Skaville OK

Can you believe that even when we play for seventy minutes people still think it is a short set?  I dont know. There's no satisfying some people. I've got a good mind to.. nah, who am I kidding. We love you all really. Just don't come near me.  I think if most bands had played for seventy minutes you would think it was a decent sized show, but we be Bombskare and we be expected to absolutely exhaust the audience and if people havent collapsed and puked blood by the time of the encore then we are clearly not doing our jobs. 

Saturday saw us back up to Cafe Drummond in Aberdeen. We were billed to support Skaville UK who are a new ska band comprised of old members of Bad Manners and The Selecter. We knew two of them from gigs over the years, Martin and Nick who played keys and bass with both BM and the S. However when we arrived we discovered that they wanted to go on first as it was only their fourth gig, so we were the headline. Skaville UK were good, even though they played less than seventy minutes (shocking), and sounded awesome for only their fourth gig in their current line up. During their set they told the audience that they thought Bombskare were one of the best ska bands in the country and that they had played with the best ska bands in the country so they should know.  Well, we're okay I guess but now the pressure was on. Their sound was huge for a four piece, thanks to Martins lovely digital Hammond organ with leslie. We've always wanted to use a real hammond organ, but fuck moving the bloody thing.  It's like lugging an olympic sized snooker table to gigs.

We went on without a soundcheck with a huge crowd already in attendance, and yet it sounded awesome thanks to Callum our stalwart engineer who just always seems to get it right. It was a terrific night, hot and sweaty. Thanks again to Reggae Dod, and to Toxic Effex Dod. I have heard a bootleg of this set and it was actually not too bad for a recording from the desk. Most times a desk will be set up for front of house so recordings tend to be heavy with drums and vocals. I always hate hearing recordings of gigs, especially gigs where I thought it was good. I'm nearly always disappointed with the recording. For once it actually reflected the gig pretty well, warts and all. All seventy minutes of it.

Solar E Y E? Solar E Why No!

What an amazing weekend we just had. And I didnt even get drunk properly, although I will say this. If a strange man approaches you at a gig and offers you crystal MDMA, punch him the teeth and run like hell, or alternatively say yes and take it off him and start licking his face. Either one works.

We return to Inverness after the last time, whenever the hell that was, this time with our associates the Disciples of Panic Earth, that's DOPE for short, geddit. We were late getting there because of people with jobs and university and babysitter issues but after a hair raising dash through the mountains we arrived only two hours late to set up. When we started our soundcheck the place was already mobbed which is far from ideal, as people get to see all that special preparation that goes on before the show which makes the ,eh, magic possible, such as Solareye Samurai getting into his make up, or our Andy P doing his carefully prepared ska meditation (eh medication, surely). Once we started the place erupted. The bouncers said it was the busiest it has been in a very long time. Quite a few were turned away. The Disciples played a good set.  Andy, Colin and I had just played with the Disciples the previous weekend in the guise of our RATM tribute, up in Aberdeen. This night they included a new track I hadn't heard, and by the time we came on there wasn't room to breathe let alone move. I know there are quite a few people who doubted that you could get ten of us on to that stage. What can I say? We do it with mirrors. We played for more than an hour and included a cover of 'Ghost Town' by the Specials, the first time ever live (needs practice!). We also had some unusual audience participation on 54-46 as somebody preempted andys big solo intro. Its good to keep him on his toes.

Apologies to the inhabitants of the Eastgate hostel, that had the misfortune to have Bombskare and Disciples of Panic Earth land on them at three in the morning. They took it well. In the morning for some strange reason, both bands went to an all you can eat chinese buffett for breakfast.  How fucked is that?

We had a nice relaxing Saturday in Inverness, well as relaxing as you'd expect, followed by a nice slow drive through the mountains to Dingwall, and we had hours for a soundcheck. By the time we were ready to open it was sounding cracking thanks to engineer Gareth. DOPE came on sporting their free gifts of Bombskare T shirts, which I'm sure they will tell you are top quality merchandise, not manufactured in sweatshops, honest. Made them look very smart, I thought. There was a fairly unconvincing attempt to pretend to be Bombskare, but as soon as they started playing, the crowd could tell.  No way are we as good as that.  DOPE played a blinder and included a cover of Sir Psychosexy, that so pleased one girl she grabbed Solareyes mic off him for half a verse. G-Rizzla couldn't believe how often I broke strings (it's a lot by the way) and he had been saying that he had never broke a string on stage before. So guess what happened? I just need to talk about breaking strings and it puts an unbearable tension on the strings. I'm a Stringwraith.

By the time we came on the place was stowed. Within one song the suit jackets were off and so were the ties. And by half way through our set the place must have been a hundred degrees. When I came off stage there was steam rising off me, like a blown radiator. It was one of the hottest gig we have played since Bannermans last summer, and that is saying something. Thanks to all the girls who had a shot at pole dancing around those two conviently placed poles near the stage. Even the guys were doing it. I guess we played about an hour and twenty minutes inluding most of our new tracks, and Inspector Gadget for an encore. Thanks to everyone involved; Robbie, Gareth, Steve, everyone at Hootenannies and the Rock, to Fraser, to Lara for driving Andy and Joe up and back, and of course to the Disciples of Panic Earth. The trip back was also quite a feat, but thats another story. We will be returning later in the year.

Apologies again to everyone about the confusion over our gig at the Bongo Club on the 4th of March in Edinburgh. We had been double booked at the Bongo (an uncharacteristic lapse on the part of the Bongo), which was a pain especially since we had 500 posters printed for promotion. Still, it's only money.  It means that we cant get a big enough venue to play in Edinburgh until at least April. I know it seems like we are avoiding Edinburgh but its not. There has just been a slight fuck up, and for once it wasn't us. Honest.