One of the bands I grew up with in the very early 1990’s was a Ska Band called King Apparatus. Eventually they disappeared and I only had my great memories of them. Recently I found Chris Murray, the singer online and found out he is living elsewhere.

Recently I came across an ad that he was coming back to Toronto to do a show at the Bovine. I had to go back and relive my youth.

He came on and with just an acoustic guitar and started the show with a song called, “I want to go Home”. The audience was clapping and that bouncy sound that made Ska so much fun came right back to me. He continued with, “Rock Steady”, which was rock steady. Chris added a spooky little number for Halloween called, “Switchblade to Soul”.

Even a song like, “Ex-Darling” is a really fun break up song. He even travelled the globe to do an Ethiopian song that was absolutely solid. What made this evening great was the fact the audience was yelling out song titles and Chris would just play them on the spot. You could feel the connection he has with his audience.

Just as I was gearing up to yell out a King Apparatus song, Chris began to play “Break your Heart” from their debut album. Well, my younger self was satisfied at that moment.

Chris brought a friend along and his name is Matt Groupie. They pulled together a good collection of other great Ska and alternative tunes. The two of them started with the Satellites’ classic, “Real Ska”. They moved into old school territory with the Clash’s, “Janie Jones”.

Personally, I loved his song, “One with Everything”. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to be the Dalia Lama and hooking up with the Universe, or he was ordering a pizza. Right after that he sang about, “Let there be Peace”. Or is that Piece?

“Buckle up”, is a very choppy song that takes you along for a bumpy ride and “Nothing takes the place of you”, is a rare classic from 1967 by Toussaint McCall.

“Michael and Anne is another creepy Halloween song about a murder and storing the body until you can’t store it any longer. I loved the lyrics on that one. It was dark humour in fine form.

The night finished with one of the great Ska songs of all time, “Monkey Man” by the Specials. And it was special. Chris will be back next year, so if you are a King Apparatus fan come out and relive your youth and celebrate all the music Chris has made over the years.

Here are images of Chris and Company:

Coalition 6ix

Opening the evening was a very special band I had only heard of. Their name is Coalition 6ix and boy this is a fun band. That started strong with Bob Marley’s, “Get up, Stand up”. They had the crowd swaying like a bunch of sweet leaf’s blowing in the wind.

They moved into a song called, “The Rise”, which has a distinct Red-Hot Chili Peppers feel to it. The band kept everything consistent with their mid-tempo groove.

They dug a little deeper with “Soul Rebel” and the guitarist who dressed as a skeleton this evening was shaking and rattling his bones as hard as he could. In fact, 4 of the 6 members had a turn as the lead singer, which added a larger dimension to the set.

Earlier this year they dropped a new album called, “Nowhere to run”. You can check it out on Spotify. Nowhere to Run • Coalition 6ix

They finished their set with a perfect Halloween song from Radiohead. What happens when you combine Reggae with a Creep? Well, you are just going to have to go to a Coalition 6ix show and request it.

In between the band we had DJ Selectress Sunshine keeping things Irie man. What a great evening of Reggae and Ska sounds! Stay tuned to Blast Toronto for more news as to where to find the best music in Toronto.

Here is Coalition 6ix in action:

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