Guns of Navarone is talking about Schnooty.

check out our newly finished recording called 'Reggae Take Over'. Featuring 'Ba Ba Boom', 'Tougher Than Tough (Rudies In Court), Moving Away, and 'Ah, Bernice.

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Written by David Boffa

Tuesday, 17 March 2009

By David Boffa When thinking of places notable for ska music scenes, three or four locales come to mind: Jamaica (where ska originated as a precursor to reggae music in the 1960s, aka the first wave of ska), Birmingham, England (for an incarnation known as the 2-tone or the second wave of ska), and Manhattan and Southern California (the home bases for third-wave ska-punk). But nobody, not even Guns of Navarone front man Bob Beaumont, would ever name Worcester a hotbed of ska music. “Worcester is not a place where there has ever been a real ska band,” he explains when asked what fueled his decision to start a band that covers both traditional and contemporary first-wave ska acts. “It doesn’t really have much of a reggae scene either. It wasn’t the easiest choice to make considering I didn’t know anybody else who wanted to be in a band like that.” Eventually Beaumont was able to find like-minded souls. He started Guns of Navarone, an eight-piece ska cover band, in 2007. The original lineup disbanded within a year, but Beaumont recently regrouped and formed a new band that includes three members from the 2007 band (Beaumont on vocals, bassist Joe McEachern and tenor saxophonist Dave Menard) plus a mixture of Berklee-schooled musicians (drummer James Middendorf and trombonist Kyle Bagley currently=2 0attend Berklee), trad-ska veterans (keyboardist Mike Hartford has performed with Ken Stewart of the Skatalites, among others), and professional musicians who love playing first-wave ska (guitarist Jeff Turbitt, baritone saxophonist Juan El Mundo, alto saxophonist Jim Bennett, tenor saxophonist Katie Berlent, and a female vocalist who goes by Helen). But even with musicians serious about playing first-wave ska, Beaumont recalls initially feeling overwhelmed. “I really had to break out of a lot of my own norms when starting Guns of Navarone, such as a different music scene, a different singing style, a different approach to just about everything.” The norms Beaumont refers to are those shared by many Massachusetts hardcore kids. In the early ’90s, Beaumont fronted several Worcester-area hardcore and punk bands including Crown of Thorns with current Bane front man Aaron Bedard on drums and Aurora with Isis guitarist Mike Gallagher. While second- and third-wave ska are essentially a fusion of ska and punk rock, the hardcore punk Beaumont played has nothing in common with the laid back reggae-ska of Toots and the Maytals or the contemporary soul-ska of the Aggrolites (two first-wave ska bands Guns covers). But Beaumont’s background in punk rock did provide an initiation into reggae and ska. “I was bitten hard by the Jamaican music bug, especially from the Clash and the Bad Brains. Both somehow managed to sn eak reggae into the ears of punks everywhere. Music is like a family tree in a way, with endless branches and roots.” And as Beaumont was smitten with reggae through punk, he decided then not to start a third-wave ska band — third wave is a style of ska known to incorporate the hardcore breakdowns and screamo vocals common among many Central Mass hardcore bands — because he did not want to go back to playing punk or hardcore. “I wanted to play the real thing, traditional ska and reggae. In general I do not like the third-wave ska. Perhaps a more apt name would be ‘ska influenced rock bands.’ I find those bands are mostly spazzy bands who play too fast with guitars accenting the up beat. When they have horns they usually are used much like rock guitars and less as horns.” By definition a cover band, Beaumont does not consider Guns a cover band in spirit. In fact, it’s a sticking point with him. “I’ve been known to rub some people the wrong way and get a ‘right on’ by others when I discuss if we’re a cover band. We do play other people’s songs, so by that definition we are a cover band,” he said. Beaumont clarifies that where a cover band will play recognizable songs for money, Guns plays non-recognizable music for a simpler reason: to educate peo ple about ska music. “I believe the music we play wasn’t ever at any time popular in America. I approach Guns of Navarone more like a blues, jazz, or folk musician would approach their music. The songs we play have been passed along all around the globe for many years. Now I hopefully can pass on the favor to someone else by turning them on to a style of music they may not have enjoyed before.” Right on, dude. Stop by the Lucky Dog Music Hall, Worcester, on March 21 at 8 p.m. to see Guns of Navarone with the Alchemystics, Singuya, and Goose Pimp Orchestra during the benefit for the Mass Chapter of NORML. Dig up more dirt at myspace.com/navaronereggae.

