The Skints bring their modern reggae back to The Fighting Cock’s ‘Cockpit’

For those of you who have not heard of The Skints, I confess I only became aware of them last month, but I quickly found myself falling in love with the East London group that flawlessly combines ska-punk with a hint of reggae-dub, described by Clash Music as “the torchbearers for modern British reggae music”.

Their recent gig at The Fighting Cocks ‘Cockpit’ in Kingston was 18 months too-long ago: their return sold-out show was on Thursday January 26, and they were welcomed back by an adoring crowd of dreads and snap-backs: obvious lovers of reggae.

The Skints did not disappoint: they did The Specials justice when their perfectly executed a remarkable cover of ‘Ghost Town’: upping the already-grooving crowd’s tempo.

My favourite moment was when the very talented Marcia Richards brought out and played her melodica, whilst performing final song ‘Culture Vulture’.

I had never seen a melodica before: it looks like a flute attached to a mini keyboard, it’s a free-reed instrument,  similar to a harmonica, with a mouth piece, air chamber and keyboard.

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Kudos to the support act: ‘The JB conspiracy’ which played a mixture of ska, reggae, rock and punk and livened up the audience, although admittedly, the leader singer appealed to me more than the music.

The four musicians formed the band in 2007, having met as school friends at Woodbridge High School in north-east London.

Jamie Kyriakides sings vocals and plays drums, Joshua Waters Rudge sings vocals and plays guitar, Jonathan Doyle plays bass and Marcia Richards sings vocals, plays keyboards, alto saxophone, melodica, flute, guitar and sampler.

The Skints set list: Rub-a-dub (done know), Tazer Beam, Mindless, Rat-A-Tat, This Town, Friends & Business, The Forest For The Trees, Up Against the Wall Riddim, Culture Vulture.