Melbourne Ska Orchestra reflects on Bluesfest breakthrough ahead of Brunswick Heads gig

TWO decades after landing their first recording contract at Bluesfest, Melbourne Ska Orchestra is still going strong and looking forward to returning to the Northern Rivers on their new tour.

“There’s a lot of crew up there we’re connected with and we have a lot of friends in the area so it will be great to get back,” the group’s leader Nicky Bomba said.

Bomba, who also played drums and percussion with the John Butler Trio, originally brought the group together in 2003 for what was intended to be a one-off performance at Melbourne’s Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda to celebrate the 40th anniversary of ska – an upbeat genre that originated in Jamaica that blends traditional Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues.

“We had so many people who wanted to be in it that we said, ‘this isn’t going to be a band – it’s going to be an orchestra’,” Bomba said. “We started doing gigs around Melbourne for festivals and in clubs but we were still developing our sound and playing lots of covers.”

It was a performance at Bluesfest in Byron Bay that proved to be the turning point.

“It was our first international-level gig where we really had to step up once we were on that stage with so many other great artists,” Bomba said. “There was a real difference between where we were beforehand and what we did later.

“We actually got a recording contract out of it. One of the A&R (artists and repertoire) guys from one of the labels was there and said we had something special going on. They wanted us to do a test album and we said, ‘no, we write our own songs’. That was 22 years and 11 albums ago.”

Since then, the orchestra has won two ARIA Awards and performed at big international events including the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Glastonbury Festival with a rotating lineup spanning vocals, horns, keyboards, percussion and woodwind.

“There’s 40 people on the books but usually 20 people on the stage – it depends where we are,” Bomba said.

“If you can’t do it someone else who gets it can. You can’t have an ego in this band. You learn pretty early it’s get on or get out.

“We have it down to a fine art but there are still things that happen – someone gets sick, flights get delayed – but we do it all with a smile knowing we are lucky to be in this group in the first place.

“Sometimes we can’t afford flights so we get people from Brisbane down who are part of the team. We even have people overseas.”

The band recently released a deluxe edition of its 2025 album The Ballad of Monte Loco, titled Monte Loco Rides Again. The expanded release features updated versions of tracks from the original album, previously unreleased songs from The Ballad of Monte Loco recording sessions, live recordings from the band’s 2025 tour and honky-tonk piano versions of Melbourne Ska Orchestra favourites.

Bomba said his love of ska comes from the joy and passion it inspires, promising audiences an energetic live show.

“You won’t really have to go to the gym that week because it will be a total workout,” he said.

“Ska is one of the most universal genres in the world. I have had people come up to me and say they hadn’t danced for 40 years but they couldn’t help themselves.

“We’ll just keep doing it until the heart stops beating. We love it.”

Melbourne Ska Orchestra’s Monte Loco Rides Again tour comes to Hotel Brunswick in Brunswick Heads on Friday 18 September.

Tickets are available via Moshtix.