Grabbed by the ghoulies in Lancaster

Caz Matthews and Manchester Ska foundation’s Ska-lloween event While other members of the Scootering team were basking in the delights of Brid, Rik was on the other side of the country having an equally good night’s entertainment up north near Lancaster.

Itrundled up the motorway to a small place and, stupidly, I blindly trusted my shat-nav to lead me there... well, it did to a rough degree. The electronic voice announced ‘You have arrived’ and I found myself parked up by the banks of a canal. To my right was a pub and off in the distance, with no real visible means of getting to it, twinkled Ellel Hall, home to the event for the evening. I wasn’t the only gimp to suffer the gaff of the Garmin, because parked up next to me was the bemused looking bass player of the MSF.

I can see it... I know the place exists... but how the f**k do I get to it? Between us (and asking a couple of giggling locals exiting the pub) we discovered that you had to turn down a track, go over some bridge or other, pass a community footie pitch or two, over a load of speed bumps, ignore the feeling of American Werewolf in London and the tune of Ghost Town in your head, carry straight on and it would lead you to the venue. This we did, and (despite my inner doubter) we arrived. I guessed we were in the right place, as there was a vampire on the door.

The night had been put together by DJ and radio presenter Ska and 80s obsessive, Caz Matthews. She’d chosen the venue carefully. Aware that it was the weekend of Brid, she picked a venue not so big that people would be rattling around likes peas in a drum, but not so small that they were crushed in. Caz has been a champion of MSF (Manchester Ska Foundation) for years and pushes them on her show on Fab Radio International.com. Caz’s show goes out at 5pm every Tuesday and her big, big passions are the 80s, ska and northern. I asked Caz about how she got involved in all this...

“Wow where to start really... Why I wanted to put Skalloween on? I have promoted MCR Ska Foundation since day one of Lee putting his band together. I think they are amazing and have watched them grow and grow over the last seven years. I remember the very first interview I did with Lee back then and since then he has come a long way as the front man of a very successful tribute band and worked very hard to get there. I have DJ’d for them quite a few times over the years in a few different venues, and to be honest I really wanted to get the band up to that neck of the woods after they were on at Modfest, and I was DJ, in Morecambe in the summer, I thought the people of Lancashire needed to see them at their best doing their very own gig.

“So I chose Galgate Village Hall because of where it is situated really. It’s straight off the motorway coming from south or north. Easy access to get to it. We had people from all over... Morecambe, Lancaster, Galgate, Garstang, Manchester, Preston, Cumbria and as far as Glasgow. Bloody fantastic! It was a gamble with it being Halloween as a lot of folk have kids and commitments but there were 150 people in that room all having a great time. Bearing in mind it was an exclusive gig only 150 tickets on sale... FAB-tastic result. The feedback I have received has blown me away. So yep it is definitely

going to be a yearly event. Bring on Ska-lloween 2018 that’s what I say! Me personally, I absolutely love my ska, so I also did it for a bit of selfish reasons. I enjoy dj-ing alongside the band. I start the party, Manchester Ska Foundation blows the roof off with their two sets (of course) and then I end the party. Thereby everyone has the best night ever.”

Caz also has a PX, she’s relatively new to the two wheel setup but is totally enthusiastic about everything in the scene.

Ghost Town goings on in Galgate…

The night started off with a couple of DJ technical issues, but rather than dampening the crowd, everyone joined in the spirit and (as Rudies do) just laughed and took the piss.

Before you knew it Lee Hollister (front man of MSF) had bounced on stage and launched into the first part of their set. The enthusiasm of him, the band and their attitude was infectious. Within nano-seconds the placing was jumping... or should I say stomping?

If you’ve never seen MSF before, go to one of their gigs – they’ve got their own Facebook page and the like. They are a highly competent, authentic act who really do know their stuff and their entertainment level is way up there too. I must lay my cards on the table. I’m not a big fan of tribute bands, but (there’s always a but isn’t there) there is something about a live ska band, you know... the full brass band who work tight together that really kicks. At this point I should also mention that all this is as nothing if the guy controlling the sound desk doesn’t play a huge part too, and the chap with MSF is at the top of his game.

Of course MSF play a fair number of standards, that’s what the crowd wants and expects, but they also manage to throw a couple of their own curve balls in too. None were ever disappointing and the crowd were given scant chance, between one thumping tune and the next, to draw breath. Leaving the audience almost breathless, but baying for more, they exited the stage and Caz took over spinning the delights; by this point the hog roast was in business. What a brilliant idea instead of a burger van. I speak from personal experience when I say that the hog was hot and the hog was good.

Before you knew it, Lee and his cohorts were back on the stage and banging out the beat (quite literally). There repertoire covered everything from Madness to Selecter, Specials, Beat and Desmond Dekker as well as their own take on a couple of more roots based tunes. At the end of the session, they invited a chap on stage as his birthday was that day – it made the night, his night and really, these couple of moments summed up the whole feel of the event, it was a family feel. I know that such homely phrases are used a little too freely these days, but genuinely, this was the case. All too soon, after a couple of encores, MSF had left the stage and Caz concluded the night with a DJ set of a mix from Motown, ska, some northern ‘anthems’ and even a few tracks from Bronski Beat, Fine Young Cannibals and the like.

There were chaps from a few scooter clubs who, either through work, family or other commitments hadn’t been able to do the trek to Brid had opted for Caz’s Galgate do. Caz is already in planning for next year’s event and is also looking round to do some DJing at rallies too. Caz’s events are really worth a nip out to, if you’re after a fun ‘no pressure’ night mix of live bands and discs, a night where you can just kick off your slingbacks and enjoy, then I recommend you get your pals together and head down to one. If you want to know more, check out her Facebook or listen out on Fab Radio International.com