October 11, 2024 • 19 mins
Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.
Nicky Bomba, the vibrant lead of the Melbourne Ska Orchestra, takes us on a rhythmic journey through two decades of ska music and collective creativity.
How does one harness the energy of 32 musicians without missing a beat? Nicky reveals the passion and chemistry that propel the orchestra forward, sharing stories of their triumphant tours, ARIA wins, and the camaraderie that keeps egos in check. This episode promises a backstage pass to the orchestra's final Australian performance in Adelaide before they embark on an international adventure.
In a heartfelt exploration, Nicky opens up about the musical legacy nurtured within his Maltese family, spotlighting a journey that saw him transition from electronics enthusiast and potential park ranger to full-time musician. We trace the roots of ska music, celebrating its evolution from Jamaica’s mento and calypso origins to its worldwide acclaim through iconic tracks like "My Boy Lollipop" and "Simmer Down" by Bob Marley and the Wailers.
This episode is a vibrant celebration of ska's history and Nicky's personal story, sure to resonate with music lovers and aspiring musicians alike.
What has Nicky Bomba been up to lately? Let's find out!!
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
That Radio Cheek Cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rocking itpodcast, where we'll have music
news, reviews and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians and artists.
The Melbourne Scar Orchestraare heading our way before they
take off overseas and today wecatch up with Nicky Bomber,
(00:22):
australian musician and singer,songwriter and leader of ARIA
award-winning Melbourne ScarOrchestra.
He's also the frontman of hisband Bomber and the former
drummer and percussionist of theJohn Butler Trio.
To catch up on podcasts fromother favourite artists, simply
go to thatradiochickcomau.
(00:43):
You're with Cheryl Lee and I'dlike to welcome into the Zoom
room today Nicholas Caruana, akaNicky Bomber.
Thanks for joining us today,nicky.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Well, it's my pleasure.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
We are coming to our beautiful town very shortly and
we'll talk about that in alittle while, but maybe we just
go back a little bit before wego forwards.
So you founded the MelbourneScar Orchestra back in 2003, so
you guys are getting on now 21years, yeah, totally hence the
21st anniversary tour.
(01:17):
I think you go between maybe 27to 32 ish musicians at any one
time.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
It depends on what the airfares are at the time and
the accommodation and who'savailable, but it's always kind
of a minimum of like 19 to 20and then depending on budgets
and all that type of thing, yeah, but you know, it's always a
circus on stage nonetheless.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I bet that's a lot of artists to wrangle, so I take
my hat off to you for that.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
No worries, you have to take on the mother duties
many times.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I know what happens on tour.
Is supposed to stay on tour.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
But the saying now was whatever happens on tour
ends up on Facebook, exactly Onsocial media.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
It goes viral.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
How difficult is it?
I mean, the logistics alone areobvious, but the people
management?
Any arguments, any biffo.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well, it's strange because the band was formed out
of a love for the music in thefirst place.
It wasn't sort of like, hey,let's get together and make this
type of music and rule theworld, all that type of thing.
It came together simply as atribute of the genre of music
and you know and rule the world,all that type of thing.
It came together simply as atribute of the genre of ska and
all things related to ska,because ska was the seed really
that formed reggae and all thosetype of things.
(02:32):
So because of that, there is akind of an already a thing of
like the egos are left at thedoor.
And really there hasn't reallybeen a situation where we've had
to ask anyone to leave over.
You know kind of not getting on.
There's been a couple of issues.
(02:56):
You know we've been overseasand just really from you know
tiredness, but nothing, nothinglike I've actually experienced
in any of the other bands thathave had less members.
So from a people managementperspective, I think this is a
real beautiful understandingwith the band that people get
that something like this doesn'twork on paper.
Understanding with the bandthat people get that something
like this doesn't work on paper.
So for it to actually have had21 years and two ARIA awards and
world tours, there has to besomething that's beyond that.
There's a chemistry and aspirit thing that needs to be
honoured, which we all do.
(03:17):
We all get it.
It's like a theatre show.
Everyone has a character toplay.
We all synergise and cometogether on stage and make it
really work.
As far as like day-to-daylogistics, thankfully we have a
tour manager now that has beenin the band for quite a number
of years.
He's also a member of the band,so he understands the
intricacies of all the differentmembers who flies from where A
(03:40):
lot of us are still teaching andworking other occupations.
So all those things.
There's flights, there's groundtransport, there's
accommodation, there's dietaryrequirements.
You know who has to bringcertain instruments and
everything, and it has taken anumber of years to get it right.
But now we've got a really goodteam a good agent, a good tour
manager, a good publicist and asa band leader, you know you
(04:02):
have to kind of keep things youknow fresh, to be on top of the
game.
