This month marks the 10th anniversary of The Parish Venue, in its most recent guise, and sees chief promoter, Mikey Baird (Mr Shiraz), put on a number of shows to celebrate their Decade Of Debauchery, as they have dubbed it, so I went along to catch the first of these gigs, the Skints, at Huddersfield’s number 1 music venue, and boy am I glad I did.
The Skints are a 4 piece Reggae/Dub/Ska band from London, who have been knocking about since 2007. Their latest album, FM, was released last year on Easy Star Records, and reached number 5 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart and number 7 on the Independent Albums Chart in the UK, yet I had heard very little about them before the announcement of the show at the Parish a couple of months ago. Upon checking them out after that I very quickly headed out to buy the album on vinyl (beautiful blue and white vinyl no less) as their reggae/ska grooves can only make you smile, while their lyrics are real life and relatable. The album is delivered in the style of a made up radio station, like discovering the band on a pirate reggae channel, and features the likes of Tipa Irie. It’s a great listen from start to finish, full of catchy tunes and flowing lyrics with crisp vocals. Needless to say, I was very excited by the upcoming gig right on my doorstep.
The Parish has taken on many forms over the years, once upon a time I saw the likes of the Subways and We Are Scientists there when the place was called the Cornerhouse. They were pretty damn good gigs, but since the newest owner took on the place, and returned it to it’s historic Parish name, the place really has become a jewel in Huddersfield’s crown. Catering more down the “Alternative” (if we must pigeon hole it) route, but more than welcoming to all, the bar is a cool place to hang out, grab some drinks and some tasty Mexican scram, in a friendly cool atmosphere. Round the back an old function room was converted in to the purpose built Parish Venue and the place has never looked back. Mikey really has done a great job of getting his foot in the right doors to get great bands on at the place, including the likes of The Bronx, The Scaramanga Six, Slaves (god damn it I missed that one!) and Lower Than Atlantis, which is a very good job well done when you are fighting for a corner of the scene sandwiched between two of the biggest music cities around in Leeds and Manchester. To celebrate 10 years, a revamp of the venue has been implemented, adding a new PA as well as a bar, which I was pleased to see selling my favourite Magic Rock ales, all of which enhances this already great venue. I doth my cap to the job the good folks at Parish are doing, and stoked to have worked with them as part of Record Store Day at the shop (Vinyl Tap) this year, which was a properly quality day all round.
Unfortunately we missed the first band, Bronson from Leeds, but the other support hailed from Kent and were called Riskee and the Ridicule, who were pretty good. Blending ska and punk with spoken word-esque lyrical delivery, similar to Scroobius Pip. They were really good, lyrically excellent as well, with some coming of age subject matter as well as political, delivered in an aggressive tone to great effect. I will be checking these guys out some more. After they’d finished, a quick can of Magic Rock Rapture from the new bar, and we were bedded in for the evenings main event.
The Skints have played the Parish before, and were evidently excited to do so again. The small (I prefer cosey) venue, was full as it had sold out with a couple of weeks to spare, and the atmosphere was buzzing in a way, bigger, less cosey, venues would die for, everyone was more than up for it. The first thing to say is, the new PA works! The sound was amazing, crisp, clear and more importantly, LOUD! The band did not let this new set up down showing their professionalism as a tight, well rehearsed, band, who were just ON IT! The groove they produce is infectious and sunny, the ska guitars and the reggae drums, driven by the bass line and propelled by the vocals of both Jamie Kyriakides (Drums) and Marcia Richards (Keys/Sax/Flute/Melodica/Samples/Vocals – was there anything she couldn’t play?) is a great blend and is broken up well by more vocals, as well as good banter, from guitarist Josh Waters Rudge. You can tell they have been doing this a while and are damn good at it. Paired with good songs that are catchy, heartfelt and relatable, you can see why everyone in that room was happy, smiling and loudly singing along. They emote a family feel about them, as I say you can tell they have been together a while but also you feel allowed in to their family circle by seeing them in an amazing intimate venue like the Parish. It was just a really fun gig! I implore, if you’ve never heard of the Skints before, as I hadn’t before this gig announcement, and you are a fan of Ska/Dub/Reggae and the like, get on to your phones, turn on the radio, buy the record, and listen to them pronto! The band now jet off to America, seems they are very much in demand and rightly so, for a tour over there, you bloody Americans best send them back to us in one piece! Here’s hoping they will return to the Parish again, and soon.
I’d like to end by saying a huge thanks again to Mikey and the guys at The Parish for a mega gig, congratulations on 10 years of doing it and keep up the bloody good work you are doing of putting the Huddersfield music scene firmly on the map. I will be down for another one soon.
Coming up soon, I will be hosting another edition of the Edit Radio PodCasts, thanks for the invite from Kevin, plus I hope to be writing a piece about Record Store Day and all that surrounds it.
The Skints – Live at The Parish, Huddersfield. May 6th 2016. This month marks the 10th anniversary of The Parish Venue, in its most recent guise, and sees chief promoter, Mikey Baird (Mr Shiraz), put on a number of shows to celebrate their Decade Of Debauchery, as they have dubbed it, so I went along to catch the first of these gigs, the Skints, at Huddersfield's number 1 music venue, and boy am I glad I did.
