Arts / Get your dancing shoes ready as ska-punks prepare to return north
AN ENERGETIC ska-punk band is set to return to Shetland to perform at Mareel on the ‘Super Saturday’ before the Lerwick Up Helly Aa.
The Hostiles, who hail from Ayr, will bring their punky ska sound to the venue on 25 January.
They will be supported by local “genre-bending” outfit Big Time Quell, who are returning to the live circuit after taking a break for a couple of years.
The Hostiles, complete with two trombone players, previously performed in Shetland in 2016 and 2017, including a slots at Heavy Metal Buffet’s Shetland Rock Festival and ShetFest.
The effervescent group draw influence from American acts like NOFX and they have supported genre heavyweights Reel Big Fish and Less Than Jake, as well as touring the world.
In August they released their latest effort Love and Lacerations, which Discovered Magazine described as “infectious” feel-good music.
Big Time Quell, meanwhile, feature members of other local acts like First Foot Soldiers, Trookers and Giant, and their sound is an “electic fusion of 80s rock, gypsy jazz, ska and synth pop for fans of Ween, Flight of the Conchords, Mr Bungle and Queens Of The Stone Age”.
Their debut as a full band came as they supported The Blockheads at Mareel in 2016, and the group later released their debut EP Greatest Hits.
The release received attention in national magazines such as football bible FourFourTwo, which proclaimed the tongue-in-cheek anthem Back of the Net as the “best Spurs related song since Chas & Dave”.
Shetland Arts’ Super Saturday gig takes place at Mareel on Saturday 25 January at 8.30pm. Tickets are priced at £10, and they can be booked in person, over the phone or online at www.shetlandarts.org.
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