GUNS OF NAVARONE – THE EXCITING RHYTHMS OF … - SELF RELEASED (Produced by Guns of Navarone and Craig Welsch; Engineered and Mixed by Craig Welsch at Hillside Sound Brighton, MA; Mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering Cambridge, MA)

Get your dancing shoes on. The Guns have sent us another eight ska covers that you won’t be able to get out of your head. Pure ska fans will appreciate that The Guns of Navarone are not skacore, ska punk, or ska funk. Its old school full horn section early 60s sounding ska that brings to mind The Skatalites and Prince Buster. The opener tens to work as their live show opening theme song, a cover of The Skatalites, “Guns of Navarone.” The song brings out the full orchestration of the band. You can clearly hear all three horns, grooving keyboard, rolling bass, strummed guitars, and of course that one drop beat. It’s a great introduction to ska for anyone unfamiliar with it. The smooth flow and lush orchestration creates images of a large ballroom with formally clad folks waltzing. It’s a great mix of jazz orchestration and island calypso music. That’s what ska is, not sped up reggae as I mistakenly believed back when I was a kid. Things fly into high gear as a flanged out guitar introduces Toots and the Maytalls, “Monkey Man.” You can feel the room start to move and things speeding up to double time as a chorus of “Ay, yay, yahs kicks in and lead singer Bob Beaumont gets the par ty started. Go ahead and dance along with it at home. It’s quite a workout. Things slow down to close up, slow dance, waltz speed for “Zombie Jamboree” (a song credited to Lord Invader or Harry Belafonte depending on which encyclopedia you’re reading). It’s got the best sing along part of the disc with the chorus, “Back to back, belly to belly, I don’t give a damn. I done dead already”

“Love to You” follows with a dose of trippy psychedelic rub-a-dub reggae. The psychedelia mixes with regal sounding horns for a soothing effect. A faithful interpretation of Bob Marley’s “Simmer Down” follows. A blast of horns opens this spiritual cautionary trail. The Guns finish of the disc with The Specials “A Message to Rudy.” Beaumont starts it off with a simple harmonica solo, before the horns and skankin’ grooves kick in. This is probably the most faithful interpretation on the disc. Oddly enough, coming out of the late ‘70s The Specials are probably the most well known band covered on this disc, because even the most crusty of old school garage punks had a soft spot for The Specials. These six tunes are tons of fun and leave you waiting for more. Long live The Guns of Navarone.

(More information at http://www.myspace.com/navaronereggae)

Did you know Boston, MA has ska musicians?
That’s right! And very talented ones at that. Who are they? We had the pleasure of talking to Bob Beaumont, vocalist for Boston’s very own Guns Of Navarone.
He was nice enough to tell us about the ska scene where they’re from and about his band.




Please tell us about the band and the music you play.

Guns of Navarone is a band that plays classic ska and reggae music. I hesitate to call ourselves a cover band because I usually consider a cover band to be one that plays popular music. Although we play songs written and recorded by other artists the songs we play are largely unknown to the audiences we play for.
More specifically we play old songs from the Skatalites, Laurel Aitken, Justin Hinds and the Dominoes, Derrick Morgan, Desmond Dekker. We also play some current music in traditional style by bands such as Dave Hillyard, the Slackers and the Aggrolites. We play songs in the traditional ska style and the reggae we play is more and more going the direction of 1968-69 reggae.
The reggae style we are playing more of is a pre-Rastafarian influenced more up-tempo style. After the ska music of the mid 1960’s there was of course the slower rock steady but there was also this early reggae which we find much more energetic and highly danceable. This is the style which Trojan Records imported from Jamaica to England at the end of the 1960’s.
We have been artistically satisfied with playing songs which have been written and recorded by others. Quite frankly if a song has maintained its relevance and interest for 40 years, then it is food enough for us. I don’t understand why a band that plays “originals” would be perceived as more relevant and more interesting. I hear “original” songs every day that I find uninventive and boring. As in the tradition of Jazz, Blues, and Folk playing songs handed down generation to generation and country to country, I see ska and reggae to be no different.
However, in recent times we have been considering writing “originals” because we have concerns that being considered a cover band may in fact be limiting our opportunities. To me it’s rather silly. I mean, is “Wet Dream” by Max Romeo an original when “Hold Your Jack” by Derrick Morgan was written and recorded first? So that brings up the question of what is an original. What is a version? What is a cover song? Who is the inventor of a recycled chord progression?

What is the music scene like where your from?

