To Download the album as an MP3 file use this link Que Calor

The Beat Combo made this album in the depths of winter in 2008, recorded at The Coach house studio in Ulverston Cumbria.
 We set up a minimal number of mikes and recorded the songs as if we were playing a live gig .
Ewan played the acoustic rhythm guitar,
Colin played fretless bass,
Juliet played drums
The trumpet on James Bond meets Dr No was played by Arron Hardwick

Colin          Ewan         Juliet

Colin mimes to the track Orilla del mar on a log in The Dominican Republic

The next time I ran into them in 82 they were busking the London underground having just returned from busking their way through Europe. They were living in a squat in Stockwell and hanging out with the Rastas’ from down the road in Brixton. Reggae music spilled out onto every street corner and late night sessions in the basement clubs meant that the blues they played became mingled with a more exotic blend. In 87 they took off for Africa, travelling through Morocco, Senegal and Gambia, and learning at first hand the roots of the blues, and picking up gigs along the way. By the time they reached Gabon the old VW bus had had enough and they were left stranded, and almost pennyless.

Then a chance meeting with Jujes’ uncle Seth, a sea captain of an old banana boat in Port Gentil gave them a way out, although this meant that the sea voyage back to England would be via the caribean island of Hispanola. They worked their passage as far as Jamacia, but jumped ship there when they were invited to play at a reconciliation concert with Bob Marley, who they knew from their days in Brixton.

White guys playing a cross over of blues and reggae wowed the crowds in Kinston and they even had a number one hit with a song called Backlash.
                                                                                                        

With their pockets flush with cash they took a plane to New Orleans and busked the bars in New Amsterdam claiming new fans for their blend of british blues, now flavoured with those rhythms of Africa, and salted with the zest of Salsa, and Reggae.

I ran into them again in the most unlikely of places, back in the UK. I was walking in the Langdale valley, in the English lake district .. We had just come down from Pike o Bisco looking for a cool beer and stumbled into the Stickle Barn. A strange hybrid of music was beating out of the Hayloft and we went to have a peek. There on stage was The Beat Combo playing to a room full of cragrats going crazy, dancing on the tables, to the infectious beat of the band.

The band had finally made it back to England, they said by playing covers on the QE2. The Lakes and mountains had always been calling them home for many years. They needed to get back to their own roots and in 2002 here they were, knocking out old lakeland tunes in between, their own special blend of world music.

That was six years ago and today they’re still going strong, still scraping a living from what they do best,-live music. In all these years they have only made a few rare recordings, lets hope that Que Calor changes all this, I think it captures to soul of this special bunch of world travellers and is here for your pleasure, to cast a little sunshine into a chaotic planet.