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The "Behind the Music" story of our 2003 album - LIGHT IT UP

as told by Rico:

The new album was started around the spring of 2000. Rico had come back to the group that summer, and the band had been working on a few new songs at the time (in-between auditioning guitarists).

One song was written before that, in 1999, ironically, as the band was being kicked out of their practice pad. SKAVENJAH practiced in a tiny warehouse space they shared with two other bands. It was three floors below a Scottish boutique and dance studio. Apparently the band’s Sunday evening rehearsals were wearing thin on the proprietors of this studio, and on this one special summer evening, they were met, not once, but thrice with the scorching/piercing whine of a Scottish lass’s guttural emoting. A bagpipe, in comparison would sound like man’s most beautiful creation. They left that night for good, after leaving an appropriate “thank you” note. The band immediately dispatched to Chad’s house, where they quickly wrote “Rewind”, a Bosstone-like song that really cooked, but seems to be very difficult to dance to at the shows. People get this really confused look on their faces because they are so used to being able to dance to our stuff – it’s really quite amusing. It was Chad’s first composition for the band. Ironically, it was probably one of the last practises that Colin, Terry and Doogie would attend, and even more ironic was that it was the first song the band rehearsed when they returned to the group three years later (and they played the song, first crack, note for note — either it is a great song, or they are great players…)

A few of the songs the band was working on in 2000 didn’t make the cut for the album, including a skanked up tribute to Law and Order (naturally called “Ska and Order”). If the requests become huge, we will record it and throw it up on the site. “That’s Life” was also a song that really just never got past that stage of being really-really boring no matter how much we massaged it – so we hit the old delete button on the recording unit and got on with our lives.

Songs that did make it included “Here Comes Trouble”, one of the last songs to be finalized, recorded, and performed live. Andre provided the main chord progression to this one, Chad added lyrics, and Rico threw in the bridge. At the time of recording, Rico still had some lyrics in his head for the bridge, but Terry’s sax solo was so good, it was recorded “as is”. (look for the Ricky Martin tribute in this song!)

Chad had also written “Going Under” during this time. It was a slow/fast tune based on his particularly pathetic life at the time. This was soon after he lost his girl, was in danger of losing his car, house, etc., etc while he was on the road full time living the Rock and Roll lifestyle. But to his credit he always stayed relatively positive, and this song was the result. Recording wise, the band was messing with different arrangements of the song, including a rare keyboard solo by Rico. In the end they just got Colin to blast about six ripping trombone solos in the basement of a duplex at precisely 10:15 at night. When the knocks on the wall from the neighbours became too loud, the session was over. This ended up being one of the last songs to be recorded completely.

“The Bender” was written in around 2000/2001. It is a super fast skanker. Look for the group chanting by Chad, Rico, Andre and Colin – better known as “Une, Deux, Trois Chaude Guy and the Stompin’ Donkey’s Male Chorus”. You also might be able to pinpoint the exact moment Darcy busts his left nut doing a super high harmony. This song is completely un-danceable, but is a huge favourite at shows. Speaking of shows, Rico has great difficulty starting this song and “Liquid Lunch” as well. They are extremely similar to him, and Andre is always sweating bullets when Rico starts off either one of these.

“JC Superska” has Dave “El Diablo” Kapp written all over it. Listen for his lyrics that will be just as meaningful decades from now. The band would like to state formally that none of them had ever heard the original song until after “JC” was recorded, so there is absolutely no need to get the royalty police involved. “JC” is the second song that has “Chad Guy” as part of the lyrics when the band performs live. Listen for the solo by our man Brad “B-Rad” Prosko (engineer/guitarist extraordinaire) on the recording. Darcy “Scottish Mafia” Johnstone did a wicked Van Halen finger tapping solo that gave Chad a chubbie, but we screwed up the data transfer from the recording machine and didn’t have the heart to tell Darcy that it didn’t make the album.

That marked the end of the first songs to be earmarked for the album. The ones that followed started showing a different style. By now the band had purchased a Yamaha AW2816 digital recording console (this could be a plug if we actually got some bling-bling to promote it—but it’s still not too late, Yamaha—come on you cheap bastards, give us some cash!!!!) SKAVENJAH would ship the unit around to various members of the group, hoping for some inspiration to be laid down.