So it's a well-oiled machine.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
now that is no mean feat, as we say Over 20 years
performing together.
It's great to hear that.
You know you guys are there forthe love and the passion of the
music.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Therefore, get along so beautifully.
It's certainly not a financialventure.
When you've got that manypeople in the band.
You're not going to be payingoff your mortgage playing in
this band.
Yeah, you are listening toStill Rocking it.
The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Well, here's something I didn't know.
Nicky Bomber did an album in2005 with show favourite Joe
Camilleri called Limestone, andhere's a great track from it
Hypocrite.
Back to speak more to Nicky.
After this, hypocrite, wherewill you run now?
Hypocrite, you are finishing upa really, really extensive tour
(05:03):
and you saved the best tilllast.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yes, we have.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
You're coming to Adelaide the Outlaws and Off
Beats tour.
I think it's your very lastdate.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
As far as the tour is concerned.
After that we're going straightto Mexico and then, you know,
doing a lot of gigs overseas andbits and pieces.
So as far as the Australian legis concerned, yes, adelaide is
the last date of that tour andit's been an amazingly
successful tour.
It's been great.
Adelaide is a little slow inticket sales, I have to say, so
we need a bit of a kick up thebum there for that.
But I'm sure you'll comethrough.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Adelaide is famous for being late with their ticket
sales and buying them all atthe last minute.
We're very naughty, we're verylate, but we always get there in
the end.
So, adelaideans, get onto thewebsite.
We are Saturday, the 19th, atour Hindley Street Musical Great
venue.
Have you played there before?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Never First time for me.
We always.
You know the Gov, or I mean.
Adelaide was the first time Iever toured interstate when I
was like 14 years old and thenwhen I had a bank with the Truth
, it was the first place that weever played, at the Cargo Club
years ago.
It is a special place to get toand a lot of friends there
longtime friends and one of thesingers is from Adelaide as well
(06:16):
originally, so she's hoping toget a hometown crowd in, but
never played that venue before,so looking forward to that.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
It is played that venue before, so looking forward
to that.
It is a little bit new, it'sbeen renovated and given a bit
of a facelift and now it isbeautiful.
I think you will love it here.
I am thinking you're going toget a rest but no rest for the
wicked.
When you finished here, you'reoff overseas for a while yep,
we're going to go to mexico.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
we played there last year and didn't realize how
popular we were there and theyinvited us back this year to do
a whole run of gigs.
One particular gig there's like10,000, 15,000 people and we're
going to be playing it, so it'sgreat.
You know, it's a privilege tobe asked.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Do you guys ever sleep?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
If you see the performance, there's two hours
of non-stop activity.
So we've been doing this a longtime and you know that you have
to get your sleep in and goodfood and everything.
I mean I think we're allprobably past the young date
where you could stay up till youknow five o'clock in the
morning and have two hours sleepand be up and at it.
So it's actually quite funny.
(07:15):
Before the gig sometimes we'redoing yoga, sipping cups of tea
and everything.
It's like free rock and roll,isn't it?
Speaker 1 (07:21):
So no fireballs and Jager bombs on your rider, Ben.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
No, I'd say what the rider is.
It's coconut water, a couple ofbottles of wine, a minimal
amount of beer.
You know, just pretend, Not abig idea.
Orange juice, cranberry juice,ginger beer, Red Bull, and we've
just introduced a juicer so wecan get some fresh juices and
have that type of thing.
Yeah, it's not that rock androll.
We did that in the early days.
(07:47):
You know, We've got stories totell, don't worry Exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And I was going to congratulate you.
You mentioned your second album, sierra Kilo Alpha, and you did
a national tour to support itwon the Ari Award that year for
the best world music album.
Congratulations, that's correct, your follow-up.
I find this really interestingalbum, saturn Returns, you
released on a rocket-shaped USBdrive.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I'll get one for you to show you what it looks like
Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
No record.
Did you have it on vinyl or CD?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
What happened?
We recorded Sierra, kilo, alphaand we were so prolific that we
actually wrote enough songs fortwo albums and it was a great,
great time to kind of gettogether.
And we're a very creative band.
There are amazing musicianswithin the band.
We're very lucky to have thecaliber of musicians that we
have.
Just for something different,you know, like instead of just
doing another album straightaway, because there's a lot of
(08:44):
cost involved in putting vinyland all the artwork and
everything.
So we thought, well, we'll justdo something like this.
You know, and people still buyit, which is, you know, it's a
cool little thing.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I love that it's not available on CD or vinyl.
