If you’ve always been of the position that Ska is completely not your thing, then fair enough, but maybe the problem is you’ve been listening to the wrong ska. It’s an easy trap to fall into seeing as most new ska is just pop-punk shit with horns thrown over the top and an album cover where it’s just the band in ill-fitting suits and stupid hats. That’s not the ska you want to be listening to, the original ska goes back to the 60′s when calypso fused with jazz and R&B (again, early and real R&B) forming a true Jamaican sound, creative & intelligent and just fucking cool.
That’s why we like the Unlimiters, they’ve gone right back to the roots of Ska and stayed true to it’s original direction and there’s nothing cheap about it at all. Quite the contrary, taking their references from classic artists such as The Skatalites and Prince Buster, the eight Berlin musicians have a dedicated cult following internationally, but have never made it their mission to completely sell-out and be massive, no matter how within their power that might be. Just content to smash out a record and a live show now and then, always with their signature smart bouncing beats & harmonies.
The Unlimiters in full eight-piece lineup will be playing a proper gig at Cortina Bob supported by Old Fashioned RudeBoys DJ-Team (again, old-school Ska) with what’s looking like a full house of punters. If you’ve been scared off from Ska up till now by some bad experiences with bad bands, maybe now’s the time to give it another chance. There’s definitely a lot there for punks & rude boys, but with the Unlimiters the rest of us can find a lot of fun there too.
