Once apon a time there were 2 pirates, Drew and Scuff. Drew sailed with the good ship Out of Luck and Scuff sailed along with crewman Dave on Hong Kong Flu. Both ships would sail around Southern England, playing gigs and holding promoters to ransom for their gold. However, one day, they got greedy. Drew and Scuff plotted to build a new ship and sail around in that so that they could steal even more gold and be feared by all the other pirates on the sea. So with Scuff’s A level CDT skills and Drew’s knowledge of packing sandwiches they built a mighty new ship. Soon after the launch Hong Kong Flu blew up and sank.

Dave and Scuff swam to the safety of the new ship. Now they needed some new crewmen. So in the dead of night they boarded the HMS Ska Gal, and kidnapped Trombone Officer Rob, and forced him to work for them. They then raided a Brighton pub and found an old bass playing sea dog named Adam who agreed to crew as well. Adam brought with him his friend Nikki whose voice had been known calm even the roughest seas. In a short battle with a passing ship, Once Over, one day they managed to take prisoner the ship’s sax player, ST. Now well crewed the ship sailed to Littlehampton and picked up Lance, Drew’s cousin, who kept drumsticks in holsters and could make more noise than any other pirate on the sea.

They had a few battles and fought well, until one day Adam suffered a nail infection and had to be thrown overboard. The ship now lacked a bass player. Rowing hard they managed to catch up with Once Over again, and this time stole the bass player Liam.

All was looking pretty good for the new ship until Once Over came back in the night. Under cover of darkness they freed ST and Liam. Once again the crew was missing a bass player. Fortunately a wise lighthouse keeping DJ named Jonny saw the ship as they struggled to sail into harbour and took pity on them. He picked up his bass and joined the crew.

Inevitably, every band has a dark chapter in its history. Lance went mad had to be thrown overboard. Nikki was lost to a ship as black as night from which strange metal sounds were heard. Drew flipped through his pirate filofax and a new singer in the form of Sarah was recruited. She fought a couple of battles with 2TL but was later made to walk the plank for entertainment value, as was the custom of the time. For ages the crew floated lonely in the ocean without a drummer until help came from an unlikely source! Touching on the shores of pop-punk island they came across a poor fishmonger named Phil. Phil had in fact been a long time sailor with a ship named Random Heroes but had fled the ship before they went to do a tour to continue his life long passion - fish mongering. He agreed to help out Second Time Lucky and joined the crew as temporary drummer. After leaving he now sails in his own ship called The Lovesicks. Again the crew floated around drummerless.

During these quiet months the crew decided to find a singer. Enter Cat! The story goes that whilst docked in harbour at nearby Port Engine the crew entered a bar to persue one of their favourite pastimes other than music, drinking. When they got there they found a girl standing on a table singing to the whole pub! She was loud, she was in tune and she was most certainly drunk. Without further ado they knocked her unconscious, put her in a bag and stole her. The drinking continued at a different pub. After several rounds of ale the band began talking to a salty old sea dog called Oli, who for the most part of the night had been passed out on the floor in front of the bar. Turned out he was an out of work drummer who had previously fought many dangerous battles and spent years sailing the seas with a ship named Drive by Diablo. He left to study English in London. However, missing the danger and excitement of being the crew on a ska ship he jumped at the offer to come aboard!

Sadly after just under a year of playing Oli decided he actually wanted to be a highwayman and went to annoy travelling aristocrats on the land. The crew set about fast trying to find a new drummer again. Whilst catching fish off the coast of Worthing they hauled aboard one named Andy. He was a drummer pirate that had been raised by mackerel but previously had sailed with 99 Watts and Freezes White. After beating him round the head with oars for a couple of hours he was ready to go!

After many years of service the ship’s barber Jonny decided to leave to captain his own ship. The band wrote to the Local Lighthouse Area Management Agency (LLAMA) for a new bass player. A week later a large crate arrived. After a few days someone got round to opening it and found a new bass player nestled amongst the hay inside. Paul came with his own bass, real working amp, life-like kung fu grip and whip action. The band quickly programmed the songs into him.

In 2007 the ship got an upgrade (more ska) and so a new crew member was needed to help run it. They decided a sax player would be the best bet as there is barely enough room for all the amps and things on stage as it is, so the crew contacted Emma. Emma is experienced in ska as she used to work on a steam ska ocean liner called Fisticuffs from Horsham. Fisticuffs wasn’t really doing much due to rust so she was getting bored and agreed to come and join the crew. The arrangement is going particularly well. Battles are fought much better with 3 horns and Emma fills in for Dave when he is asleep. Also she fits into most overhead storage spaces.

Now the crew was finally complete! And with their well practiced rope drills and seamanship they set off to conquer the ska world. Seeing as for many of them it was their second ship they decided to call it "2nd Time Lucky", and they have continued to fight, to sail and to drink despite all the misfortunes and challenges set before them.

Rob used to fight and do tours of duty with the HMS Ska Gal until it sank at the battle of Brighton Punk Rocks and now also sails in The Meow Meows. Dave became a mercinary for a while and worked for Once Over before leaving again because he didn’t like the cooking. Drew sailed proudly in Out of Luck for years until it too lost a rudder and came to grief on the rocks of Littlehampton beach. Occasionally he borrows the life boat to sail off and holds pubs to ransom with an acoustic guitar. Paul comes with him because he’s rubbish at rowing and also provides bass cover.