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Hi Bass D String, first of all thanx a million for the interview.
I’ve been looking for your cd since it came out and finally bought
it during a NYC vacation. It was worth the long wait and it’s damn
brilliant, but how did you get the idea to form Skanatra and cover “the
voice" ?
The
whole idea was hatched over a number of drinking sessions at our local
favourite bar where Sunbeam was the Bartender. We all were living in Hoboken.
You can’t throw a stone in this town without hitting something
having to do with the Mr.
Sinatra. Hoboken has
long had a reputation for being a party town. Ever since the old
seaport days with sailors all on leave getting drunk. Well it hasn’t
changed much since. Sailors, guys from Wall Street, they are all
pretty much interested in the same thing.
We all
played in a few different bands in the area and had grown pretty tight
hanging out at shows and bars etc… We had always enjoyed jamming
together in one configuration or another and thought that it would be
an incredible idea to play as one huge group. “What a party that
would be" And because there are so many of us, we should do it all
as a Big Band Ska/Reggae thing. We had always loved Ska ever since we
were kids in school back during the second wave era. After
only a couple more rounds at the bar that night we realised that
although we had some great songwriters in our little click, we should
not do the original band idea. Who’s songs would we choose? How
would we deal with the publishing issues? We predicted that the party
would soon be over before we even played a note. That stuff is just
too personal for too many people. So we would be a cover band.
But we
hate cover bands. Or at least we hate the idea of playing the newest
most popular song of the moment. And the old Ska songs we loved were
not really that familiar to most of the kids around here now. So we
decided that we would play old jazz standards as Ska. We would choose
the stuff that everybody would immediately recognise. Well, we
didn’t even finish our next round before we quickly thought of three
of the most recognisable old standards out there and saw that they
were all recorded at one time or another by one of our hugest musical
influences, Frank Sinatra.
Let’s just do Frank Songs. The people in Hoboken
will love us for it.
Sunbeam had
always dreamed of actually BEING Frank
Sinatra (kinda weird actually) He was practically jumping over the
bar claiming that in addition to being the amazing drummer we had all
known for years, he could sing those songs like no other. He would
front the band. But what would our Big OLE non- musician pal Toastmaster
do in a Ska Band? The
whole idea was about the party, so we dubbed him that day his
namesake. We decided that he would keep the rest of the group in a
steady supply of beer as we played and rehearsed. A cooler on stage
and a dedicated professional to distribute it’s contents would save
us many hours of each one of us begging people in the audience to
please go over to the bar and buy us another beer every five minutes.
The name just sort of came out after a couple more passes through the
bar. People ask you what the hell you are talking about, a few times
after telling them that we will do Ska Sinatra
songs one of the guys eventually just said “Skanatra"
We immediately trademarked the name the next morning.
The first rehearsal we only played one song. High Hopes. And we just
knew the idea would work. We got a phone call from a booking agent
friend saying that he needed someone to fill out a bill warming up for
the Specials in two months.
We quickly said yes and got to work learning a bunch of other songs.
It’s been a huge wonderful party ever since.
You
all seem to be pretty good musicians (I guess you have to be, if you
wanna play Frankie). So what are your musical backgrounds? How and
where did you learn to play?
We
have each been playing in various bands since we were high-school
kids. Umm, That was quite some time ago. Mostly Rock bands though.
There are a few of us who actually went on after High School and
studied Music in College. Some of us were taught in the classical
music world and some were given a Jazz Be-Bop training. Others taught
themselves but have learned quite a bit playing for so long with other
really good musicians. Everyone was a professional skilled musician.
And all of us had been raised here in Jersey
on the Sinatra Method.
One Of the things we really wanted to keep strait in our heads right
from the start was our constant amazement and reverence for the Nelson
Riddle arrangements on the original recordings. They continue to
just blow us away. We try to keep as much of the original keys and
changes in tact as much as we can before we butcher them. The attitude
that comes off of those old recordings is wonderful. The big sections
just screaming and Frank
making the whole thing sound like it’s his own private little
mariacci section that walks around with him. It really is great. It
sounds like so much fun. We would give anything to somehow have been
there during some of those sessions.
