Sublime shennaigans with Sunny Coast Rude Boys!

Mick Hughes
Oct 5
2 min read

Well Rude Boys & Rude Girls… me old heart’s still thumping after that one! What a weekend. Hundreds of kilometres on the Bruce Highway – which, let’s be honest, felt less like a highway and more like a car park with palm trees – but worth every beep of the horn.

Friday night: we dragged ourselves down to Surfers Paradise, where the traffic was so bad Tony (our guitar wizard) nearly had to play the gig via Bluetooth. Four hours he was stuck! He screeched into the car park, pork pie hat in one hand, guitar in the other. We practically tuned his guitar while he was still reversing. True commitment.

Before the show, we did a kids’ music workshop at HOTA (well, mainly our trumpet maestro Jimmy did the teaching - he was BRILLIANT) – he taught them trumpet blasts, sax squeaks, trombone slides, and even a bit of singing. These kids were amazing. Proper little ska apprentices. Later that evening, they joined us on stage for a couple of songs and absolutely stole the show. Nothing like watching an 11-year-old on a trombone make you question your own ability as a musician! Big love to Rachael and the HOTA crew for putting it all together. Legends.

Saturday: Up north to a spot called Kia Ora. Sounds fancy, right? It’s basically paradise with craft beer. Sublime Farm & Brewery have put on this great festival – cracking spot, gorgeous stage, friendly crew, and enough camping space to lose your car in. We rocked up to the sweet sounds of 8 Ball Aitken (unreal bluesman), then Groove Cartel were brilliant, they had everyone dancing in the glorious Queensland breeze. Fat Picnic followed – and they were fatter and picnicker than ever. Crowd loved it.

Then it was our turn. Sunny Coast Rude Boys on stage, full pelt, no half measures. Bit of old skool Trojan ska, some 2Tone classics, and then our own surf-ska bangers to finish them off. We closed with our brand new tune Big Night Out, which officially drops October 14th. (You’ve been warned.)