NDK
I'm doing great and, you know, phone interviews and times can get confusing.
Nicky B
I'm in the middle of recording anyway, so it's just, you know, five minutes here, it was all good.
NDK
Ok, Right. So where are we talking to you today, Nicky?
Nicky B
I live up near the alpine area of Victoria underneath a place called Mount Hotham.
NDK
Great. It must be a freezing day today.
Nicky B
Well, you know, you've got the fire going and you've got the snow on the mountain, you know, and the chills all around. So it's pretty endless cold, but it's kind of the charm. Unlike cairns which is probably quite tropical.
NDK
It's very pleasant, blue sky 27 today, freezing when we wake up, 17 degrees, you know.
NDK
And I think, are you guys going to get snow in the next couple of days or something?
Nicky B
We've got to forgot snow. from my house I can see on the mountains, so it's not a lot, but I'm actually playing at the snow next week, so that'll be enough to have a bit of a long look.
NDK
Snow just seems so crazy.
So, you know, you're from a very musical family. Your sister, Danielle, is a musician, better known as Mamma Kin. Her husband is John Butler, you played in that band.
Nicky B
Yeah, my brother plays keyboards, we have played together all our lives, my elder sister, sang as well in the original Family Dance Band, and I recorded an album with my father, who actually did a list of Maltese songs, because we were born in Malta, and so he always sang those songs.
So when he was about 70, I thought, you know, we need a capture those songs, you know, it's part of it, and it was great that we did it,because he's passed since, but it was a great capturing of all the songs he used to share with us.
NDK
Yes, so what was growing up in the household like as children? Having all these musical influences
Nicky B
We were kind of like the Jackson Five of the Maltese community. So we played around pretty often and we supported a lot of artists that would come in from Malta. So it was part of a really active community, like the Maltese, especially when they came to Australia, they really set up, they continued their culture a lot, but they kind of set up a lot of communities where they would put on events and fundraise.
And the main kind of philosophy was to build this cultural centre in Parkville in Victoria. And we ended up having a number one hit in Malta when I was 14 with a singing priest. And the money that we raised with that helped to actually build the centre, which is still there today.
So it was a very active community, there was always people around, very social. And I'm glad that I had that kind of upbringing because even the songs we had to learn were, you know, kind of at the time we were thinking, oh, these are kind of boring old dinner music and and waltzes and all sorts of things so that people could dance, you know, in the ball.
But later on, you know, you realise there's a brilliant song to you, like in the Harlem Nocturen and Bafidia and Autumn Leaves, you know actually, these were great tunes.
So I was glad they had that upbringing.
NDK
And it exposes you you to so much different music. And when I look at your career, we can't go, oh, yeah, Mickey Bomba does Melbourne's Ska Orchestra or Nicky Bomba's Reggae, you have covered a wide range of musical tastes throughout your career.
Nicky B
Yeah, well, I love music and when I was 16, I realised, okay, well, have I got to do this full time or, you know, get another career, you know, as a baker or whatever.
NDK
Was that the option option at the time be a baker ?
Nicky B
So I was supposed to get into electronics, like become a electrical engineer, because I liketinkering around with electrical things, which is why I kind of set up my own studio as well. But it was mainly when I realized, okay, this is going to be my thing, I kind of went into my own kind of personal permanent university of music, and the things that really appealed to me was the music of ethnic cultures, you know, of folk music dating back to the 1700s and 1800s and whenever it was able to be able to be recorded, and a lot of the early field recordings from Africa, especially.
So I still listen to that today, and I think that the lessons there that has carried me well, as far as my role as a musician, there's not just really,someone that kind of likes songs and go, hey, you know, these are cool songs, like my songs, or buy my records, which you can't buy, or by my CDs, which you don't do anymore.
So it's more about creating a sense of community and a sense of, like, my role in the village, if you like, as the enabler of a community event. And so, that's why I love playing with the orchestra, especially.
And all my gigs are like that, especially with the orchestra, it's a real sense of people are connecting with the people in the audience, and making this real feeling of, like, wow, it's like our moment right now.
It's all energy. And where can we take it? And I respect that world, and I try to research it and find out what other people do, what other cultures do. I'm the eternal student when it comes to that type of thing.