Rico laid down “What Gives You The Right”, a reggae-influenced, anti-terrorism proclamation, following 9/11. His guitar virtuosity shone brightly, taking a mere 32 cracks at the solo. Look for credits to “Rico Santana”, Carlos’s younger and obviously less talented fourth cousin from the Great White North. This would be the start of some strong reggae vibes around the band. Listen for guest vocals on the track by the “OG” original godfather Owen Walker. He is the local king of Reggae – hosting his own Reggae radio show “Caribbean Vibes” on 91.3 CJTR.

A second song started by Rico called “Make You Mine” was finished by Chad. Rico started with the opening lines and Chad took it from there to add the chorus. The horn section added an awesome head, and Jeff “Too Loud” McLeod added some tasty keys. Jeff plays on almost all of the tracks as a very special guest, being available between gigs on “The Love Boat”.

Album titles were starting to get thrown around at this time. Rico suggested the first one. He thought “Still Skanking After All These Beers” fit the band perfectly. It was the working title for a long time. If another ska band wants to use it, they will have to pony up some cash—it’s been copywritten. Their second choice was “Big in Japan”, alluding to the band’s huge Japanese fan base. As it turns out, that title was taken, so the search was on….

“It Is What It Is” was pretty much written just by Chad, although Darcy, Colin, Terry and Doogie had lots of input into the chord structure, which was originally fairly basic. Rico wasn’t taking many risks with the progression, so it was left to the “cats” to massage it a bit. Listen for group chanting by Colin, Chad and Rico, as well as some heavy guitars courtesy of Andre’s Les Paul “Smart Wood” and Fender ProSonic (bling, bling, come on people…)

The SLACKERS came through Regina in the fall of 2002, and after hearing them Rico thought he could try to do something simple and melodic. He put down a simple chord progression into the console and sent it back to Chad’s. Chad heard it and immediately added the words and melody to “All I Need”. The song was recorded with guitar, vocals and Reed Lethal’s “breathy” sax. Bass was added, but it started changing the song from what it started out as, so that was deleted. Rico was unhappy with the guitar sound, so he re-recorded it with two other guitars—one with a string missing for effect. That was better, but he was still bitching about how it wasn’t right. One day at a mixing session, Brad showed him a new Takamine that he received from a company rep. This guitar was out of this world, so Rico, Chad and Reed decided to re-re-record the song with the three of them in a circle ‘round a single mic. This is the final version. (Note: Takamine sponsorship is still a definite possibility, but you guys had better get your asses in gear—the album’s going to be selling huge, so lots of potential publicity here.)

Two more songs came fast and furious in the fall. One was “Feel Like Getting High”, a decidedly pro-cannabis song. The sing-along portion of the chorus was substantially lifted from a song by another well-known Western Canadian band called McQuaig (an awesome live band – do not miss their show if they play in your city). Johnny McQuaig has been notified and are we are pleased to report that no legal action will be taken as Chad has included him in all royalty paperwork. Look for The Right Reverend Tommy Dooglas injecting some much-needed vibe at the bridge.

“Girly Girly” was written by Chad as an upbeat love song to his new bride Melinda. Rico identified it as a tribute to the great Canadian ska/reggae band “One”, but Chad didn’t know them, although Colin jumped in and recognized Dave Hodge as their trombone player—kudos to Colin. Darcy added a funky bass line intro. Reed recorded six progressively hot sax solos—the band chose #4. If anyone wants to hear the other versions, drop us a line.

“Sunshine” was the final song written and recorded. Chad had a melody in his head and was trying to get it out as a song. Rico sat down with him and tried to come up with chords that would match it. The two were way out of sync, Rico not understanding what Chad wanted, and carrying on with what he was hearing. In the end it still didn’t sound anything like Chad was thinking about, and they wondered if it was too weird. Darcy couldn’t make sense of the chord progression. Andre was pretty much into it, coming up with a good rhythm. The first attempt at a bass line wasn’t what Rico or Chad wanted. Rico plugged the chords into Band-in-a-Box music software, set it to “Reggae”, and the program provided an over-the-top bass line. It gave Darcy an idea of what the others were thinking, so he goes and lays down an awesome performance. This song featured the 5th guitar used in the recording, a T-400 Guild DeArmond hollow body, that Rico won at the local St. John’s Music store. It ended up being an awesome guitar sound. The band didn’t know what else to do for other instrumentation, initially thinking about a clavinet, or some wah guitar, but decided to leave it alone, and just added a simple horn line.

