West London Pub Gig at The Royal Oak – Covered in Skas

It was a Friday night. I’d done a hard week of work and the obligatory early evening after work drinks and supper in town. I’d had enough of West End sophistication and City slickers. So I headed West towards home. And not long after 10pm I found myself with a very dear friend accompanying him to The Royal Oak in Hampton (http://www.theroyaloakhampton.co.uk/clients/E5129D91Events) - for an evening of ska music.

I must confess that it’s many years since I went to a pub gig. And several decades since I listened to ska music apart from the occasional bit of nostalgia when shuffled onto my iPhone. The pub was packed and, on a good sized stage, “Covered in Skas” were approaching the end of their first set as I juggled with my stuff, my coat and a drink. I looked around the thong, so this is where all the blokes go?

The rotund lead singer (complete with shades, natch, and braces) had a female lead singer who was dressed in a red sweater with check shirt beneath, a short skirt, opaque tights, ankle socks and brogues. And lots and lots of tattoos. She sure could belt out a tune. There were a couple of guitarists – one wearing a pork pie hat – keyboard player and a drummer. Great sounds. I caught rocksteady “Rudy, a message to you” which got me into the swing of things and then sang along heartily to “Mirror in the bathroom”. After a bit of a voyage into some reggae (including Desmond Dekker “Israelites”) and soul tunes there was a short break.

Enthusiastic for the second set, they started with “Jezebel” before proceeding through a number of favourites by The Specials and The (English) Beat. Whoever said blokes don’t dance was absolutely, 100% wrong – and it wasn’t just mosh pit malarki either. By the time we got to “One step beyond” I don’t think that there was anyone standing still – and it was quite a laugh to watch all those grown men trying hard not to spill their pints whilst dancing along. There were some gals there too – the lead singer happily delegated tambourine duty on a rota basis to those at the front – and they all took up the challenge. Dancing in the audience spanned young and old. It was all very good natured – was it like that back in the 70s?

The bar staff were clearly into the whole ska thing as they jiggled and danced to the music while pulling pints – and sang along to a good number of the songs, including the less well known ones. With occasional cigarette breaks in the cool evening air (and, on one occasion, a chat with the lead singer who was a thoroughly good bloke) it was real fun.

I would have stayed right to the end as I was enjoying myself so much but a couple of what can only be described as “fat slags” decided to push their way to the bar and generally act in a loud and boorish manner much to the irritation of those nearby. Listen girls, it’s not only the girls you put off with that kind of behaviour but the lads ain’t impressed either. Ah well. As we walked away from the pub we could hear the sounds of “Too much, too young” – another one of my favourites. Mmmn, seems I know a lot more ska music than I realised…