The stars aligned for one night only over Belfast on 28th July for a very special 20th anniversary event in Belfast venue Voodoo that invoked the glory days of legendary Belfast club Skibunny.
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Belfast Samaritans are delighted to have been the benefactors of the evening which raised an amazing £1,545 to support the work of the branch in providing emotional support and outreach.
A hot summer's evening in Belfast was the place to be. The venue? Voodoo. Reason why? 20 years of Skibunny.....
Mark, Tanya and Backwater in action
When musicians Mark Gordon & Tanya Mellotte (from John Peel faves TUNIC) moved from Edinburgh to Belfast they couldn’t find any club nights to satisfy their musical needs, so they had to start their own. Flicking through their record collections for inspiration for a name, they came across a song title by NYC band Boss Hog - and so - in 1998, SKIBUNNY opened its doors for the first time, on the ground floor of an Italian restaurant known for late-night dancing, Vicos. Playing everything from indie rock to hip-hop, DIY, Krautrock, folk, northern soul and electronic, Mark & Tanya soon realised that playing records was not enough, so started inviting bands to play.
SKIBUNNY nights in Belfast achieved almost mythical status. There could be a secret set from DAVID HOLMES, a live set from a band like SPARKLEHORSE or an aftershow with Brazilian DJs playing next to locals. It didn’t matter; the only requirement was extraordinary music that worked across any genre. Soon, our SKIBUNNY DJs turned their hands to remixing (ASIWYFA, Oppenheimer, Forward Russia, Freelance Hellraiser & more) and invitations to DJ in Japan, USA, Europe, Glastonbury and around the UK began to arrive. It was only a matter of time before SKIBUNNY released an LP, with the help of local legends SMALLTOWN AMERICA. SKIBUNNY the club continued upstairs at Auntie Annie’s every Saturday until November 2008.
...and so the years in between fall away...
To mark 20 years since the club’s opening, Tanya and Mark returned to DJing for one night only at Belfast’s VOODOO. Joining them on the night was another act returning from an extended hiatus: TORGAS VALLEY REDS / BACKWATER
Backwater were known in Northern Ireland as the artists that made a young Tim Wheeler pick up a guitar. Signed to Ché Records, Backwater’s singles, including Shady, Supercool and Memory, were known and loved across the UK as indie classics - heartfelt, searing and backed by walls of Sonic Youth-esque guitars. When they disbanded, the trio of Ryan McAuley, Shaun Robinson and Barry Peak went on to form Torgas Valley Reds, who released Torgas Valley Blue through Howl Records in 2004.
In their own words: “When BACKWATER were releasing records in the mid-90s, their closest allies were weirdo pop geniuses, Tunic. The two bands shared stages, studios and even a manager. So, when Mark and Tanya started Skibunny, it was the obvious place for the band to hang out.
When Skibunny started putting on gigs, they asked Backwater to open for some cool bands (Drugstore) and some amazing bands (Come). After a spell back at university, the former members of Backwater reunited as TORGAS VALLEY REDS and their first gig was promoted by... yes, Skibunny. Now, the members of TVR live in different places and haven’t played music together for a long time. However, the stars have aligned and the band are delighted to be playing at this event.”
As well as DJing, MARK & TANYA opened the evening with a short live set featuring songs spanning their time in TUNIC and SKIBUNNY. All proceeds from the night are supporting Belfast Samaritans to carry on their work providing emotional support for people who are struggling to cope.