And
what about Mr. Sunbeam’s voice…. Sometimes it so similar to the
real one that makes me chill, like in “My Kind Of Town". Maybe
he’s done some special deal with the Devil?
Like I said, Sunbeam has been wishin he was Frank
since he was a teenager. We used to kid him because he was dressing up
like an old guy when he was fourteen. Maybe it’s the water? The Hudson
River air? All the wonderful Italian food in Hoboken?
I don’t think there was any nefarious deal struck with the
underworld though. He has an impossible hurdle to jump every night
trying to really sing those songs like the original. Mr.
Sinatra is a tough act to follow.
Ever
thought of going out of schemes and cover up some other Rat
Pack’s song? Dean
Martin? Sammy Davis Junior?
Yes.
We have thought about it. We might do it on this next record if we can
come up with something we love. Any thoughts?
Don’t
know why but I got the idea that your live shows are something near
mayhem, Sodom & Gomorra. Tell us what happens…..
Hmmm…
Well I don’t know about Sodom & Gomorra. There are plenty
of lovely ladies at the show. Thoughts certainly tend to cross ones
mind while playing. We do “Work a little Blue"
at the clubs. We also do quite a few festivals and civic
sponsored free events where there are kids. So we balance it out a bit
with good clean humour.
But – Yeah!!! Other than
the community stuff, It’s mayhem. Most places we play tend to run
out of Budweiser due our
adoring fans trying to keep up with us beer for beer all night. It’s
a big drunken elephant of a band on stage and it seems that the more
loose we get, the more loose the audiences gets. If you have never
been in a loud room with three hundred drunk people jumping up and
down, dancing to those amazing songs that everybody just automatically
associates with a good time, you haven’t lived. It’s an incredible
shot in the arm to stand up there and look out on a sunny afternoon
from a festival stage to see the streets full of thousands of people
extending out to the horizon practically, and see every one of them
with this huge grin on their face. It’s amazing.
Now something about the band...the whos, whens and hows...
We
actually wrote the whole saga of Skanatra
out in the CD and on the Skanatra
website. Skanatra is
made up of twelve or thirteen cartoon Characters brilliantly
illustrated by Leo Epinosa (Who
lives in Madrid Spain now.) there is an elaborate story line that goes
along with the characters. We have even thought of pitching the idea
of an adult oriented cartoon based on the band to some
animation/television friends of ours. The real story of who we are is
not nearly as exciting. But somewhere hidden on the website is the
true background of each of the members and our own less illustrious
stories.
and now, your plans for the future…as a band and as human beings.
Will Skanatra find the
cure against the mad cow disease?
Are they still having a problem with
that? We’ll see what we can do. We can’t have everybody going
around eating tofu and veggie burgers and stuff. Our Sound engineer,
Busta Eardrum is all vegan like that. Mystifying really. We have just
come off of a two-month break over the holidays where we didn’t have
to talk to each other. It may have staved off a few fistfights. But
those things are usually born over who bought the last round. We are
going back into recording the next CD in a couple of weeks. We just
had a rehearsal the other night where we decided that we didn’t suck
enough not to do it. And then we’ll continue on more or less like we
always have. Book some shows. Go out and play them. Try and make
enough money that we don’t have to pay for anything out of our
pockets and continue with our quest of procuring an endorsement deal
with Anheuser-Busch so we don’t have to pay for beer. I guess that I
would have to sheepishly admit that this quest is a bit higher on our
list of priorities than Mad Cows…
Something
serious: seems that Ska is going a bit down in these days in the
States. Is that true or is that just survival of the fittest? What’s
your opinion, if you care…
Everyone
we have spoken to regarding the current state of Ska music has more or
less come back with the same opinion- that Ska has always gone up and
down in waves. And it most likely will go down a bit and come back a
bit in the future. But it’s always around and it’s always good.
