About SKAPA

In the late 80’s, NZ licensing laws prevented the sale of alcohol on Sundays except at restaurants and private clubs. The Londoners’ Club, one of these clubs, several of the original members (Chas Mannell, Hugh Costello, James Heffernan, Craig Chisholm and Matt Beauchamp) used to meet and get their compilation tapes of Ska music played. Someone then suggested that rather than just listening to the tapes, they should form a band and so SKAPA came into existence. At the same time, there was a burgeoning global ska scene with bands like the Busters, Mark Foggo and his Skasters and the Riffs were coming through and there was an influential Ska compilation, “Skank, License to Ska” was out. A lot of the original members knew each other from Rongotai College and St Pats. James Hollings joined the others on trumpet and Mike de Young, friend of a friend came in on guitar. Someone knew Julian Treadwell, the first alto saxophone player. Howard Levarko, another Rongotai old boy, was briefly in the band and later acted as a road manager/sound engineer on some of the early tours. The Londoners club was also host to their first gig and was the original rehearsal space. At the time it was located in the Star Boat club on Wellington’s harbour, before the whole building got moved, several years later. The band had a long association with Brooklyn Northern United Football Club (BNU) and rehearsed as well as playing several gigs there. They also played at National Mutual on the Terrace as Matt, the bass player, worked there. A couple of the BNU gigs of note, first alto saxophone player, Julian’s farewell and an early gig supported by a little known Wellington act, Shihad, who went on to achieve much greater things. The latter gig was a colourful night of mayhem alongside a great gig, sometimes SKAPA attracted an interesting audience. By this time (mid 1989) the band had been joined by Mike Polkinghorne, on alto and baritone saxophones, replacing Julian. Recently arrived from the UK, he had answered and advert in a Cuba Street music store and auditioned in the Star Boat club. 1989 saw the band starting to tour a bit outside their native Wellington. An early tour was to the South Island, visiting Sammy’s in Dunedin, a great venue now sadly not in use. This was a fun gig and the band stayed in Larnach’s castle, the backpacker lodge not the big house. Many of the band went by road there across the Cook’s Straight on the ferry. The tour also took in Christchurch with more luxury accommodation at a local caravan park. On the way down South, waiting for the ferry LtoR Jerry, James, Mike (behind James's hat), Chas, Howard, Jason, Matt, Andrea and Andrew That year Mike de Young left the band to do his OE in Hamilton and was replaced by legendary NZ sound engineer, Mike Gibson. As well as touring, the band played a lot of gigs in Wellington, at the Clarendon (now Molly Malone’s) and Paisley Park, once they saw the queues for Skapa gigs just down the road! One night the band attempted two gigs inthe one night, after a great set at the Clarendon they moved onto round two. This was a party in the old BNZ building, now a shopping mall, but due to the sound engineer being “tired and emotional” the gig failed after a couple of songs. The band had their cheque bounced but were recompensed by a generous barman. SKAPA playing at the Clarendon in Wellington, just prior to the legendary BNZ gig - LtoR Matt, Craig, James, Mike and James Further afield, the band also played at the Gluepot in Auckland at the invitation of the local scooter club. This was one of the larger gigs the band has played at and was a great evening. Continuing the scooter theme they also played at the third National Scooter rally outside Palmerston North. On the way home, some of the band had to act as human car jacks to fix a flat tyre. Skapa had the odd mishap on the road including leaving guitarist Mike Gibson in Taihape after a stop to try and fix another car with a broken radiator. The radiator got fixed by a helpful local welder, it was a Sunday, but Mike, travelling in the back of the Toyota Hiace van in the tarpaulin covered tray, was abandoned by mistake. He got a lift about five minutes later from some friends who were passing through, but the Hiace returned, feeling guilty and then ran out of fuel. This meant an unscheduled overnight in the gumboot town and the best ever excuse for being late to work! The saxophones outside the Gluepot, LtoR Mike and James The band recorded its first EP cassette at Word of Mouth Studios. Tony Parkinson was the engineer and the double A side (basically the same songs on both sides) included “Easy Street”, “It’s your round”, “Ska Polka” and an extended mix of “Easy Street”. The band recorded “Sally Brown” and “Step Lightly” as well, but the great Lauren Aitken and Matt Beauchamp songs didn’t make it onto the EP. The EP was released by Jayrem and the 300 copies made all sold, it’s quite a collector’s item, apparently. 1990 started with the Orientation tour in which the band toured through all the Unis except, ironically, Victoria. The tour started down South in Otago, then Canterbury and Lincoln before the long haul up to Auckland. From there, a great gig with Sticks and Shanty at Waikato, Massey at Palmerston North and Upper Hutt. The band was commissioned to play at the rather disappointing Sesqui celebrations and did actually get paid, making up for the BNZ gig. They also played at an afternoon outdoor gig on Oriental Parade, in the hot sun. In the middle of 1990, Matt and Hugh went to Europe to get married (not to each other, Matt was the groom and Hugh the best man) and a splinter group, called the Skapenters was formed for a one night only gig at the Car Park (Friday 14^th September 1990). Mike Polkinghorne moved to bass and Trudie Ashford (later of Looney Tunes) joined on vocals. The song “Ska Jig” came from this era with James Heffernan on the tin whistle. At the end of the year, the band returned to the Gluepot for a New Year’s Eve gig bringing in 1991. The band went on to do another recording session at Marmalade Studios with Tim Farrant at the controls, recoding “Ska Jig”, “Mr Ed is a Rude Boy” and maybe some others (?). Andrew Lee (aka Hulk) had joined for a little while on the trombone and can be heard on “Ska Jig”. In 1991, the personnel started it’s first major changes. All the horn section left, James Heffernan to the UK, Mike Polkinghorne returning to the UK, James Hollings to focus on different styles of music and journalism. New horns arrived, Ron Douglas (aka Warren Maxwell) took over alto saxophone and during the year Rachel McLaren on tenor Saxophone and Don Holborough on trumpet. Before the latter two joined the Brassholes filled in. From there on the band went on to have different line ups over the years with Hugh, Chas and Craig being the only constants. The band recorded “Suzanne beware of the Devil”, appeared on various compilations, both local and international and even performed on children's TV. The band split in 1996 but in these few years had influenced a whole generation of Ska fans and new bands, including the Offbeats, Looney Tunes, Banana Revolution and many more.

SKAPA images