next gig in England will be Hartlepool. Next gig in Scotland will be at the Exchange with the always lovely Big Hand, and the always handsome Taking Chase, which is only next week. Don’t worry people. We are all best friends again.

We will be in the studio next weekend getting more vocals down for our long, long overdue album. Stay tuned for a progress report.

We'll Sleep When We're Dead

Scott McC — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:45:00 +0000

You would think that after supporting Toots and the Maytals and what not, we would be feeling elated and enjoying ourselves overly, but no, Dammit. We have been straight back to work. Almost the second we finished playing the Toots gig we were off to Lochinver again, mainly because that’s how long it takes to get there in our van. It was going to be a reprise of our visit there a few months back with some bunch of clapped out, no hoper, crusty fuckwits whose name momentarily eludes me. The Saturates? The Saturites? The Skebabulites? Whatever. Anyway, this time we would be playing a full show, not some soft core, flash of the sweaty forehead, forty minute set. This time we were there for the duration, money shot included, so to speak.

The drive up took four weeks. In that time we came to realise that our van is not long for this earth. If we go faster than fifty miles an hour, it belches black smoke out the exhaust so badly that cars behind us have to use their windscreen wipers. No joke! Also when we take it over fifty it overheats significantly. Not good. Especially because we are nearly always two hours late for anything and we desperately need to be travelling faster than fifty miles an hour almost all the time. We have also been playing up north a lot of late and those roads can take ages. So anytime we go anywhere I am usually stressing about being late, and also that the head gasket is about to blow at any second, which it probably is. Plus there have been a host of other problems with the van. Doors seized shut, windscreen wiper motor failure and replacement, fuel filter housing replaced (twice), leaking fuel pump, leaking dipstick, leak in the vent in the cell at the back of the van where we stash our gear, indicator light failure, bad smell. Fair enough, it was a police riot van. The worst thing though was when the gearbox broke. In the car park of the DVLA. Two minutes after I had signed it over into my name. I couldn’t believe it. It’s the kind of bad luck you only see in films. I couldn’t believe my karma was that bad. I almost started writing a list of all the people that I had done something bad to, and started going around making amends. But who am I kidding? I haven’t hurt anybody. Anyway, if anyone wants an ex police riot van, with a functioning cell in the back, see me. We’ll give it to you.

We arrived in Lochinver on the Friday, late again. Niall is a good guy and wasn’t too upset. It was our third visit there. He knows what to expect. Tonight was special for another reason. We would be supported by Skaramanga. Skaramanga are this amazing band who… aw hell.. Skaramanga is Bombskare with an alias. Yes, very clever. We were doing a double show so that we could play a set of covers in our civilian dress before coming on as Bombskare in our usual tasteful attire. As Skaramanga we get to play a lot of old Ska classics such as Al Capone, Guns of Navarone, The Israelites, Texas Hold Em, You’re Wondering Now, Madness amongst others. We went off and came back on in suits and kicked into our usual set which lasted about an hour and forty minutes. We ended up by the end playing almost two and a half hours! Exhausting but enjoyable. The good people of Lochinver and surrounding parts were certainly pleased by our efforts. Usual shenanigans afterwards that we don’t need to go into. Lots of jelly and ice cream. We’ll be back. Thanks again to my buddy Niall for inviting us up again.

The second phase of our expedition was Nairn on the Saturday. We set off after lunch, with Papa Joe driving. We got about twenty miles before Joe suffered a mild case of the I-guess-I-shouldn’t-have-had-a-bottle-of-jack-daniels-to-myself-last-night-plus-all-the-cider, and puked over himself at the wheel and then again behind the van. Nice one. Luckily in the back of the van we have a little ‘in case of emergency, break glass’ container, in which, we keep a little version of me, who proceeded to help Joe into the back seat for a lie down and then drove everyone the remaining eighty miles to Nairn. I tell you, that guy is a lifesaver. He deserves more than being kept behind a small glass screen in case of emergencies. He deserves to be kept in his own flight case.

Nairn. Never played there before. Has anyone ever played there before? In any case we were playing at the Nairn Highland Show which is a day long event where all the farmers get together and talk sheep. In the evening they all bugger off to the pub while the stage is set up for the entertainment, which in this case was us. The stage is in a giant marquee, on the back of a massive metal trailer. Now, we are no stranger to playing on unusual stages e.g. Linkylea festival, but this was different. The whole thing was made with big plates of steel that, when jumped up and down on, they kind of flexed and popped with this big noise that ended up vibrating through the mics on stage, sporadically creating this terrifying noise through the PA system. The solution: turn everything up so that it all became a terrifying noise. The entire gig was quite unusual for us. We took it because it paid really well and that we were up in that part of the world anyway, but it was effectively a corporate gig. No one was really there for the music. So we had probably the first gig we have ever had where the crowd didn’t respond to us between songs. I’ve never had a gig with Bombskare where we were greeted with indifference. Disgust and despair, certainly, but never indifference. By the end we had them bouncing, but we played for well over two hours and it was certainly exhausting. We were also enormously entertained watching all the women in mini skirts and hot pants making there way across the muddy field afterwards, in the dark and drunk. Priceless. Thanks to Sam’s mates, Callum and Dougie, for helping us with the P.A and to the organisers for having us. Drove back that night with help from my mini me. A cool one hundred and sixty mile in the dark. Arrived in Edinburgh at daybreak again.

The third phase of Operation Kill Scott from Exhaustion involved us playing with Pama International on the Sunday. Thankfully it was here in Edinburgh at Club Ego in Picardy Place, right next to the statue of Sherlock Holmes. We played a forty minute set to a fairly busy crowd, our first gig since the near fatal gig at The Ark, up the road. As an aside, I heard a rumour that since that gig, the venue has been reclassified from a 230 capacity to 60. Ouch! Also this was my tenth gig without breaking a string. This has been my longest run of gigs without breaking a string ever, so my technique (brute force and ignorance) must be improving. Pama International were excellent. They are comprised of Lynval Golding of The Specials and also the drummer from Pop Will Eat Itself and Lee Scratch Perry’s band. When I met Lynval Golding he was really cool and extremely helpful. He even offered to help me move amps! We’ve met a lot of Ska stars and musicians; Laurel Aitken, Toots Hibbert, Buster Bloodvessel, Rhoda Dakar, Pauline Black, Lloyd Knibb and The Skatalites, Nick and Martin of The Selecter and Skaville UK, Roger Rankin, and out of all of them, I think Lynval was the coolest. Just a regular guy. At the end of their set they played an encore of Message to You and I was invited up on stage with them. I got to jump about like a lunatic and sing Johnny Vegas style backing vocals with Lynval Golding. Awesome! I have a photo of it but it’s a bit blurred. It was a good night, but to be honest I think most people were there to see us. Good to see some of our mates from the awesome Underling, who had travelled down from Fife. They informed us that coincidentally our compadres Root System were supporting Neville Staples, also of The Specials, up in Dundee at The Doghouse, but they elected to come and see us instead of them. That’s a tough call.

Recording update. Eh…. Nothing. Gav is in California, the son of a bitch. How dare he?! He’s back next week. We’ll be going straight back into the studio as soon as he is back to get the vocals done.

Next gig is down in Ashington and then York with This R2 Tone. Never been there before. Should be good. I’ve heard that in York it is still legal to shoot any Scotsman in the city limits with a crossbow. I might bring a crossbow in case Colin gets out of hand.

I don’t like the choice of moods available on the Myspace current mood selection. Nothing there comes close to describing my current mood. Although it has been suggested to me that ‘bipolar’ isn’t actually a mood. Hmmmm! Time for my medicine.

Toots, Man!

