(copied and pasted from thier website at www.skavenjah.com)

(as told by one who was there)

Rico was on a mission to revive the greatest music on earth. Back then he was just plain old Rick Gelsinger, a third generation Canadian white guy from Regina, Saskatchewan, CANADA, but that didn’t matter, because there would be no stopping him from assuming his rightful place in music history…

It didn’t matter that no one else (it seemed) knew about SKA music. It didn’t matter that he was only a marginally talented keyboard player who couldn’t read music. This was going to happen….

The seventies were not kind to music lovers. They were forced to listen to such popular songs as “Boogie Oogie Oogie”, “The Gambler”, “Love Hurts” and “Kung Fu Fighting”, wondering all the while if life was worth living anymore.

The year was 1980. Rick’s best friend Hugh Dickson lived next door and had just received a bunch of records from his sister, Connie who had just come back from a trip to England. Connie was Hugh’s hip older sister (and she’s still a hottie to this day…). She brought him records from Madness, The Selecter, Bad Manners and The Specials.

Suddenly little Rick’s world had changed. He and Hugh would listen to these records until they were worn out. There was hope, after all!

The years went by really quickly and his dream was put on hold until a cold winter day in 1992, when he received a call from a friend who wanted him to see a band playing in Regina. “Their name is King Apparatus, and they play SKA!” was the message on the phone. All of a sudden Rick remembered his high school days and dashed out to see this band. Suddenly Rick’s world changed again, and there would be no turning back…he was going to revive SKA music!

In July 1992, Rick placed an ad in the local music stores looking for musicians. Within one week Dave Kapp answered the ad. Dave worked with Rick years earlier, but they had lost touch. Dave was a rockabilly/punk/70’s rock fanatic, but he also loved SKA. Dave would play bass and supply the much-needed energy for the band.

Soon others followed. Scot Beaumont was a saxophone player who was a big reggae and traditional SKA fan. He brought in Andre Boehm (already known as Big Jim) to play drums, even though Andre hadn’t played drums for years. He was actually a guitarist, and a real good one.

Dave recruited Sheldon Shawaduckie to play guitar. Sheldon was a blues fan, but figured SKA couldn’t be that hard to do. He was right. Scot became “Ska-T”, and he recruited a friend from work to sing. Devon Brown was a suave, good looking Jamaican dude with a great voice and he loved SKA and reggae.

With this lineup the band decided the name SKAVENJAH would tell people what they did. A little obvious, perhaps, but this was Regina, a place that needed a lot of help in this area, considering that it is well known as the country music and 70’s Rock capital of the world. (You can look it up).

Six weeks later, they would play their first gig at the legendary Channel One in January of 1993. The place was packed! It was filmed for the local cable show “Alternate Trax”. They did all the 2-Tone covers and it was a great night. Rick changed his name to “Rico”. Little known fact—SKAVENJAH’s current lead singer performed with another band that night, and it was their first gig as well! (NOTE: Regina is not a large city) – If you can name that band and you win an entire case of that bands debut CD to use as coasters, or as something festive to hang from the rear view mirror in your car.

Two weeks later, they played their second gig. But it was not just any gig. It was to back up legendary English SKA pioneers Bad Manners! Dave was crapping himself, Rico couldn’t believe it, Ska-T was cool, and Andre and Devon were too young to know what was happening…They met Buster and the band, and it was probably one of the greatest experiences they could have had.

The Start of Many New Members…

Devon decided to move to Vancouver that summer, as Regina was just too cold for his bones. As luck would have it, Rico’s best friend Hugh (remember him?) was recruited to sing. Hugh had never been in a band before, but he knew all of the songs and in two weeks was ready for the band’s next gig.

