Bombskare Sunday on Fusion

Rich writes:
Tonight we at Fusion were honoured to be able to preview the brand new album by the Scottish Ska Juggernaut that is Bombskare and the band kindly gave us a fistful of copies to give away. For my money Bombskare are the finest ska band in the world today. They produce ska of the highest quality infused with an irresistible humour and upbeat, brassy bounciness.

Mick kicked the evening off with an hour of truly wonderful music that had all of us here bouncing around like nutters. Including this absolute classic:

For my show I asked each of the band members to choose a track for me to play on the show and they duly obliged. To this I added two tracks from the album and the rest of the playlist was drawn from a selection of tunes that the band said were favourites of theirs. I can't argue with their choices - there isn't a track on this playlist that I didn't enjoy! 

1. The Upsetters - Jungle Lion

2. The Silvertones - It's Real

3. The Blues Busters - Soon You'll Be Gone

4. Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra - Dream Express

5. The Skatalites - Exodus

6. Bombskare - Catastrofuck

7. Jimmy Soul - If You Want To Be Happy

8. The Granville Williams Orchestra - Honky Tonk Ska

9. Byron Lee and the Dragonaires - Jamaica Ska

10. The Upsetters - Return of the Django

11. Toots and the Maytals - Living in the Ghetto

12. The Maytals - It's You

13. Jimmy Cliff - Miss Jamaica

14. Dave & Ansel Collins - Double Barrell

15. Desmond Dekker - Get Up Edina

16. Prince Buster - Linger On

17. Bombskare - The Day the Earth Stood Stupid
18. Bombskare - Triplet Fiasco

The album is called The Day The Earth Stood Stupid and is available on CD from April 1st. I can't recommend it highly enough and would urge anyone that loves bouncy, brassy ska with a traditional and humorous feel to get a copy - you won't regret it!

Fusion changing the way your ears hear!

      Nikki of Everything and the Kitchen Sink's newest rant on Fusiononair

You want the most recent updates? You want to know what's playing and who? Better get yourself a twitter and follow..........

@FusionOnAir

Fusion is about a collaboration of DJ's and Hobbyists DJ's ( I call myself a radio host and I stick by that!).We all do this in our spare time and completely for the love of sharing our love of music with you, the listener. So first up let me introduce you to the Fusiononair group.

First we have the awesome Mighty Mick. Now Mick is a very eclectic man. He'll spin hip shaking, bouncing mod and soul that will shake your soul. But Mick is a man of varied taste so sometimes if your lucky you'll hear him spinning mixes of current unsigned bands, dabbling in the ska, soul and some of the more popular bands. Mick's spining time is Sundays but you might find him spinning the occasional Saturday. Again people go to that damn twitter and follow it! 
@MickCollins002

Following the Mighty Mick is the Oracle of Ska and Reggae  Rich. Yeah I called him the Oracle of Ska and Reggae. I challenge you to find someone more knowledge based on a global level when it comes to Ska and Reggae. It ain't gonna happen. So if you want to get a proper schooling on some serious reggae and ska tunes you really need listen to Rich. When does the Oracle of Ska and Reggae spin? Well if your damn lucky it's on Sundays. And again follow on the twitter folks....
 @Zeng1nTepe


Now that is Saturday and Sunday kinda covered for your live listening pleasure... But what about the rest of the week? Well I am getting to that... damn it!

So it's a Friday night and you don't wanna go out. TV is shit..... Well Fusiononair has the remedy for you. Big Jim Cambo spins on Friday night with a show called An Alternative Friday Night In. Jim will spin various genres but he is very keen on the indie scene.Follow that man on twitter you won't be disappointed.
 @BigJimCambo


Last but not least is the Great Gray with his Music Nuptials. Every Tuesday and Thursday. A little bit of old, a little bit of new, something borrowed and something blue. A very eclectic show with requests from the twitter listeners in his show. Again Follow cause that's how you get the updates.
@GrayIncorporatd
  

I want to give a big welcome to the newest members of the Fusion Family Rob and Tom  (we are sorted bunch indeed)

 Friday nights just got EVEN better!  That's right Tom from Ireland is armed with a "Fistful of Records" (it's not a coincidence that his show is called that as well! Tom spins an eclectic mess of music that you won't hear anywhere else. Follow Tom on his twitter for updates for when the shows are and other nonsense. 
@boyerstom

Also a shout out to the man Rob who spins some of the greatest mod and soul around. Folks you will need your paper and pen because I am guaranteed that he will spin some gems that your ears have never heard.  Now Rob is a busy man and we are super happy when he can spin a show for fusion. You wanna know when he spins? Well follow his twitter. (You seeing a theme here yet?)  @Nit3owl64

 There might be more hosts/DJs in the future folks so keep your eyes and ears peeled.