Scott McC — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 15:21:00 +0000

Sorry for the delay in updating our blog, again. I’m too busy for sitting in front of my computer. I haven’t answered emails in over a week. I don’t even have time to drink. Shocking! It’s the festival. I hate it. It’s not the shows, the tourists, the buskers, or the fact that it makes it impossible for us to promote our own events in the general hullabaloo; it’s the fact that it takes three times longer to do anything in Edinburgh, such as drive across town, or get a bus from Leith to Oxgangs. And I know that I will be involved in working at it, either driving or doing sound for something or worse, both. And it hasn’t even started yet. Aaaarrgh!

Not much to say in this instalment of our blog except to say, well people, we played with Toots and The Maytals. And yes, it felt as great as it sounds. The Arches was sold out. Nine hundred people. It was certainly the biggest crowd we’ve played to this year. When Toots finally came on, I don’t think anyone in the place was disappointed. I’ve read a few lukewarm reviews of his performance, but from where I was standing he was excellent. Some have said his voice was a bit shaky. I couldn’t hear it but I suppose that anyone can have an off night. Highlights for me include watching Matt’s girlfriend Susan getting past the bouncers at the front, presumably because she had a Bombskare access all areas pass, and getting on stage with Toots. He gave her a big kiss, but even then she didn’t want to get off the stage, until she was politely encouraged by the security guys.

On a personal note I can barely remember the gig. I wasn’t drunk or anything. The previous day and night I had been working on the crew for a Queen tribute band up near Keith. I had worked a 23 hour shift, drove back to Edinburgh and had grabbed about three hours sleep before driving through to Glasgow with all our gear for the sound check. By the time we came on I was dead on my feet. I know I enjoyed the gig, I’ve seen the clips on YouTube, I just can’t remember enjoying it.

We met the great man himself, Mr Toots Hibbert. He was even a rather personable chap. I got to ask him “Hey Fred? What’s with the effeminate nickname? Do you really want people to think that you play for the other team?” I didn’t really ask him that. I wanted to, but some of my band mates stopped me, thank god. You can’t say something like that to the man who wrote Pressure Drop and 54/46 was my number. Well, you can’t, because you never met him. I could because I did, but I didn’t do it. The question is valid though. Why is he called Toots? Answers on a postcard please.

Thanks to the Arches and to Craig for putting us on. I’ve heard we may be returning to the Arches later this year with Jerry Dammers of The Specials. That would be cool. Watch this space. Our next gig will be a trip back up to Lochinver and then over to Nairn, followed by a gig in Edinburgh supporting Pama International, featuring, amongst others, Lynval Golding, also of The Specials. Aren’t we lucky?

V for Vini

Scott McC — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:25:00 +0000

Very exciting day the other Saturday. As mentioned, Vini was depping. And we had two gigs. And he also had one gig. Which, in total, is three. There was some doubt as to whether we could do all sets especially since Vini was also working that day, but we vowed to try.

I vividly recall when I first met Vini. I met him through Andy, who used to play with him in The Flyers, many years ago. He brought him to visit me, about ten years ago. “Voilà! May I introduce, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honour to meet you and you may call me Vini.” That’s what he said, verbatim. Back then he had a tendency to melodrama. When the drummer position in Bombskare became vacant in early 2005, I immediately envisioned Vini in the job. He had depped for Mark. He knew all the songs. Even today, after vacating the drummer’s position in the band, Vini still plays a valuable part in the various Bombskare endeavours. As demonstrated clearly on Saturday. He came straight from work at Drum Central and got on stage with us. In addition we had only had one rehearsal with him, earlier that week so he was in the hot seat.

First gig was at the Ross Band Stand again, this time part of the Rat Race Urban Adventure event, complete with giant video screens and half pipes for BMX stunts. We played a reasonably short set from our voluminous repertoire, which included an impromptu Inspector Gadget. Impromptu in that we hadn’t rehearsed it with Vini so it was a bit risky, but he nailed it perfectly. Great victory! I don’t know why everyone loves that tune but there you go. I find it a bit vacuous. But who am I to contradict the Vox Populi. We were also being filmed as we were playing. There was definitely something very strange about seeing ourselves on ten foot screens as we were playing. A terrifying vision for most I daresay. As soon as we came off stage, Vini’s phone rang. His metal band, the Messiahs of Metal, were on stage at Henry’s Cellar Bar, waiting to start, minus a drummer, and considerably vexed. We raced up there at a dangerous velocity. Within five minutes he was on stage playing Anthrax and Black Sabbath tunes, still wearing his suit and tie, looking suitably en vogue. As soon as the volume of the last chord on ‘Into The Void’ had died out, we were back in the van, we vacated the place and were speeding off, violently, to The Big Event in North Berwick. It was vital we got there before ten.

We got to North Berwick with half an hour to spare. Very great success! We had missed the Tyrant Lizard Kings, Man of the Hour, Certain Death amongst others but caught the last of Catch It Kebabs who were excellent, full of vim and vigour. We went on and played a slightly different set to the one we had just played, but we included Gadget again because Vini was on fire. There were all sorts of varied people there; vagabonds, vixens, vigilantes. It was good to see so many youngsters jumping around. Obviously most gigs are over eighteens only, because they are usually in licensed premises, so usually the puir weans miss out on the Ska. Appalling. Especially since our music is so juvenile. Thanks to Ally and everyone for having us down there for a visit. Well done to Vini for remaining vivified and vitalised through three rapid gigs. What a star.

Next gig, Toots and the fucking Maytals. Yaaaass! Some vintage Ska! We’ll be needing plenty of vitamins for that. See you all there!

Friday the 13th; or The Awful Spectre of Catastrophe and Ruin

Scott McC — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 20:43:00 +0000

Unusual gig the other night. Even by our own admittedly outrageous standards. We were asked to play for the opening night of a new venue in Edinburgh, The Ark at Waterloo Place. But before I go any further I would remind you that it was Friday the 13th.

When we arrived for the sound check they were practically still painting the place, laying the dance floor and wiring the lights. There had been problems getting the place ready in time. It’s the old Trafalgar suite above the Waterloo Bar and has a clear view down Princes Street through the columns at the east end. Our buddy Ralph who was engineering proceeded to tell us about the various teething problems with the place such as lack of acoustic treatment in a room with lots of windows, lights not installed yet, air conditioning not installed yet, etc. Lots of technical stuff. However we didn’t mind about that because we knew that Ralph knows his stuff so we let him get on with it. We had DJ Tall Paul Robinson and Root System to open the show who were both great.

When we started playing the whole place started bouncing. Literally. It felt like we were on the back of that truck at the Linkylea Festival again. After a few songs the temperature in the room was unbelievable thanks in part to the air conditioning not being installed. Then Dave Lawson, the manager, got through the crowd and up to the stage to tell Andy that the bouncing was causing the ceiling of the bar downstairs to cave in! People were fleeing the bar. Andy told the crowd we were causing the building to collapse, and the place erupted with cheering! I kid you not! He asked the crowd to take a few steps back, which is a first in the history of Bombskare gigs, and which lasted about ten seconds before everyone surged forward again. Its official now, by the way. Our music causes mass insanity. People don’t care about there personal safety when they are dancing to us. If the stage wasn’t at the opposite end of the room from the stairs, I have to admit, I would probably have bolted.

We didn’t play well that night, in my opinion; plenty of fuck ups, which we can chalk off to the intolerable conditions on the stage, that it was Friday the 13th, and by being distracted that we were about to destroy one of Edinburgh‘s finest examples of Georgian architecture, with Ska. I was drenched in sweat two songs in. My guitar was literally dripping. It reminded me of one time in Bannerman’s a few years ago, when there were similar conditions and I nearly fainted on stage. The whole room slowed down into bullet time, but I was watching everything in real time thinking, hang on, I’m about to pass out. Similar thing happened on Friday. Half way through the set, I noticed Colin frantically trying to open one of the big windows looking onto Waterloo Place, to let some oxygen in, but they were all nailed shut. I was sorely tempted to smash one in by the end.

