jamespickard.co.uk

• Date: Saturday 5th July 2008
• Time: 19.00
• Venue: The Junction, Cambridge
• The Bands: Pama International, The Slackers, The Pietasters and Mungo’s Hifi

So, tomorrow i will be driving up to Cambridge to watch one of my favourite bands - The Slackers. Having only heard of them through Hellcat Records compilation album Give ‘Em The Boot, I was a late starter in the world of slack. The chilled-out reggae sounds were so different to everything else on the CD and I found myself listening to the track over and over again. And so the obsession began…

The ska/reggae/dub sound that The Slackers have developed over their 11 studio albums in a 12 year period continues to garner appreciation across Europe, Asia and America. I believe that the sound of the band is exhibited perfectly in the live albums, with my personal favourite being the original ‘Live at Ernesto’s’ (2000). Although it may not be the best album the band has produced, it was the first one that I found myself listening to every single track again and again.

With Slacker classics such as ‘Sarah’, ‘I Still Love You’ and ‘Married Girl’, the album delivers consistently from start to finish. As the hours tick by and I get ready to make the journey 90 miles north I must decide which albums to have in the car for the journey…. Wasted Days, Live at Ernesto’s and the newly released Self Medication seem to be the front-runners so far. Or I might just take all of them on the iPod… God Bless The Gadget Age!

All this talk of The Slackers and I have yet to mention the other bands that make up the bill. The Pietasters, will descend upon Cambridge from Washington D.C., and their ska-soul tunes will have the crowd skanking and singing along even if they don’t know the words. Mungo’s HiFi will open the show and I actually know very little about this band except that they play reggae and dancehall and come from Scotland. After listening to the band on youtube it seems they will be quite interesting and different from the other bands so I will look forward to hearing them.

Headlining, if this is possible in such a strong line-up, will be Pama International. Playing ‘Dub Fuelled Ska Rocksteady & Reggae’ as they say themselves, the band feature Lynval Golding on guitar. Golding was the guitarist for the greatest ska band in history The Specials and I am excited to see what stuff he is doing now. Just a shame that The Special aren’t headlining, but you can’t have everything can you.