So cool yeah, you're ahead ofyour time.
Still rocking that podcast withthat radio chick, cheryl Lee,
special thing from the SierraKilo Alpha album.
And then back to speak somemore to founding member, drummer
and band leader of theMelbourne Scar Orchestra.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
You know you've got that special thing.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
I really, really love this concept as well.
You announced in 2018 that youwould release one song every
week, every Friday, so it wascalled 52 Fridays for a whole
year.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
One year of a scar, that's right.
That was madness, honestly Likeit started off really good.
It started off like yeah, wecan do this.
You know, head of the game, andat the time we kind of had a
budget Six months in we'd blownthe budget.
So time we kind of had a budgetsix months in, we'd blow the
budget, so we had kind of had togo what are we going to do now?
And so I set up a little studioin Collingwood specifically to
do this.
The rest of the album at thestart we had a bit of catering
(09:59):
is involved.
You know it was a bit like oh,this will be fine.
By the end of it it was likeyou know, three o'clock in the
morning, one dollar coffees from7-eleven, you, you know, late
night, souvlakis and everything,kebabs.
But we did it.
Of course we won an ARIA forthat as well too.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Congratulations.
It was for the Best World MusicAlbum in 2019.
What a concept, what a thing totake on, and congratulations
for making it.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
It was a military operation, but it was actually
when we finished as much hardwork as it was, we all kind of
went back and go.
Can we do something like thatagain?
It was a really beautifuldedication to creativity.
Any ideas were welcome.
I was very proud of that, youknow, and I still am.
It still sells very well, thatCD.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
It's a beautiful thing.
You should be very proud of it,and everybody involved as well.
It's fabulous.
Yeah, do it again.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Once a month or something about that.
It really is crazy.
But I mean I think it should besome kind of achievement,
guinness book of records orsomething that must be some sort
of triumphant record.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I reckon you are from a very talented musical bunch
of siblings.
Where did you guys get all thistalent from?
Were your parents musical?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
I think I mean you're gonna have a natural kind of
connection to it.
I think you know my father was.
He wasn't a musician as suchbut he loved music and he
encouraged music in thehousehold.
We used to have like a littlefamily dance band, bit like the
jackson five of the maltesecommunity or you know, the
partridge family.
So we were always kind of, mostweekends we were playing it was
a maltese engagement or weddingor a ball or something and we
(11:30):
didn't think anything of it.
At the age of 10 or 11, I wasdoing a little floor show
singing, even though I wasplaying drums.
I had to get out and do alittle floor show singing my
Ding-a-ling by Chuck Berry,which was very cute I mean, you
probably wouldn't get away withit these days and he didn't
think anything of it, he justdid it.
Dad was kind of the manager.
He used to sing all the Maltesesongs as well and when he was
(11:50):
70, I recorded all of thetraditional Maltese songs.
So I would have a legacy forhim in the past.
So I think you know theencouragement of dad, the love
for the music.
It was an environment thatwelcomed.
I mean I pinpoint, I was born inMalta, but the Maltese
community in Australia was veryactive in celebrating whatever
you did, whether it was, youknow, good at sports or good at
(12:12):
you know.
And obviously with the musicthing it was encouraged, you
know, and we had a lot ofguidance and good energy around
us, you know so.
But for us it was kind ofsecond nature, it's kind of what
we did, you know, yeah.
And then when we got older, itwas like, I mean, at 16, I
remember thinking, am I going todo this for my living now?
Or, you know, I was intoelectronics at the time, I was
(12:32):
going to get an electronicsengineer and no, it was like,
well, let's try it.
And then ended up at 16, I leftschool and did year 11 by
correspondence, and did my firsttour.
And you haven't looked backsince.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
It really was a family affair, Although you had
an interest in electronics.
Really, there was never anyother plan B.
This is what you were going todo.
This is your passion.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It was either this electronics or a park ranger.
As a result, I live in thecountry now.
I live in the hills of Victoria.
I have a recording studio, soyou have to kind of be
electronically minded to runthese things.
Anyway, you are listening toStill Rocking it, the podcast
with Cheryl Lee.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Instead of my Ding-a-ling by Chuck Berry,
let's have a little bit ofJohnny Be Good by Chuck Berry,
and then back to speak some moreto Nicky, deep down in
Louisiana, close to New Orleans,way back up in the woods among
the evergreens For theuninitiated.
Perhaps you could just quicklywrap up what ska music is Sure,
sure.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Early Jamaica and the West Indian, the Caribbean
especially.
There was a type of musiccalled mento and calypso.
In Jamaica specifically, mentowas the folk music Around the
late 50s, early 60s.
