THE ALLNITERS will always be remembered for their big sound, cracking tunes and eccentric exuberance. Mischievous and a little bit cheeky, they’re the most successful ska act in Australian history and they’re back: bigger, bolder and brassier than ever after over 30 years, proving once and for all that THE ALLNITERS are Allriters … and evidently ska’d for life. It all began back in 1980 when a group of eight lads and one rude girl gravitated towards charismatic founding member Marty Fabok as the inner-city mod scene was percolating.

They nattered, laughed and riffled through their favourite reggae, blues, disco, Jamaican blue beat and rock steady vinyl collections. Jaunty brass and tight rhythm sections were forged and THE ALLNITERS had officially arrived, donning their porkpie hats, braces and Doc Martens and chomping at the bit to burn up the live circuit with upbeat rhythms, walking bass-lines and contagious jocularity. The band cut its teeth as a live act at Sydney’s legendary Sussex Hotel and went on to become one of the hardest touring acts in the country.

Attendance records were broken, as were stages, with audience members sometimes storming the stage to out-number the band, egged on by those spilling out the doors, thus threatening structural collapse. Regardless, THE ALLNITERS never failed to amuse, with hysterical, quick-witted onstage banter between vocalists Peter Travis and Brett Pattinson rivaling that of The Two Ronnies. The band rapidly became as renowned for their energetic sense of playfulness as for their larger than life new wave sound. Venues were therefore rocked to their very foundations as punters skanked and laughed the night away. To see THE ALLNITERS was to party hard and the mantra ‘Allniters are Allriters’ was coined by a fast-building legion of fans: mods, punks, skinheads, and rude girls and boys. It became apparent fast that THE ALLNITERS were spearheading a new movement.