Post by Admin on Jul 19, 2011 10:14:18 GMT -5
The Splitters
By Nick Yule
The Brickyard, Carlisle. Friday 2nd May 2003
T-shirts, stickers, CDs. All the usual band merchandising fare. Mugs? Pushing it a little. But cool bags? That’s right, cool bags - as in keeping your booze at an acceptable temperature, not just a really great bag – are staring back at me from the merchandise stand. Frankly though, its little more than you expect from Leicester based ska-types the Splitters, a band whose songs veer in subject matter from airports to overweight punk rockers.
The Splitters hit the stage to a decent sized crowd for a relatively unknown band, but you can’t help but feel that more should be here to witness their brand of bouncy ska. Nestling somewhere between the trad sounds of the Skatalites and the more recent two-tone stylings of the Specials, tunes like ‘Look Away’ and ‘Rock or Riot’ deserve a wider audience.
With former Carlisle residents Tom Mossop and Tom Mycock bolstering the ranks there’s a degree of local interest too, and with Mossop invigorating the brass section and Mycock adding a new dimension on guitar and backing vocals they definitely add to the show. An apparent fear of venturing too close to the stage on the crowd’s part - seemingly customary in Carlisle - threatens to dampen proceedings, but the Splitters are as infectious as a hefty dose of scabies and by the end a sizeable crowd covers the dancefloor.
A triumph, then, for the Splitters; and further indication that the resurrection of Carlisle’s music scene continues.
By Nick Yule
The Brickyard, Carlisle. Friday 2nd May 2003
T-shirts, stickers, CDs. All the usual band merchandising fare. Mugs? Pushing it a little. But cool bags? That’s right, cool bags - as in keeping your booze at an acceptable temperature, not just a really great bag – are staring back at me from the merchandise stand. Frankly though, its little more than you expect from Leicester based ska-types the Splitters, a band whose songs veer in subject matter from airports to overweight punk rockers.
The Splitters hit the stage to a decent sized crowd for a relatively unknown band, but you can’t help but feel that more should be here to witness their brand of bouncy ska. Nestling somewhere between the trad sounds of the Skatalites and the more recent two-tone stylings of the Specials, tunes like ‘Look Away’ and ‘Rock or Riot’ deserve a wider audience.
With former Carlisle residents Tom Mossop and Tom Mycock bolstering the ranks there’s a degree of local interest too, and with Mossop invigorating the brass section and Mycock adding a new dimension on guitar and backing vocals they definitely add to the show. An apparent fear of venturing too close to the stage on the crowd’s part - seemingly customary in Carlisle - threatens to dampen proceedings, but the Splitters are as infectious as a hefty dose of scabies and by the end a sizeable crowd covers the dancefloor.
A triumph, then, for the Splitters; and further indication that the resurrection of Carlisle’s music scene continues.