Air Cushion Soul
From: Canberra
Members: Bayley, Ian (b/d) 1994, Bayley, Matthew (d/b) 1994, Cleary, Elizabeth (v), Colston, Douglas (k) ,Davey, Ben (sax) 1994, Evans, Anne (tmb) 1994, Harris, Marisa (sax), Marshall, Steve (g), Pollard, Catherine (tpt)
Demo CD 'Airware' contained tracks Stuck in A minor, Betrayal, Persuasion, The Eight Ball One
History: Based in the otherwise ska-barren capital of Australia, Canberra, ACS sprang from its immediate precursor, Canberra band, The Skalatones, although ACS members have a wealth of ska experience having played in ska bands with histories originating in the mid-1980s. The earliest of those now defunct ska outfits was Brisbane band, The Rude Rabbits, formed in 1985, followed by Canberra bands, F-Troop, The Untouchable and Ska Trek. Having previously been a founding member of The Rude Rabbits, Douglas Colston (organist and songwriter) left the Skalatones in 1993 to follow his dream of creating an all-original ska/soul fusion band, bringing together influences from Stax-label soul and Two-Tone ska with vocals and lyrics supplied by Elizabeth Cleary. The Skalatones brass section of Ben Davey (tenor saxophone), Marisa Harris (alto saxophone), Catherine Pollard (trumpet) and Anne Evans (trombone) joined ACS enmasse and with rhythm supplied by brothers Matthew and Ian Bayley and guitar courtesy of Steve "effects man" Marshall, ACS was ready to play.
In addition to playing headline and support dates around Canberra since May 1994, ACS has appeared at two events, the October 1994 "2nd Annual Australian Ska Festival", held at the Australian National University and tin January 1995, along with a host of bands from around Australia at "Dancecrasher - the Ska event of the decade" in Melbourne. The time after Dancecrasher has been hectic with Doug Smith beginning to MC, Anne leaving to pursue her Doctoral studies, Ben moving to Melbourne to practice law and Matt and Ian departing to follow different projects, leaving ACS with a stripped down brass section, an MC and currently, awaiting a new rhythm section.
From its inception, ACS has been focused on publishing its own material.. To that end, ACS entered the studio in October 1994 to record their debut CD. On 17 February 1995, Airware - ACS's four-track debut was launched and has received favourable local and international reviews. A single song video, Stuck in Am, was released following the launch of Airware. in the near future, ACS will also appear on Dancecrasher '95 - the ska event of the decade - the video chronicle of the Dancecrasher skafestival. Two songs from ACS are expected to feature on the video, The Eight Ball One - "one of the most kick-ass ska instrumental of all time", and Boring Todays ... Endless Tomorrows - to feature on ACS's upcoming CD, The Final Five Hours - a song which exemplifies ACS's reputationn for a sound that is "a cross between The Selector and Madness ... with a whole lot a soul mixed in". The Final Five Hours' soul influenced songs are reminiscent of the earlier works of Georgie Fame (as hears on Live at the Flamingo) and of the car-chase themes penned by Elmer Bernstein, whole film work includes The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven, The Man With The Golden Arm , and just about any movie starring Dan Acroyd, and those of Lalo Schifrin (dirty Harry and a host of other great car-chase movies). With respect to the ska of The Final Five Hours, it fairly pumps! With influences like Bad Manners, Madness and The Specials clearly evident in the ska sounds, the rhythms of The Final Five Hours should be enough to get a corpse up and dancing.
The broad influences at play in ACS's unique sound, the creation of ACS's songwriters, Douglas and Elizabeth, should be clear,though Stax-able soul, the Two-Tone explosion, the beatnik sounds of the '50s and the best music of the '60s, it's all cool music. Douglas counts himself as a follower of Madness' Nutty Sound from the age of twelve, being captivated by the rocksteady rhythms and screaming organ sound of Booker T and the MGs some two years later, while Elizabeth was fairly raised on that blend of music. It's a songwriting partnership that guarantees the trademark Air Cushion Soul sound - the coolness of ska soul fusion.
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