The band wrote, recorded and released “Put Some Skank in Your Tank” in 1993. It was a cassette recording of 11 originals and a cover of “This is Ska” by Bad Manners. It was recorded at pal Dave Fries’ studio next to a Rainbow Trout farm. It sold a resounding 750 copies and got the band into the international market, which resulted in appearances on a few compilations, such as S.H.A.R.P. and All Skanadian Club. With that release, SKAVENJAH was proclaimed “Canada’s Greatest Ska Band” by Buzz Magazine. (But what did they know?)

The band decided that more horns would help, so they brought in Rick’s friend Wayne Baiton to play trumpet. Wayne hadn’t played for about ten years and was a little rusty, but he was very muscular, and apparently some of the ladies in the audience were into that, so he was in.

Wayne didn’t last too long, as he was too busy teaching massage therapy, riding bulls and rock climbing. Rico was also a massage therapist, but he practiced under the name “Rick”, so as not to confuse people. Wayne would not be the last massage therapist to join SKAVENJAH…

Cam Lockerbie, a jazz trumpet player who was also a jazz whistler, replaced Wayne. Cam helped maintain SKAVENJAH’s average height above 6’, as he was a good 6’3” if he was a foot. For the record, Hugh was 6’1”, Sheldon was 6’, Ska-T was 6’, and Andre (Big Jim) is 6’1”. Dave was 5’10” and Rico was/is a diminutive 5’8”. Still, as bands go, SKAVENJAH was a tall band….

Cam was a source of endless inspiration and challenge for the band. He was very talented, but had many unusual quirks. It was a Cam introduced the concept of harmony to the group, also something that didn’t come naturally. After two years of playing Cam informed the band that he would be leaving for Swift Current, a western Saskatchewan city known for its many churches. Hmm…fitting I guess.

Two guys who had frequented SKAVENJAH’s shows quickly took up the slack in 1994. One was Rob Ruetz, a handsome 6’ trombone player. His good friend Nathan Lowe played trumpet, and within two weeks were ready to play the legendary Lydia’s at Saskatoon. Nathan was only 17 at the time, but took the fancy of the bar owner’s wife (who is also a hottie), and he presented her with his ponytail, fresh from an impromptu hair cutting on stage, a SKAVENJAH tradition.

Prior to the release of All Dressed Up in 1995, Sheldon decided that band life was too much, so he packed it in. Rico decided that he would learn how to play guitar (and still hopes to someday). He brought in his best friend Kendra Smycniuk to play keyboards. Kendra was also a massage therapist (bonus points for those who remembered there would be another) and an accomplished pianist. Kendra added so much spice to the band, her nickname became “Spice Girl”. As it turned out, there was a British group that had a similar name, but SKAVENJAH chose not to sue them. Kendra stayed on for four years, so we’ll move ahead…

Nathan and Rob brought along their good friend Shane Statz, a quiet sax virtuoso, so quiet, in fact, that it took the band three practices to know they had a new member in the group. Shane, as the band found out later, was the founder of the “Da Shiekies”, a local acid jazz group. And not surprisingly Shane would not be the band’s only sax player named Shane.

This lineup stuck for about six months or so, until Rob informed the band that he would be leaving to join the army as a trombone player. He found a worthy replacement in Colin Neufeld. In fact, when asked if Colin would be ok for the band, Rob said that Colin was “ten times better than me”, which was good enough for them. Colin would later be known as “Bullet Chambers”, a name that really makes sense when you get to know him.

Shane had to leave to go to Humber College in Toronto, feeling that Saskatchewan was simply too un-hip for someone of his status, so Shane was replaced by Terry (Bulldog) Quinney. Terry had played in local jazz bands and was intrigued by the simplicity of SKA. Terry was an intense musician whose lightning solos are depicted on “Hard Fall” and “Sublunary Sphere”. After these legendary recording sessions Terry changed his nickname to “Reed Lethal”. Such nicknames became rampant after watching “Boogie Nights” on the road for the 30th time.

