HoodSka Explosive

In the summer of 2004, lead singer and bass-player Haggai Zehavi was offered a deal by a friend tattooist – to write him a song in exchange for a tattoo – an offer you can’t refuse! Out of that challenge grew the HoodSka Explosive, and 3 years later the song “Skin Ink in Ska” would be the opener of the band’s 2-cd debut album – “The Misleading”. The song was written. Next, In order to pay for the tattoo, there was a need for a group. 2 friend –musicians Yoav Elkayam (percussions) and Ido blaustein (drums) were also into the idea of playing ska, and the three started gathering musicians who were into playing on a weekly basis - Eyal laserovich (keyboards), Yotam Troim (trumpet), vocalist Gabi Erlich, and a whole bunch of guitarists and sax players who came and went like socks. For nearly a year the band spent it’s time on writing songs and playing old ska hits (mainly by The Skatalites), trying to figure out how to play ska traditionally. Things went on like this, until new arrivals joined the band – Alon "the big and real" Shacham (tenor Sax) and soon after Benny “Benon” Matalon (guitar). Finally the band started taking form. In September 2,005 they were encouraged to go-out on stage by fellow Israeli ska band Los-Caparos, and the 2 bands started playing venues together. Since then the band kept performing and set-out to record it’s first album. Around that time, lead vocalist Gabi left and Haggai, who until then sang backing vocals, stepped in his place. Soon after, Yotam the trumpet-man left, not before recording the songs for the album. The space he left was filled by Nimrod Talmon (trombone), and so the final cast of the band was revealed. The Hoodska Explosive sound is, and apparently will remain, evolving. With Ska as its mother ship, the band set out to research different influences of music in general, (especially umza-umza music!) and combine them into their style - genres such as Rocksteady, Reggae, swing, bebop, Kleizmer, Polka, and classical music. So, In this setting the band stands today, after releasing 20-track debut album, in January 2008. Today the band plays in venues, clubs, and festivals, all over Israel, as-well as it’s weekly basking gig in the Nachlat-Binyamin ‘arts and crafts market’ in Tel-Aviv, every Friday morning. It also plays weddings and events when requested, which works out, because ska is all about happy music! (They do Bar-Mitzvas and Brit-Mila as well). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.