The state of Australian ska and reggae
May 23rd 2007 04:58
The following spiel is my point of view on the current state of ska and reggae in Australia. It probably isn't the definitive view and I have to admit I lean towards the pre 72 ska, reggae and rocksteady sound.
The first thing to point out is that the ska scene and reggae scene are two seperate entities in Australia. Rarely do the scenes cross over and when they do, they often suffer from punters not appreciating a different approach. A good example of this was Firehouse's recent Oldies Session @ Freedom Sounds. This much respected contemporary sound system was doing an oldies session, which attracted quite a few folk who like earlier JA music. The problem was that despite the excellent selections FH offered, they ruined the experience by constantly interupting songs with their fake Jamaican jabberings. I know they are known for doing this in their normal sound nights, but they should understand the contrast between the sweetest rocksteady song and their BIG UPs are cringe worthy. A shame.
Anyway, I got a bit off track. While the ska and reggae scenes don't necessarily overlap, both seem to be in a period of plodding along, without coming up with anything terribly inspiring. There are few new ska bands in Australia - there are a couple of decent ones in Melbourne, but apart from that, nothing worth writing about. Firehouse lost its regular venue in Sydney and Freedom Sounds suffers from being on a Sunday and taking place so frequently. Take It or Leave It gets a great turnout every month, but I question whether it is lacking passion from some quarter (and I run the night). Up north in Brisbane and Byron Bay there are quite regular gigs, but I am not hearing stories on the street of events I just have to attend.
The way I see it is that we have the interest; punters do want to attend ska and reggae events. What we don't have is musicians moving into reggae to produce exciting performances that people want to follow. Are other genres drawing away musicians from ska and reggae? It is hard to say. I just hope some of the successes in the US, UK and Europe start to transfer to Australia.
The first thing to point out is that the ska scene and reggae scene are two seperate entities in Australia. Rarely do the scenes cross over and when they do, they often suffer from punters not appreciating a different approach. A good example of this was Firehouse's recent Oldies Session @ Freedom Sounds. This much respected contemporary sound system was doing an oldies session, which attracted quite a few folk who like earlier JA music. The problem was that despite the excellent selections FH offered, they ruined the experience by constantly interupting songs with their fake Jamaican jabberings. I know they are known for doing this in their normal sound nights, but they should understand the contrast between the sweetest rocksteady song and their BIG UPs are cringe worthy. A shame.
Anyway, I got a bit off track. While the ska and reggae scenes don't necessarily overlap, both seem to be in a period of plodding along, without coming up with anything terribly inspiring. There are few new ska bands in Australia - there are a couple of decent ones in Melbourne, but apart from that, nothing worth writing about. Firehouse lost its regular venue in Sydney and Freedom Sounds suffers from being on a Sunday and taking place so frequently. Take It or Leave It gets a great turnout every month, but I question whether it is lacking passion from some quarter (and I run the night). Up north in Brisbane and Byron Bay there are quite regular gigs, but I am not hearing stories on the street of events I just have to attend.
The way I see it is that we have the interest; punters do want to attend ska and reggae events. What we don't have is musicians moving into reggae to produce exciting performances that people want to follow. Are other genres drawing away musicians from ska and reggae? It is hard to say. I just hope some of the successes in the US, UK and Europe start to transfer to Australia.
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