The Skam

ORIGINS: Castle Hill, NSW

GENRE: Ska-Punk, Ska

YEARS ACTIVE: 1999-2001

 

MEMBERS:

• Liam Moran - Vocals, Guitar
  
• Dave Holloway - Guitar
• Jono Mifsud - Bass
• Andy Misfud - Keyboard
• Jono Alvarez - Drums
• Glen MacDonald - Trumpet
• Cy Harrild - Trombone
• Shelly - Saxophone
  

RELEASES: 

 

• Self-Titled (2001) - Download Here.
  
• 1. Deep Inside
• 2. Indiana
• 3. Next Door
• 4. Breakdown
  

SUMMARY: The Skam were a ska-punk band that formed while members were in Year 9 at Gilroy College together in Castle Hill. They recorded a demo and played a handful of shows in Sydney before breaking up as members got to the end of high school. Andy and Dave would go on to play in two other ska-related bands together.

 

SHOWS: 

• Green Square, Zetland - 3rd March, 2001

 

ORAL HISTORY:

DAVE: I got an electric guitar when I was in Year 8 and was into bands like Blink 192, Pennywise, NOFX, Suicide Machines, Rancid, Operation Ivy... These were the bands I wanted to play along to. But the bands that originally put the idea into my head of playing guitar and wanting to be in a band (before I was able to get my hands on a guitar) were bands like Nirvana and, closer to home, Silverchair.

Dave Holloway (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

JONO M.: We were all at Gilroy College together. Everyone apart from me was int he same year group (I was one above). It started with Andy and Dave, they were in Year 9 at the time. They would get together and play ska and punk covers. Myself and Liam joined soon after. I played bass and being Andy's brother it was pretty convenient. Liam was also in their year but I think he travelled in different circles to Andy and Dave. Anyway, he joined on vocals. Jono Alveraz also happened to be in their year and we knew him from primary school. He played the drums so we asked him to join... We rehearsed at Dave's sometimes but once Jono joined on drums we would usually practice at my parents' house in Baulkham Hills. The guys on horns came a bit later... we even brought in a saxophonist I was studying with called Shelley for just one gig. She wasn't really in the band but deserves a mention. 

Jono Misfud (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

 

LIAM: I've been singing since I was about 4 years old and have always had an interest in music. I taught myself guitar in my early teens, mostly to accompany my own singing. Dave Holloway and I started playing some stuff together in high school and invited Andy to jam with us and then grabbed some other lads from school. 

Liam Moran (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

DAVE: The Skam started in high school - I think roughly Year 10 - with my friends Andy (a very talented musician who could already play piano and had also picked up guitar) and Liam (who could sing much better than anyone else I knew and had a great ear for music). We were all listening to a bunch of third wave ska bands and pop punk bands and wanted to start a band in the same vein. Andy's older brother Jono played bass and was keen to jam with us. We knew a drummer in our grade also called Jono, who had been playing drums for years (I recalled him playing drums in the school talent quest around Year 4 and absolutely destroying). He was already gigging with his dad's Latin American band. We asked him to play with us and he agreed to it. We had the core of a band but, like most third wave ska bands, we wanted to have horns too. A good friend of ours, Glen, was convinced to learn the trumpet and immediately joined. To fill out the horn section we asked Cy, who played trombone in the school band, to join and he was into it. We also briefly had Shelley on saxophone and she was a friend of Jono's, possibly through a music course he was enrolled in at JMC Academy.

Dave Holloway (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

 

DAVE: We mainly practised in Andy's parents' garage or the living room at my parents' house, probably once every couple of weeks. We started off playing covers of Op Ivy, Suicide Machines, Reel Big Fish, Blink 182, Five Iron Frenzy, The Hippos, and other bands of the genre. Andy wrote a bunch of original songs and taught us all how to play them. At some point Andy moved to keys and Liam played guitar as well as singing. We played at our school a few times for various events with our first show being at a party somewhere, possibly one of Jono's friends' places or a Scout Hall, I can't really recall but I do remember it being absolutely terrible or possibly we didn't even play. Either way, it must have been bad because I've blocked it from my memory.

Dave Holloway (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

JONO M.: The first gig was terrible! We played a party in a community centre with a few other bands. I didn't know the first band but the second band was a metal band from my year called Notion; they were a bit like the Deftones. We didn't all have amps and had to beg another band to use theirs. While we were playing, someone cut the lights for ambience but it was so dark that Dave couldn't play and stopped mid-song! No one was really into it anyway. 