What was huge in Jamaica formost of the common people you
can say most of the folk thatcouldn't go into the highfalutin
(13:50):
clubs in Kingston like theHilton and everything which had
musicians playing for thetourists.
They had this thing called asound system.
Now a sound system is basicallya massive stereo system.
At first it started off in thebackyards, then it became into
the lawns and then it becameinto the dance halls and
everything, and pretty much onany weekend.
Sometimes they were so closeyou could actually hear the
(14:11):
sound systems with each other.
But the goal was to have theloudest, cleanest sound system
and they also sold alcohol andfood and they had tickets to get
in.
It was quite a lucrative affairfor people that ran the sound
systems.
The sound systems used to playmusic from the States mainly,
and usually it was likeex-servicemen that would be or
(14:32):
tourists that would bringrecords.
After a while this type ofmusic in the States dried up.
You know people didn't wantthat type of music so you
couldn't get those recordsanymore and it was around the
time of Jamaican Independence,1962.
So they said, look, you know welove this type of music but we
can't get it anymore, why don'twe just make it ourselves?
But they wanted to makesomething different.
A classic R&B tune at the timewould be, like you know, very
(14:59):
simple 12-bar blue vibe.
You know it used to swing.
So the Jamaicans had theirmento music which was heavy on
the back beat of the four.
So you have one, two, three,four.
One, two, three, four, whichwas in relation to their sugar
cane One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four when theyused to be on the boats One,
two, three, he, one, two.
(15:19):
So it was all connected to thatbig upbeat when they had.
They added this, this upbeat,and that's basically how Ska
started and it was playedprimarily, or sorry, initially,
by the horns.
There was a band called theScatterlights and so that
(15:40):
backbeat would have been on thehorn section.
Some of the first songs thatwere ever recorded of Jamaican
singers playing on an R&B rhythmwith that backbeat, and the
classic song is my Boy Lollipop,yes, my boy lollipop.
That is a classic Jamaicanswing ska.
(16:02):
Yeah, and that was 1963.
Also, the next song that was bigwas a band called Bob Marley
and the Whalers and they had asong called Simmer Down and that
was ska.
It band called Bob Marley andthe Whalers and they had a song
called Simmer Down and that wasScar.
It straightened out, it sloweddown, it slowed down even more
and it became rock steady,became reggae, became dancehall
All of that.
Then the bands like Madness andthe Specials in the two-tone
era of the 80s reinvigoratedthat as well with their own
(16:24):
twists.
So Scar is a lot of music thatwe love and that's really why we
did the tribute in the firstplace, because we played on 2003
, which was the 40th anniversaryof 1963 when my Boy, lollipop,
was released.
So that's why the band wasformed.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Still rocking that podcast with that radio chick,
cheryl Lee.
Let's have it, shall we?
Millie Small, my Boy Lollipop.
And then back to say see you toNicky Bomba from the Melbourne
Scar Orchestra.
My boy lollipop, you make myheart go giddy up.
So when you come to Adelaide wewill hear some covers, some
(17:04):
originals.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yep, mainly originals that reflect that sound and
rhythm.
But towards the end we alwayspay respect to the songs that
move us on.
So the people that want to hearthe classic message, we'll play
those, usually on the encore,so to really kind of say, well,
you're stuck with us so long youlove the music.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
You deserve this one.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
I'm going to ask you one more last quick question.
So, when you're in the showeror driving in your car, or
whenever you get to listen towhatever you want to listen to,
what's on your playlist at themoment?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
It's funny I get asked that question a lot.
When I'm at home I havedifferent CDs.
It's the same five CDs fordifferent moods.
I mean it's either dinner orwaking up in the morning or
getting activated, or when Icome home.
When I come home I have a comehome CD, but most of the time
I'm listening to songs that I'mwriting or recording.
So I have so many differentideas that I'm constantly kind
(18:00):
of working on stuff, becausethis new single has just come
out for the orchestra calledJohn Wayne.
We're in the process now ofrecording our new album.
So I'm in that world of, yeah,and so I'm constantly writing.
So I'm usually on my voice memoon my phone listening and
thinking, okay, we can adaptthat, what's some lyrics for
that and everything.
But when I do listen to musicoutside of that, it's usually
(18:22):
world music.
It's usually music from othercultures, like Ethiopian music
or Nigerian music or music fromthe Congo as well, or even
Gambia or Senegalese, a lot ofAfrican music.
It's really quite inspiring andhas the essence of so many
things that I love, ethiopianespecially.
That for me covers so manydifferent genres with all the
different melodies they have,and I've been there a couple of
(18:44):
times and love it.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Awesome.
