It’s always great to see members of the different Reggae Steady Ska generations join forces, like it is in this case: A true Jamaican legend meeting a bunch of Irish music diggers.
I will never forget the first time I heard the Dave & Ansel Collins tunes „Monkey Spanner“ and „Double Barrel“ on a Trojan reissue EP during the 2Tone days. Dave Barker’s voice with its heavy echo effect and Ansel’s tight organ and piano on a solid beat, the spanky guitar, the room between the notes – all building up into a „heavy monster sound“ from out of space.
Those tunes were made in the late 60s to early 70s. Today, Dave Barker lives in the UK, and has been involved in lots of musical affairs there, from joining Intensified on tour through recording with Sean Flowerdew’s Phoenix City All-stars the wonderful „Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow“ to this new venture with this fresh band from Dublin.
Though Supertonic Sound Club is quite a new name, the members didn’t start from scratch. Sax man Ronan O’Donnell has been a Ska fan and musician dating back to the late 1980s. We have known each other since a few years back from friendly comment discussions on Marco On The Bass blog (I think). The other musicians are also experts with rich musical biographies. Supertonic Sound Club now is laid out as an energetic as well as elegant project between Ska & Soul.
A Supertonic Sound Club album with different vocalists is on the way, the animated video to „Scheherazade“ was produced by Declan Moran. The tune features Barker’s trademark style perfectly over a haunting arrangement somewhere between Jamaican Ska and today’s retro Soul.
The bustling Swedish label AMTY releases „Scheherazade“ on a vinyl single on 15 September 2014. The B Side is another original track from Supertonic Sound Club entitled ”Little Boy” featuring New York’s Shelley Bukspan on vocals.
You can order the single here.
Also, don’t forget to have a look at our “Video Of The Year 2014? playlist with Supertonic Sound Club and loads of other greats. At the end of the year, we will vote the video most loved by the Reggae Steady Ska community.
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