And then there is my show. Everything and the Kitchen Sink.  Yeah that. So what the hell do I do?
 Well .. if the name doesn't say it all I spin a very eclectic mix of punk/ska/indie/rockabilly/acoustic/blues/dub  and everything in between. Because I am the only Canuck in this collaboration I tend to play quite a few unsigned Canadian bands. But one thing is always guaranteed with me; I am so obsessed with Joe Strummer that you will get Joe Strummer x3 in every damn show.
From the 101 er's, The Clash, Joe and the Latino Rockabilly War, or The Mescalero's or him playing with The Pogues.. < Yeah it's gonna be in the show for sure. Sometimes I do band interviews.
*a disclaimer, I make shit loads of mistakes, I swear, and I make no apologies for my nonsense.*

Currently Everything and the Kitchen Sink is on sabbatical. But if you want to be in the know
 follow me on twitter cause that's the only way you'll know when I do a show @eatks


                                          THIS IS FUSION.... NOT MAINSTREAM RADIO

Happy listening folks.

Nikki xxxxxxxxx

How those boots have walked...

Following on from an earlier post here from Rich regarding cover versions, today in 1966 Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walking" hit the Number 1 spot on the US charts.

The song was penned by singer, songwriter and producer Lee Hazlewood, who collaborated a number of times with Nancy.

As is so often the case with hits from that era, this song has been covered by numerous artists (there are well over 50 recorded versions), but it is the diversity of genres is quite extraordinary.  Among the many artists who have covered it are;  The Supremes, Boy George, Siouxsie, Bad Manners, Nick Cave, Megadeth and even The Swedish Chef from The Muppets!!

Below are three versions that I (Mick) personally like...

First, the original by Nancy Sinatra:

Next comes a less well-known version by The Artwoods, taken from their excellent Art Gallery album:

And finally the classic Stomping version by Symarip:

How those boots have walked.

Band of the Month: March 2013

That's right folks, each month one of the presenters of Fusion gets to highlight a band for their lovely listeners. This time it's my turn (Nikki of Everything and the Kitchen Sink). Now I am clearly not awesome when it comes to blogging and stuff. But if you have ever listened to the show you know that's it's an eclectic mayhem of music! So coming from The Great White North (also known as Canada) I tend to put Canadian bands in the show.
 
                        Fusion's Band of the Month feature is the musician Cactus Vella.

 The greatest thing about this is that I get to talk about not only Cactus Vella's solo project but he is the guitarist in some of my favourite Toronto punk bands. Cactus Vella has been around in the Toronto Punk scene since the early 90's,and continues to play in Sinkin' Ships, Class Assassins and The Whiskey Hearts Collective.
One of my favourtie things about any musician is when they push the boundaries of their own music. Cactus Vella plays in some amazing hardcore punk rock bands, but who is to say that you can't go and record a gritty acoustic punk rock album?  And he did just that. So here's a couple of clips of his acoustic stylings.

                                                      
                                                                  Cactus Vella

   This is the music video for his single called Touch The Ground off his acoustic album  Sailin' On. If you like it, why not check out his bandcamp page right here >http://cactusvellamusic.bandcamp.com/

 

And because I am a sucker for my punk rock as you all know here's a video of  The Sinkin' Ships! This is off their album Mayday recorded in 2004. But really, it's an album that remains current in 2013.In fact, I play a fair amount of Sinkin' Ships on EatKS. The Sinkin' Ships have been kicking some punk rock ass since the early 90's and will be putting out some new material this year. So keep your eyes peeled folks. And yes they have a bandcamp as well. So check it out! Right here >http://sinkinships.bandcamp.com/

The Sinkin' Ships 

 

