The Skaville UK story begins in September 2006 when four restless musicians decided to get together, have some fun rehersing, then go into a studio and record some of the songs they had been writing. Those musicians were...Nick Welsh of Bad Manners, Busters Allstars, The Selecter (vocals/bass), Louis Alphonso, the Original guitarist in Bad Manners, Martin Stewart, original Keyboardist in Bad Manners, double Grammy Winner Al Fletcher (drums).
Skaville UK are basically a very good UK Ska super-group, who play a lot of gigs, have fun and generally drag some of their friends into the frey like poor Rhoda Dakar, and Jenny Belle-Star to supply guest vocals... and their old fat friend Moon Ska's Fatty Lol to release the record!
Nick Welsh (vocals/bass)
Nick has written, played and produced with artists like Bad Manners, Busters Allstars, The Selecter, Selecter Acoustic, Prince Buster, Dave Barker, King Hammond, Laurel Aitken, Judge Dread, Rico Rodriguez, Rhoda Dakar and is the producer of the debut Skaville UK CD "1973". Other projects have included Big 5 a Ska-Punk hybrid with vocalist Jennie Matthias (Belle Stars) as well as co-writing the hit single "This is Ska" with Longsy D.
He also writes music for T.V. (The Osbournes, Malcolm in the Middle), computer games (Smackdown versus Raw 2006, Day of Reckoning 2) and the big screen (Domino, The Magic Roundabout). In 2002 Nick won a Grammy award for his work on the Lee "Scratch" Perry album "Jamaican ET" and was the MD on the live DVD "The Ultimate Alien". He was also a member of the all star acoustic show "3 Men & Black". Nick is a lifelong West Bromich Albion fan.
Louis Alphonso (vocals/guitar)
The John Le Mesurier of Ska. Original guitarist in Bad Manners (voted Channel Four's 1980's best selling band), co-wrote (along with Martin stewart) all the bands biggest hits including "Lip Up Fatty", "Special Brew", "Lorraine", "Walking in the Sunshine" and "Just a Feeling". As well as 12 hit singles Bad Manners also had 4 chart albums the debut "Ska 'n' B", "Loonie Tunes", "Gosh its!" and "Forging Ahead". The band also charted with the compilation "The Height of Bad Manners". Louis also played with Lee "Scratch" Perry, Judge Dread and played on Mr "Double Barrel" Dave Barker's album "Kingston Affair". He is the co-vocalist in Skaville UK and on the bands new CD sings two songs "Suicide" & "Sussed to the dust".Louis supports The Arsenal.
Martin Stewart (Keyboards)
Original Keyboardist in Bad Manners. He was the featured instrument on the band's biggest hit "Can Can", Which he performed in front of the Pope at the San Remo festival in 1981. While in Bad Manners (with Louis), he appeared in the film "Dance Craze" alongside The Specials and Madness, as well as making countless memorable performances on shows like Top of the Pops and Tiswas. Bad Manners spent over 200 weeks in the UK charts. He was a member of the band Big 5 alongside Nick. Martin has also played with Prince Buster, Dave Barker, and the late great Laurel Aitken. Martin has contributed a new instrumental to the "1973" CD "Martins Magic Box". Mr Stewart pretends to have a passing interest in football.
Al Fletcher (drums)
1 Band - 2 Grammy winners! Al also won a Grammy for the Lee "Scratch" Perry Album "Jamaican ET" and played on the follow up "Alien Starman". He has also drummed on The Selecter album "Cruel Brittania" & all 3 volumes of "The Trojan Songbook" . Al played many concerts for Reggae legends Laurel Aitken & Dave Barker and for the Two Tone Collective, a Ska supergroup featuring members of The Specials, The Beat & The Selecter. Recently Al played on the 3 Men & Black CD "Acoustic" Al has no interest in football (he is middle class!)
Special Guest Rhoda Dakar began her career with the 2-Tone movement, as lead vocalist with all-female band The Bodysnatchers. She went on to guest with The Specials, both live and on record. A later incarnation of Special AKA recorded the "In The Studio" album, from which came the acclaimed 1984 Top Ten single "Free Nelson Mandela"...the song that really woke up the British pysche to the problems occurring in South Africa at the time.