But I'm constantly fascinated by new styles of music. And my first foray, obviously, was into the Caribbean, you know, with reggae and ska and everything. That was why it all kicked off. And then there was just, a can of worms, and the worms and the can is still open.
NDK
So you mentioned Melbourne Scale Orchestra and you're coming up to Cairns with them. Now, that started in 2003. You know, what was the flame that lit the fuse for Melbourne Scale Orchestra? Because I look at it now and go, wow, that's a great idea.
Nicky B
Yeah, look it's a big story and surprisingly enough, and this might sound strange, but it actually starts in Cairns
NDK
You're joking.
Nicky B
And I'll tell you why, because I wrote my first song, and my first foray at 16 was doing a four -month tour. And we spent six weeks in Cairns in a place called the Tudor Room. And there was also a place called the House on the Hill at the time.
In the early 80s, and I met a guy called Doug and he taught me how to play reggae. He taught me how to kind of play reggae. I think XTC around the time, and I was just kind of getting into just understanding or hearing reggae music and what that was. And also the bands like The Specials and Madness were kind of starting to make a bit of noise and in Cairns I did my first reggae gig, or playing reggae, and it was a band that was just made up on the day at the Kuranda market. It was called The Surprise, and it was the only gig we've ever done.
And I played message to Rudy, and just loved what was kind of happening on stage, and loved the kind of space. I think I found a bit of my tribe, if you like. And that started a whole kind of journey into reggae, and then what I found out was that a lot of the music I was playing there into reggae was actually a second version of songs that happened in, in the 50s and 60s.
And then I discovered all the early recordings, and then I realized, well, it all started with Ska. So I kind of went back to the roots. Again, I was kind of learning and researching. So in 2003, we decided, and a friend of mine a radio DJ in Melbourne, we put out the call to say, let's do a 40th anniversary of Ska, because 1963 was the song that's called My Boy Lollipop by Millie Small came out
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And that kind of put Jamaica on the map, and that was this classic Jamaican ska, swing ska songs. It was like one of the first commercial ska hits. And then soon after that, Bob Marley and the Wailiers came out with Simmerdown, which was their first global science hit as well.
And that was ska. So as a tribute in 2003, on the 40th anniversary, we thought, oh, let's just call up all the people to play reggae and ska, whatever in Melbourne and just put on the gig. And then let's call it The Melbourne Ska Orchestra, let's do a one off thing and see who's involved.
We get people, yay, if not, and it was a bad idea. So we put the word out and we were inundated with how many people that wanted to be involved. And we thought, OK, is this going to be quite a big band?
We thought maybe that might be 10 or 15, I think, at the most. And so like here we are wit about 25 to 30 people on that particular night. And this was at the Gershwin Room at St Kilda. So we put the night on and the support bands were, there was a band called Loin Groin. And also, having discovered ska, I realised, well, what came before ska was and I realised it was Mento and Calypso, but Mento, especially from Jamaica. So I had a little Mento band called Bustamento.
And so we supported as well. So as far as the lienage is concerned, you know, it went from pre -ska and then it went to Melbourne Ska of Orchestra. What we did then was just cover versions of all the classic ska tunes that had turned us on from this history, which, you know, was from the 60s, not necessarily ska, that's more like Rocksteady.
And there's like, you know, the Skatalalites and Prince Busta and Toots and the Maytals there were lots of bands that people don't necessarily know about, you know, apart from your Bob Marley’s and the Skatalalites. So we just did a beautiful, two hour show.
It was completely sold out. It was like that 200 people turned away. It was an amazing evening and we kind of said, let's do this again, you know, and actually last year I wrote a song about it called Something Strong with the Orchestra because it was the 20th anniversary last year.
And in that song, it says about the Gershwin Room, it says how we really thought there's something here. And that's how the band started, so it actually came together quite easily and I think that's why the band has stayed together for such a long time, because it came, it was born of love, of love of the genre, and knowing that you can't have that many people on stage and have an ego. So it's, it's a real community event on stage, and the beautiful thing about it is that when you get together, we have a party event in the band room you can't help but get that many people. Especially with the green rooms that we get, they're kind of the size of the toilet, and it's really fun. And it's a comical adventure in its self.
