GUNS DON'T ARGUE!!!!!!!
Zombie Jamboree Live
Guns of Navarone began in January 2007 with myself, Bob Beaumont of Worcester, and a drummer from Berklee College of Music named Mike Rinker. I had been in and out of punk bands for years and he was playing jazz at the time. I told him that I would like to start a true ska band, not a punk-ska or rock-ska, but traditional ska and reggae from the 1960's. As a punk rocker Joe Strummer had openned up a whole world to me by intoducing ska and reggae to Clash fans.
We quickly developed an eight piece band complete with alto and tenor sax. By July 8, 2007 we were in the recording studio at Hillside Sound in Brighton. We had very lttle money in our budget so we recorded five songs in one afternoon. We burned about 800 copies disc by disc on our home computers and gave them all away.
From July 2007 to February 2008 we played very consistantly 2-4 shows a month Worcester to Boston. On February 2, 2008 we went back to Hillside Sound and recorded another cd. This time six songs in one afternoon. But with a little more of a budget we were able to professionally copy, package, and license this time.
Wthin a month of recording our cd, five out of the eight members of the band left for one reason or another. So with shows lined up, Joe McEacern (bass) and Dave Menard (tenor sax) and myself painstakingly got together a now nine peice band. Now we have baritone, alto, and tenor saxophones, keys., gutar/trumpet,bass, drums, backing and main vocals. With all due respect, I must say we sound better and stronger then ever. We now play shows with three hours of material and are expanding our gigs to new venues in new places. I'm sure we'll record with the new line up this winter.
You can feel the undying spirit of Guns of Navarone in the music we play. We play traditional ska and reggae music. Not a new version of an old style but the actual old style. We play songs that are over 40 years old and we remain true to the tradition. Ska music began in Kingston Jamaica in the early 1960's as a Jamaican style of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues music. It wasn't until years later that the slower reggae rhythm came to be played.
We very often have people tell us that we are not what they expected. People often think of ska as punk-ska which is much faster and almost unrecognizable as a relative to true ska. People often think of reggae as the low energy styles of Roots Rock from the 70's and 80's. We play true ska which is uptempo but not spastic. We play 1960's reggae is higher energy and more danceable than the later styles. These musical surprises coupled with the fact that the men in the band wear suits and ties and the women wear dresses seems to not be the stereo-typical reggae band image. However in 1965 when these songs were being written and played, suits and dresses were the norm.
Techniacally we could be called a cover band since we play songs written and recorded by others before us. However, do to the general unpopularity of the music it doesn't seem to have the same meaning as a band that plays cover songs that are broadly familiar. I think it is more appropriate to consider us a traditional band. Since like Blues, Jazz, and Folk music, both Ska and Reggae are music styles that are widely shared between musicians, fans, countries, and generations.
Our greatest reward for all the hard work that goes into being in a band is the live show. We love getting people dancing, singing, shouting, and having a great time. Guns of Navarone is 100% about entertaining people. From our new line up you can expect more pumping, scorching ska rhythms and our reggae to be high energy old school 68-69' reggae.
See ya on the dance floor.
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