JOE CAMILLERI AND NICKY BOMBA
" LIMESTONE"
(Welcome to a New Summer of Love)
Making a record is no day at the beach. But it can sound quite a lot like that if it’s done right. LIMESTONE has the air of two guys kicking back in their own sun-drenched paradise: curacao cocktails, young lovers reflected in their sunglasses, sweet reggae swirling in the breeze. Roll tape. Yeah. Easy.

In fact, as Joe Camilleri explains, it kinda was. "I met a chap called Nicky Bomba in a recording session for the Revelators. We shared a great love of roots reggae music. We really enjoyed playing on each other’s songs. There was no pressure to make a record. It was just a mutual love addiction."

Joe, of course, has built a virtual musical dynasty out of his passions these last 30 years. Between Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons, the Black Sorrows, the Revelators, Bakelite Radio and a handful of other vehicles built for love and adventure, reggae has been one of many recurring motifs.

Nicky’s passions have been equally prolific and eclectic. His rhythms have driven Bomba, Banana Oil ("My Family" was APRA’s Song of the Year ‘98), the Melbourne Ska Orchestra and countless other bands and sessions, including the John Butler Trio, Pete Murray and Renee Geyer. But it was reggae that lit the fuse and reggae that still burns brightest in his heart. " Reggae is a spiritual thing," he says. "It’s beyond genres; to me it’s a message of love. It’s positive, it lifts me up, it encourages community, it covers all demographics and cultures. Musically, rhythmically, it’s made of simple parts but when they come together, it’s sublime."

In a cosmic sense, LIMESTONE has been coming together since 1978. Jo Jo Zep’s early classic, "So Young", fused soul and reggae to bust down the boundaries for Joe’s later career. "Hit and Run" and "Shape I’m In" further inflamed the ardour of a young, unknown drummer named Nicky Bomba. The pair didn’t meet for 20 years until Joe was struck by a tune called "Hail That Taxi" by one of Nicky’s myriad projects, the Overtones, and picked up the phone. They hooked up, sussed out their mutual passion and promptly formed Transmitter Records as a long overdue "home of Australian reggae".

LIMESTONE was such an obvious next step it practically recorded itself, at Noah’s Ark and Woodstock Studios in Melbourne. Joe and Nicky played and sang most everything and co-produced with an old school reggae vibe: less microphones and more reverb; heavy bottom end, light hearts and minds. Added "spice and spirit" came from Ross Wilson, Rebecca Barnard, Israeli remix maestro Laroz and a select few others.

Nicky and Joe picked six songs each from heroes as diverse as the British Beat and Bjork; Garland Jeffries and Delroy Wilson. But the love was still strong after 12 tracks. " The title track was penned mainly by Nicky," says Joe. "Both being Maltese born, we found another common ground. We made the song into a postcard about the heart of the Mediterranean, which sounds like a long way from the Caribbean, but still captures that feeling of life on a small island." Sure does. In fact, LIMESTONE somehow makes this island feel a whole lot smaller too. "It was made with a lot of love and a lot of laughs," says Nicky. " The love of reggae has been our whole connection and motivation and I hope this album has captured at least a little bit of that."
LIMESTONE is out now on Transmitter Records thru MGM Distribution

Joe and Nicky will be performing the songs from 'Limestone' live together at WOMADelaide on: Mar 10 & 11 further info at www.womadelaide.com.au