one of the most wonderful evenings of 2008 was when i was given the chance to experience the pama international collective live earlier this year while they were on tour with 2 usa based ska band, the slackers, and the pietasters.
while i have always held a love of 2-tone close to my heart, ska in recent times had not played that big a part.
however, walking into the beirkeller that night to see 400+ kids (young beautiful people – not crusty oldies reliving their memories one last time !) going nuts to some genuinely authentic ska was a truly eye opening situation.
were did this audience come from ? who is giving the genre its all important exposure ?
i had no idea there was such a demand for ska in the modern world.
highlight of the two support acts has to be the sheer dynamism of the new yorkers, their suave crowd interaction, the songs, and the bluebeat all impressed well beyond the music on their recent albums could ever do so.
then came the headline act, pama international, who looked somewhat concerned that their label mates had just blown them off the stage.
thankfully, the bands mainstays of finny and sean having played live for many a year to crowds all over the world, know how to get a crowd pumped up. meaning it wasn’t too long before their straight to the heart blend of soul, ska, rocksteady and a sprinkling of dub had the crowd raring to go. also, having local boys on the horn section meant that there was a lot of local love being thrown in the direction of the stage.
not to mention the all important presence of lyn golding (the specials), who instigated one of his trademarked stage invasions during the nostalgic, but still essential, the specials section that closed the show.
to say i went home with blood pumping and a cheshire cat grin would be the understatement of the year.
well that was then, so how about this second bristol outing in which the rockers were to assist on the current easy all stars tour of the united kingdom.
instead of the american contingency of rockers revolt propping up the schedule, this time, the show was opened by new signing, ed rome.
quite simply, ed rome is going to be one to watch.
his recently released debut album, a life in minutes, is a superb combination of old school reggae rhythms (that literally sound like they have been found in someone’s attic having been recorded in the 70s) matched with some genuinely wonderfully open songs, but, just how would this transpose to the live setting ?
the answer is, somewhat surprisingly given that this stuff is all studio/home made, easily.
ed has skilfully fleshed out his carefully crafted productions with a cracking live band, the connectors.
it has to be said that ed and his mates, flesh out the songs perfectly. none more so, than the diminutive bella who hides behind her sax, delivering some fantastic backing vocals.
the two of them are a killer double act.
so, despite being the bottom of tonight’s bill, as soon as the larger than life ed rome takes to the stage, picks up his guitar, and starts the beat going, the crowd are ready for a party, and ed clearly loving every minute of it.
ed rome vs 2009 festival season. watch out.
once ed had got the vibe up and running (including a mad country and western interlude !), it’s not too long after the stage is reconfigured and pama international continue the groove.
as is the case with any collective, the band consists of many players and flavours, so there is no lyn golding for this outing (being usa based is not going to make things easy), but his absence makes little difference to the fact that the band are on a high roll and clearly capable of rocking any crowd to a state of pleasure.
over an abridged, technically troublesome 45 minutes, several of the bands classics are given an airing, with the all important bass aspect pushed to the fore (often the live versions are a lot more full on than their respective album versions), along with the bands love of soulful, rock steady styled vocals.
i love’ em, and cant wait to see their profile increase when they release the forthcoming wrongtom dub album, and their politically infused highrise mini-lp in which the band take their recent anti knife anthem and revise the song in a variety of ways with such people as billy bragg helping out.
as for the headliners, easy star all stars ?
well, it was clear that i was in a minority, i just didn’t get it.
reggae versions of radiohead and pink floyd classics may please readers of q magazine, but for me, it was all a little too clinical, and cliche heavy.
instead i headed for the car, dropped ed rome’s album in the spinning machine, and drove home in the knowledge that rockers revolt continue to be one of the best uk labels going at the moment.
more detail : rockers revolt – – ed rome