Thank you so much for sharing alittle bit of your life and
times with us today, and we'rereally looking forward to
catching up with you when yourband hits Adelaide.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yes, looking forward to it.
See you down the front.
Yay, okay, on the dance floor.
Awesome.
Thank you so much.
I'll let you go for now andI'll see you when you hit our
town.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Bye, Nikki, Bye, You're with Cheryl Lee, that
radio chick.
Thank you so much for joiningme on the Still Rocking it
podcast.
Hope to catch you again nexttime.
Get out when you can supportAussie music and I'll see you
down the front.
That Radio Cheek Cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rocking itpodcast, where we'll have music
news, reviews and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians and artists.
The Melbourne Scar Orchestraare heading our way before they
take off overseas and today wecatch up with Nicky Bomber,
(00:22):
australian musician and singer,songwriter and leader of ARIA
award-winning Melbourne ScarOrchestra.
He's also the frontman of hisband Bomber and the former
drummer and percussionist of theJohn Butler Trio.
To catch up on podcasts fromother favourite artists, simply
go to thatradiochickcomau.
(00:43):
You're with Cheryl Lee and I'dlike to welcome into the Zoom
room today Nicholas Caruana, akaNicky Bomber.
Thanks for joining us today,nicky.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Well, it's my pleasure.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
We are coming to our beautiful town very shortly and
we'll talk about that in alittle while, but maybe we just
go back a little bit before wego forwards.
So you founded the MelbourneScar Orchestra back in 2003, so
you guys are getting on now 21years, yeah, totally hence the
21st anniversary tour.
(01:17):
I think you go between maybe 27to 32 ish musicians at any one
time.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
It depends on what the airfares are at the time and
the accommodation and who'savailable, but it's always kind
of a minimum of like 19 to 20and then depending on budgets
and all that type of thing, yeah, but you know, it's always a
circus on stage nonetheless.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I bet that's a lot of artists to wrangle, so I take
my hat off to you for that.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
No worries, you have to take on the mother duties
many times.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I know what happens on tour.
Is supposed to stay on tour.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
But the saying now was whatever happens on tour
ends up on Facebook, exactly Onsocial media.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
It goes viral.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
How difficult is it?
I mean, the logistics alone areobvious, but the people
management?
Any arguments, any biffo.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well, it's strange because the band was formed out
of a love for the music in thefirst place.
It wasn't sort of like, hey,let's get together and make this
type of music and rule theworld, all that type of thing.
It came together simply as atribute of the genre of music
and you know and rule the world,all that type of thing.
It came together simply as atribute of the genre of ska and
all things related to ska,because ska was the seed really
that formed reggae and all thosetype of things.
(02:32):
So because of that, there is akind of an already a thing of
like the egos are left at thedoor.
And really there hasn't reallybeen a situation where we've had
to ask anyone to leave over.
You know kind of not getting on.
There's been a couple of issues.
(02:56):
You know we've been overseasand just really from you know
tiredness, but nothing, nothinglike I've actually experienced
in any of the other bands thathave had less members.
So from a people managementperspective, I think this is a
real beautiful understandingwith the band that people get
that something like this doesn'twork on paper.
Understanding with the bandthat people get that something
like this doesn't work on paper.
So for it to actually have had21 years and two ARIA awards and
world tours, there has to besomething that's beyond that.
There's a chemistry and aspirit thing that needs to be
honoured, which we all do.
(03:17):
We all get it.
It's like a theatre show.
Everyone has a character toplay.
We all synergise and cometogether on stage and make it
really work.
As far as like day-to-daylogistics, thankfully we have a
tour manager now that has beenin the band for quite a number
of years.
He's also a member of the band,so he understands the
intricacies of all the differentmembers who flies from where A
(03:40):
lot of us are still teaching andworking other occupations.
So all those things.
There's flights, there's groundtransport, there's
accommodation, there's dietaryrequirements.
You know who has to bringcertain instruments and
everything, and it has taken anumber of years to get it right.
But now we've got a really goodteam a good agent, a good tour
manager, a good publicist and asa band leader, you know you
(04:02):
have to kind of keep things youknow fresh, to be on top of the
game.
So it's a well-oiled machine.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
now that is no mean feat, as we say Over 20 years
performing together.
It's great to hear that.
You know you guys are there forthe love and the passion of the
music.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Therefore, get along so beautifully.
It's certainly not a financialventure.
When you've got that manypeople in the band.
You're not going to be payingoff your mortgage playing in
this band.
Yeah, you are listening toStill Rocking it.
The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Well, here's something I didn't know.
