While German ska veterans Bluekilla were in Australia in November 2001
Mark H from Riot City and The Last Hemeroids interviewed
frontman Amedeo for his Sydney radio show Rude Side of the Force
on 2SER 107.3. It occurred following the show on the 9th November at Carringbah
Bizzo's. It's very close to its original form, here's the transcription
of the chat they had.
Mark:
Amedeo has just finished a gig down here at Carringbah Bizzos, where he
played with...
Amedeo: Backy Skank, great show like yesterday at the Annadale
Hotel, it was too few people there, but today was better. Then we played,
we rocked...
Mark: It was a great night.
Amedeo: And the Porkers, I've been dancing all night.
Mark:
The Bluekilla story, you've been around for a long time, what's a real
quick history of the band?
Amedeo: Real quick. Okay, we've been ahhh founded in 1985. And
lineup changes till 1992, since then no lineup change, I was the last
one. So we've playing almost 10 years with no lineup change. I think that's
unique.
Mark: Yeah, especially for a ska band, cos you've got so many people
usually.
Amedeo: Yeah so many people and playing for ten years, we've never
changed anything. Yeah because we all love playing ska and we all knew
each other from school and somehow nobody left, I don't know why because
maybe there's a secret law that everybody who wants to leave the band
gets shot… in the head.
Mark: It's probably because you're actually enjoying it.
Amedeo: That's it.
Mark:
With your lineup, is it the same lineup you've got here or have you got
extra people?
Amedeo: We've got extra people in Munich, but they couldn't make
it. One because got his second kid a few weeks ago and the other, well
the other is just busy, he's a freelancer, it's not easy going to Australia,
not at all!
Mark:
nah it's not, your latest CD is called Ska is Our Business, but in Europe
can you actually make money out of doing gigs?
Amedeo: Forget it, forget it. In Munich, where we come from, we're
having a big crowd, but we can't play every week in Munich, so we're not
making big business. When we're not playing in Munich, we're playing all
over the place and just for little money and drive all weekend.
Mark: Have fun and cover your costs.
Amedeo: We cover the costs, yeah. But we don't cover the costs
with the Australian tour. (laughter) But it's just, it's what I want to
say, it's what we were hoping, but never could expect this big response
of the Australian ska people. Which buy our records, dance at our shows
and after our shows, just hug us. (laughter).
Mark:
The Australian tour, how did it actually come about and how did it happen?
Amedeo: Gary the Skaman from the Skankin' Downunder radio show in Melbourne,
he came to Germany, and just wanted to see some ska bands and he'd heard
of us before, had a CD, and yeah would die to see a show from us and we
had no show at that time in Munich so he drove all the way to Berlin which
is about the same way from Melbourne to Sydney to see us playing in Berlin,
and it was a good show he saw there.
Mark: I remember when Gary first came back, he was very excited
about seeing you and the possibility of you coming over here and it's
actually happened.
Amedeo: Yeah, we made each other friends and somehow he came up
with this stupid idea, it's a stupid idea, but it's the best idea too,
somehow we realised it now, we're right here in Australia.
Mark:
How would you sort of describe the type of ska you play, because ska goes
from a huge range of things. I've got my ideas, but how would you describe
it?
Amedeo: Our style? We just mix up every, I mean ska is so rich
- it's sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, first wave, second wave,
third wave. ska rocksteady, reggae, dancehall. I mean it's so rich, it's
like a blue country - 300 years old style, you could say. (laughter) We
take all the styles, mix them together and put our own sound and it's
just this mixture bluebeat and tequila and that's what our name comes
from. Bluebeat and Tequila - it's just pure energy.
Mark:
You grab some of the bass lines from old Jamaican stuff…
Amedeo: No, we never do.
Mark: I don't know about that (both laugh)
Amedeo: Please, I swear.
Mark: Okay, but even if you're doing that, it's just building on
great stuff and putting your own slant to it, your own style to it.
Amedeo: That's right, it's hard to just play new sounds, everybody
does that.
Mark: I know, I'm not being critical…
Amedeo: I know, I know what you mean. The richest era in pop history
was the sixties, that's when the ska started and there's so much creativity
in Jamaica, there's been so much creativity… you dig for the secrets.
Mark: yeah, more records have come out of Jamaica per head of population
than anywhere in the world.
Amedeo: The new Maroon town CD, also the first song, it came out
just a few before we left to Australia, and the first song is quite similar
to one of our songs. We, that's Billy Boy from the first CD, we took the
rhythm from an old rocksteady song and Maroon town did the same, took
the same rhythm and made another song, it's great, good CD.
Mark:
Some of the sort of ska you listen to or what your influences are, what
some sort of tracks that you would be listening to or would be interested
in?
Amedeo: From where my love of ska came from, there's two names,
The Specials and Madness. We've all seen the Specials live playing, in
1981 and it just change our life. I was one of the young kids who thought
the Specials invented ska. It's like today when the young kids hear Area
7, they say hey, this is great, this is new stuff - they invented ska
and they come to hear other bands and realise oh…
Mark: That's exactly the same with me, I got into ska with The
Specials and hearing that and then going where's the roots of this music
and going back to the Jamaican roots…
Amedeo: And you go back and you realise oh nice nice nice. And
personally at home most the old ska style and dancehall, reggae dancehall
from the seventies, eighties like Yellowman and all those DJs - I love
to hear that.
