The Big One 10 Full Line Up
Its great to be back!. We’re delight to announce the full line up for The Big One 10
5th, 6th and 7th of November at The Sandford Holiday Park, Dorset.
Three days of great bands and special guests as well as Stalls, Merch, Auctions, Films and even a Tattooist
Day and weekend tickets (without accommodation) are available here
https://www.wegottickets.com/specialized
If you’d like to book or enquire about accommodation you can contact the Sandford Holiday Park Direct. Tickets are included with accommodation bookings.
Sandford 0333 207 6862
HQ no. 0330 123 4986
Email – groupenquiries@parkdean-resorts.com
Come and join us for the 10th Anniversary of The Specialized Project and The Big One Festival
On Friday DUB NATTY SESSIONS Founded in “Caricuao” a small ghetto southeast of Caracas, to revive the sound of DUB and spread the message of PEACE and LOVE. It was the year 2009 and they were the first Dub band in Venezuela.
By the year 2013 the band moved to Manchester, UK where they recorded their first album with none other than DENNIS BOVELL, pioneer and DUB Master of the British reggae scene. This album was mixed and produced by Dennis, who also participated with the lyrics as a special guest.
During the year 2015, the band worked together with Dennis Bovell and PRINCE HAMMER.
In 2016 the band recorded a new album, now in London, this time with Dennis playing the bass and collaborating with other great artists like Michael “Bammi” Rose, Eddie “Tan Tan” Thornton, Henry and Patrick Tenyue, this album was mixed in Ariwa studio by the one and only Mad Professor.
Formed at the end of 2018, Rudebeard specialise in energetic, sweaty, sweary, usually loud & occasionally thoughtful ska- punk, fast ska, slow ska, ska that’s not really ska and one attempted Scottish fitba anthem cos why no?
The Accelerators are a 6 piece ska and reggae band from The South Coast of England.
They play a mix of their own material and classic and choice covers of different styles fused into a ska/reggae/pop/punk fusion.
The aftershow will be with The Inflatables. A dance party of classic Ska covers from they guys that have been doing it since 1980
SONIC BOOM SIX is an explosive and outspoken five-piece described as “taking ska, pop, grime, dubstep, punk and metal apart, then rebuilding them as a hyperactive hybrid” (Kerrang! Magazine). With a live show infamous for “clashing activism and good times”, SB6’s legendary gigs are a party that started in Manchester, UK, with an open-door policy towards all races, genders, ages and orientations. The Boom’s influences include The Specials, The Streets, and The Fugees, and the band signed with Cherry Red Records in early 2016. They dropped The F-Bomb — SB6’s latest album — on 27th May 2016.
Having toured the UK, Europe, and Japan for the last decade (while also managing to release three albums on their own label Rebel Alliance Recordings) the band took time out in 2014 to write The F-Bomb album, and record it with Dan Weller (Enter Shikari, Young Guns), finished with a mix courtesy of Adam Noble (McFly, Kids In Glass Houses). The promo video of the infectious first single ‘No Man No Right’ was premiered on Clash Music in November 2015, and saw SB6 flipping the typical, macho, testosterone-fuelled gig experience on its head, with the lads in the band suffering the same everyday ordeals that your average female stoically tolerates at almost every rock show.
Sonic Boom Six has released 5 studio albums and two full-length compilations with countless singles, EPs and compilation appearances. SB6 has performed headline tours of Europe and Japan as well as slots at festivals including Glastonbury, Download, Sonisphere and the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festival. Sonic Boom Six has written and performed songs that have appeared on BBC Radio 1, Channel 4, BBC 2 (TV), Rock Band and Sims 3 video games and much more. Catch the band’s explosive live show throughout the UK this year.
King Hammond is Grammy award winning musician Nick Welsh, and we’re excited to have King Hammond and his band, The Rude Boy Mafia as Big One regulars.
In a career that spans four decades he has collaborated with some of Reggae and Ska’s most legendary artists including Prince Buster, Laurel ‘Godfather of Ska’ Aitken, and not to mention Judge Dread & Lee Perry which in 2002 led him to win a Grammy award (Best Reggae Album) for his work on Scratch’s “Jamaican ET” album.
Gold Steppers are a new band from London who’ve already built an enormous reputation. Last Christmas the recorded At Christmas (We’re Never Alone) on behalf of TONIC Music for Mental Health and quickly followed up with two great singles Live Better and Oh, That’s Life.
Glasgow based premier ska band Esperanza opened the 2014 Commonwealth Games ceremony performing to in excess of 50,000 people plus a live worldwide TV audience of hundreds of millions. In demand as a festival band they’ve shared stages with some of the biggest names in ska, punk and reggae, including Toots and the Maytals, The Skatalites, Bad Manners, The Beat, The Selecter, Neville Staple, The Undertones, Fishbone. Their second album Back On Hope Street is available now.