That’s it everybody…we really hope you dig it this album. We really poured our hearts and souls into this project and we’d love to hear what you think of it…drop us a line at info@skavenjah.com…

Cheers and much love to ya’ll… Rico, Big Jim, Tucker, Mel-G, Bullet, Reed, Scottish Mafia, The Right Reverend T.D…

Behind the Skankin': The Skavenjah Story - A Ska Epic

(as told by one who was there - RICO GELSINGER)

Rico was on a mission to revive the greatest music on earth. Back then he was just plain old Rick Gelsinger, a third generation Canadian white guy from Regina, Saskatchewan, CANADA, but that didn’t matter, because there would be no stopping him from assuming his rightful place in music history…

It didn’t matter that no one else (it seemed) knew about SKA music. It didn’t matter that he was only a marginally talented keyboard player who couldn’t read music. This was going to happen….

The seventies were not kind to music lovers. They were forced to listen to such popular songs as “Boogie Oogie Oogie”, “The Gambler”, “Love Hurts” and “Kung Fu Fighting”, wondering all the while if life was worth living anymore.

The year was 1980. Rick’s best friend Hugh Dickson lived next door and had just received a bunch of records from his sister, Connie who had just come back from a trip to England. Connie was Hugh’s hip older sister (and she’s still a hottie to this day…). She brought him records from Madness, The Selecter, Bad Manners and The Specials.

Suddenly little Rick’s world had changed. He and Hugh would listen to these records until they were worn out. There was hope, after all!

The years went by really quickly and his dream was put on hold until a cold winter day in 1992, when he received a call from a friend who wanted him to see a band playing in Regina. “Their name is King Apparatus, and they play SKA!” was the message on the phone. All of a sudden Rick remembered his high school days and dashed out to see this band. Suddenly Rick’s world changed again, and there would be no turning back…he was going to revive SKA music!

In July 1992, Rick placed an ad in the local music stores looking for musicians. Within one week Dave Kapp answered the ad. Dave worked with Rick years earlier, but they had lost touch. Dave was a rockabilly/punk/70’s rock fanatic, but he also loved SKA. Dave would play bass and supply the much-needed energy for the band.

Soon others followed. Scot Beaumont was a saxophone player who was a big reggae and traditional SKA fan. He brought in Andre Boehm (already known as Big Jim) to play drums, even though Andre hadn’t played drums for years. He was actually a guitarist, and a real good one.

Dave recruited Sheldon Shawaduckie to play guitar. Sheldon was a blues fan, but figured SKA couldn’t be that hard to do. He was right. Scot became “Ska-T”, and he recruited a friend from work to sing. Devon Brown was a suave, good looking Jamaican dude with a great voice and he loved SKA and reggae.

With this lineup the band decided the name SKAVENJAH would tell people what they did. A little obvious, perhaps, but this was Regina, a place that needed a lot of help in this area, considering that it is well known as the country music and 70’s Rock capital of the world. (You can look it up).

Six weeks later, they would play their first gig at the legendary Channel One in January of 1993. The place was packed! It was filmed for the local cable show “Alternate Trax”. They did all the 2-Tone covers and it was a great night. Rick changed his name to “Rico”. Little known fact—SKAVENJAH’s current lead singer performed with another band that night, and it was their first gig as well! (NOTE: Regina is not a large city) – If you can name that band and you win an entire case of that bands debut CD to use as coasters, or as something festive to hang from the rear view mirror in your car.

Two weeks later, they played their second gig. But it was not just any gig. It was to back up legendary English SKA pioneers Bad Manners! Dave was crapping himself, Rico couldn’t believe it, Ska-T was cool, and Andre and Devon were too young to know what was happening…They met Buster and the band, and it was probably one of the greatest experiences they could have had.

