Led by Nicky Bomba, Melbourne Ska Orchestra have turned 20 years young.
From the fun-loving humble beginnings in St. Kilda to the international stages of Glastonbury, Istanbul, Montreal, Edinburgh, New York and beyond, the band has steered their ramshackle train into the hearts of many.The band have matched the appreciation with a work ethic that is second to none.
To date, they have released seven albums including a nigh impossible mission of recording a song a week for a whole year – the ARIA Award-winning '52 Fridays - One Year Of Ska'. This record celebrates the first 20-year chapter of a journey that is still going strong.
Here, Nicky looks back fondly at some of the memories that stick out from a bustling 20 years.
1: First gig ever at the Gershwin Room (2003)
What a celebration for the love of ska! In 2003 we had this crazy idea to celebrate the 40th anniversary of ska going back to when Millie Small released her worldwide hit 'My Boy Lollipop' and The Wailers released 'Simmer Down' in 1963.The Gershwin Room was part of the Esplanade Hotel in St. Kilda, an iconic venue in Melbourne. We put the word out and we were inundated with musicians from ska, reggae and roots bands wanting to be part of the celebration.
The energy and feeling in the room was amazing and hundreds of people were turned away at the door. It felt special. We had so much fun that we all said: "Hey, let's do this again!" And so the band was born.
2: First gig at Bluesfest (2010)
After playing once or twice a year for a while and doing some sweet gigs, word got to the Bluesfest crew and they offered us a couple of spots. We took this as an opportunity to kick the band into a new level of performance and worked on the show to make it special.From the first note you could see the crowd were lapping up the spectacle before them. We picked up on the energy and delivered some smashing shows with a real audience connection that would become our modus operandi.
It also proved that we could cut it like the best of them. On the strength of those shows, a record label offered us a deal to record some classic ska tunes. We convinced them that a record of original tunes would be of more value. They agreed. It inspired us to get busy writing and create the hybrid sound that kicked it all off.
3: Winning our first ARIA Award (2016)
Many of the members of the Orchestra have been in numerous bands, playing gig after gig, flying the small flag for ska and reggae. There's lots of years of performances and paying dues.When we saw the momentum building with our reputation and realised we had a niche that was totally our own, we hunkered down and recorded our second album with enough material for two albums.
We knew we had something special, as ridiculous a band of this size can be. The resulting album 'Sierra Kilo Alpha' (conceived while on tour in Canada) really defined our sound and the word got out.
The album had 3D artwork (with supplied glasses) and contained some hybrid ska that was international, multicultural and fresh. We pinched ourselves when we got the ARIA, shaking our communal heads thinking that a band of this magnitude would never get a look in.
The collective ska community cheered us on celebrating the respect and love for the unifying spirit of the music. It raised the awareness for this wonderful genre.
4: Montreal Jazz Festival (2014)
Playing to 50,000 ska lovers, boom! There are some gigs in your life that just take you to another level.The Montreal Jazz Festival presented a who's who of international performers. We were honoured to be in great company and were amazed to be performing as the main event in front of over 50,000 people.
I remember walking onstage with a huge smile on my face, embracing the magnitude of energy sprawled out before us. I've never seen anything like it. We put on a great show and still managed to connect with peeps all the way down the back.
I think every musician has that dream and we didn't come down from that feeling for days. It still makes me smile now.
5: One Year Of Ska Album (2018)
Oh my, what a crazy idea! A mighty effort that nearly killed us, but what a legacy. "Let's do something different," we joked, and presented the idea to Basil our label manager, totally expecting him to kick us out of the office. Instead his eyes lit up, his smile turned mischievous, and then, chuckling replied: "Why not?"Why not? Because it's sheer madness, but hey, we like an adventure. So for one, whole year we devised a military campaign to facilitate the weekly recording of a song, design the artwork, mix it, master it and release it every Friday morning.
It started out quite smoothly with nice catering, sweet studios and a work ethic that was heartwarming. However, halfway through, the sleep deprivation kicked in, the nice catering turned into 4am souvlakis and $1 coffees from 7/11, and the schedule was metaphorically held together with cheap gaffa tape.
We had to set up a makeshift studio in Fitzroy so we could be quasi central to most of the musicians and somehow managed to stretch our musical and physical resources to bring the baby home.
Funnily enough I had counted the songs wrong and we had an extra song at the end of it all. A few weeks after completion I was having a decent coffee with Dean our tenor player and we both admitted to missing the madness somewhat.
The creativity, the energy, the love, the laughter, the accidentally erased whiteboard, the one eye open, half sleeping mixing sessions in the early hours of each Friday. . . oh what fun we had.
The silver lining of course was that we won an ARIA for that album too. Boomshakalaka!
Melbourne Ska Orchestra 2023 Tour Dates
Fri 17 Mar - Miami Marketta (Gold Coast)Sat 18 Mar - Tanks Arts Centre (Cairns)
Fri 24 Mar - The Triffid (Brisbane)
Fri 31 Mar - Freo.Social (Fremantle)
Sat 1 Apr - The Gov (Adelaide)
Sat 8 Apr - Bluesfest Melbourne
Fri 14 Apr - The Factory Theatre (Sydney)
Sat 15 Apr - Anita's Theatre (Wollongong)
Sat 22 Apr - Wandi Nut Festival (Wandilligong, VIC)