The coup de grace was of course near the end when after I’m so Happy, I think, the lights fused plunging the whole place into hot sweaty darkness, which is of course, my favourite kind of darkness. We pressed on with World Turned Upside Down, in the dark, and wouldn’t you know it, we played it perfectly. The one song of the set. After that we called it a night. We had a few more songs on our set list but any more songs and we would have been pressing our luck. The building would probably exploded next. Or been sucked into a vortex like at the end of Poltergeist. Fuck that!

It was a difficult set but in spite of all the problems, it was actually a pretty good night. It was Friday the 13th, after all. You can tell that the place has the potential to be a great wee venue; great location with plenty of natural light and a great view, not too big, not too small. Good PA system. Admittedly it was a pretty full on first night for the place and most other bands won’t be threatening the foundations of the building, but still, it’s going to take some work to get it right. Thanks to our buddy Machine Gun Ralph Viterbo for doing an incredible job under far from perfect conditions, to Tall Paul for the tunes, to Root System once again, to Rick and Mandy for all the hard work during the chaos, and to Dave, and of course thanks to everyone for coming down and literally breaking in this new venue. In our next episode. Three gigs in one evening! Can Vini do it? Tune in next week to find out!

Congratulations, Sally and Dod Morrison

Scott McC — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:50:00 +0000

Congratulations to our friends Sally and Dod Morrison on their marriage on Saturday and thanks again for inviting us up to Banchory to play at their wedding. We wish them all the best, and hope they enjoy The Azores (the lucky …..!).

We’ve played weddings before of course, but not a Medieval themed one. I personally found it hilarious watching Dod try and dance to our set in chain mail armour. Priceless!

Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum

Scott McC — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 13:26:00 +0000

You may not know this, or care, but ever since our last gig with the masks, we have officially joined the Justice League, joining the ranks of other super heroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash; it’s a real honour. For them as well, of course. Pretty soon they will be publishing comic books about our exploits in fighting injustice, wherever we find it. We’ve been doing it a while now, wandering about in masks, threatening people. But unlike other superheroes we don’t care about crime. Crime is a matter of Law. A few years ago in the United States it was a crime to drink alcohol. Imagine. No, we don’t care about crime, we care about justice. Laws come and go, but justice is justice. It all started at one of our Monday night rehearsals.

Bombskare rehearsals are quite civilised affairs. Mainly it consists of sitting around drinking cocktails, eating Snickers bars, and reading the Financial Times. Kind of like an old fashioned private gentleman’s club, such as the Reform Club, but without the racism. Recently at rehearsal, whilst enjoying a game of backgammon with Mathew, Colin casually informed me, whilst reading from an article in The Economist, that the company directors of a certain private equity firm in London, worth billions, were paying less tax than the cleaning staff of their offices thanks to creative accounting practices and a handy tax loophole. “In addition” he said, “it says here, the richest 100 people on the planet own more wealth than the bottom third of humanity, and they‘re getting richer.” “My God!” I cried whilst leaping to my feet, knocking the backgammon board over and spilling Mathew‘s martini. “That’s outrageous!”

“I say, old man” said Mathew, un-amused.

“We have to do something. We can’t let those fat cats get away without shouldering their fair share of the tax burden! Where’s the justice? Where’s the humanity?!” I was beginning to become agitated. “Raising money for cancerous dogs is one thing, or Chiapas Mexicans, or Indian Orphans; those guys are OK I suppose, but we need to do something more direct, more hands on, to increase the overall justice in the world. Ok men, suggestions.”

“There’s a bank round the corner”, said Mathew, puffing on his pipe. “We could set fire to it”

“We could write a letter to The Times” said Mike, from behind his newspaper.

“What about the World Justice Festival.” said Colin. “We could play at it. That’s bound to increase the justice in the world.” Its obvious when you think about it. That’s how we ended up on the stage at the Ross Band Stand on Princes Street, more or less. I’ve glossed over some details.

A 10.30am sound check, especially on a very rainy Sunday is unpleasant, but we take world justice very seriously. Very seriously. We were headlining out of three bands. The Edelweiss Pirates are a young band from Haddington who featured at last years Linkylea Festival. They went on first to a startled Princes Street full of Sunday shoppers and really got things going. Next up was Junction Pool. Fourteen piece folky/funky/jazzy craziness featuring our Tom amongst many others. They were outstanding. Whilst they were playing, Andy and I took a walk up to Starbucks for badly needed coffee, and the sound from so far away was just incredible. All of Princes Street could hear it clearly. We couldn’t wait to get up there and show these Sunday shoppers what a Sunday sale was really all about. Before we went on the MC chap asked me how best to describe our music. A heady mix of Ska, propane and testosterone, I told him, which is almost true. We’re not that heady.

We had played on the Ross Band Stand before, back in the dark ages of 2000. Big John had just left the band and Andy had just joined the band as harmonica player. We’ve come a long way since then, judging by the footage of that gig on YouTube. This time though, everyone was there on time. By the time we got through two numbers, we had drawn a big crowd in spite of the atrocious weather. We played for an hour and included Inspector Gadget as a request for Susan, which has been missing from our set of late. Make no mistake, everyone in a half mile radius knew we were playing that day. Thanks to everyone who came down and of course to the organisers especially Susan. Cheers to Joe and Dino from DM Audio for providing the sound, cheers to The Proclaimers for donating money to help fund the stage, and cheers to Vini for helping out. We hope that we have contributed something to World Justice, anything at all really, because we are anxious to move onto Interplanetary Justice as soon as possible. (I’ve got this brilliant idea for a united federation of planets!)

Recording. Yes we are still at it. People keep asking me and I keep poking them eye and kicking them in the shins. Its like rolling a giant boulder up a hill, you do it by inches. One time about a month ago I thought we were near the summit and I got quite excited, but then I realised there was another peak beyond it, goddammit! At the minute we are mixing the thirteen tracks that we have. There are still plenty of vocals to be recorded and we wont be able to get back into the studio properly to record, until August unfortunately. The thirteen tracks are

A Fistful of Dynamite
Beatriz
Bondtrack
World Turned Upside Down
Desayuno Con Carmela
Force Ten from Navarone
Hand of Fate
Damaged Goods
Rather Die
Forget the Nineties
Don’t Give it All Away
Crime of the Century
Panic Button

We had intended to record Yellow Pages but would you believe it, funny story this, on the weekend we were laying the drums down, we forgot to record it. Its worth repeating that. We forgot to record it! Obviously we couldn’t record every song from our back catalogue. We specifically limited the material to the period between Big Andy leaving the band and to when Vini left last August. Nothing written before 2003, and obviously only material that was written up to when we started recording. Some of these tunes have been around a while (Beatriz, World Turned Upside Down), others were still being written as we went into the studio (Don’t Give It All Away). In reviewing what didn’t make it onto the album, we realised we could record a whole other album of strong tunes, except the strain on my nervous system would be too great. I definitely think I would snap. So what we’ll probably do at some point is put together a shorter EP with some of the material that didn’t make it. Its still good stuff, honest, its just that we had to make sacrifices. In addition we are still writing new songs so by the time the album is out we will be gigging new material that is effectively going to be our second album.

So realistically, I think it will be a few months before we’ll be seeing the album properly finished. Sorry folks. We will definitely sorting out previews and probably a single too, our first since, wow, 2002! Jesus, are we that disorganised. Eh, yeah! Our next proper gig will be at the new place on Waterloo Place in Edinburgh, The Ark with our associates Root System. Its above the old Waterloo Bar and holds about 200 to 230. I’ve a funny feeling it may sell out so get tickets early. You were warned. After that we will be playing the Ross Band again as part of the Rat Race Urban Adventure. And then straight down to North Berwick on the same day to headline the Big Event down there. We have our cousin Vini deputising for Sam that day. He will be finishing work at six, running down to Princes Street to play a set with us at six thirty, heading up to Henry’s to play a set with his metal band at eight thirty, and then I will be driving him down to North Berwick at breakneck speed to get on stage at ten. Three gigs in one evening. Rock and Roll! My record is four, with different bands. Yes indeed, being me is a full time job, but I haven’t missed a day yet.

