Duff Review: Smoke & Mirrors Sound System featuring Roy Ellis "More Than Unites" & "Dub That Unites" b/w Smoke and Mirrors Sound System featuring Monty Nesmith "Start All Over" & "Dub All Over"

10" color vinyl record (blue, red, and

black)
Jump Up Records/Grover Records
2022

(Review by Steve Shafer)

John Roy and the rotating cast of all-star ska musicians in his Smoke & Mirrors Sound System continue to be on a tear, reliably producing some of the best new ska and reggae music around. The latest proof of this is the stunning double A-sided 10" single that (sort of) reunites two of Symarip's main players, Roy Ellis and Monty Neysmith, both of whom have been releasing their own music as of late.

The magnificently fierce rockers-like cut "More Than Unites" (music: John Roy/lyrics: Tony Devenish of Rebelation UK) features Roy Ellis toasting and Dan Vitale of Bim Skala Bim singing of brother/sisterhood and solidarity in the face of fascism and hate. 

"Don't separate us by our language
For it's the same air that we breathe
No division by color or heritage
Where the skin cuts still it bleeds

For we are all one people
Under one sun and sky
And there is more that unites us
Than divides you and I"

I don't know about you, but in these days of unprecedented selfishness, lust for power, and never-sated greed that threatens to destroy everything (people, nations, the planet), I need as many songs like this as I can get my hands on (I've been listening to a lot of '80s-era Billy Bragg lately, like the Between the Wars and Accident Waiting to Happen EPs).

With "Start All Over" (music: John Roy/lyrics: Monty Neysmith), Neysmith sings--in a terrifically impassioned performance--of surrendering, regrouping, and giving things another go. In this wonderful rocksteady hymn to hope, resilience, and grit, failure is okay if you learn from the experience--and it doesn't defeat you.

"I'm leaving this life behind
I now realize it wasn't all that kind
Today, I see the lights are shining so bright
And it tells me everything is gonna be alright

I'm gonna pick myself up
Dust myself off
And start all over again"

In addition to all of the stellar musicians on these tracks (including Matt Parker, Eric Abbey, Victor Rice, Buford O'Sullivan, and many more), the great Roger Rivas not only worked his keyboard magic here but did the boss mixes and compelling dubs.

Whoever's keeping tally, add this 10" to the list of best new ska and reggae releases of 2022...

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For more about Smoke & Mirrors Sound System, read my reviews of their recent releases:

"Nadie Te Lo Hizo" b/w "El Dia de me Suerte" (Steady Beat)
"Mi Vida Sin Tu Amor" b/w "I'm A Man" (Liquidator)
"Second That Emotion" b/w "Mad World" (Badasonic)

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Bim Skala Bim Tours the US Northeast this Summer, Premieres New Song/Video "Gumbo," plus Screenings of "Chet's Last Call"!

Boston's legendary, US ska pioneers Bim Skala Bim are back for their annual summer tour of the Northeast, with shows in Massachusetts, Maine, and upstate New York--see all the dates below (note all of the amazing ska acts opening for them!). Bim's also promoting the new song and video for "Gumbo," which is a fantastic, New Orleans jazz-infused ska track promoting multiculturalism and racial unity through the simple act of people of all races and backgrounds coming together to share food and companionship: "No us and them/Just me and you/and some tasty stew." See the video below.

Bim's singer Dan Vitale is also bigging up screenings of the music documentary "Chet’s Last Call!: A Story of Rock and Redemption" he co-directed with his brother Ted, which is about the long-gone downtown Boston bar/club of the film's title, run by the now departed Richard “Chet” Rooney (watch the trailer for the film here). In the 1980s, Chet's Last Call was the place (like NYC's CBGBs, Max's Kansas City, etc.) for Boston's underground punk, rock, and ska bands (including Bim Skala Bim, The Bosstones, Dropkick Murphys, The Liz Borden Band, Pajama Slave Dancers, and many more) to do their thing. Screenings of "Chet’s Last Call!: A Story of Rock and Redemption" (some of them with Q and As afterwards) are being offered on July 5th at the Somerville Theater in Somerville, MA; July 22nd at the Wellfleet Harbor Actor's Theater in Wellfleet, MA; August 1st at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, MA and the Once Ballroom in Somerville; and August 2nd at the Record Archives in Rochester, NY (more info on all screenings can be found here).



Bim Skala Bim Summer 2019 Tour Dates!
June 28th Revere, MA @ Oceanside Events Center with Desorden Publico (from Venezuela!)
June 29th Quincy, MA @ Veterans Memorial Stadium (2:30-4:30 pm slot)
June 29th Kingston, MA @ PINZ in Kingston Mass with The Instigators
July 12th Wellfleet, MA @ The Beachcomber with Thumper
July 18th New Bedford, MA @ Vault Music Hall with Void Union, NB Rude Boys
July 19th Portland, ME @ Bayside Bowl with Zeme Libre and Roots, Rhythm and Dub
July 27th Somerville, MA @ Once Ballroom for the New England Ska Summit with Copasetics, Hempsteadys, El Grande, plus special guest Rikki Rocksteady and screening of "Chet's Last Call!: A Story of Rock and Redemption"
Aug 2nd Rochester, NY @ Flour City with Personal Blend and Miggedys Reunion
Aug 3rd Ithaca, NY @ The Haunt with Hub City Stompers and Miggedys

Tickets for any of these shows can be purchased here.

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