With the ever evolving nature of the music industry, it takes a certain kind of person to ride the wave of change and come out the other end a success.
No one knows the challenge of staying on top of their game better than seasoned artist Nicky Bomba, one of Australia’s hardest working and esteemed musical talents. A drummer, percussionist, guitarist, singer and most recently, conductor, Maltese-born Australian, Nicholas Caruana aka Nicky Bomba, is the real deal and has been doing his thing for almost three decades, featuring in an array of fixtures ranging from The Truth and Bomba to his most recent and better-known projects, the John Butler Trio, Bustamento and the Melbourne Ska Orchestra.
One of Australia’s finest artists, the humble musician emulates a warm, infectious energy that screams ‘love’, making you want to jump into his world and never return. A gentle soul, Bomba is able to channel that positive energy into his music. “I love that I can make a living from music and really appreciate that I’m in a position to do so,” Bomba says.
“Music still moves me, it’s a life force and I still get energised by a new song and by being around music. I’m always aware of the active energy of a crowd and believing in the moment, and kind of steering that spontaneous beast can result in something really special — absolute positive vibrations.”
It’s all about finding balance admits Bomba, and as he explains: “Finding where the happiness lies”. The Australia Council Music Fellowship Award Winner did just that last August, when he made the decision to part ways with the John Butler Trio, to expand his horizons and pursue another area of his career, namely that of frontman for his Calypso-mento band, Bustamento, and conductor of the 30-piece Melbourne Ska Orchestra (MSO).
“I left the John Butler Trio last year because I could feel things were really starting to make noise in other areas of my life,” Bomba says. “We’re [John Butler Trio] still good buddies though, I just played drums on their latest album, so there are no rules, we may collaborate again in the future, we’ll just go with the flow and see what happens,” he says.
Bustamento, whose six members also play in MSO, released their debut album in 2012, ‘Intrepid Adventures To The Lost Riddim Islands’, which has featured on Triple J. Fresh from playing at Hamilton’s Gardens Arts Festival in New Zealand, Bomba will hit the road again shortly for another round of touring, first with MSO’s national ‘Get Smart’ tour this month, before travelling to Europe and Canada with both Bustamento and MSO. “Our tour to New Zealand was amazing and the festival was plastered all over billboards, taxis and buses — it was a really big show and just an awesome crowd.
“We’ve also just been offered to play in Quebec, UK’s Glastonbury Festival and the Montreal Jazz Festival which are all quite prestigious festivals, so that’s really exciting,” he says.
Bomba is mindful that with so much music around, it makes it even harder to come up with something that’s different. He’s therefore the first to admit that he was surprised, albeit pleasantly, by the increased popularity of his MSO performances. “Out of all the projects I’ve worked on, the Melbourne Ska Orchestra is the probably the most unlikely thing you would think would have success, yet we’ve had the most awesome response to the shows, the crowds are going crazy!
“It’s been the most incredible, beautiful ride and a huge learning experience and as much as there can be pitfalls and it can at times seem like an absolute train wreck, I’ve learned to embrace what it is, because there’s a lot of talent and energy coming from all the different musicians,” Bomba says.
“So, even though I’m like the captain of the ship, it’s more like one big family and we’re one great democracy where everyone respects each other’s talents and roles — I’m really grateful for this special opportunity and for being able to conduct such a great team.”
Catch Nicky Bomba and his band Bustamento Live At Bond, at Bond Univeristy on the Gold Coast, Sunday March 23 from 3pm.
Nicky's Melbourne Ska Orchestra have the following dates:
Fri Mar 14 - HQ | Adelaide
Sat Mar 15 – The Hi-Fi | Melbourne
Fri Mar 21 - The Hi-Fi | Brisbane
Fri Mar 28 - The Hi-Fi | Sydney