Nicky Bomber did an album in2005 with show favourite Joe
Camilleri called Limestone, andhere's a great track from it
Hypocrite.
Back to speak more to Nicky.
After this, hypocrite, wherewill you run now?
Hypocrite, you are finishing upa really, really extensive tour
(05:03):
and you saved the best tilllast.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yes, we have.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
You're coming to Adelaide the Outlaws and Off
Beats tour.
I think it's your very lastdate.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
As far as the tour is concerned.
After that we're going straightto Mexico and then, you know,
doing a lot of gigs overseas andbits and pieces.
So as far as the Australian legis concerned, yes, adelaide is
the last date of that tour andit's been an amazingly
successful tour.
It's been great.
Adelaide is a little slow inticket sales, I have to say, so
we need a bit of a kick up thebum there for that.
But I'm sure you'll comethrough.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Adelaide is famous for being late with their ticket
sales and buying them all atthe last minute.
We're very naughty, we're verylate, but we always get there in
the end.
So, adelaideans, get onto thewebsite.
We are Saturday, the 19th, atour Hindley Street Musical Great
venue.
Have you played there before?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Never First time for me.
We always.
You know the Gov, or I mean.
Adelaide was the first time Iever toured interstate when I
was like 14 years old and thenwhen I had a bank with the Truth
, it was the first place that weever played, at the Cargo Club
years ago.
It is a special place to get toand a lot of friends there
longtime friends and one of thesingers is from Adelaide as well
(06:16):
originally, so she's hoping toget a hometown crowd in, but
never played that venue before,so looking forward to that.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
It is played that venue before, so looking forward
to that.
It is a little bit new, it'sbeen renovated and given a bit
of a facelift and now it isbeautiful.
I think you will love it here.
I am thinking you're going toget a rest but no rest for the
wicked.
When you finished here, you'reoff overseas for a while yep,
we're going to go to mexico.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
we played there last year and didn't realize how
popular we were there and theyinvited us back this year to do
a whole run of gigs.
One particular gig there's like10,000, 15,000 people and we're
going to be playing it, so it'sgreat.
You know, it's a privilege tobe asked.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Do you guys ever sleep?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
If you see the performance, there's two hours
of non-stop activity.
So we've been doing this a longtime and you know that you have
to get your sleep in and goodfood and everything.
I mean I think we're allprobably past the young date
where you could stay up till youknow five o'clock in the
morning and have two hours sleepand be up and at it.
So it's actually quite funny.
(07:15):
Before the gig sometimes we'redoing yoga, sipping cups of tea
and everything.
It's like free rock and roll,isn't it?
Speaker 1 (07:21):
So no fireballs and Jager bombs on your rider, Ben.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
No, I'd say what the rider is.
It's coconut water, a couple ofbottles of wine, a minimal
amount of beer.
You know, just pretend, Not abig idea.
Orange juice, cranberry juice,ginger beer, Red Bull, and we've
just introduced a juicer so wecan get some fresh juices and
have that type of thing.
Yeah, it's not that rock androll.
We did that in the early days.
(07:47):
You know, We've got stories totell, don't worry Exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And I was going to congratulate you.
You mentioned your second album, sierra Kilo Alpha, and you did
a national tour to support itwon the Ari Award that year for
the best world music album.
Congratulations, that's correct, your follow-up.
I find this really interestingalbum, saturn Returns, you
released on a rocket-shaped USBdrive.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I'll get one for you to show you what it looks like
Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
No record.
Did you have it on vinyl or CD?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
What happened?
We recorded Sierra, kilo, alphaand we were so prolific that we
actually wrote enough songs fortwo albums and it was a great,
great time to kind of gettogether.
And we're a very creative band.
There are amazing musicianswithin the band.
We're very lucky to have thecaliber of musicians that we
have.
Just for something different,you know, like instead of just
doing another album straightaway, because there's a lot of
(08:44):
cost involved in putting vinyland all the artwork and
everything.
So we thought, well, we'll justdo something like this.
You know, and people still buyit, which is, you know, it's a
cool little thing.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I love that it's not available on CD or vinyl.
So cool yeah, you're ahead ofyour time.
Still rocking that podcast withthat radio chick, cheryl Lee,
special thing from the SierraKilo Alpha album.
And then back to speak somemore to founding member, drummer
and band leader of theMelbourne Scar Orchestra.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
You know you've got that special thing.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
I really, really love this concept as well.
You announced in 2018 that youwould release one song every
week, every Friday, so it wascalled 52 Fridays for a whole
year.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
One year of a scar, that's right.
That was madness, honestly Likeit started off really good.
It started off like yeah, wecan do this.