Much like the tunes we play. They will be with us for generations to
come. Everyone in the US music industry is having a strange time right
now. With all the N‘Syncs and Brittany
Spears happening right now, no-one seems to have a clear concept
of anything resembling just good music these days.
Even the
good old boys of country are now somehow Disneyfied into some crazy
larger than life Show Biz circus. (hmmm… kinda like the Skanatra
shows I just described) It’s all just so “Not Ska" these days
that it is no wonder the kids have a hard time finding it. Hell, the
same three videos from the same three bands are on MTV
over and over. It’s pretty bad. But there are a ton of kids out
there on their computers and stuff. They are still getting off on the
purity of it all. It will be underground a bit more for awhile maybe.
I am not so sure that this is a bad thing. We hear urban horror
legends of the industry describing The
Bosstone’s label asking them if they could “please go back and
re-make the next record, this time make it a bit less Ska" Maybe it
is best if Ska stays away from the larger labels and remains
underground. Who knows?
I read on your website that you’re planning to do a new record….
Some juicy news about it? Could you say something about the songs that
will be on it? When is it going to be out? Still on POS
Records?
Speaking
of small labels… Yeah we will still do the next record on our own
little Piece Of Shit record label.
If someone wants to come along and release it in a larger way we will
obviously talk to them about it though. It is just such a strange time
to be out there trying to shop a Ska band out to other record labels
that we will most likely not even bother with too much of that. We
would not last very long with a larger corporate entity dictating to
us how they want us to record or play and how often and to whom.
But… As I said, we will very much enjoy talking to whoever inquires.
The new CD will have a whole bunch of songs on it that Frank
Sinatra once recorded. We have not even really decided which ones
we are using yet. We have invited everyone to the web site to place
their votes for what song they want us to include. http://members.aol.com/skanatra2
or e-mail us at skanatra@posrecords.com
-But no real juicy stuff is known at this time. We have talked about
posting some MP3 files on the POS site with songs in progress,
snippets, rough mixes, and out-takes, stuff like that. Hopefully
people will drop in from time to time and have a look (or a listen) at
our glacier like progress as we make the record.
How
did your first cd sell in the states?
Real well thanks. And it
is still selling. The numbers slowed down a little bit especially
around here in Jersey, but elsewhere we have actually seen a steady
increase in numbers from when we first released it. I guess people are
somehow finding out about it from word of mouth and slowly spreading
the news. It’s really cool to hear from people all over the place
and just scratch your head and think. “ Man! How did THOSE guys hear
about us???" We have
some big expectations for the next one. We are pretty sure it will
drive sale of both CDs as new people hear about the band due to the
“New CD Buzzz" of this next one. We’ll have to see.
What kind of response did you have from Europe? This is to ask you if
Europe is part of your future plans...
Honestly we really didn’t have any contacts over there when we first
released the record. And we still only have a few friends and Pen Pals
there now. I am not completely sure how any of the CDs found their way
over there at all. As I said before, we are happy and amazed how the
thing just sort of floats its way around the globe. It’s amazing. So
really to answer part of your question, considering the call we sent
out to Europe, the response has been overwhelmingly good. Maybe for
this next one we can try and find a label over there who would want to
release our stuff. That would be Great!
As
far as playing in Europe goes, we would like nothing better than to do
a tour over there. I could scarcely bare to wonder exactly how much
fun we would all have running amok through some of your countries. It
would be an astonishing good time for everybody. We just have to
figure out how to logistically get thirteen guys over there with
instruments and actually have shows to play, and places to stay, and a
way to get around. We don’t know anyone. It’s a lot harder than
when some of us were in three-piece rock bands. But we are always
talking about it. Maybe soon. If we hook up with the right people who
can help us make it happen. It would be a dream come true.
What
kind of audience do you have? Anything from yelling rude boys to 80
years old gangsters in a nostalgia revival mood?
Exactly.
All the above. And then some. Our first local show in Hoboken
was at and Old VFW hall that we rented out for the night. (Veteran’s
club) We returned to the club after going home for a bit of dinner
after soundcheck and there was this line extending around the block.
