Animal Jack launch I Can’t Strip My Lambretta Down In The Kitchen Ska Blues (From Western Telegraph)

Animal Jack launch I Can’t Strip My Lambretta Down In The Kitchen Ska Blues

8:30am Saturday 4th July 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

Walking onto the film set of The Animal Jack Band’s first-ever music video is like stepping into a time warp.

In fact, it is merely a collection of quirky retro furnishings and household objects; gathered over time by the family and arranged in a small living space in their Pembroke Dock summer house as a backdrop for their music video, I Can’t Strip My Lambretta Down In The Kitchen Ska Blues.

The three-piece group, led by 25-year-old Oli Brindley on vocals and double bass, describe the sound and style of their music as their own mix of ska, skiffle, rockabilly and jump blues.

As well as the double bass, which a ten-year-old Oli used to stand on a box in order to play, there is sister Joelle on the accordion and dad Andy on the saxophone.

Retro styles from the 1950s are clearly something of a passion for the Brindleys, whose family home is like a shrine to the fashions of the decade.

Local film producer Sharron Harris became inspired to film the video after hearing the band’s new song and its peculiar narrative.

Having only recently started performing again, they recorded their Lambretta Blues track at the Mwnci recording studio with sound engineer Jethro Chaplin.

Oli said: “Jethro worked so well with us to get the sort of summery-carnival sound we wanted.

“We were really pleased with the recording and once we played it to Sharron her ideas for the scenes and the retro fifties theme to the film just fell into place.”

Freelance illustrator Joelle’s artistic skills came in very handy when it came to designing the CD cover and other promotional artwork.

“It was just one of those funny ideas that evolved into a full-scale project,” said Joelle.

The lyrics tell a story of a man (Animal Jack) who buys an old Lambretta scooter and excitably begins the ambitious task of taking it apart in order to begin restoring the machine to its former glory.

Trouble brews when his ‘baby’ returns to find bits of engine all over her kitchen, where Animal Jack has taken shelter from the rain to complete his project.

The film follows Animal Jack (Oli) and he tells of his woes at a retro-style bar that had been neatly fitted into the lounge in the Brindleys’ summer house.

In the end — after a lot of grovelling and scrubbing — Animal Jack wins his lady’s approval and she warms to the Lambretta when she sees the finished product.

The whole family got involved with the production, with Oli’s girlfriend Maddy, playing the part of Animal Jack’s house-proud partner, and mum Fernanda was on hand with ideas.

“We did the whole thing over two days,” said Joelle, who played a sympathetic barmaid in the humorous video.

The Animal Jack Band held a launch party to show off the finished masterpiece.

“People kept coming back in to see it again,” Oli laughed.

The new CD, I Can’t Strip my Lambretta Down In The Kitchen Ska Blues, is on sale at Cleddau Collectables, in Riverside Market, Haverfordwest; Cofion, in Bridge Street and Quay Hill, Tenby; and Pembroke Market Emporium, at the Old Market Hall, Pembroke.