About Me....
The first Ska show that I went to was in 1989 at the Old Greek theatre in Richmond, Victoria where Melbourne's Strange Tenants were headlining a One Show Only return, also supporting that night were The Boxing Tostados from Ballarat and The Late Notes from Sydney. This was a show that changed my life forever.
I started to hunt around Melbourne for any recordings I could get my hands on and started to build a small collection of singles and albums. A few years later I would meet Tige Taylor (creator of Bovver Boys Ahoy!) who gave me a bundle of old Ska Posters and Flyers.
During the latter half of the 90's I moved to rural Victoria and ended my involvement with the ska scene. Then in 2008 my wife and I moved back to Melbourne and it was great to see that there was still a thriving Ska scene. I spent the next 10 years catching shows where I could and continued to slowly build on my collection of Australian Ska recordings.
It was around 2017 when I was going through my collection of items that I started thinking that this is important history. Not only an important history of Australian Ska music, but an important part of the history of Australian Music and culture. How can I improve this?
I wanted to grow the collection and be able to preserve what I had and anything else that I could find, for no other reason than ensuring it would be kept safe and not discarded as so much of the history has.
I started thinking of ways that I could build on this collection and start to make it meaningful and more encompassing of Australia's Ska history.
I began to reach out to a few people who were involved in bands and the ska scene, to see if I could get some old memorabilia from them to add to the collection. I would always offer to pay as I didn't want to appear as if I was trying to get something for nothing. To my surprise, the majority of those I messaged or spoke to were more than happy to pass on some items to add to the collection. I have been very humbled by the generosity of these individuals who have been very supportive of what I am trying to do. I also wanted to think of a way I could show my appreciation to them for entrusting me with their history that they had held onto and kept safe for all those years.
In the early 90's I was lucky enough to be part of one of the worlds first Madness tribute bands - Mad Not Madness who would later go on to form the nucleus of Area -7
During this time I also published an Australian Ska Zine called Aus-Ska-Lia which ran for a few issues before becoming a newsletter format which ran for about 8 issues. This was run in collaboration with Kane Docker of Rude Bouy Enterprises.
Throughout this period I would randomly pick up flyers from shows and continue to collect vinyl & CD's when I could.
I have since started, and continue to research how
to best preserve different materials and how to store them for long term preservation. This way I can ensure that the items are kept in the best possible condition.
Over the past couple of years I have also been looking at ways to share this history with others. My ultimate goal is to open a museum where people can come in and view all the history in its physical form. I realise that this is some way off being an achievable goal but anyone can win Tattslotto right?
Since the beginning of 2024, I have been working to create a website to give people an opportunity to view the items that are held in the collection. I believe it is important to share this history with others and hope that they get as much enjoyment out of looking through it as I have in building it. The website you are now looking at is my 3rd attempt at getting it to a point that I am happy with. I hope you enjoy it.