Ska and reggae are currently immensely popular genres of music and demand for such bands is as high as ever. As a result of this, Skamungas was created, pulling together some very talented musicians from across the Home Counties to perform popular ska and reggae songs with a slightly different slant.

Skamungas take you on a musical jaunt through the history of ska and reggae, from 60s Caribbean artists such as Desmond Dekker, Toots and the Maytals, Max Romeo and Jimmy Cliff, through the 70s with Dave and Ansell Collins and 80s bands such as The Selecter, Madness, The Specials, Bad Manners, to the 90s and Reel Big Fish and more recently, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra and Paolo Nutini. Further, the band is taking classic pop and rock songs and feeding them through the Skamungas machine to be performed as though they were always intended as ska/reggae numbers. Their ska rendition of “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison is a particular favourite as a well as “These Boots Were Made for Walking”, yes, the Nancy Sinatra song!

The band was pulled together in the early months of 2017, had its inaugural gig in April of that year, headlined Astonbury 2017, their first festival, has since headlined Live In The Park 2018 in Aylesbury in front of 10,000+ people and was selected from amongst hundreds of bands to play PennFest July 2018 on the bill with the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, Feeder and The Manic Street Preachers. A second headlining slot at Astonbury quickly followed in the Summer of 2019. Gigging intensively up to March 2020, and then…the pandemic.

They took off again in 2021/22 and have a busy schedule going forward having already undertaken trips well beyond their hinterland…including  a brilliant trip to Bognor on the South Coast and just recently the immensely popular Retrofest in Newbury.  In 2023 they are already booked to headline Astonbury festival in Aston Clinton and Fleurfest near Abingdon.

They have a terrific brass section consisting of trombone and tenor sax, driving drums and bass, rhythmic guitar and keyboards, harmonized vocals to die for. The band is set to achieve great things and this has been underlined by the significantly large number of booking enquiries they are receiving from an ever widening area.

Book your ticket in advance to avoid any disappointment!