Mark:
In Europe or Germany, when you're playing there, what's the crowds like
over there compared to say here?
Amedeo: It's not really different, it depends on the place you
are playing. Sometimes you have a very mixed up crowd - punks and skinheads
and just normal people. Sometimes you have kids, like school kids or open
air with lots of many different music. You have hippies, I don't know,
it's all mixed up.
Mark: That's good to hear actually, because it's pretty much like
that in Sydney now where you've got all the different cultures, all together
and having a good time.
Amedeo: Yeah, that's great, but sometimes we play in certain clubs
where skinheads more love to go there and also we're very well known in
Munich so in Munich everybody goes to our concerts - it's huge. So when
we are going to another city far away from Munich, just some people know
us who've got our CDs and mostly skinheads come to the concerts, they
see Bluekilla, they know us from compilations, they see the name on the
poster and go there. So for us it's very important that skinheads go to
our concerts because without them we would play in front of twenty people,
outside Munich. But the scene in Germany is good.
We're going?
Saxophone player comes in to tell Amedeo they are going, but it is put off a little longer.
Mark:
In the show that we do, I've played most of the stuff from the Ska is
our Business CD already over the last month or two, what's the pick of
the tracks off your other two CDs?
Amedeo: Pick of the tracks, what do you mean?
Mark: Well what are your favourite tracks? Have you got any? Or
have you got any tracks that have a story behind them you could tell?
Amedeo: They all have stories. That's difficult. There's Dr. Deadlock
Stylee from the first CD , which just tells about concerts where people
are not dancing. Then Dr. Deadlock come in and he's got the medicine against
the disease called deadlock and he heals this disease and everybody's
dancing then, after that song.
Mark:
You're off to Brisbane next week?
Amedeo: Monday. Monday we go to Byron Bay, hope to stay there one
day and then we go to Surfers, Brisbane, back home on the 18th, back home
to Europe.
Mark: That's sort've two weeks and three weekends you're here.
Amedeo: Almost three weeks.
Mark:
Important thing, CDs you've got and where can people get them from?
Amedeo: If they don't come to our concerts, Pete Porker…
Mark: Through Sound System and MGM distribution?
Amedeo: But just the last record. The first two records, well we
just sell them.
Mark: Can people get it over the web, via your internet site?
Amedeo: They can get it over the web, but hello, to Australia,
it's very expensive. Maybe it's less expensive ordering at a proper mailorder,
in Europe.
Female fans require Amedeo's attention.
Mark: You've had a busy week and a busy week coming up, so I'll
let you go.
Amedeo: Alright, I just want to say people are beautiful, nice,
so…
Mark: One thing though, did you know there's a big rivalry between
Sydney and Melbourne?
Amedeo: Yeah.
Mark: So who are the better skankers, Sydney or Melbourne? And
I'm only going to let this go to air if you say Sydney.
Amedeo: I'll say the best skankers are in Cann River.
Mark: Cann River. Where's that?
Amedeo: That's on the road from Melbourne to Sydney, on the coast
road, it's a small town called Cann River.
Mark: Did you actually play?
Amedeo: No, just to prevent me to say one of the big cities, I'll
just say Cann River.
Mark: Just going to sit on the fence, that's fair enough.
Amedeo: You're not going to bring me to say something.
Mark: Because we do the Sydney-Melbourne stuff on the show.
Amedeo: I must say, Melbourne is great and Sydney is great. It's
completely new for me and…
Mark: Well the last two nights have been great, it's been really
great fun.
Amedeo: I love it. I'm looking forward to Newcastle tomorrow and
Sydney on Sunday, so we're going to have a big part y with the Porkers
and Backy Skank. A last goodbye party, awwwww…
Mark: Thankyou very much
Amedeo: No worries, it was a pleasure.
The radio show the interview was done for is Rude Side of the Force - every Tuesday night from 1am to 3am on 2SER 107.3 Sydney. Mark also runs a Sydney gig guide and is the saxophone player in both Riot City and The Last Hemeroids.
Rude Side
of the Force - www.geocities.com/rudeside
Bluekilla - www.bluekilla.de
Sydney Monkey Business gig guide - www.geocities.com/sydneymonkeybusiness
Riot City - www.geocities.com/sydneyriotcrew
Last Hemeroids - www.lasthemeroids.com
Rude Side
of the Force - www.geocities.com/rudeside
Bluekilla - www.bluekilla.de
Sydney Monkey Business gig guide - www.geocities.com/sydneymonkeybusiness
Riot City - www.geocities.com/sydneyriotcrew
Last Hemeroids - www.lasthemeroids.com
Home
Introduction
Mark H interview with Amedeo
Melbourne Tour Diary
Justin Hinds Profile
Homage to ska-punk
Links to remaining articles elsewhere
on web