The Start of Many New Members…

Devon decided to move to Vancouver that summer, as Regina was just too cold for his bones. As luck would have it, Rico’s best friend Hugh (remember him?) was recruited to sing. Hugh had never been in a band before, but he knew all of the songs and in two weeks was ready for the band’s next gig.

The band wrote, recorded and released “Put Some Skank in Your Tank” in 1993. It was a cassette recording of 11 originals and a cover of “This is Ska” by Bad Manners. It was recorded at pal Dave Fries’ studio next to a Rainbow Trout farm. It sold a resounding 750 copies and got the band into the international market, which resulted in appearances on a few compilations, such as S.H.A.R.P. and All Skanadian Club. With that release, SKAVENJAH was proclaimed “Canada’s Greatest Ska Band” by Buzz Magazine. (But what did they know?)

The band decided that more horns would help, so they brought in Rick’s friend Wayne Baiton to play trumpet. Wayne hadn’t played for about ten years and was a little rusty, but he was very muscular, and apparently some of the ladies in the audience were into that, so he was in.

Wayne didn’t last too long, as he was too busy teaching massage therapy, riding bulls and rock climbing. Rico was also a massage therapist, but he practiced under the name “Rick”, so as not to confuse people. Wayne would not be the last massage therapist to join SKAVENJAH…

Cam Lockerbie, a jazz trumpet player who was also a jazz whistler, replaced Wayne. Cam helped maintain SKAVENJAH’s average height above 6’, as he was a good 6’3” if he was a foot. For the record, Hugh was 6’1”, Sheldon was 6’, Ska-T was 6’, and Andre (Big Jim) is 6’1”. Dave was 5’10” and Rico was/is a diminutive 5’8”. Still, as bands go, SKAVENJAH was a tall band….

Cam was a source of endless inspiration and challenge for the band. He was very talented, but had many unusual quirks. It was a Cam introduced the concept of harmony to the group, also something that didn’t come naturally. After two years of playing Cam informed the band that he would be leaving for Swift Current, a western Saskatchewan city known for its many churches. Hmm…fitting I guess.

Two guys who had frequented SKAVENJAH’s shows quickly took up the slack in 1994. One was Rob Ruetz, a handsome 6’ trombone player. His good friend Nathan Lowe played trumpet, and within two weeks were ready to play the legendary Lydia’s at Saskatoon. Nathan was only 17 at the time, but took the fancy of the bar owner’s wife (who is also a hottie), and he presented her with his ponytail, fresh from an impromptu hair cutting on stage, a SKAVENJAH tradition.

Prior to the release of All Dressed Up in 1995, Sheldon decided that band life was too much, so he packed it in. Rico decided that he would learn how to play guitar (and still hopes to someday). He brought in his best friend Kendra Smycniuk to play keyboards. Kendra was also a massage therapist (bonus points for those who remembered there would be another) and an accomplished pianist. Kendra added so much spice to the band, her nickname became “Spice Girl”. As it turned out, there was a British group that had a similar name, but SKAVENJAH chose not to sue them. Kendra stayed on for four years, so we’ll move ahead…

Nathan and Rob brought along their good friend Shane Statz, a quiet sax virtuoso, so quiet, in fact, that it took the band three practices to know they had a new member in the group. Shane, as the band found out later, was the founder of the “Da Shiekies”, a local acid jazz group. And not surprisingly Shane would not be the band’s only sax player named Shane.

This lineup stuck for about six months or so, until Rob informed the band that he would be leaving to join the army as a trombone player. He found a worthy replacement in Colin Neufeld. In fact, when asked if Colin would be ok for the band, Rob said that Colin was “ten times better than me”, which was good enough for them. Colin would later be known as “Bullet Chambers”, a name that really makes sense when you get to know him.

Shane had to leave to go to Humber College in Toronto, feeling that Saskatchewan was simply too un-hip for someone of his status, so Shane was replaced by Terry (Bulldog) Quinney. Terry had played in local jazz bands and was intrigued by the simplicity of SKA. Terry was an intense musician whose lightning solos are depicted on “Hard Fall” and “Sublunary Sphere”. After these legendary recording sessions Terry changed his nickname to “Reed Lethal”. Such nicknames became rampant after watching “Boogie Nights” on the road for the 30th time.