Original UK Pop Reggae band The Bighead have been long time Specialized supporters, donating a string of amazing tracks for our themed albums. The Band are led by songwriter Mark Da Costa who started his musical career as a bassist for Mad Professor. Though nothing with Bighead is as the frenzied ska blended with delinquent-filled punk of yore. They tend to flow maturely, with rocksteady and roots reggae, while attire the fashion akin to the two-tone era. I’ve no issue there, through the furious ska thrashings of The Specials, the downtempo Ghost Town is likely cited foremostly, and on the island of origination, the short rocksteady age between ska and reggae was undoubtedly the most creative musical period in Jamaican history.
Chango Munks is a seven-piece multi-cultural band based in Edinburgh. They perform original high-energy Ska-Punk music with global influences. Using the 2020 pandemic to refuel after their debut album in 2019, they are back and stronger than ever. With an even more eclectic and aggressively experimental sound, two singles released already, and a full studio album set for mid-April, The Changos are all set to spread the Chango Revolution post-lockdown.
Big Fat Panda are also from the fair city of Edinburgh. The band was formed by a group of friends who had been playing in various bands on the Ska scene for a number of years until the guys decided they could have more fun playing together rather than apart, so pooling their individual talents and experience the Panda`s were born…Born to skank! Full of fun, but at the same time serious song writers, Big Fat Panda are an exciting live act playing mostly original work and a few un-missable and immediately identifiable classics that not only the hardened Ska music fans will enjoy.
The Decatonics are a fantastic Dorset based ska band full of talented musicians, playing all your skanking favourites.
Maroon Town are a nine piece explosion of ska, rap, dub and dancehall and were formed by two boyhood pals, Deuan German and Rajan Datar, who shared a passion for both classic Jamaican ska and the spirit of the original Jamaican Maroons who fought off slavery and the English occupying army and created their own autonomous township. Their debut single, City Riot, produced by the Specials drummer John Bradbury, was cited by Record Mirror as “an outstanding blend of traditional ska with a poignant lyric… the most innovative single of the year”.
The international world beckoned, taking Maroon Town to all four corners of the globe – Brazil, India, Jamaica, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Venezuela, Argentina and all over Europe. From busking on Barcelona’s metro to performing to 1000’s just months later in the same city. From playing to 50 million viewers on Brazil’s top chat show to jamming with inmates of the high security Kingston prison in Jamaica. From workshops in inner city London to the outer reaches of Kazakhstan … Maroon Town’s politically charged and socially conscious sound delivers a joyous and vital antidote to the world we face today. A band who defy pigeon-holing and are set to reignite venues, the airwaves and sound systems around the globe in 2011 with the release in March of their new album on the Rockers Revolt label. Titled Urban Myths, it comes after an intense spell of recording with some of the brightest and freshest talents in London and is already picking up glowing reviews.
Zen Baseballbat are back refreshed with a more daredevil sound with a mass of reggae dub overtones mixed with New Wave electronic pulses. You’ll notice a vocal clarity that goes well beyond that of the band’s earlier albums. This band will take you through a whole gamut of emotions, lifting you up when you least expect it, at other times provoking anger, sadness, determination and the desire to stand up and be counted, as we enter yet another phase of vilifying the wrong enemy, while the real one who’s out of the public eye gets away scot-free. The new album, titled BETTER WAYS TO LOVE AND OFFEND perfectly highlights the emptiness of the particularly British obsession with price, within a mindset that knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Adorable song brimming with irony, presented through the lens of the unique Gleavey sense of humour. The mocking words represent what is justice to some, deliver poignant messages in tracks about a society
Cartoon Violence are one of the fastest rising talents on the current UK ska scene.
Hailing from the wilds of Mid Wales. The Cartoon Violence sound is an insanely catchy affair that mixes super bouncy 2 tone ska with distinctly British sounding pop & indie stylings. Their songs capture the classic Brit Pop storytelling vibe of the likes of The Kinks, Madness, Squeeze, The Hotknives & Parklife-era Blur, with each tune lyrically being like a mini kitchen sink drama in its own right!
Four years ago, Andy Baker set out on an ambitious undertaking. He wanted to travel the world and record an album with all of his closest friends, and the new friends he met along the way. In the time spent working on the album, Andy’s band grew to 172 members. This January, we finally got to experience Andy B and the World. With The First One, Andy B and the World starts 2021 off with a band. Even though the album was recorded with almost 200 people, it sounds like everyone was part of the same session. It’s really a feat that needs to be heard to believe. The album is just so good. It’s an amazing blend of ska, punk, and folk. What makes this even more amazing is that Andy finished the album in the middle of a global pandemic.
The UK-based Project Blackbird’s four core members are vocalist Ming Nagel (originally from the USA), guitarist Alan Roberts, multi-instrumentalist Jamie Varley, and multi-instrumentalist Jon Read, former trumpet player for The Specials. This “extraordinary” band, as BBC’s Tom Robinson has described them, offers an atmospheric and genre-fluid listening experience that draws equally upon intellect and emotion. “Imagine a party at Ronnie Scott’s,” one fan suggests, “where Sade, Björk, Jeff Beck, and David Byrne meet Portishead and then go for a late night curry to exchange ideas…sublime”.
The band’s second full-length album, If This Is the End, is currently available on CD, double gatefold vinyl, mp3 download, and a variety of streaming platforms. This year they’ll be performing all the songs that Jon and Ming have recorded for our themed albums.