Ten Go Off On A Masked Adventure

Scott McC — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 01:59:00 +0000

So what’s new in the world of Bombskare? Eh…Ok, how about this. We were invited to attend and perform at a charity fund raiser masquerade ball, in a place called Ardfern, south of Oban. Its true.

We played in Aviemore the night before, and camped there before driving south west for Oban the following day. There is something strange about masquerade balls. I’ve been to one before. Its traditionally an upper class event for a start, but there’s something about the deception, about not knowing the identity of the guests that I find unsettling. Anyone who has read Edgar Allan Poe will know what I mean. What are these people trying to hide? Anyway, we don’t often get to play in masks. So when we do we make the most of it. We were a Ska version of Slipknot for the night. I honestly don’t know what the charity was. Cancerous dogs perhaps. They had a raffle and I won a voucher for fresh seafood. Also true.

After the gig we were shown wonderful local hospitality for the night. We had lashings of ginger beer, and plenty of jelly and ice cream, it was great. We all had a tremendous time. I had cake. Our next gig will be in Edinburgh on the Ross Band Stand in Princes Street Gardens, as part of the World Justice Festival which runs from the 21st of June till the 1st of July. We will be playing with one of Tom’s other bands, the tremendous Junction Pool, and also the Edelweiss Pirates from Haddington . It will be our first time playing on that stage since during the festival in 2000.

We can also confirm that we will definitely be supporting the legendary Toots and the Maytals at The Arches in Glasgow. High five!! Also we will be playing at the opening night of a new venue in Edinburgh next month. The Ark on Waterloo Place, above the Waterloo Bar I believe, and we will be ably supported by our mates, the magnificent Root System, fresh from their victory at the Liquid Room the other week. We’ll have all the details soon. Don’t Worry!

Oh and what about this. Footage of The Skatalites in Sao Paolo, Brazil, with Lester wearing his Bombskare T Shirt. Aw man!!

Fear and Loathing in Inverness

Scott McC — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:50:00 +0000

We were somewhere on the outskirts of Inverness, on the edge of the mountains, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like “ I feel a bit heavy handed plagiarist: maybe you should drive”. And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge albatross, all screeching and swooping and diving around the van which was going at around forty miles an hour back to Edinburgh. And a voice was screaming, mine probably, “ Holy Jesus, aren’t these things bad luck?!!”

Nobody was paying attention because they were all passed out drunk. Just as well I thought. I looked over at Papa Joe, my number two in the driving stakes, and knew things weren’t looking good. All the speed and MDMA in the world wasn’t going to fix that omelette. No point in waking him up. He’ll be seeing these albatross soon enough. I knew that pretty soon I would be twisted beyond repair and that Edinburgh was around a hundred and fifty miles away. Our mission was to get back to Edinburgh after another night of spreading our gospel to the North, before I collapsed from exhaustion at the wheel, killing us all and possibly lots of innocent passers by. Possibly children.

I saw the hitchhiker long before anyone else did, because they were all passed out. “Lets give this boy a lift” I said, and before I could mount an argument with myself, I had pulled over and this young dude was running up to the van, shouting “Hot damn! I never rode in a meat wagon before!”

“Is that right?” I said. “Well I guess you’re about ready then”.

How long could I maintain, I wondered. How long before I started yammering and jabbering at this poor boy. Wasn’t this the same part of the world where the Sawney Bean family ran amok centuries before? Was that farther south? Will he make that same grim connection when Papa Joe starts screaming about albatross? If so… well, we’ll just have to cut his head off and bury him somewhere, because it goes without saying we can’t turn him loose. He’ll report us at once to some highland Nazi law enforcement agency, and they would hunt us down like dogs.

Our vibrations were getting nasty. But why? Was there no communication in this van. Maybe I should have a chat with this boy. Perhaps if I explain, he’ll rest easy. Of course. “Okay kid, there’s one thing you should probably know. Can you hear me? Good. I want you to have all the background. Because this is a very ominous assignment. With overtones of extreme personal danger”.

Eight weeks ago, Papa Joe and I were sitting in The Pear Tree, the beer garden of course, when I received a call regarding us playing at the Ironworks in Inverness in support of This R2 Tone yet again. There was money involved, we had to play some songs, the details weren’t important. “What do you think?” I asked. “Well, this one sounds like real trouble.” He put on his fluorescent yellow high visibility waistcoat and called for more drink. “You’re going to need plenty of bass playing before this is through. And the cocaine. And you’ll need a big white van, with plenty of seats. Leather pork pie hats. Get the hell out of Edinburgh for twenty four hours. This blows my weekend because, naturally, I’ll have to come with you. And we’ll have to arm ourselves. To the teeth”.

“I guess you‘re right”, I said. “ If this thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.”

Rounding up the Ska band was easy because we were in one. And the drugs. And the firearms. Getting a hold of hand made leather pork pie hats was a bit more problematic. But we were determined. After several phone calls, a high speed chase down the bypass, and a meeting with a mercury crazed milliner on The Meadows, we were set. Our trip was to be more than just another trip into the savage north to play music in front of some punters in a live situation, with amps, drums and brass, through a PA system. It was to be a voyage and an adventure. We were men on a mission, on a quest into the mountains. Indeed, we would be crazy not to do it. This was going to be a glorious affirmation of everything righteous and holy about Ska music. It was a Herculean test. But only for those with true grit. And we are chock full of that!

It wasn’t long before things started to go wrong. I was right to worry. At five o clock on Friday afternoon we were informed that there was some confusion between This R2 Tone and the venue. So now we were supposed to be on stage an hour earlier than planned. At nine fifteen. In Inverness. And we were in Edinburgh. And it’s Friday. Yes, I do like a challenge.

We had to pick Matt up at the airport but his plane was an hour late because someone threw up on an air hostess in Heathrow, and then there was mechanical trouble with the plane and they all had to wait for the RAC to turn up and fix the plane. We were running late, but our spirits were high. Until we hit the traffic at Gogarburn and then of course, interminable bridge repairs at rush hour on a Friday. After screwing the van up the A9 at maximum warp, we arrived, incredibly, only five minutes late, at nine twenty. We literally went on stage right away and started playing at nine thirty. Played for forty five minutes to a half full Ironworks. We were told that the sound engineers wouldn’t be adjusting any of the monitor settings for us, on stage, because, well, we hadn’t been there on time for a sound check, and, well, it was our own fault. It’s not as if that was their job description, to engineer the sound, to make the sound better, or to help the band, or anything. Instead they simply stood next to the mixing desk, refusing to make any adjustments for us. You would think that a venue in Inverness would be sympathetic to the difficulties of getting up to Inverness. Ehhh… No. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have lived a long time. A thousand years to be exact. And in that time I have known evil. I studied it under Descartes in the sixteenth century, and more latterly when I worked as a barman in the Wester Hailes bar. Descartes, you may recall was the philosopher who famously said ‘Cogito ergo sum’: ‘I’m pink therefore I’m spam’. I mention this only to highlight the fact we encountered true evil in Inverness at the Ironworks. A truly despicable place.

With that out the way, we got to enjoy This R2 Tone. They sounded great, and they now feature our very own beloved former front man Large Andrew Laidlaw. He got that nickname because of his delicate frame and penchant for bridies. Every time I see This R2 Tone they have learned yet another Specials song that I had forgotten existed. We then left at around 2AM. As we were leaving Inverness I got a call from Sam, who had left in his van fifteen minutes before us, saying that the A9 was closed, and he was being escorted by the cops back to Inverness. There had been a high speed car chase that ended with an 18 year old boy racer diddy, a Halford’s hero, being wrapped around a tree. No fatalities. I smelled a rat.