The music scene where we are from is somewhat complex. I, Bob Beaumont am from Worcester, MA which is about 1 hour drive to Boston, MA. The first incarnation of the Guns of Navarone was based largely in the Worcester area. Then 5 out of 8 people left the band. Then the 5 members who replaced them are all from the Boston area. So now, I consider us a Boston based band. The music scene in Boston is really big. There are lots of bands, lots of clubs, and lots of competition. We have found it relatively difficult to break into the Boston scene due to the high volume of competition. So what it means to us is we need to compete harder. We need to promote more, play better, be more entertaining, which lends itself to my philosophy as a band leader which is to “work hard always”.
The Boston Shows we have played have been met with great enthusiasm from the audiences. The bands we play with also have given us great support and encouragement. We are truly grateful for the opportunities we have been given.
However, to describe the scene honestly it must be said that as a band “off the street” it can be difficult to get gigs. We are now looking into Booking agents to help facilitate entry into some of the venues which as of yet have been unwilling to even return our calls or emails.
Worcester on the other hand has been very kind to us. All the clubs want us, and the people give us lots of love and appreciation. However, since I am a Worcester native, I have many contacts and music venue relations.
Although the 2^nd biggest city in all of New England, there is far less competition in Worcester than in Boston.

What made you want to play Ska music?

The reason I wanted to start a ska band probably goes back to some of the exposure I got to ska music through growing up with punk and hardcore. I spent about 15 years in and out of hardcore and punk bands. None of the bands I was in ever amounted to much. Some people I was in bands with went onto fairly successful bands such as BANE and ISIS. As a punk, I was exposed to the Slackers, Hepcat, the Skatalites, through the Give ‘Em the boot compilations on Hellcat Records. These bands with their traditional ska sound, was very appealing to me. From these bands and the ska and reggae covers songs performed by the Clash, I was entered to the work of Jamaican music which I still find to be seemingly endless in its expanse. One band leads me to the next and the next and so on.
Some of my other early ska and reggae exposure would be the Harder They Come soundtrack which of course includes Toots and the Maytal’s Pressure Drop which to me was an incredibly moving and exciting song. In my late teen years I was also a fan of Bob Marley and I had the Songs of Freedom box set. This box set was important to me because it was four cds which were chronological. I was then able to hear the early years of the Wailers and the Studio One ska songs. These ska songs were very appealing to me, much more than the later Rastafarian influenced Reggae.
These songs were reminiscent of the American Motown songs which I had grown up listening to and loved so much. But they had this exuberant rhythm which possessed an energy which appealed to my punk music sensibilities.
Although I was exposed to bands like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, I never really liked that style of ska. I felt no connection to the rock-ska of the 1990’s and although I appreciated bands like Operation Ivy I never really liked punk-ska generally either. And of the Two Tone ska the only songs I seemed to like were the covers of traditional Ska such as Monkey Man by Toots and the Maytals, or Message to You Rudy by Dandy Livingstone. The Slackers for me seemed to be the perfect Ska band. They were traditional, they were non-religious, (i.e. Non Rasta), they were Northeast American guys like me who I could identify with and they were extremely talented but yet still fun. The Slackers through interviews and things I would hear them say at their shows turned me onto to the Skatalites, The Upsetters, Prince Buster, and Trojan Records. To me they are the most influential band in that they opened up a whole world of music. They also showed me that Jamaican music can be played by Americans without having to pretend to be something they are not.

Can you tell us about the band? The musicians seem to be pretty diverse. What kind of background to you all come from?
It’s true that the musicians in the Guns of Navarone are diverse. We have some which are either graduates or current students of Berklee School of Music. We have members which have deep jazz roots. We have songs with deep funk roots and deep roots in Zydeco and a variety of other influences.
We do have a member which allows me to do some name dropping. Our keyboard player Mike Hartford was the drummer for some accomplished Boston Ska bands such as Steady Earnest and Dion Knibb and the Aggravators. He was in these bands with Ken Stewart of the Skatalites and also Dion Knibb who is the son of Lloyd Knibb the legendary drummer of the Skatalites. He also has recorded with Doreen Schafer of the Skatalites. Another Boston Ska band Mike has played with is Beat Soup which also has Glen Pine of the Slackers as a past member, although they were not in the band at the same time. Mike is a true veteran of ska music and has seen the different waves of ska come and go. We are very fortunate to have him as part of our group to ride this 4^th wave of Ska with us.

 
www.musicaloccupation.com
a link to Pressure Drop Soundcast as well,
www.pressuredrop.podomatic.com

By Brian Goslow

"West Boylston -
Most musicians have a seminal album that serves as their guiding light. For Robert A. Beaumont III, 34, of Worcester, that album was "London Calling" by the Clash. However, while the majority of the collection’s fans celebrate it for its rock ’n’ roll classics, Beaumont loved it for the band’s spirited versions of early ska and reggae classics.

