Bomba are an Australian

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

band from

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Led by Maltese-Australian

Nicky Bomba Nicholas Caruana (born 7 September 1963), also known as Nicky Bomba, is an Australian musician and singer-songwriter. He is the leader of the ARIA Award-winning Melbourne Ska Orchestra, frontman of his band, Bomba, as well as the former drumme ...

, they are known for their "energetic live shows and passionate performances". They have released four albums, the latest of which is ''Bomba Vs. Laroz'' (2006).

History

Bomba grew out of the band the Overtones, which formed in 1997. The band's original lineup comprised

on guitar, percussion and vocals; Simon Burke on keyboards; Paul Coyle on trumpet,

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...

, percussion and vocals; Barry Deenick on bass guitar and vocals; Mal Webb on trombone and vocals; Phil Bywater on alto and tenor saxophones and clarinet; and George Servanis on drums, percussion and vocals. In 2000, Bomba released the album ''Population''. Australian music journalist,

Ed Nimmervoll Edward Charles Nimmervoll Eduard Nimmervoll (21 September 194710 October 2014) was an Australian music journalist, author and historian. He worked on rock and pop magazines ''Go-Set'' (1966–1974) and ''Juke Magazine'' (1975–92) both as ...

described the album as "delightfully eclectic, bridging the previously unrelated gap between reggae and big band music". Their second album, ''Solar Plexus'', was released by Transmitter Records in 2002. By about 2003, the band's lineup comprised

on guitar,

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...

, percussion and vocals; his brother Michael Caruana on keyboards, percussion and vocals; Paul Coyle on trumpet,

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

, percussion and vocals; Dorian West on bass guitar, trumpet, flugelhorn, guitar, theremin, percussion and vocals; Pete Mitchell on tenor and baritone saxophone, guitar, percussion and vocals; and George Servanis on drums, percussion and vocals. In 2005, Bomba released their third album, ''Learn to Breathe''.

The band

The current Bomba lineup comprises six members: *Nicky Bomba: guitar, theremin, percussion, vocals *Paul Coyle: trumpet, trombone, flugelhorn, percussion, vocals *Dorian West: bass, trumpet, flugelhorn, guitar, theremin, percussion, vocals *Pete Mitchell: tenor, baritone saxophone, guitar, percussion, vocals *George Servanis: drums, percussion, vocals *Michael Caruana: keyboards, percussion, vocals

History

The band

Discography

Albums

References

External links