“Pretty convenient the only road back is closed indefinitely.” I told the guys, as we stood at the back door of the Ironworks. “Someone doesn’t want us to get back tonight. I think it’s the fucking monitor engineer and his little sound buddies. The bastard! He engineered this little ‘accident’ because they don’t want us leaving Inverness tonight.” “No way ”, said Murray, “you’re paranoid. It’s the drugs.” “Fuck you, you swine, you’re in on it! Those pigs are trying to set up some ambush. I say we take them down now, before they make their move.“ The guys tried to talk Andy and I out of kidnapping the engineers and dismembering them in the hills. We didn't have a chainsaw, but we had hedge trimmers with spare batteries. Whatever move we made we agreed that we needed to rendezvous with the drummer.

We arranged to meet Sam at Tesco on the A96 in Inverness to plan an alternative. Sam is native to that part of the world, so he became our Sherpa Tensing, and would be guiding us through the forgotten trails over the mountains. He said the best way back was to head up to Nairn, then down through Grantown on Spey, through Aviemore and then we would be back onto the A9, just south of the crash. A detour of fifty miles through the mountains. It was going to be a late one for me and I knew coffee and donuts just weren‘t going to cut it. Not for a man of my qualities. It was at this point that I remembered that there was a bag of speed in the bottom of my guitar case that had been festering there for more than a year. I can’t remember where it came from and why I ended up with it, but there was loads of the stuff. I took it out. It was a suspicious yellow colour and smelled of pure evil. I hate to advocate drink, drugs, violence and insanity, usually, but they have worked so well for me over the years. Without allowing for any time to think it through, I put the whole lot of the stuff into a cigarette paper and swallowed it. No point in taking any chances. Being a man of action, I can’t afford to think. And off we went.

“And so here we are. What do you think, my man?“

Our hitchhiker’s face was a mask of pure fear and bewilderment. I could tell the truth was too much for this kid. Had he understood a word I said. I couldn’t be sure. But it hardly mattered now. We were on our way to Edinburgh. Suddenly Papa Joe woke up. “Where are we? Stop the van!” He shouted “What the hell are we doing out here in the mountains?!” I stopped the van with a screech. . “Dammit man!” I yelled. “We can’t stop here! This is albatross country!” and before anyone could stop him, the hitchhiker was running off, back up the road to Nairn, crying “Thanks guys, thanks a lot for the ride”. Off he went, into the mountains. I turned to Papa Joe. “I’m going to miss that guy”.

We arrived back in Edinburgh at around six in the morning. I got to sleep at around eight. Two days later. By then I was completely fried, with sparks flying out my mouth, but alive, and ready for another gig. Thanks again to This R2 Tone for inviting us up with them, thanks to everyone who came to see us and to everyone we met (see you next time at Mad Hatters), no thanks to the ‘Irony works’ for all their non assistance, and of course thanks to Dr Thompson, for spiritual guidance.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Rum

Scott McC — Tue, 29 May 2007 16:47:00 +0000

Our trip to Rum was interesting. More eventful than I usually like. I like it when we plan to leave at a certain time and to arrive at a later time and for their to be no hiccups at all. However when you lead the kind of action filled lives that we lead, with one hair raising escapade after another, and danger around every corner, you get used to making your travel arrangements as if you are in an episode of Mission Impossible.

The trip started in Fife. We played in Leslie at The Greenside Hotel once again, with Root System and Joe Viterbo on the Friday night. We were two men down as Tom and Jim wanted to go to the Rum festival over the whole weekend and the rest of us elected to play the gig without them. That’s democracy for you. We had a good night once again, and stayed over there thinking we would get a head start on the drive up to Mallaig to catch the ferry at 2.30pm. That was as far as our good planning went. We drove up through Glencoe on Saturday morning and were in Fort William at around one.

Just outside Fort William, disaster struck. With just over an hour to get forty miles to Mallaig, there was suddenly this almighty grinding noise from the underneath the van, metal grinding on metal, followed by metal grinding on tarmac. The prop shaft had broken and was gouging huge chunks out of the road. The sound was awful. Really awful. I nearly puked, it was that bad. It sounded like we were in a plane that was going down. Andy, being a bit drunk, thought we were about to explode and was shouting ‘bale out!…every man for himself!’ whilst wrestling with the side door. Everyone was shouting and jumping up and down, women were fainting, I hit the brakes and the van screeched slowly to a halt. Sure enough the prop shaft was broken, but thankfully there was no other serious damage, except to about 200 yards of the A830. It could have been much worse. I have been told the prop shaft could have flipped the van over, probably killing everyone spectacularly. That’s how you want to go, my friends! Lynrd Skynrd style. At this point we are realising that we have missed the ferry but we need to get to Rum so we can play on the Sunday, and get paid, so we can pay to fix the van and get home. It was also at this point that I realise that we need one hell of a Plan B, and also that everyone except for me was pretty drunk. Since I knew the van wasn’t going anywhere, I cracked open a beer. To calm my shattered nerves.

The breakdown guy showed up an hour later and told us he can fix the van but probably not until Monday. I couldn’t believe it. I thought the van was a write off. We got him to drop us at the train station at Bavenie. The plan was to get the train to Mallaig and get Lachie to take us over to Rum on his rib. That’s a wee speedboat type thing for all you land lubbers out there. We had used his services on a couple of occasions over the last few years and were just going to hope that our gear didn’t get too wet on the ride over. And hope that he was reasonably sober. I have to admit, I didn’t like this plan at the time. Too many ‘ifs’ and ‘maybe’s’ and ‘hopefully not drown’s in it. However we needed to get to Rum. We needed that gig cheque.

It was a two hour wait for the train. Two hours of drinking and taking silly photos. By the time it came, everyone was drunk. Probably for the best. Beautiful scenery on the way up and finally we arrived in Mallaig. Me met our mate Dod Copeland there. By this time, the whisky was out and Andy was so drunk he was refused alcohol in the Co Op in Mallaig, but he wasn’t as drunk as Lachie, our boat-man. He was really drunk, but by this stage we didn’t care, so we loaded up the boat, covered the gear in tarpaulin and suited up with our life jackets. Lachie disappeared back into the pub so we had to send someone to bring him back to the boat. Finally we were off. As we were leaving I could have swore I saw an albatross. Somebody said that it was bad luck. I disagreed. The albatross only became bad luck after some idiot shot it.

We crossed over the sea to Skye. There’s nothing like salt water in the face and a morbid fear of drowning to sober you up. Picked up a couple of hitchhikers. Then on to Rum just in time for the sun going down. Lachie got us there in fine shape, in less than an hour which was a lot quicker than the ferry would have been. We actually arrived not much later than we were supposed to, and its not often you get to arrive at your gig in a speedboat. We got to the campsite and got pitched just as the light faded. After warming up next to a campfire for half an hour, it was off to the party.

We always manage to arrive a day after everyone else just as the party is peaking which is excellent. We also arrived in time to see the Peatbog Faeries yet again, who are amazing. They played for hours, right up till four in the morning. The Saturday night was a bit of a haze for people I guess. Once the drink and drugs take hold then all bets are off. Sam and Andy were so hammered that they looked like their spines had been replaced with strips of blu tack. It was a mess. I remember at one point crying out loudly in my best Dr Thompson impersonation, ‘we’re right in the middle of a fucking reptile zoo! And somebody’s giving booze to these goddamn thing!’ Apologies to anyone who may have had a negative encounter with anyone in the band that night. I know that some people may have been slightly upset by our somewhat forward manner, but in our defence, we had been having a difficult day. We drank for most of the night, and I know that by lunch time on Sunday, a few people hadn’t been to bed. By the time we took the stage at around 2pm, Andy, Colin and Sam (amongst others) could hardly stand.

We went on and as usual by the end of the first song, the island was awake again, and the party was back on track. I’m not sure how long we played but it felt like ages. Andy was so drunk he did the entire gig impersonating Borat, so we were temporarily the famous Kazakhstani Bombskare. In spite of that we came back on for an encore. It was a great day and after all the hassle of just getting onto the stage, it felt like one of the best gigs we’ve ever done. Thanks to everyone again for putting up with our drunken ramblings and again, apologies to anyone offended. All in all it was a terrific festival. Hopefully it wont be the last one. Sandy and Felicity, the organisers, invited us to play at their wedding next year, so we’ll apply the pressure when we‘re back up there. We were also invited to several other smaller festivals on the strength of it, so fingers crossed we’ll be back up at some point. And we got our gig cheque. Our ticket home.

