Kolumnen von Eric

Letter from Zürich by Michel
january / february 2010

Hi Folks!

Here we go again! It's been two months since my last message from Zurich and winter's getting rid of his last snow. I'm so glad it's finally getting warmer.

Till now there weren't a lot of ska concerts I went to, actually just two. As I already mentioned in my last contribution, the new year started with a big bang. On January 10th, Ska Is Dead came to town. As in 2008, The Locos were the headliners. Apart from that, there were a lot of differences. It was at a different location, there were almost twice as much bands as in 2008 and they played on two stages.

It officially started at 5 p.m. and I joined the party around two hours later. The second band Stan or Itchy just finished. So, I can't comment a lot about them, but I heard that they were great. The first band I saw was Talco, a ska-punk band from Italy. They played on the main stage and it was a really catchy beginning of a great evening.

After Talco I moved to the smaller stage to see Meskalin, a punk quartet supported by a trumpet from Zurich. They superseded Okploide, which had to cancel their gig. It was kind a sad that just a few people showed up to the concert, because it was very straight and good punk rock. When Pannonia Allstars Ska Orchestra from Hungary finished their gig, my personal highlight of this evening had already started. The Dreadnoughts, a pretty much unknown folk punk band from Canada, turned this small venue in a huge boiling pot. It was really impressive to see how these five musicians just love their business and don't give a shit about what others think of them.

Another almost unknown band who rocked the stage at this festival was the Skints. They come from London and they sound really similar to Sonic Boom Six. The Locos ended this great evening with a good show. Nothing more, nothing less. It's a bit sad, but if you have seen this band more than once, it gets boring. They always perform the same show and the play same setlist. But nevertheless, it was good, and known end of a successful evening.

My second ska show was in early February. The Ska-Punk gods Reel Big Fish were coming to town. They've been playing their first show in Switzerland as a headliner since 2008. Sonic Boom Six opened the concert and the venue was already crowded. The played an awesome show, they really came up with the reputation of an excellent live act. When Reel Big Fish started, the venue was crowded to overflowing. For my part, it was too crowded. It wasn't even possible to skank and enjoy the music without getting pushed. That was sad, because the show was really good.

I'm writing a column about the ska scene of Switzerland. So I'd like to present to you one of, in my opinion, the big ska bands in the future. Envy from Valais, a part from the south of Switzerland. This band was founded in 2001 with a female lead singer. It took 4 years until their first gig in 2005. One year later, they won a contest and they were able to play at the Openair Gampel in front of thousands of spectators. Unfortunately, short after that, they broke up because of various dissensions. In 2008 they came back together, this time with a male lead voice. They began to write new songs and at the end of last year, they celebrated the release of their first record Seven Deadly Sins.

Seven Deadly Sins contains 13 songs. When I first heard it, I was simply astonished. It was greater than I ever could imagine. Even if the songs are extremely long, they never get boring. One song has even a violin part in it, so they really vary a lot. So, here's my advice: Buy It!

There will be a lot of good concerts in future, especially my trip to Belgium to the Groezrock Festival, where I'll see the Mighty Mighty Bosstones!

Stay tuned!
Zimmi