Preview

Tonight's special Christmas Party features legendary Celtic Ska band and firm Tregaron favouries, Gaz Mayall's Trojans. As well as the inevitable dance marathon show by the band, there will be DJ support, Xmas snacks and a raffle with lots of generous prizes, including a Golden Cruiser that will give the lucky winner entry to every gig of the year! If you haven't done so already click the link below to reserve your tickets now!

The Trojans

The ultimate good time party band, specialising in ska & reggae with a dash of soul, funk, R&B and world roots, The Trojans were formed in late 1986 from the ashes of the premature demise of Gaz's Rebel Blues Rockers whose brief emergence on the London pub/club scene lasted from early 1982 to mid '83. Their debut gig was the Astoria, Charing Cross Road by London's Centre Point on the 23rd December 1986, supporting premier ska band Potato 5 and ska legend Laurel Aitken. Within two and a half years they headlined the same venue with the same acts supporting them!

During their first few years they recorded several albums that were well received on the UK underground circuit, all issued on Gaz's own independent label, Gaz's Rockin' Records, the first being 'Ala-Ska' featuring the classic single 'Gaelic Ska', and launching a whole new genre of Afro-Celtic fusion that has since become a hallmark of The Trojans' sound. Several albums were licensed to Japan from '88 with 'Spirit of Adventure' on Sony records opening up an avenue of succesive tours with mainstream coverage to a large audience where they are still very popular today.

Some original band members are still regular performers with the band including saxophonist Rudy Valentino Jones and drummer Mark Hamilton. The line-up features sax, bagpipes, violin and, somewhat bizarrely, melodica, as well as the regular two guitars, drum, bass and percussion of the regular touring group, with Gaz at centre stage on vocals. The Trojans tour often, mainly in Europe, and do lots of one-off special shows at festivals, clubs, bars and private parties, being popular with the young, old and people of all cultures.

Gaz Mayall

Gaz Mayall DJ's & hosts London's longest running one-nighter every Thursday night at St Moritz club in Wardour St, Soho, where he occasionally plays live with The Trojans. He first began Gaz's Rockin' Blues in July 1980 after a few guest appearances at the Two-Tone club, Oxford Street in 1979.

Eldest son of Blues legend John Mayall, Gaz was raised on a musical diet of R&B and was dragged around every beat, pop, rock festival and live venue throughout the sixties as a child. First becoming a lifelong fan of reggae as a kid on the football terraces in the skinhead era of the late '60's, Gaz began collecting records aged 17, bulk buying cheap reggae and ska collections at street markets such as Portbello Rd and Brick Lane, at a time when it seemed no one wanted them. Also a great fan of boogie woogie, rock&roll, traditional Irish music, funk & world music, Gaz, heavily influenced by family friend, Radio DJ & blues musician Alexis Korner, pursued his love of music in earnest and now has a world famous collection of predominantly black dance music, ranging from the first tribal drum beats to the latest drum & bass.

For the last sixteen years he's been running his own record label Gaz's Rockin' Records producing ska acts and artistes around the world. Fresh back from another tour with the Trojans, 2002 is another busy year.

Review

It was certainly the right decision, to get Gaz Mayall and his marvellous bunch of miscreants and ne'er-do-wells to do the yuletide honours. The band were on fine form, and dished up the requisite brew of Celtic ska and mayhem for a crowd that, perhaps, might have been bigger at any other time of the year ... The monster raffle was a great success, although it took an age to perform, due to the fact that the superannuated buffoon who was running it didn't know it was okay to have winners pick the next ticket out of the hat - it would have saved a heap of time if someone had enlightened the poor old fool on this subtle point of raffle etiquette ...