You know, head of the game, andat the time we kind of had a
budget Six months in we'd blownthe budget.
So time we kind of had a budgetsix months in, we'd blow the
budget, so we had kind of had togo what are we going to do now?
And so I set up a little studioin Collingwood specifically to
do this.
The rest of the album at thestart we had a bit of catering
(09:59):
is involved.
You know it was a bit like oh,this will be fine.
By the end of it it was likeyou know, three o'clock in the
morning, one dollar coffees from7-eleven, you, you know, late
night, souvlakis and everything,kebabs.
But we did it.
Of course we won an ARIA forthat as well too.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Congratulations.
It was for the Best World MusicAlbum in 2019.
What a concept, what a thing totake on, and congratulations
for making it.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
It was a military operation, but it was actually
when we finished as much hardwork as it was, we all kind of
went back and go.
Can we do something like thatagain?
It was a really beautifuldedication to creativity.
Any ideas were welcome.
I was very proud of that, youknow, and I still am.
It still sells very well, thatCD.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
It's a beautiful thing.
You should be very proud of it,and everybody involved as well.
It's fabulous.
Yeah, do it again.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Once a month or something about that.
It really is crazy.
But I mean I think it should besome kind of achievement,
guinness book of records orsomething that must be some sort
of triumphant record.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I reckon you are from a very talented musical bunch
of siblings.
Where did you guys get all thistalent from?
Were your parents musical?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
I think I mean you're gonna have a natural kind of
connection to it.
I think you know my father was.
He wasn't a musician as suchbut he loved music and he
encouraged music in thehousehold.
We used to have like a littlefamily dance band, bit like the
jackson five of the maltesecommunity or you know, the
partridge family.
So we were always kind of, mostweekends we were playing it was
a maltese engagement or weddingor a ball or something and we
(11:30):
didn't think anything of it.
At the age of 10 or 11, I wasdoing a little floor show
singing, even though I wasplaying drums.
I had to get out and do alittle floor show singing my
Ding-a-ling by Chuck Berry,which was very cute I mean, you
probably wouldn't get away withit these days and he didn't
think anything of it, he justdid it.
Dad was kind of the manager.
He used to sing all the Maltesesongs as well and when he was
(11:50):
70, I recorded all of thetraditional Maltese songs.
So I would have a legacy forhim in the past.
So I think you know theencouragement of dad, the love
for the music.
It was an environment thatwelcomed.
I mean I pinpoint, I was born inMalta, but the Maltese
community in Australia was veryactive in celebrating whatever
you did, whether it was, youknow, good at sports or good at
(12:12):
you know.
And obviously with the musicthing it was encouraged, you
know, and we had a lot ofguidance and good energy around
us, you know so.
But for us it was kind ofsecond nature, it's kind of what
we did, you know, yeah.
And then when we got older, itwas like, I mean, at 16, I
remember thinking, am I going todo this for my living now?
Or, you know, I was intoelectronics at the time, I was
(12:32):
going to get an electronicsengineer and no, it was like,
well, let's try it.
And then ended up at 16, I leftschool and did year 11 by
correspondence, and did my firsttour.
And you haven't looked backsince.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
It really was a family affair, Although you had
an interest in electronics.
Really, there was never anyother plan B.
This is what you were going todo.
This is your passion.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It was either this electronics or a park ranger.
As a result, I live in thecountry now.
I live in the hills of Victoria.
I have a recording studio, soyou have to kind of be
electronically minded to runthese things.
Anyway, you are listening toStill Rocking it, the podcast
with Cheryl Lee.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Instead of my Ding-a-ling by Chuck Berry,
let's have a little bit ofJohnny Be Good by Chuck Berry,
and then back to speak some moreto Nicky, deep down in
Louisiana, close to New Orleans,way back up in the woods among
the evergreens For theuninitiated.
Perhaps you could just quicklywrap up what ska music is Sure,
sure.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Early Jamaica and the West Indian, the Caribbean
especially.
There was a type of musiccalled mento and calypso.
In Jamaica specifically, mentowas the folk music Around the
late 50s, early 60s.
What was huge in Jamaica formost of the common people you
can say most of the folk thatcouldn't go into the highfalutin
(13:50):
clubs in Kingston like theHilton and everything which had
musicians playing for thetourists.
They had this thing called asound system.
Now a sound system is basicallya massive stereo system.
At first it started off in thebackyards, then it became into
the lawns and then it becameinto the dance halls and
everything, and pretty much onany weekend.
Sometimes they were so closeyou could actually hear the
(14:11):
sound systems with each other.
But the goal was to have theloudest, cleanest sound system
and they also sold alcohol andfood and they had tickets to get
in.