About this time the band started recording “Little Monsters” (summer of 1997). They also did a lot of touring, playing all over Western Canada and their sound developed into what the band felt was probably their best ever. This was also a rocky time for the band, as recording sometimes resulted in heated arguments about musical direction. These troubles sparked the end of Terry’s time with the band, as he went to play on a cruise ship and eventually got married to one of the dealers in the ships casino – The lovely Nicola is a constant source of good times and Corona for all of us in the band.

Shane Landry came on board in 1998. Shane was also a friend of the band. Shane was another one of the many amazing horn players from the university ranks. Shane was quiet like the first Shane, and coincidentally, would also go on to Humber College, as that apparently was their only admission requirement for sax players, but he would stay for awhile first.

Nathan left the group in the spring of 1999, having struck up with a local R & B band called “Stepchyle”. He brought along a friend, Chad (Doogie) Taylor, who was a great trumpet and keyboard player. Doogie learned the tunes very quickly, enough to do the now famous Agridome show. (see below) Chad would also not be the only Chad in the band.

After an energetic show at Regina’s Agridome in front of 7000 people, Hugh decided to pack it in. He was given a warm send-off. This show was also memorable because it featured the first father-son combination for SKAVENJAH. Dave’s son played trombone on the band’s signature song, “More”.

A new singer was brought in from local SKA-jazz group Source Unknown. Chad Guy played drums for Source, but figured singing had to be a lot easier on the wrists. Chad was left to pick up the pieces after Hugh left. Chad was only 5 years old when the Specials recorded “Monkey Man”, so an intense SKA education was undertaken under the watchful eye of Rico.

Soon after, Kendra was finished with band life and decided to go her own way in the summer of 1999. She denies that it had anything to do with Chad or Chad. They band wished her well and to this day cry themselves to sleep at night.

Colin, Chad (Doogie), and Shane (Landry) would appear on and off with the band for the next few years, as Stepchyle continued its assault on SKAVENJAH’s lineup. They were replaced by a variety of horn players, including Mike Farmer (trumpet), Rob Reutz (who would re-appear now and then), and a red-headed trumpet player from Moose Jaw named “Al”, but they never bothered to learn his last name, as he only played on one gig.

After the Millenial (1999/2000) New Years show at Lydia’s, Rico dropped the bombshell that he was retiring. He thought that the band would be devastated, but they quickly replaced him with a series of guitarists, who, as it turned out, didn’t know how to play SKA. He was asked to come back and play keyboards for a summer tour, but after one practice, came back to guitar. It would be the last time that Rico would retire from the band.

Ska-T was the next to leave, paring down the original members of the band again in the summer of 2000. He was busy selling high-end stereos and populating the city of Regina with little Ska-Ts.

Later in December of 2000, the band realized that right under their noses was a very talented and, friendly girl who would had been coming to shows for years. She was a friend of Andre’s, and could play sax, keyboards, sing, and dance. Melinda Vieira agreed to join the band in time for the January road trip to Northern Saskatchewan. At the same time, Chad’s friend Kent Magnuson, another ex-Thom Collegiate musician, came on to play trumpet. Kent, like Ska-T, was an audiophile who appreciated the finer things in life. That’s probably why he joined the band, and the timing couldn’t be better.

The band continued writing for their next CD, playing gigs, etc., until Dave announced in September 2001 that he was finished. As another seminal member of SKAVENJAH, this was a bit of a blow. Dave went on to start a rockabilly band called, Los Diablos, with Andre on drums.

Brought on to play bass was yet another friend of Chad’s. Darcy Johnstone was fixture of the Regina music scene, except for the time when he was in L.A. perfecting his technique. Darcy quickly learned the tunes and has begun to leave his mark on the band’s sound.

Oh ya – this just in…Terry, Colin and Doogie are back in full force – tearin’ the roof off of every joint we play and really givin’ us that huge horn sound we love the most!

So there it is…after 10 years, 15 lineup changes and 3 albums later we still skank on…what’s next for Canada’s most beloved SKA band? New album, new songs new shows and the same fun we’ve always had. – stay tuned – the best is yet to come.