The Magnetics

This new project was born from the passion for Jamaican rhythms, SKA records of the 60s, the Rocksteady and Vintage Regga,  by Mr. Olly Riva and Mr. Massa of Shandon.  Other members of the band are Mr. Jack Gaialone (The Soulrockets) and Mr. Dimitri Pugliese (The Raggavibes). A group of 5 musicians, lovers of upbeat, original songs, a touch of teatrality and tons of experience…The show is guaranteed!!!

 track-list ; BABY COME ON ** MONEY MONEY (sing.) ** CRY TO ME ** PUT YOUR GUN DOWN ** HEY MARY ** FIX IT ** DR MARTENS ** CANDY MAN ** KING KONG GIRL ** MY OH MY ** DARK SHADOW  ** NEL BLU DIPINTO DI BLU (VOLARE)                                                                                                                 

Ska (or blue-beat) marked the uprising of popular Jamaican music and gained the biggest popularity during the first half of the 60s. It also was the precursor of other important genres like  rocksteady and  reggae, and like them, it was characterized by the rhythm with dynamics on upbeat bar. English impact of the 70s was fundamental for it, since it gave cultural connotation to exotic rhythm, and apart from it, giving birth to rude boys, skinheads and mods.

The fascinating Italian approach into Ska has started during the second half of the 80s, even if it was often spoiled with punk, when many previously underground bands from Lombardia-Piemonte axis started to gain national resonance: Bluebeaters, Statuto,  Matrioska, Casinò Royale, Persiana Jones, Shandon etc.

 With time and inflation of bands of this time, coupled by mistake one to another even without having chronological and stylistic requirements, and inflation of hybrid music called like this even if for real it was not so, the genre has weakened, deflated, imploded, even if a hard core of musicians still continued to work in the shadows and with a good personal following.

During the last 10 years the rhythms of Italian Ska, previously mostly 2-tone ska with its derivatives like ska-core and ska-punk, have been abandoned, and now they turn to the origins of traditional Jamaican ska.

THE MAGNETICS. Finally, today something starts to move. Moreover, this something has a very high level. Leaving behind the naivety of the past, now a new generation of upbeat musicians appears in the Italian scene. They are technically skilled musicians whose main references are old Jamaica and New York scene of the last 20 years.

THE MAGNETICS have a lot of upbeat up and a lot of quality material to be listened. It is for sure early to talk about the rebirth of SKA, mainly because there is still a bit of prejudice about public and venues that comes from the ’90, but bands like THE MAGNETICS, the new band “early reaggae” leaded by Olly Riva and Mr. Massa, could finally give this movement the right “mood”.