In terms of ways to have a good time, a night of ska bands has to
rate pretty highly. It’s difficult to not enjoy yourself when a bunch
of generally dapper looking lads and ladettes are playing boppy music,
perhaps with a horn or percussion section thrown in. 4 bands at $17 is
pushing the limits of my love for local music, but apparently the show
is in order to get the Resignators over to the US, so I'm happy to throw
down some coin to help out with that. The venue, the Palace Hotel in
Camberwell, isn't a venue I had ever been to before and not really one
that appeared overly geared up for live music, save for maybe a cover
band or acoustic act. The stage was essentially in the front of the
dining/bistro area, next door to the pokies, and they seemed to have a
degree of difficulty controlling the sound in the room for most of the
night, however that can’t really be attributed to the bands.

Strangely Attraktive took to the stage and delivered an entertaining
set; they all looked sharp in their shirts and vests, and looked to be
not long out of high school, and they get double respect for a female drummer at
all times. They were reasonably solid in terms of music, although it can
sometimes be easy for a ska band to fall into playing almost
‘standards’, most of their songs seemed to remind me of songs I had
heard before, although there were a couple of cheeky little tracks in
there that I thoroughly enjoyed, as did the fledgling crowd.

Loonee Tunez looked like a group of gents who had been at this for a
while; they were all on the older side of 35 at least (I actually think
probably a fair bit older than that, but we'll stick to 35 in case they are reading), but
they were entertaining and probably a throwback to the Melbourne ska
scene a few years back. They opened with a Specials cover, which was not
lost on the ska-sympathetic crowd, and then fired through a tight set
of Specials-esque ska songs. Entertaining for sure, but maybe not quite
enough for me to take in one of their gigs unless they had some good
support acts.

King Cannons need little introduction to me; if you feel like trawling
through the archives I think I’ve already reviewed them twice. I brought
two people along to the show with the promise of awesomeness, and fortunately the band did not let me down. While I will say that they
were probably a little less enjoyable this time (which could easily be
attributed to the venue if I was defending them), they were still very
good on the whole. Their cover of "Maybelline" is probably my
favourite song any local band plays live at the moment; there is a great
opportunity for crowd sing along which is always great.

The Resignators have been at this for a while, and have quite a profile
around Melbourne; I think you would be hard pressed to find anybody who
wasn’t at least aware of them. With a horn section comprised of a
trombone and a trumpet, as well as a standard guitar/bass/drum outfit,
the Resignators are well equipped to dish out some entertaining music; on this night, fortunately for me, they certainly did. Apparently this
band has been through a lineup change or five in the last little while,
however they are surprisingly tight and together if that is the case.
All the members of the band appear to be highly talented musicians, in
particular their guitarist, who was simply breathtaking at times, with a
kind of blues element to his ska guitar playing (some of the solos that
he busted out were as good as or better than I’ve ever seen from a
guitarist in a ska band).

The music had sort of a Mighty Bosstones
vibe, which probably explains their cover of "Someday I Suppose"
(done very well, and pretty true to the original). The singer doesn’t
sing out of his range, and has the perfect voice for this kind of music;
that said, I don’t think you’d see him fronting an acoustic outfit any
time soon. Their other cover was a ska’d up version of "Now We’re Getting
Somewhere" by Crowded House. This was probably the highlight of
their set, and clearly a favourite of the crowd (and surely the King
Cannons enjoyed it being that they are from New Zealand and all, like if
an aussie band toured NZ and a band covered "You’re the Voice").
I’m not sure if the Resignators are still on the fundraising trail for
their overseas tour, but if they are, you should pop down and check them
out somewhere (they seem to be particularly busy with shows at the
moment), buy a tshirt or cd and help them get across the pond. We’ve
certainly exported far worse bands in the last few years.