Saturday night ,Mr Kyps was packed to the rafters and Ratrace had the dance floor packed within moments of taking the stage , their ranks has recently swelled to a 10 piece band, producing an amazing sound with a 4 piece brass section. I have been lucky enough to see the many many times and after a some what shaky start they have matured into a class act with a great powerful sound. Their set comprised of some well chosen classic songs which included "Geno" , "Monkey Man" , "Madness" and even a tribute to the successful England rugby side who beat Australia in the world cup quarter final.Their set ended all to soon with "Ranking full stop" and "Pressure Drop" , the Kyps crowd had kept the dance floor packed all the way through Ratrace's set and showed their appreciation at the end , this local act's popularity has just grown as has their confidence and their ability to play a great show.
Skaville UK are a core of four musicians who bring together over 40 years of experience playing in some of the worlds ska top bands and also adding The Special aka/The Bodysnatchers Rhoda Dakar on vocals.Their sound is just so infectious with the stunning keyboards of Martin Stewart ,Nick Welsh on bass, Louis Alphonso on guitar and Al Fletcher on drums.The band take to the stage and kick of with a catchy instrumental piece that just made you move.Tracks from the album "1973" make up for a good deal of the set with a few classic tracks thrown in.
Stand out tracks "She's Mad about the 80's" and "I wish it was 1973" show some of Nick's great writing ability with instantly singable lyrics , with the great Ska sound , Rhoda Dakar added a bit of glamour to the evening with her great version of "Let's Do Rock Steady".An old Bad Manners single "Suicide" was for me the best track of the night , the combination of Nick's bass/vocals and Martin's keyboards was just perfect to give this old classic a total new lease of life.All in all a brilliant evening , the Mr Kyps sell out crowd come along and were treated to 2 brilliant bands.
Video clips
Skaville Uk
She's Mad About the 80's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdOFzEsZuSg
Let's Do Rock Steady
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swDkyvCMczQ
Ratrace
Geno
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1g-jbox1_o
Monkey Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6raFTKicl_4
www.myspace.com/skavilleuk
www.myspace.com/theratrace
Dave Chinery
dlchinery@ntlworld.com
www.myspace.com/chinners
www.myspace.com/chinnersgigreviews
r
