Contratempos | id

It all started in the beginning of 2003, when Andre, the drummer, met Alex, the guitar player. Both wanted to make a tribute to one of their favorite bands: The Clash. They then decided to invite Andre's cousin, Teresa, to play bass. A bit later, spurred by another great musical passion, Andre, Alex and Joao Morais (a long time friend) traveled to Barcelona to attend the fabulous Ska Explosion festival. After enjoying the outstanding performances of Derrick Morgan and Alton Ellis (two living legends of Jamaican sixties' music), the buzz was such that Joao Morais took up the saxophone and joined the rest of the gang to form a traditional Ska band.

The first rehearsals began towards the end of the year with the band fully formed. That meant Teresa playing bass, Joao Morais on the saxophone, Pablito and Miguel on the trumpet, Alex playing guitar, Andre on the drums, Luis on the keyboards, Lukas on the trombone and Claudia doing vocals. The band chose to kick off with covers from some of the biggies, like The Skatalites, The Maytals, Dandy Livingstone, The Upsetters... and quickly moved on to their own originals.

Meanwhile, after Pablito left to return to his home country of Poland, the band played their first (official) live gig in January 2004. The next months saw a steady stream of concerts, with invitations to play in Setubal, Oeiras, Amadora and Lisbon. In March, Lukas also parted ways with the band (returning to his homeland), after which they played several concerts outside the Lisbon area, including some garage band festivals. Among these, the famous Tocabrir stands out, where the band won the competition on the day they played.

In 2005 they met Joao Mendes and were invited to record their first album, homemade-style, in the studio at his home. They also opened for The Slackers, one of their favorite bands, and were billed in the 1st Oeiras Reggae Festival along with such names as The Skatalites and Max Romeo. With all this activity going on, Claudia left the band and was replaced by Joao Mendes.

After countless setbacks during the recording, they finally finish the album and decide to release it. This is done in a totally independent way, following the "Do It Yourself" philosophy in the conception of every aspect of the album (edition, promotion, graphic design and distribution).

In 2008 and after many changes in its formation, the band ended, entering history as the first 60's jamaican ska band in Portugal. .