About this time the band started recording “Little Monsters” (summer of 1997). They also did a lot of touring, playing all over Western Canada and their sound developed into what the band felt was probably their best ever. This was also a rocky time for the band, as recording sometimes resulted in heated arguments about musical direction. These troubles sparked the end of Terry’s time with the band, as he went to play on a cruise ship and eventually got married to one of the dealers in the ships casino – The lovely Nicola is a constant source of good times and Corona for all of us in the band.

Shane Landry came on board in 1998. Shane was also a friend of the band. Shane was another one of the many amazing horn players from the university ranks. Shane was quiet like the first Shane, and coincidentally, would also go on to Humber College, as that apparently was their only admission requirement for sax players, but he would stay for awhile first.

Nathan left the group in the spring of 1999, having struck up with a local R & B band called “Stepchyle”. He brought along a friend, Chad (Doogie) Taylor, who was a great trumpet and keyboard player. Doogie learned the tunes very quickly, enough to do the now famous Agridome show. (see below) Chad would also not be the only Chad in the band.

After an energetic show at Regina’s Agridome in front of 7000 people, Hugh decided to pack it in. He was given a warm send-off. This show was also memorable because it featured the first father-son combination for SKAVENJAH. Dave’s son played trombone on the band’s signature song, “More”.

A new singer was brought in from local SKA-jazz group Source Unknown. Chad Guy played drums for Source, but figured singing had to be a lot easier on the wrists. Chad was left to pick up the pieces after Hugh left. Chad was only 5 years old when the Specials recorded “Monkey Man”, so an intense SKA education was undertaken under the watchful eye of Rico.

Soon after, Kendra was finished with band life and decided to go her own way in the summer of 1999. She denies that it had anything to do with Chad or Chad. They band wished her well and to this day cry themselves to sleep at night.

Colin, Chad (Doogie), and Shane (Landry) would appear on and off with the band for the next few years, as Stepchyle continued its assault on SKAVENJAH’s lineup. They were replaced by a variety of horn players, including Mike Farmer (trumpet), Rob Reutz (who would re-appear now and then), and a red-headed trumpet player from Moose Jaw named “Al”, but they never bothered to learn his last name, as he only played on one gig.

After the Millenial (1999/2000) New Years show at Lydia’s, Rico dropped the bombshell that he was retiring. He thought that the band would be devastated, but they quickly replaced him with a series of guitarists, who, as it turned out, didn’t know how to play SKA. He was asked to come back and play keyboards for a summer tour, but after one practice, came back to guitar. It would be the last time that Rico would retire from the band.

Ska-T was the next to leave, paring down the original members of the band again in the summer of 2000. He was busy selling high-end stereos and populating the city of Regina with little Ska-Ts.

Later in December of 2000, the band realized that right under their noses was a very talented and, friendly girl who would had been coming to shows for years. She was a friend of Andre’s, and could play sax, keyboards, sing, and dance. Melinda Vieira agreed to join the band in time for the January road trip to Northern Saskatchewan. At the same time, Chad’s friend Kent Magnuson, another ex-Thom Collegiate musician, came on to play trumpet. Kent, like Ska-T, was an audiophile who appreciated the finer things in life. That’s probably why he joined the band, and the timing couldn’t be better.

The band continued writing for their next CD, playing gigs, etc., until Dave announced in September 2001 that he was finished. As another seminal member of SKAVENJAH, this was a bit of a blow. Dave went on to start a rockabilly band called, Los Diablos, with Andre on drums.

Brought on to play bass was yet another friend of Chad’s. Darcy Johnstone was fixture of the Regina music scene, except for the time when he was in L.A. perfecting his technique. Darcy quickly learned the tunes and has begun to leave his mark on the band’s sound.

Oh ya – this just in…Terry, Colin and Doogie are back in full force – tearin’ the roof off of every joint we play and really givin’ us that huge horn sound we love the most!

So there it is…after 10 years, 15 lineup changes and 3 albums later we still skank on…what’s next for Canada’s most beloved SKA band? New album, new songs new shows and the same fun we’ve always had. – stay tuned – the best is yet to come.