Jono Misfud (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

DAVE: We got our first real gig at Hypefest, at the Masonic ovals skatepark, where we played with The Kirbys and some other local bands. It was a Battle of the Bands and The Kirbys deservedly won it. After we played at school one time, our Vice Principal (and my Math teacher) Mr Hoekstra approached us and said his son Tom and his partner Dianni put on a monthly ska night in the city and he would pass on our recording to them if we wanted to try and play there. At that point we had a shitty tape that was just recorded on a tape deck in a garage at a band practice but it got us a gig at the Tartan Heart Ska Nite Club at the Green Square Hotel.

  Dave Holloway (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

ANDY: We played our first gig at a school lunchtime concert and the Assistant Principal spoke to us afterwards and said his son played similar music and have us his contact. Turned out his son was Tom (AKA Crappy, from Riot City), whose girlfriend at the time (Diani) was the organiser for the Tartan Heart Ska Nite Club at the Green Square. Soon after that we played our first show at the Green Square and that's how we were introduced to the scene.

 

 

DAVE: We were all underage at that first Green Square show and I think we opened the night. We played again with The Kirbys and possibly The Lyrical Madmen. The gig didn't go all that well and I remember a lowlight of the set was our ska rendition of 'Hotel California', fuck it really dragged, ha. A few months later we played at the Green Square again and it went much better.

  Dave Holloway (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

JONO M.: Things got better when we played at the Green Square hotel. They had a punk night once a month, which we opened sometime in March. I remember because it was Mardi Gras weekend... It was one of our best gigs and it opened the door to meeting loads of people in the scene in Sydney. I remember there was some trouble that night, someone got glassed and the place was pretty rough. We were all underage at the time and I reckon the licencing police got involved because we were all carded next time and couldn't get in. I remember going back to speak to the manager about putting on an underage gig in the future but they weren't having a bar of it.

Jono Misfud (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

LIAM: I think we were mostly 17 at the time so it was pretty daunting to be playing in a pub in the city that we normally wouldn't be able to get into, haha. We thought we'd kinda made it though - playing a ska pub in Sydney city was a massive jump and made us think we were the real deal! It was awesome.  

Liam Moran (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

 

JONO M.: We played a few more gigs - one at school and another Battle of the Bands. We were a lot more experienced by that point. The gig at school went great and while we did win the Battle of the Bands, I felt we came close based on the comments from the judges.

Jono Misfud (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

LIAM: There was a band showcase at high school and we played 'Islands' by Suicide Machines. We told them our set had no swearing but we lied. The funny thing was that whoever was on the sound desk tried to turn down the mics and essentially mute the swear words... but they were always too late so it would often be 'fuck' followed by vocal silence as they muted the next couple of words. It was a Catholic school - needless to say, they weren't impressed.

Liam Moran (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

JONO M.: We spent a day in a studio - we all chipped in and recorded two or three songs.

Jono Misfud (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

DAVE: I think it was at the end of 2001 when we recorded a demo at Noisegate Studios in Castle Hill.

  Dave Holloway (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

LIAM: We were all so excited and just wanted to produce a really good little demo and show what we all could do. I remember it being super exciting being in the studio and being able to play around with guitar licks, keyboard solos, and vocal harmonies. We were all handy musicians in our right, especially considering we were so young.  

Liam Moran (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

  

JONO M.: Some of my fondest memories were of how funny Liam was - the guy had so much energy and could turn any situation into a bit. Playing with a drummer like Jono was also a highlight. He brought a lot of other influences to he music we played and the guy was as solid as a metronome. He was a lovely bloke too.

Jono Misfud (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

 

DAVE: We never released the demo as by this time we had finished high school and most of us lose interest int he band and the music we were playing. Me and Andy were still wanting to play in bands and maybe a year or so after The Skam finished we got asked by Glen Smyth if we wanted to start a rocksteady/reggae band with him - and that was the start of The Signals.

  Dave Holloway (Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

ANDY: The Skam didn't last after high school finished but Dave and I continued to go down to the Green Square and watch shows, eventually meeting other ska kids and moving out to the share house at Unwins Bridge Road, which led to joining other bands.

 

JONO M.: Unfortunately it just fizzled out. I finished school a year ahead of the rest of the band and I could already seem things slowing down after I finished Year 12. By the time the rest of the guys were at uni a lot of us had just gone our separate ways doing other things... It was a fun band to be in at school but deep down I think we all knew it wasn't going to last once we all graduated.

Jono Misfud (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2024

 

RELATED BANDS: The Signals, Steppin' Razor, Backy Skank, Bent Penny, Liam Moran (Solo Act), Slant 6, Sleazybeats, Trenchtown, Backy Skank, Complete Madness, Rocksteady Ratpack, The Upbeat Ambassadors