Australian ska

In 1979 ska enjoyed a renewal of popularity. Initially the ska revival was a UK phenomenon, but gradually it spread to the rest of the world, including Australia. Ska has been in Australia largely since the mid 1980's. Ska at the time took off in Australia, enjoying the same sort of interest as it did in the UK, following the success of UK bands The Specials, The Beat and Madness and The Selecter.^[1]

Australian ska bands formed quickly from the ever increasing population of Rude Boys and Skinheads. The first Australian ska band was Adelaide based band The Jumpers that formed in 1979. Early ska bands included Sydney bands The Allniters, The Hangovers, Itchy Feet(led by vocalist Tim Freedman, who would go on to form commercially successful band The Whitlams), The Bystanders, Naughty Rhythms, The Allsorts, and the Off the Shelf. From Melbourne, the most well known was the Hearn brothers ska band, The Strange Tennants. Another Melbourne band was No Nonsense which notably appeared on the t.v. 'Hey hey it's Saturday'. The Allniters were the most high profile band of this era. The Allniters were a Sydney-based music band that played ska music in the early and mid 1980s. They were best known for a ska-style cover of the Bobby Bloom hit "Montego Bay", followed by the slower and more mainstream "Love and Affection", both of which received wide airplay on radio stations around Australia and were top 40 hits. The Allniters reformed in 1998 to release their long awaited second album 'Another Fine Mess' on the Sound System Label, and toured with The Porkers on the Skafari Tour. They reformed again to support the reggae band, UB40 in 2004.

In 1987 a Newcastle based band called The Pork Hunts appeared on the scene, they soon changed their name to The Porkers and spent the next 20+ years touring and recording many albums, the most recent 'This is The Porkers' was released in 2007. The Porkers toured New Zealand, Europe, USA and Japan, and played with The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, No Doubt, Fishbone, Suicidal Tendencies and many many more.

More recent bands include Backy Skank, Los Capitanes, The Seen, Loin Groin, Skamen, Trojan Horns, Blowhard, Dr Raju, Addiction 64, Mad Not Madness, Suspect 7, Foghorn Leghorn, The Resignators, Rubix Cuba, Rad Rockets Are GO!, and Son of Dad. Another band, Area 7, has been one of the more successful bands of late, arising from the ashes of Madness cover band Mad Not Madness. In 1994 three members, Dugald McNaughtan (keyboards), Charles "Chucky T" Thompson (guitar) and Dan Morrison (drums) left Area 7 and began to write their own songs. They formed a band and named it after a lyric from The Specials' Dawning of a New Era.

There are a number of Australian bands that play with ska/punk influences, and also many Ska orientated clubs, in Melbourne, Sydney and especially in Brisbane. The Ska scene is enjoying a resurgence in popularity and is kept alive by regular Ska and Punk radio shows on the very popular independent Brisbane radio station 4ZzZ.

A complete history of Australian ska is available on the 2 releases on Sound System Records - 'Ska Skank Down Under Vol 1 and Vol 2' 1980-1990 & 1990 - 2000.

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• West Australian Ska
• Australian Ska
• A comprehensive index to Australian Ska Bands
• Foghorn Leghorn Website
• The Resignators Website