Gigging regularly across Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset and Hampshire, D’Ska Assassins are one of the most popular ska acts in the South & South West. Already confirmed to appear again at the hugely successful Bournemouth Reggae Weekender, they are also headlining at Dorset Fest too. Their infectious, high energy originals are all driven by the band’s powerful rhythm section that is guaranteed to get you skanking from the opening number till the last notes die away.
Riff Raff are a new band led by Aidan Sterling (The Feckin Ejits, The Riffs). Playing a set of new original material
In the Lounge
Dennis Bovell will be joining us for a question and answer session. Dennis is one of the originators of Lover’s Rock and the producer of big hits such as ‘Silly Games’ (Janet Kay) and ‘After Tonight’ with his band Matumbi.
He is also a singer, multi instrumentalist and sound engineer known for his dubs.
Dennis Bovell has earned himself the reputation of being Britain’s reggae maestro, from pioneering early developments in the genre over 20 years ago to producing classic hits. He is renowned as an accomplished multi-instrumentalist (playing guitar, bass and keyboards), sound engineer, composer, band leader and producer and continues to lead the UK scene with innovative and adventurous music.
Born in Barbados in 1953, Dennis Bovell joined his parents in London when he was twelve. Whilst still at school Bovell joined his first band, Road Works Ahead, before forming the group Stonehenge. Influenced by rock steady, this band gave birth to the three-part harmony section that was later to become the trademark of Bovell’s next group, Matumbi, formed in 1970.
Matumbi (meaning ‘reborn’ in Yoruba) were to become Britain’s premier reggae band at a time when the genre was spreading from Jamaica to a wider international audience. After a period backing visiting Jamaican artists such as Pat Kelly and Ken Booth, the band enhanced their reputation further with a string of successful singles. After Tonight, the band’s first hit, is to this day played on continuous rewind in the Revival Hall of Fame and another single, The Man In Me is regarded as a British reggae classic. In 1979 Matumbi reached the UK Top Ten charts with Point of View . Altogether the band made four albums for EMI.
At the same time Bovell was building his formidable reputation as a musician, producer and sound engineer, collaborating with great artists including I Roy, Steel Pulse and Errol Dunkley and Johnny Clarke. After leaving Matumbi, Bovell continued to diversify his musical talents. He produced Janet Kay’s huge hit Silly Games, which reached number two in the UK charts in 1979 and opened his own recording facility Studio 80. Bovell also formed the Dub Band, beginning an enduring partnership with reggae poet Linton Kwesi Johnson which has resulted in classic albums including Forces of Victory (1979), Bass Culture (1980), Tings An’ Times (1991) and LKJ in Dub: Volumes One and Two (1981, 1992). It has also meant tours around the world playing to audiences from South Africa to Sweden, from Japan to Germany.
he 1980s saw Bovell in great demand as a producer, working with bands as diverse as The Slits, Chalice, The Thompson Twins and Bananarama. He re-mixed albums for the great Marvin Gaye as well as Wet Wet Wet and The Boomtown Rats and worked closely with Nigerian Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Other great artists that Bovell has worked with include Alpha Blondy, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Edwin Collins and Pablo Moses.
Bovell has also carved a niche out for himself in the world of television and film. He was the musical director for the film Babylon and for the TV series The Boy Who Won the Pools (ITV). He wrote the theme music for the Channel 4 documentary series The Bandung File and for the BBC 2 programme Rhythms of the World .
Throughout this period Bovell continued his career as a solo artist, releasing a number of albums: A Who Seh Go Deh; Leggo A Fi We Dis; I Wah Dub; Higher Ranking Scientific Dub; Yu Learn; Strictly Dubwise, Brain Damage and Audio Active. His 1993 release Tactics was lauded as ‘assured, polished reggae from a master producer and musician’ (Elle magazine) and featured a wealth of great musicians such as Rico Rodriquez (trombone), Eddie Thornton (trumpet) and Steve Gregory (flute and saxophone). Bovell’s 1997 album Dub of Ages with its 10 inspired tracks continued the dub excursions which began over 25 years ago when Bovell began making exclusive cuts for his sound system Sufferers Hi-Fi. It also heralded Bovell’s 25th year in the music business. To date, Dennis Bovell continues to record, produce and play live all over the world.
Former Simmertones frontman Glyn Wilcox will be appearing in the lounge for an acoustic set. Glynn has been active on the international ska scene for decades and even got to record a duet with Doris Day
The Ten Bob Notes will also be appearing as a three piece and will be debuting material from their new album which is currently in production. I’m told that two of the songs were written by our own Paul Ayriss.
Just a man, with a mans courage…..oh wait, that’s Flash Gordon…..Uncle Phils Pop Quiz has been hugely popular on Saturday mornings so be in the lounge bright and early with your thinking caps on
OFFICIAL BIG ONE 10 MERCHANDISE NOW AVAILABLE TO ORDER
We’re delighted to reveal an exclusive new range of merchandise for the Big One 10 Festival. Designed by Yorkie Art & Design, you can buy The T-Shirt, Hoodie or Tote bag from our webshop now.