 Last but not least the Toronto punk rock band The Class Assassins! The Class Assassins have been around since 2001. But folks don't let that fool you. The members of this band, come from a long pedigree of Toronto punk rock band awesomeness. Bands members are from Bitter Grin, Hockey Teeth, Direct Action, Sinkin' Ships just to name a few. And if you know your Toronto punk rock you know that this is pretty damn awesome. I heard through the grape vine that The Class Assassins are also working on a new single. But you can check out their bandcamp right here >http://theclassassassins.bandcamp.com/

The Class Assassins

Cactus Vella and some Sinkin' Ships were played on the last Everything and the Kitchen Sink.. and wait for it... yes another damn link for you folks! http://soundcloud.com/rudegrrrl1/everything-and-the-kitchen-3

Covered with glory?

Having finalised my playlist for my show tonight I settled down with the headphones on to listen to Mick belt out an hour of the finest 60's Mod and Soul scorchers. Now given that Mick plays Mod and Soul and I play Reggae (and Stuff) you would have thought the chances of us having the same song in our playlist - on the same evening too - would be pretty remote. Not so, it seems! 

Happily bouncing away to Mick's cracking tunes I heard the unmistakeable sound of The Temptations with this absolute corker:

A song which by sheer fluke also happened to be in my playlist! As it is (probably) very bad radio-form to have the same song in consecutive shows I would normally have made a hasty alteration and slotted in another tune. But tonight I didn't do that: partly because I'm lazy and stubborn but also because the version I was playing was this one:

I'm an absolute sucker for a good cover version and this version is, I think, sufficiently different from the original for me to get away with playing it within an hour of Mick playing it. It's also an absolute belter of a track too, which helps! 

My Reggae (and Stuff) show next weekend will be a Cover Versions Special - an hour (or more!) of familiar tunes given a reggae / ska makeover. Should be fun, hope you can join us.

Rich

Scratching around for new music

Our resident reggae (and badger) obsessive Rich went to see the legendary force-of-super-nature that is Lee Scratch Perry last night. 

Unless there is an obvious 'theme' to Rich's shows - like last week's 'Ladies Night' - then the playlist tends to be whatever has surfaced on Rich's reggae-radar that week. It is fair to assume, therefore, that this week's show (time/day TBC) will feature a healthy dollop of Priceless Perry or Scintillating Scratch. [OK, that's enough alliteration. Ed]

Scratch duly delivered his trademark brand of shambolic genius and sent the Devonian reggae fans home happy but our intrepid DJ was not as happy as he had hoped he'd be. Having tucked an LP-sized bag into his pocket in anticipation, he was less than impressed to find Exeter Phoenix a vinyl-free-zone yesterday. 

All was not lost however; superb support act Laid Blak had some CD's on sale and Rich left with a copy of their Red & Blak album in his pocket. So, sharing the Lee-Perry-Love on Rich's Reggae (and Stuff) this week will be a tune from said CD. Laid Blak's live set is described as being "centred in urban reggae but touches on jazz, funk, soul and hip-hop." You'd be hard-pushed to find a better definition of Rich's idea of Fusion than that! Check out Laid Blak - you won't be disappointed.

The Radio Under The Pillow

If you know a music lover of  "a certain age", mention words like 'Radio Caroline' or 'Radio Luxembourg' and watch them sigh and go all misty-eyed.

Be prepared to hear them reminisce about laying in bed at night with a transistor radio hidden under the pillow so their parents wouldn't hear them listening while they should be sleeping.

It sounds corny, but it's true.  I fell asleep with the radio on under my pillow so many nights I probably spent more pocket-money on batteries than anything else.

But let's be honest here.  It was cheesy.  It was brash.  It was full of adverts.  It contained so much I now dislike in radio.  And that's if you were lucky enough to get an uninterrupted signal on the old Medium Wave band.

But now with the advent of modern technology, we have more radio stations to chose from than you can shake a stick at.

Whatever your taste in music, it's out there - and it's more than catered for.  There are stations broadcasting every conceivable music genre 24 hours a day in crystal clear digital sound.  This is often supported by DJ's whose specialist knowledge would undoubtedly earn them a place in the final of Mastermind.

Never before have we been so spoiled for choice.

And never before have I longed so much to enjoy again the simplicity, the excitement and the pure joy of the old radio stations.

Excuse me while I sigh and go all misty-eyed.  (Mick).