After The London International Ska Festival 2011 – 5 Questions For Gary Marshall from The Original Hotknives

The Hotknives at the London International Ska Festival 2011, photo: Oliver Lietz

These lads from Brighton have always been an exceptional Ska band. From the early 1980s up to now, what set The Hotknives apart was the sheer quality of their songs. One album after the other they delivered heartfelt, down-to-earth hits without any Ska clichees. The lineup changed, the quality remained. Gary Marshall, Mick Clare, Bosky: All have proved their ability to write classics.

When the original lineup and the present one teamed up for a performance at the London International Ska Festival 2011, there was an incredible lot of excitement all around. Excitement in front of the stage, where the crowd couldn’t wait to sing along to favs like “Don’t Go Away”, “Julie, Julie” and “W.L.N.” And excitement on stage, where three generations of Hotknives were celebrating their music with each other and with the fans.

As numerous youtube videos show, the performance was nothing short of spectacular. A few days later – and still under the impression of the events – I reached out to founding member Gary Marshall with a few questions. If you like to know more about the emotions involved on stage, or want to get some songwriting tips, or ask yourself what comes next, just read on.

1. The performance of your band has been named by many as THE highlight of the London International Ska Festival 2011. Had you expected such a rave reaction? What DID you expect when you started rehearsing?

To be honest I was not sure of the reaction we would get. 20 years is a long time and you do begin to question yourself. I think it was just before I went on stage that I suddenly realised there was an electric atmosphere out there and there was a lot of love for the band. We couldn’t really go wrong with this audience. It was a fantastic feeling walking out on stage again.

We had 3 full rehearsals with the band – I really thought we would need more. However it was decided to play the songs exactly how they were on the albums so everybody turned up knowing exactly what they had to do.

I remember when we agreed to do the gig playing `Live and Skanking` for the first time in many years and trying to play along with “Alcoholic Nightmare”. I just couldn’t keep in time with it and did think my god what have I done! It was a bit like riding a bike though – you don’t forget and it all came flooding back to me.

A magical moment was when all the Original Band members met up and jammed for the first time. I remember us hitting the first few chords of `Crying` with Clem on drums and it sounded great. I knew in those few seconds that everything was going to be alright on the night.

When Mark and Bosky joined us for the next rehearsal it went to another level. Bosky in particular was adding things to the old songs. Mark was driving the songs on Bass as they had never been driven before. We were actually improving on what had been done and I think everyone deep down knew it was special.

Gary Marshall and Mark Carew singing along

2. What, do you think, was the reason for all the emotion surrounding your appearance? Have you got an idea what it is in your music that moves Ska people so much?

Yes it was very emotional and I felt that many times during the gig. It reminded me of a mini `Madstock` – people knew the words to every song which as a performer is very encouraging to say the least lol. It is a fantastic feeling knowing that songs you wrote up to 25 years ago mean something to people. This is where the emotion comes from I suppose – people never thought they would hear these songs performed again by the Original Band and it meant as much to them as it did to us.

I think there may be 2 things that move people in our songs. Firstly we sing about personal experiences-albeit with relationships/drink/drugs/work etc, the way we were brought up and the working class lives we all lived. Most of us come from the same council estate and our `gang` mentality transmitted itself into the music. Yes we all smoked dope with Harry, drank Holsten till we dropped, had our hearts broken at some point, then ended up working on the building site. This was how we were and this is what we sang about. We were for real and people could see this in us and identified with it. This is a lot of what ska is all about-it is music from the streets-music of the working people etc etc.

Secondly and just as important is the `anthemic`nature of the songs. We wanted people to remember choruses and be able to walk down a street humming the tune to our songs after a gig or one listen to the CD. I wrote all my songs on an Acoustic guitar and to me if I couldn’t do the song just with me and guitar then it wasn’t a song at all! Someone said to me after the Clapham gig that we were like the `Oasis` of ska – I took this as a great compliment!

3. From all the cheering and hooraying, is there any reaction that stands out to you? Any situation you don’t want to miss?

It was all great mate. Coming on and singing Holsten Boys in the encore was a highlight for me as it was the first song we ever wrote – I wrote it when I was 19 and it still seemed relevant and captured the moment perfectly. Also the finale of “Don’t Go Away” will be a moment that will stay with me a long time.

Another great thing was having my 2 boys see me play for the first time. My 15 year old said I have gone up one rung in the `cool dad` ladder but not to get too cocky about it. Also having my 17 year old in the mosh pit takes some beating!

4. Kevin Flowerdew (Do The Dog Records) talked on the Festival’s Facebook page about the “travesty that The Hotknives had never become as big as The Specials or Madness”? What stood between you and chart success? Any close encounters?

There was a big resurgence of ska around 88-89 in the UK. Many people wanted it, but unfortunately the music press didn’t! There was an anti Ska feeling about. Then Acid House hit and the rest is history. Maybe if we had been 10 years earlier who knows….

There was a point I think in 89 that we very nearly signed to a major label who loved “Dave and Mary” and “Julie Julie”. There were radio pluggers/big money being touted and all sorts of things going on. However it was not to be. We ended up recording all the songs for “The Way Things Are” in 4 days! I think we split up straight after the launch party for this album.

5. The Hotknives are still a touring and recording band. Are more performances of the Original Hotknives planned? Are you thinking about making more music?

I’ve been talking to Bosky about writing some songs with the current Hotknives and think that will happen. I think I still have one or two `Dont Go Aways` in the locker lol….

As for gigging – next year is the 30th anniversary of the Hotknives so a major European gig is calling for old and new! Germany -maybe Hamburg? A Ska Festival would be a fantastic place to celebrate this!