From the
warm beaches of San Diego, The Combos are a fresh, new band of ska fanatics.
Starting in early 2012, these cats come from a slew of other ska bands, like 2000
Tons of TNT, Squirrel Plague, The Demeanors, The Deadbeat Babies, The Amalgamated
and The Mayors of Sexytown, to form this conglomeration of a groovy ska project
with punk-filled energy. For a new band, they have the ability to capture the
hearts of rudies and punks alike. For a band with merely a Facebook page and a
bunch of Youtube videos, they really pull you in and leave you intrigued.
When I
arrived at the Yucca Tap Room to catch The Combos at Phoenix Ska Punk Bowling,
they were setting up. It wasn’t very packed but there was much going on with
Ska Punk Bowling alone. After floating around and greeting some ska f(r)iends,
The Combos did their sound check before starting. Right off the bat, they had
us grooving to their smooth rhythms. Their guitarist from Ottly Mercer, another ska band from San Diego, and keyboardist Shane Gocke bounced
back and forth between rhythm and solo. More prominent to me was the strong
rhythm of Shane as well as the jazzy solos of their guitarist. Their
drummer, Jeremy Garcia, stood out from many others by driving the band and crowd as well as
leading on vocals. At one point, Tim Normand, their saxophonist, went off on a solo while his
band mates encouraged him to throw down harder, much to everyone’s delight. Scotty Inumerable, their bassist from 2000 Tons of TNT (San Diego reggae/garage), as well, walked all over the fret board to really get folks
skanking. Overall, for a newer ska band, I was really impressed with how
outstanding they play together, especially with some of the members playing in
other projects, one of whom was playing with them live for the first time. Look
out for these guys as they take off and return to Arizona.
~Garyn Klasek