There were of all these seniors from the neighbourhood. We looked
again and there were all these Fraternity kids who knew us from the
Rock bands we were all in. And then there were all these kids. Like
teenagers and younger, because there is no real drinking restrictions
at a private club it was all ages. And I mean ALL ages.
In the city across the river we get more of the rude boys and the Ska
kids. We played a couple all ages Ska shows sponsored by our friends
at Moon Ska Records. And
we actually have had some performances where the audience tended to
seem more like gangsters old and young in a nostalgic mood. But, you
really can’t go wrong playing Sinatra
in Hoboken. Even little
toddlers at the park shows we do tend to bounce up and down dancing
the “Terrible Twos Diaper Bop" to High Hopes.
Tell
us 5 bands you love.
There
are really too many different kinds of bands that we like to pin it
down like that. We have always enjoyed the British second wave stuff.
The Rock steady stuff from way back. All the Seventies Reggae. We have
always enjoyed the big band stuff from way way back. And we always
have a great time playing the other acts that we have had the pleasure
of playing with. The Toasters, The
Specials, The guys in the horn Section have a great young Rock
Steady band called Rathskeller. And then the Jazz and the Rock stuff
and the list goes on and on.
Do you guys play in other bands? Still Ska stuff?
Yes
we play in other bands. But no- None of them are Ska bands except the
guys from the horn section that I mentioned.
Do you ever feel like you want to write your own songs for the band?
Doesn’t Sinatra/Skanatra
tie you up?
Not
really. We have been asked about it a number of times. We all have
other outlets for the songwriting thing and we really feel like it
would kind of crash the quality of the party if we somehow became
personally attached to the songs. And it really isn’t like we have a
shortage of phenomenal material in the Sinatra
well to draw from. The guy recorded like two thousand songs.
Napster,
File Navigator, Win
MX…… your album is on it anytime and it’s free to download.
Your feelings?
Ya know- we are really one of those acts that fall into the category
where it does us a lot more good than bad. POS
records cannot afford a great deal of publicity. Skanatra
is a word of mouth type thing. As far as we are concerned Napster is
kind of like free word of mouth advertising for us as a band. The
computer thing has really been great for us.
But-
we are not at this time posting the tracks on Napster ourselves. They
are not our songs. We pay a publishing royalty for every CD we make
regardless of whether or not we sell them or give them away. We are
not really sure how that all plays out in the Napster wars of our
time. We are trying to figure out if the Sinatra
family is opposed to the Napster thing as a whole or not. We
really want to make sure we are not doing anything that they might
feel is negative towards the memory of the man. Or something that
might turn out to be illegal, or just wrong. I guess we will all have
to see.
What
was the happiest day of your life?
That
one show where we turned the key to the Skanatra
Van after a nail biter of a set for some questionable members of
society, and it did not explode.
And
what was your biggest mistake?
Not
seeing Frank Sinatra do his
thing before his passing.
Tell me a record shop that’s worth a visit near you...
That’s
easy! Tunes on Washington
Street in Hoboken. We love those guys. They have been fantastic to us.
We go in there time and again and drop a whole bunch of CDs on
consignment and they always, strait up, give us good money for them.
It’s a great place and the guys are fantastic. I am sure that they
have a web- site go say hi to them for us.
Some words about Bill Corney...
He
is the dude! The face of POS
records. He is going to be a huge player in the business some day.
He is going to be a new dad real soon too, so we will be wishing him
our best. We are psyched to be gearing up for another CD to give him
to work. He works very hard on behalf of Skanatra
for almost no demonstrative gain. Mystifying really. Some people are
just good people.
Some
words about yourself and the other guys in the band….
!@#$
those guys… No just kidding. We
are all tremendous friends. We’ve known each other for more years
than I care to mention. We will hopefully be having this party for
quite some time to come. Maybe we’ll be able to bring it to your
neighbourhood real soon.
Say Ciao to all the SkabadiP fans………
Ciao
to all the SkabadiP fans
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