Epicureans

Skavoovie and the Epitones' 10-member grooviness

by Don Fluckinger

Sure, taking 10 musicians and two roadies on tour can be a little sticky, like when they're trying to get everyone to agree on pizza toppings. But for the most part, Skavoovie and the Epitones get along just fine.

That's important, because the Boston ska dectet recently put all non-Skavoovie-related activities on hold for a year so they could tour and play; after spending August on the road, they're back and will play the Espresso Bar Saturday night. Putting the energy into expanding their national following means taking a year off college for eight members. It also means that, to save costs, they're renting a house together in Brighton; and when touring, they're crammed together in a converted school bus that trumpet player Jesse Farber calls "slow but comfortable."

"We've been doing this quite awhile," says Farber, one-fifth of Skavoovie's wild and noisy five-piece horn section. "Most of us were high-school friends to start with. It's amazing that 10 people could be their own best friends, but that's really how it is."

When they formed six years ago, their label billed them as the "young ska band," a group of teens skanking it up for the club scene. Once they grew out of that, the group were pigeonholed as a "swing-ska," after they covered Duke Ellington's "Bli-Blip" and Jimmy Liggins' "Drunk" on their most recent album, Ripe.

Eschewing the swing label, Farber and the rest of the band refer to themselves as "modern ska," neither traditional, 2Tone, nor punky Third Wave, which is an artistic statement during a summer when swing's all the rage. It's important to Skavoovie and the Epitones that they don't rehash stuff that's already been done a thousand times. Originality keeps them together, as they creatively modernize old-school ska.

The way Farber explains it, the group take the ska beat and add influences from the same kinds of music that the original Skatalites listened to back in the early and mid '60s: jazz, Latin music, and soul. "But a lot has happened in the jazz world and in Latin music since," Farber says. "We stay in the same families of music where ska music came from, but we're aware of what's happened."

Whatever they call it, Skavoovie and the Epitones put on a happening, musically diverse show that melds youthful energy and precise playing with snazzy horn charts that draw both jazz fans and ska freaks alike. They picked "Bli-Blip," Farber says, not only because of its Ellington pedigree but also because it gives the horns an opportunity to play true five-part harmony. Of course, all this technical stuff is hard to appreciate while frantically shaking your groove thang to the hardcore rhythm.

Initially, they planned to stick to the tenets of the original Jamaican ska groups: play mostly instrumentals, use traditional head-solo-head song structures, and retain a big horn section. Although that describes a lot of what they still do, Skavoovie and the Epitones have moved on to pop sounds, more progressive jazz, and the big change: writing more songs tailored to lead singer Ans Purins's voice. They retain a connection to Boston-area blues guitarist Monster Mike Welch, who -- like Skavoovie -- was billed as a child prodigy and toured the country while in high school. In the spirit of keeping a well-rounded repertoire, the band invited Welch to play on "Drunk," which, by the way, isn't swing; it's jump blues.

Having just penned a bunch of new songs, they'll take a break later this year to record their third album. Then more touring. After that, who knows? They could be on the cusp of the big time. Although, Farber says that they saw firsthand on their tour what they had been hearing earlier in the year from other bands: crowds are dwindling as the newness of the current ska revival wears off.

"Some promoters are starting to go under and are not going to do ska shows anymore, some clubs aren't going to book ska shows, and I know of a few bands that are breaking up."

Still, after having put life on hold to make a go at wider popularity, they retain their optimism about the scene's ability to support them. "This is the test. Now's the time to do it because if we didn't do it now, we might not survive. [Ska is] still on the radio, and there's still a lot of good bands out there. If it becomes a smaller scene, it's not a big deal."

Skavoovie and the Epitones play at 7 p.m., September 5, at the Espresso Bar. Tickets are $8. Call 770-1455.