After that a lot of people were leaving the island, including my mate Tim, who agreed to take Andy and Analene down the road with them. Most of us had to stay till the following day to come back with the van, so once we had resigned ourselves to that, it was back to the party. I bumped into Pete ‘Solenoid‘ that night, formerly of the Fountainbridge Collective. I also remember coming to an agreement with Iain Copeland that we should swap bands. I would drum for the Peatbog Faeries, and he would play guitar for Bombskare. Lets face it, nobody would notice. Two money grabbing weedgie bastards, we’re identical. Aye, that’s whisky for ye. Great night had by all. The following day we were still not sure whether the van was actually going to be ready. Plus we didn’t know how we were getting from Mallaig to Fort William with all our gear. We had some help from our Becky, and John from Croft No. 5, who between them, seem to know everybody north of Oban. They secured us transport to Fort William. Once there we discovered the van was fixed and running like a dream. I still can’t believe it.

So all in all, eventful. At least we are still in one piece. Next week its Aberdeen. Did I mention, we might be supporting Toots and the Maytals this year? I’m not usually a praying man, but Elvis, if you’re up there, please tell Superman to make it happen….

Grumpy Old Men

Scott McC — Wed, 16 May 2007 16:24:00 +0000

When I was 10 I had my IQ tested by a child psychologist. Its 155, which means that I’m smarter than most of you reading this, poor bastards. The reason I mention this is that its relevant to how we ended up supporting The Skatalites on the Scottish leg of their tour.

Four years ago we played up in Lochinver with the amazing Croft No. Five. That was the night of the lunar eclipse and the night I nearly broke my arm using it to arm wrestle our seven foot tall drummer, Mark Bray. I had beaten Roland, our van driver and thought I could beat the tall one, even though his arms are about a foot longer than mine. I’m a genius, but I’m also a steamer. Anyway, Niall Robertson who promoted it turned up at our gig in Inverness last New Year. I suggested getting back over there some time. At which point he says it will need to be later in the summer because: “I might be getting The Skatalites across next year.”

That got my big brain going, and within hours I had an idea. I said to him “Do you know what would make those Skatalites gigs even more awesome? If you had another Ska band, a big one, preferably local to North Britain, who could warm up the crowd for The Skatalites, to open for them, so to speak.”

“Yeah, but where to find such a band?” True, it was a thorny issue. We parted ways knowing it was a beautiful dream. I went to bed that night with something nagging me at the back of my mind. I dreamt that I was in a room with nine other guys and that we were making a racket, and I had a guitar and I kept breaking strings, and it didn’t matter how quickly I replaced the stings, they kept breaking faster than I could replace them, and someone was hitting me over the head with a trumpet every fifteen minutes. And then I woke up and had an epiphany. I phoned Niall. “My god, man! I’m IN a Ska band! WE could support The Skatalites. We’ll even let them use OUR gear.” “My god”, he said. “You’re a genius! Lets do it!” And that’s pretty much how it happened. Thanks to my incredible brain!

The first problem was that we couldn’t support them on the Thursday in Inverness because of the difficulties in getting the time off work for some of the boys, so I agreed to drive up a day earlier with all our gear so that the Skatalites could use it at the first gig. I travelled up to Mad Hatters in Inverness on Thursday to meet the promoters. Got there; set up. The Skatalites arrived and man are they old. Lloyd Knibb is 76! He was in the band at the beginning in 1964. He invented the Ska beat. Lester Stirling is 71and he’s still amazing. The legendary Vin Gordon, or Don Drummond Junior as he’s known, is 57. And so on. Add all their ages up and they are twice as old as The Rolling Stones. I discovered a few things about them over the course of the Thursday. One, they are still really good. Two, they are grumpy old men. Fair enough, they have been gigging for years obviously, but also just about every day since January this year, and have done a lot of travelling. They had just flown in from Dublin the night before, and before that they were in St Petersburg in Russia, so yeah, they were tired and some of them were grumpy. Three, they didn’t like to sound check. They just walked on stage and played, but then had a good moan at the engineer because they couldn’t hear anything. And four, they liked a smoke. That might not surprise you, but they just skinned up in the venue and nobody stopped them. After the show, I struck all the gear down, and Niall and I headed North that night to Inchnadamph, near Lochinver. The Skatalites were to stay in Inverness so Niall and I had this whole hotel to ourselves. On the way up we encountered dozens of stag, as apparently Inchnadamph is Gaelic for meeting place of the deer. After a few drinks to congratulate ourselves on our cleverness we crashed out, and the next morning it was off to Lochinver.

I hadn’t been there since 2003 but it hadn’t changed. A beautiful wee town with a harbour that looks out on to the Atlantic. The only thing I had to do all day was set up our backline again and wait for the boys to arrive. Sam arrived first followed by the rest. I introduced the boys to The Skatalites and explained to a stunned Skatalites manager what a great pleasure it was for him to meet Bombskare. They deigned to sound check that day, and we got to see a rare treat; The Skatalites arguing about which way to play a particular song. I was so pleased. There’s hope for us. Once we sorted all that out, we all went up to the big house and had a meal of venison, prawns and fish. Yum. The big house in Lochinver is communally owned by the town. Any time a big estate like that goes on sale, the community get the first chance to buy it. So the town bought it. I was explaining this to The Skatalites manager, how this was a perfect example of communism in action, and how we should apply this principle to other places like, say Manhattan. He wasn’t too pleased. I didn’t like him either.

We went on stage to a mobbed Lochinver Village Hall. They hadn’t forgotten us. We played a reasonably short set of about forty minutes. Then came The Skatalites and the place went mental. It was exactly as I told Niall. If you have The Skatalites by themselves its going to be terrific. If you have Bombskare warming up the crowd first and then The Skatalites, then its something else and you’re going to have invent a new word for it. They played for ages and at the end of the night they were pleased they had made the journey. After that we all got smashed and the details become hazy. I know there was a beach party after the after show party. People were rolling in at eight in the morning as breakfast was being made. It was great. We had lunch before we headed back down to Edinburgh, where we all got to enjoy watching Mike eat a burger and roll with a knife and fork. Some memories are priceless.

We met up with The Skatalites in Glasgow at the School of Art on the Sunday. They had played the big day out thing in Falkirk. We sound checked for them, and they turned up moaning even worse because now they were even older than when we had left them the day before, and now they were playing two gigs in one day, bless. This gig was a benefit gig for MOJO, Miscarriages of Justice Organisation. One of the Birmingham Six was there. Jerry Dammers was supposed to be playing a DJ Set, as was D Wayne Love of Alabama Three. I love Alabama Three. However both of them couldn’t make it so it was left up to us and the old gadgies to put on a show. We played pretty much the same set we did the other night, but we included a cover of ‘Ghost Town’ in lieu of Jerry Dammers on the ones and twos. The Skatalites were awesome again. It was great to see Lloyd Knibb playing my bubblegum pink Tama Granstar again. Legend. It was a great night. Even the manager had chilled out. Just as well because we had toyed with the idea of kicking him down the stairs with a cry of ‘No quite got the hang o that Scottish gravity yet pally’. We even got a picture of the legendary Lester Sterling in one of our T shirts. After the show they were heading to the States for a few days rest, and then they were off to South America. As I left I said, ‘I know how you feel guys. We’re in Glenrothes next week.’

Thanks to Vin, Kevin, Val, Lester and Lloyd. Thanks to Niall and Craig for programming the events, thanks to everyone in Lochinver and at the Glasgow School of Art, thanks to everyone who came to see us, and most of all thanks to me because I’m a freaking genius!

