Celebrating 10 years of Kingsize

By Dave Collins
Kingsize, trumpet and vocals

We love what we do and are looking forward to the next decade of performing with Kingsize

Leicester band Kingsize are celebrating 10 fun years of performing big-brass, danceable, Jamaican-style ska this month.

Celebrations kicked off with a big birthday sell-out concert at the Y Theatre where they are also released their latest album of original material, 'Passport To Ska'.

Ten years is a long time for a band to be gigging and still looking and sound fresh and fun, so how did it all begin?

After Skaboom, another well loved and successful ska band, had split for a well earned rest, Mark 'IronMark' Pearson, decided he missed playing too much and rang round a few of his old Skaboom mates.

A few more ska-loving muso' friends were added to the mix and Kingsize were born. Their first gig was at the now defunct Royal Mail.

Several hundred gigs later and with pretty much the same line up, Kingsize present a wonderful wall of sound with their awesome five piece brass section (two trumpets, two trombones and a saxophone), tight-knit backline; all mixed together with some astonishing finger flinging guitar work from John 'Juan Halen' Harris.

Add to this their infectious energy on stage, they are a band to be seen and heard by young and young at heart alike.

The future?

We love what we do and are looking forward to the next decade of performing with Kingsize.

One thing that makes it such a pleasure to play in a band like Kingsize is the great mix of people; we've known each other years and have grown together as a group - everyone brings something unique and special to the band and that's priceless.

I remember a gig we did in London, we arrived and started to set up, but Mark's keyboard had been left behind - disaster! Mark went off to find one to use and came back with the crappiest, tiniest keyboard you'd ever seen.

We all creased up when he brought it in. Eventually we managed to borrow a real keyboard from the venue's manager's grandad. We gave the keyboard away as a prize during the gig.

I can't even think of a gig we haven't enjoyed doing; not bad for a decade eh?

See the band

You can catch Kingsize at The Musician on 29 December 2009 or New Year's Eve at The Donkey on Welford Road.

You can find out about our upcoming gigs and more about the band online at kingsize-ska.com