"Through that album, I’ve found a whole ocean of different music," said Beaumont, front man for the Guns of Navarone. "I grew up as a young punk rocker listening to Clash records. Through their music, Joe Strummer introduced ska and reggae to a whole new audience, including me."

The Clash sent people like Beaumont searching for rare records (and CD collections of those records) by the forefathers of reggae music, the "rude boys" who played what was known as ska in the mid-1960s.

"I wanted to know who was this Delroy Wilson, ’the cool operator,’ who was name dropped in the Clash song ’White Man in Hammersmith Palais,’" he said. "The beauty of this music is it’s got a whole history you can dig into. Every band comes from listening to another band. The ska musicians were listening to American rhythm and blues and boogie-woogie played on radio programs. Because they’re Jamaican, they did it with their own flavor and it became ska, rock steady and reggae."

A year or so ago, Beaumont told Mike Rinker, his friend and future drummer, he wanted to get a ska band together. At the time, Rinker was working to put together Snake Hill Productions at the Bay Path Barn in Boylston.

"Time passed, then one day Mike said he remembered I wanted to put a band together," Beaumont said. "He said he had gotten a couple of buddies together and did I want to come down and play."

Now they’re part of an eight-performer-strong lineup that promises to make every show a party.

"We kept our nose to the grindstone till we got the right band together," Beaumont said. "Practice, practice, practice, that’s what it took. We hit the ground running."
Along with Beaumont and Rinker, the group features keyboardist Joel Chalifoux, percussionist Dan Cheney, alto saxophonist Elliott Maldonado, tenor saxophonist Dave Menard, bassist Joe McEachern and guitarist Jason Rondeau. Their ages range from the 20s to 40s with members living from Cambridge to Amherst and everywhere in between. Onstage, the band dresses in the original sharp looking style of their ska forefathers.

"We play complete homage to the original music," Beaumont said. "Being on stage, we wear our suits and ties; we don’t wear suits and ties to work. We take the tradition of the music personally."

While some commercially successful bands play music with touches of ska and reggae, Guns of Navarone is one of the few that plays it in its original, pre-digital age raw style. "Wrong ’Em Boyo," covered by the Clash on their "London Calling" album, is performed true to the original version by the Rulers.

"I tell people, if you like that, go find a Trojan Records collection," Beaumont said. "If you like that, listen to Prince Buster. I hope we influence fans to check into it."
Since it doesn’t get too much radio airplay, they have to be crusaders for the music. Along these lines, they’ve handed out 800 free copies of their first demo CD.
"We burnt all the discs, printed up and put on all the labels and inserted all the printed sleeves," Beaumont said. "We also give out free stickers and pins at all the shows. Sometimes we’ll do a t-shirt giveaway by making people do a silly dance or sing a silly song."

If it sounds like a great time, you’re right. And it’s a well-known belief in the nightclub industry if a band has people dancing, they’re probably doing a fair share of drinking as well.

"Every club we’ve played, the club owner loves us and loves the people who come into their club to see us," Beaumont said. "They’re laughing, dancing, singing and having a great time."

A video from that show of "Monkey Man," originally written and performed by Toots and the Maytals in the late ’60s and revived by the British ska Two Tone pioneers The Specials in 1979, was posted on the YouTube video Web site, joining numerous other versions of the song from decades past. It serves as a signal to devotees of ska music worldwide to check out Guns of Navarone.

The band has been invited back to the Cantab Lounge for shows on March 7 and May 3 as well as Johnny D’s in Somerville on March 19. They’ll be at the Hotel Vernon in Kelley Square in Worcester on March 29 and Tammany Hall, also in Worcester, on April 26.

While they’ve become popular almost "overnight," Guns of Navarone has no illusions of world tours.

"We want to stay regional," Beaumont said. "Everyone in the band is family-oriented with kid and full-time jobs. But there’s no expiration date on this band. We’ve having such a blast playing this music and people are having such a blast hearing it."

Check out their music at http://www.gunsofnavaronereggae.com"

clip of 'Monkey Man' Live @ the Cantab Lounge 1/26/08












Wrong Em Boyo Live @ Tammany Hall, 12/17/08