The Skadinals, get moving for two-tone! 

Liz Nicholls

The Skadinals are sure to get the crowd bouncing at a venue or festival near you soon, including at The Chequers Marlow on 11th April. Liz Nicholls chats to singer Colin… 

Ska music – with its intoxicating fusion of Caribbean rhythms, jazz and R&B influences – is joyful and energetic, as you’ll find at The Skadinals’ live gigs. 

“We always have the place bouncing by the end of the night!” says Colin, who lives in High Wycombe. “We cover classic two-tone hits from the likes of Madness, The Specials, Bad Manners, The Beat and others. We’ve been going about 18 months with the current line-up and are steadily building a following.”  

 Today, The Skadinals’ line-up includes drummer Neil who lives in Faringdon, Witney bassist and backing vocalist Kev, guitarist Martin who lives in Wantage and sax player Nick who lives in Wycombe. 

Colin, who had been playing open mics and doing a few solo acoustic gigs but had never sung in a band before, was recruited via joinmyband.co.uk by the band’s original guitarist. He says: “I loved Madness but wasn’t that familiar with the rest of the two-tone genre other than the famous songs everyone knows… What followed was a three-month intensive ska boot camp as we built up a set list from scratch. We had our first gig in July 2022. It went pretty well and The Skadinals were off. We’ve slowly been gathering a following, and are already fully booked for 2025.” 

Last year The Skadinals performed at Witney Music Festival, “probably the largest stage we’ve played, and Follyfest in Faringdon where we went down a storm”. This year, festivals fans (watch this space for our festivals special next month!) they’ll perform at Lane End Festival, Follyfest, The Wycombe Big Bash 25 & Festibell, at The Bell in Princes Risborough… 

“We love playing the The Bell, it’s our most-played venue,” adds Colin. “It’s always a great crowd in there and each visit has been busier than the last. Other pubs we enjoy playing are The Belle Vue (probably Wycombe’s number-one music pub) and The Dashwood Roadhouse which also has its own PA and sound engineer. We’ve had a couple of amazing gigs there. 

“We also love Fat Lil’s in Witney; they have a house PA, a great sound engineer, a stage and a dancefloor, and The Red Lion in Kidlington. The Kingsley Cafe is a great venue, it’s shame they don’t do more evening gigs. We play infectious dance music and we like to see people up and dancing and singing. It means we’re doing it right, feed off that energy and play better. There’s nothing more rewarding than looking out from the stage and seeing the venue bouncing and people enjoying themselves.  

“We’ve tried to make fezzes a ‘thing’ for the band. The dream is to see a room full of people, and a sea of fezzes! Judging from our recent gig at Fat Lil’s, we’re getting there!”