24

Scott McC — Tue, 08 May 2007 16:41:00 +0000

Get this. In recent news, researchers have identified the hitherto unknown element Kryptonite in a cave in Serbia. Even though the element is only actually referenced in fiction, and isn‘t real…it makes you think… ... my God, is nothing safe. In any event I’ve ordered my solid lead pork pie hat, just in case.

Confusion. Ambiguity. Mis-information. Ignorance. Enlightment. Panic. Relief. What would a Bombskare gig be without them. In other words, there was a cloud of uncertainty over the Studio 24 gig, as it was tied in with the aborted Cathouse gig, but there were personnel changes, and the right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing, and yah-dee- yah-dah, etc, etc. The Edinburgh gig only happened at the last minute, but we’re glad it did. We originally intended to have The 44’s from Glasgow, and Short Notice from Aberdeen, but Taking Chase thankfully took the place of The 44’s after they had to bow out. Short Notice are outstanding. We played with them a few months ago and were so impressed that we insisted they come down to play in Edinburgh. Their band comprises two brothers, just like us, but they get along with each other, and they also feature a double bass player who plugs his double bass into a bass amp, which impresses me greatly. I do impress easily, but I checked with others, and this was impressive. Short Notice didn’t disappoint, and received one of the highest accolades possible; a reasonably warm reception from an Edinburgh audience. Man, were they pleased! Taking Chase are brilliant. And they were brilliant on Saturday. It’s always great to play with those chappies. They are neck and neck with Big Hand for the coveted Band Most Often Played with Bombskare award. Close runner ups are Root System and Joe Viterbo. But we’re playing with both of them again soon over in the Kingdom before we head to Rum, so the scores on the doors will change.

It was one of those gigs where we didn’t play particularly well, made silly mistakes we’ve never made before and probably never will again, but it was still a cracking night and a good show. Highlights included completely fucking up the beginning of Hand of Fate, Sam’s drum break in Don’t Give It All Away, and also the beginning of Panic Button. Nice. Also, before we went on, Sam had been necking Sambuca in imitation of Kev from Root System who has a penchant for drinking a bottle of the stuff before he goes on. Unfortunately Sam got it all over his hands, and when he started to play, blisters formed, the skin broke and the next thing he is bleeding all over his kit. By the end of the set the kit looked like it should be cordoned off with yellow tape, CSI style. Most importantly, he played through the pain because he is that committed to the Ska.

And get this. We have actually started mixing the album. We have vocals and harmonica still to record which will probably be later this month, but we have begun the preliminary mixing stage, using Fistful of Dynamite as our template because its instrumental. Initial reports are good. We’ll try and sort out a preview somehow. Our next gig will be with The Skatalites in Lochinver and then in Glasgow. We’ll be showing the old timers how to do it Scottish style. Me know it!

Melius tarde, quam nunquam

Scott McC — Thu, 03 May 2007 01:32:00 +0000

Been really sloppy in updating the blog over the last seven or eight weeks. I sometimes get too busy to sit down in front of the computer for weeks and inevitably writing is the last thing I want to do. Sometimes I can’t be bothered with the morbid self attention, and sometimes I’m just too drunk, and the last thing I want to do is post a blog when I’m drunk.

Or is it? No, I’ve thought it through, and definitely not.

I don’t know why we had never played Dunfermline before. Its really close. Right across the bridge and you’re there. We gate crashed a gig that was originally supposed to be Esperanza and Root System, but then became a triple header with us on last. I had never been to Monty’s before, but I believe we’ll be back before the end of the year. Cracking wee place and an excellent wee sound system, and also a great visual set up for the backdrop of the stage. And a terrific crowd. We ended up at a party in Dunfermline because it would have been rude not to. A great night had by all. Although I heard that Kev from Root System had a wee whitey at the end of the night. Kids these days! Thanks to Ska -matics for putting us on and for giving us a cracking night.

Next gig was in Glas Vegas again supporting the formidable Skaville UK, featuring the legendary Rhoda Dakar, who amongst other things sung on ‘Free Nelson Mandela’. Everybody kept wanting to be photographed Ms Dakar, and why not. Thanks to her Nelson Mandela was freed. Well that’s how I see it. In the same way that Spike Milligan helped bring down Hitler. Esperanza were first, then we played a short set without any covers for a change. Usually there’s a sneaky Toots or Frank Zappa number, but not that night. We stuck to our own tunes and played a decent set. Skaville UK were excellent again, and played lots of new tunes from their forthcoming album, as well as lots of their old tunes from their days in Bad Manners and The Selecter. I suppose they have to really. Honourable mention to our Tom for guesting on Do Rocksteady. Not a busy night unfortunately, but we were glad to be there, if only to meet the lovely Ms Dakar, aw shucks!

Aye, so the next gig is in Edinburgh, n that! Should be a belter, n that! Cannae wait, n that!

Meanwhile, back at the lab, progress continues on the bands long overdue album. All the little sound gremlins back at the evil professors lab (in Portobello, of course), have been working non stop round the clock sorting the EQ problems of the bass guitar, particularly around the 80Hz range. It’s a thorny issue, to compress or not to compress, that is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous reverb and digital flanging, threshold and attack, and by opposing them, somehow ending up agreeing with them. I can’t decide. Sometimes I think, what the fuck are we up to? Sometimes I think, maybe we should get somebody else to do it. Usually at this point someone reminds me of the horrendous cost if somebody else did it, at which point I’ll say, why don’t we just do it ourselves? Yeah, it’ll only take two years. That’s no time. Like a jail sentence for burglary.

On Top Of The World

Scott McC — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:08:00 +0000

The other week we continued our love affair with Orkney and the North. I took the first driving shift in the longest trip yet with our new battle bus. We still haven’t decided on a name. I suggested we name him Floyd, after my cat who ran away last month. He was big, white with balls, just like the van. We’d be happy to hear any suggestions. It was another one of those dawn departures and three hundred and some miles later we were on a boat to Orkney yet again. How can ten men have a love affair with an island you ask, men being mammals, and islands being large geographical formations in the sea? With Ska of course. Using the gift of Ska, and it is a gift, we seduced Orkney yet again into sweet submission. It used to be that we had a long drawn out and often tumultuous relationship with Shetland, but Shetland hasn’t called in some time, and people have to move on. We have to let the healing begin. Sniff! I have to say, I really like Orkney.

We played our first gig in Aviemore the following night. Joe drove the second shift, which means I got to kick back and have a few light refreshments. Café Mambo’s is a small place so we had the place jumping in no time. We played a cover of ‘Ali Baba’ by John Holt, which was a first. In addition the bar was right next to where we were playing so we could get Matt to order up drinks during songs. I used to think the highlands was a wild place, but that’s civilised. They made us feel welcome, and we’ll definitely be back soon. I also recommend the burritos. Thanks to Sam’s folks for putting up some of us for the night, and to the staff of the McDonald Hotel for putting up with the rest of us for the night. I took the third shift the following day and we were home by five.

Break from Bombskare gigs for a few weeks. Back at the end of the month in Dunfermline with Esperanza and Root System. I’ve been getting hassled about not playing in Edinburgh until the end of April. Still don’t have the details for that yet, but its going to be good. So be patient.

Fight Club

Scott McC — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:02:00 +0000

Apologies to anyone who witnessed or was caught in the crossfire of the altercation at our gig in Drummonds on Saturday. It was very unprofessional obviously. Colin and I occasionally have these little philosophical disagreements. He expounds a position that moral or ethical propositions do not reflect absolute and universal moral truths, but instead make claims relative to social, cultural, historical or personal circumstances, and that no universal standard exists by which to assess an ethical proposition's truth. Whereas I hold a position that there are absolute standards against which any moral arguments can be judged and that certain actions are right or wrong regardless of context. Obviously this argument has been going on a long time and won’t be easily resolved, but we have agreed not to let it happen in public again and will be saving it for Fight Club. Apologies again to Eric and all the staff at Drummonds. We are all the best of friends again.