It was quite a lucrative affairfor people that ran the sound
systems.
The sound systems used to playmusic from the States mainly,
and usually it was likeex-servicemen that would be or
(14:32):
tourists that would bringrecords.
After a while this type ofmusic in the States dried up.
You know people didn't wantthat type of music so you
couldn't get those recordsanymore and it was around the
time of Jamaican Independence,1962.
So they said, look, you know welove this type of music but we
can't get it anymore, why don'twe just make it ourselves?
But they wanted to makesomething different.
A classic R&B tune at the timewould be, like you know, very
(14:59):
simple 12-bar blue vibe.
You know it used to swing.
So the Jamaicans had theirmento music which was heavy on
the back beat of the four.
So you have one, two, three,four.
One, two, three, four, whichwas in relation to their sugar
cane One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four when theyused to be on the boats One,
two, three, he, one, two.
(15:19):
So it was all connected to thatbig upbeat when they had.
They added this, this upbeat,and that's basically how Ska
started and it was playedprimarily, or sorry, initially,
by the horns.
There was a band called theScatterlights and so that
(15:40):
backbeat would have been on thehorn section.
Some of the first songs thatwere ever recorded of Jamaican
singers playing on an R&B rhythmwith that backbeat, and the
classic song is my Boy Lollipop,yes, my boy lollipop.
That is a classic Jamaicanswing ska.
(16:02):
Yeah, and that was 1963.
Also, the next song that was bigwas a band called Bob Marley
and the Whalers and they had asong called Simmer Down and that
was ska.
It band called Bob Marley andthe Whalers and they had a song
called Simmer Down and that wasScar.
It straightened out, it sloweddown, it slowed down even more
and it became rock steady,became reggae, became dancehall
All of that.
Then the bands like Madness andthe Specials in the two-tone
era of the 80s reinvigoratedthat as well with their own
(16:24):
twists.
So Scar is a lot of music thatwe love and that's really why we
did the tribute in the firstplace, because we played on 2003
, which was the 40th anniversaryof 1963 when my Boy, lollipop,
was released.
So that's why the band wasformed.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Still rocking that podcast with that radio chick,
cheryl Lee.
Let's have it, shall we?
Millie Small, my Boy Lollipop.
And then back to say see you toNicky Bomba from the Melbourne
Scar Orchestra.
My boy lollipop, you make myheart go giddy up.
So when you come to Adelaide wewill hear some covers, some
(17:04):
originals.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yep, mainly originals that reflect that sound and
rhythm.
But towards the end we alwayspay respect to the songs that
move us on.
So the people that want to hearthe classic message, we'll play
those, usually on the encore,so to really kind of say, well,
you're stuck with us so long youlove the music.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
You deserve this one.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
I'm going to ask you one more last quick question.
So, when you're in the showeror driving in your car, or
whenever you get to listen towhatever you want to listen to,
what's on your playlist at themoment?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
It's funny I get asked that question a lot.
When I'm at home I havedifferent CDs.
It's the same five CDs fordifferent moods.
I mean it's either dinner orwaking up in the morning or
getting activated, or when Icome home.
When I come home I have a comehome CD, but most of the time
I'm listening to songs that I'mwriting or recording.
So I have so many differentideas that I'm constantly kind
(18:00):
of working on stuff, becausethis new single has just come
out for the orchestra calledJohn Wayne.
We're in the process now ofrecording our new album.
So I'm in that world of, yeah,and so I'm constantly writing.
So I'm usually on my voice memoon my phone listening and
thinking, okay, we can adaptthat, what's some lyrics for
that and everything.
But when I do listen to musicoutside of that, it's usually
(18:22):
world music.
It's usually music from othercultures, like Ethiopian music
or Nigerian music or music fromthe Congo as well, or even
Gambia or Senegalese, a lot ofAfrican music.
It's really quite inspiring andhas the essence of so many
things that I love, ethiopianespecially.
That for me covers so manydifferent genres with all the
different melodies they have,and I've been there a couple of
(18:44):
times and love it.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Awesome.
Thank you so much for sharing alittle bit of your life and
times with us today, and we'rereally looking forward to
catching up with you when yourband hits Adelaide.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yes, looking forward to it.
See you down the front.
Yay, okay, on the dance floor.
Awesome.
Thank you so much.
I'll let you go for now andI'll see you when you hit our
town.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Bye, Nikki, Bye, You're with Cheryl Lee, that
radio chick.
Thank you so much for joiningme on the Still Rocking it
podcast.
Hope to catch you again nexttime.
Get out when you can supportAussie music and I'll see you
down the front.
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