NDK
You mentioned that you've got all these people and you can't have an ego and the way those shows evolve with the building of the band as they come out, it's just like a festival and you can just tell that the musicians and you are just having the best time and I think that encourages the audience to let loose and have the best time too as well.
Nicky B
Well, I believe in that and I try to make it a point for myself to make sure that I have a good time on stage, to be prepared for beforehand, and making sure there's a good feeling, and the setlist is the hardest thing to do.
We have so many songs, and so it's working out what songs to do, what plays what do we leave on the bench. So that's about the difficult part, but we have enough tunes, because I like to take people on the journey.
So, having fun on stage, and making the interaction, and that's the beauty of the band. Everyone knows, it's a bit like, hey, here's a soccer match, here's our team, these are the positions, you know what you have to do, let's score some goals, and have some fun.
Even though it seems on paper to be one of the most difficult bands to run, there's a lot of things about it that work quite easily. The only real dramas are being on the road, because it's like running a football team.
And so you can't, sometimes, you know, this guy can't share with that guy because he snores and he has a certain dietary requirement. and you know, she can't wake up early because she's got, or she can't catch the flight there early because she has other things to do and so there's lots of…. but you know, you provide good catering and it's amazing when you get away with when you feed people.
NDK
Now I've seen you both at tanks which is a very small intimate kind of venue in Cairns and the first time I ever saw you was at Bluesfest which is like 10,000 people and you managed to engage 10 ,000 people as well as you engaged 700 people but my real question is you've played some epic gigs, what's been the best gig for you that you've played?
Nicky B
I get asked this question a lot, and there are a lot of things. I think if I had to pick a top five, we played to 50,000 people in front of us in Montreal, which was amazing, and we held them. It was incredible.
We had a Mexican wave we got people to turn around. I didn't think that we would be able to communicate that well. But our shows are a spectacle It's actually not hard its like a circus on stage.
There’s always something to see. They also had huge screens around, so people were engaging on that level. Bluesfest has always been great That was really our first gig. When we first started, we played once a year for about five or six years.
But I wanted to kick it up a little bit. I parted ways with the other guy that I started the band with, because he was doing other work, and I wanted to take it more seriously. Then I got the Bluesfest gig.
From that gig, we actually got a recording contract, and then we started writing our own songs and everything. That was quite pivotal for us, that particular gig.
NDK
You played the year madness played. Did you get to meet those guys?
Nicky B
No, no, because it worked out on the wrong day, that we were like, early or later they came up. I had a good chat to Elvis Costello, because he actually produced The Specials song, which is Message to Rudy, which is actually a Dandy Livingstone song from the 60s, and I asked him about that recording and everything, and he said how it was just a perfect time where everything was right, he didn't have to do anything, they just had their sound, it was really just making sure that everything was recorded properly, and he said that pretty much mixed itself, you know, that particular song.
I love touring overseas, we are going back to Mexico this year they love Ska. We were getting asked on the street, signing records and photographs and everything, and they knew all our lyrics as well, which was great.
So, you know, it's a funny band that you would not think that would have any legs on it, but it's a testimony to the energy and the love that happens on stage, and the amount of creativity in the band too.
There's so many great musicians and so many great songwriters that, you know, as long as we kind of keep acting to get discipline to make sure that we're still writing and recording, you know, there's no telling that we might be, you know, 95 again and going “oh hello”
NDK
Well hey, I was shocked today when I got on Wikipedia to do a little bit of research on you and I saw how old you were because I thought you were about 40. You look about 40.
Nicky B
Well, I feel that way. I get that a lot, but I think a lot of it is just to appreciate the joy, the life, you know, and I'm thankful that I've been able to make a living from music, and I live in a beautiful place.
NDK
He does. Hey, thanks for your time today. I really appreciate it. And on a side note, my kids love the 3D glasses and the 3D album. I took them to see you guys when MSO played Cairns Festival. That must be like five years ago now, but they had a great time.
Nicky B
That was the outdoor thing of the foreshore wasn't it? That's right, yeah, yeah, that's pretty good.
Yeah and this is an all ages gig that we're playing in the Tanks too.
Melbourn Ska Orchestra have a new single coming called John Wayne
Get Tickets for Melbourne Ska Orchestra Live at Tanks Friday 16th of August HERE