Lets change the subject.

Recording has been progressing well. Guitar parts are now totally finished. We have completed most of the keyboard parts and most of the horns were done on Monday. Still to do: Some more horn parts, some harmonica parts, some editing, and then finally, onto the vocals. This can take a while sometimes because you can only really get a good performance out of a vocalist for so many hours per day, or in my case about one good performance every two or three days. Luckily I’m not doing much singing. Its all down to Messrs Graham and P.

As mentioned in our forum, we will be supporting the legendary Skatalites in May up in Lochinver. This is a bit of a dream come true for us, playing with one of the original ska bands even though the original band split in the mid sixties. The current line up still has three original members from the 1964 line up. And they will be playing through our equipment too. I’ll never wash my amp again.

Next gigs are Orkney and then Aviemore. Its our first time in Aviemore so we will be firing on all cylinders. Is nice!

Karma To Burn

Scott McC — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:20:00 +0000

We had a complaint on our website recently about the promotional campaign for the Zapatista benefit gig we played a few weeks ago. There were posters everywhere, all over the meadows, on bins, lampposts, shopping carts, dogs, pigeons, everywhere. I completely sympathise with the complainer (who remained anonymous), I don’t like to see our lovely city centre vandalised in this fashion. We’re a world heritage site for fuck’s sake! However I would like to point out to everyone that we had nothing to do with the promotion of that gig, which was entirely the responsibility of the Edinburgh Chiapas solidarity group who put the thing on. Just wanted to clear that up. Having said that, the gig was a success and raised almost two grand in the end, to help furnish a medical centre, for some of the poorest people in the world. Who knows, it may help save some kids lives. I think littering the meadows is a small price to pay perhaps.

Whoa boy!!!!
Sorry, that was me getting off my high horse.

So we played Bannermans the following week with no promotion at all, no posters, no flyers, nothing, , except for our myspace spamming. Actually we put up one A4 poster in our practice room at Verden, but that was it. It didn’t stop 200 of you turning up for one of the busiest nights that Bannermans has ever seen. Thanks to everyone for coming down. Thanks to Esperanza for the excellent support, again. The set featured our first performance of our suite in E flat, “All the guys in the nightclub want to sleep with you”, “Don’t give it all away” and “ The Day the earth stood stupid” which was not bad, considering the tropical heat. I agree with everyone that it was far too hot and there were far too many people there. Sorry about that. We only played there because we were skint. At one point there was so much sweat and condensation were running off the walls and ceilings, it was drizzling indoors. All our gear was soaked. At the end of the set normally we would walk off stage and that would be that, but because in Bannermans the stage is way at the back of the room, there is no escape. There was a moment last Friday after our encore, when the crowd is shouting for one more number, and we are leaving the stage, and I realise that we have to make our way through the crowd. There’s no slipping off. And I think, it would be so easy for this to turn ugly and the mob start demanding we play more. All it would require is a bit of a ringleader. Now I understand about this because I Am a bit of a trouble maker and ringleader myself. I could easily see myself starting a chant, “Don’t Let them Go, On with the show”, and next thing you know, we would be taking the band hostage and compelling them to play another set, or worse, lots of dodgy covers requests. Much as I sort of like Bannermans, I don’t like the lack of escape route from the stage.

We played at Rockers in Glasgow for the first time, two days later. It was a fundraiser for an anti fascist organisation. We played with four punk bands who were all pretty good. Two hundred folk for a rainy Sunday night in Glasgow is no bad, and of course yet another benefit gig for such a worthy cause means we must have karma to burn, surely. We have raised so much money for Indian Orphans, Sick kids, Mexican Indians, cancer hospices, that its about time we started raising money for devil worshiping cannibals or something; just to redress the cosmic balance. Good to see Gordon and Lindsay from The Meanies and also Claire and Kenny from Esperanza. They must be gluttons for punishment. The Glasgow gig was also the first outing of the Bombskare battle bus since its release from the van hospital (new gearbox and crankshaft seal), and it passed its maiden voyage with flying colours. All we need is a stereo. Next trip for it is Aberdeen next week. We also met Chris Blyth in Glasgow. Fans of Ancient History will be interested to learn that Chris Blyth was the other original guitarist for Bombskare, along with Chicken, in the earliest days of Bombskare, around 1998/99. Great guitarist and a good friend of Cammy, Colin and mine. He has been living on a place called Magnetic Island off the coast of Australia for the last eight years. He just happened to be in Glasgow and noticed we were playing. Mental.

This news just in! April will see a temporary return of our lost son Vincent Van Bonar on the kit, when we play the Cathouse in GlasVegas. He’s very excited about it.

Studio update! All the guitars are finished for our album and they are sounding sweet if I do say so myself. Well, nearly all. I have a couple of small bits to fix and then its back to the keyboards next week. Once they are done then it’s the rest of the horns which should only take a day. And once they are completed its just the vocals. And once that’s done its just the mixing, the mastering, the remixing and the printing and pressing. Hang on. That’s just quite a bit of work to do still. We’ll probably chuck a preview up on the websites before all that.
Patience my lovelies.

2007: The Year Ska Saved the World

Scott McC — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 12:12:00 +0000

So its January 2007 and thank god another Christmas is over, bah humbug. We can at last get back to the things that matter, like working, recording and gigging, and remaining sober on weeknights. Well maybe not the last bit, but that’s what new years resolutions are for; to completely ignore until February. You are probably wondering what Santa brought for the band at Christmas and you may be surprised to hear that it was a police riot van. We are now the proud but suspicious owners of a nine seater minibus, complete with fully functioning riot cell in the back which will be very handy, although nine seats is one seat short for a ten piece band. So we have decided to sack someone. We’re having a competition where you, the fans, can decide who to sack from the band. Or alternatively we could install another seat. I noticed that Big Hand’s van has its own myspace profile and already I can sense a certain rivalry emerging, but our van could kick the shit out of their van, easy.

Our first gig the year was as special mystery guests of the Tyrant Lizard Kings and Taking Chase at Henry’s Cellar Bar in Edinburgh, last Sunday. I would never have thought it possible to get us all in there, let alone keep it a ‘mystery’. The cat was out the bag pretty quick anyway, and we did fit in there. Amazing bill, good gig and a great crowd. The main event so to speak was at The Exchange on Grove Street, on Friday where we played a benefit gig for the Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group, an organisation set up to raise awareness of the plight of the people in the Chiapas region of Mexico. If you don’t know anything about this subject, I suggest you go and read something. Our Rage Against the Machine tribute band played for these guys last year at the Left Bank, one of the best gigs we’ve ever had. Last Friday was a terrific turn out. First thing on the bill was a screening of the film Nobelity, which was great, two guest speakers (it was meant to be three, but Tommy Sheridan had to cancel, much to Murray‘s delight), then a chap called William Douglas doing an acoustic set. Then us. We played for about an hour and a half, I think, to more than three hundred people. It was a great night, and they raised about a grand and a half which was terrific. That kind of money out there could build a hospital probably. Big thanks to Edinchiapas, to AK Press, and of course to Susan for setting it up.

Our next gig is for an even better cause. Us! Namely, the lets fund Bombskare for another couple of months benefit gig, which will be at the Underworld in Bannermans. You know its going to be sweaty chaos, and will also feature west coast Ska meisters, Esperanza. Its going to be busy so get down early. Last time we played there the engineer cut our set in the middle of a song which really pissed me off, but that won’t be happening this time, oh no! I’ll be engineering a little accident if that happens again.

Got back into the studio with Gav yesterday. He’s just back from France. I haven’t listened to the album in over a month so it was good listening to it with fresh ears, so to speak. Sometimes if you have listened to the same thing over and over for months you begin to lose all objectivity on what your working on. I’ve found it the same when I’m doing anything, recording, playing or writing; getting away and coming back is always good. If only I could take a holiday from myself, that would be cool.