DigiMix Records

Arthur Kitchener

legendary Londoner Singer songwriter, wordsmith, recording artiste Arthur Kitchener is also known as the artiste Arthur Kay, an Original rude boy, who started his career in the 1960s as a session musician for the Trojan label.

As the singer songwriter Arthur Kitchener, he has released various albums musically different from his legendary Ska performances with THE ORIGINALS and most recently with the Geman ska band THE CLERKS. Other bands Arthur has worked with are Second Hand, The Next Collection, Artur Kay's Originators. Arthur Kay and the Originals went for nearly thirty odd years on and off. At their height, they were Judge Dread’s backing group. Unfortunately, Arthur thinks the band died with Judge Dread death.

Arthur suggests the difference between his band The Originals and other Ska bands was our influences. His influence was Rock and Roll, Dion, Fats Domino, all those sort of guys. Later on, Bruce Springsteen. The Originals was more a cross between the East Street Band and The Specials. It had all that power with the Hammond organ. Arthur's Ska albums are not three cord tricks. They’re engineered in their arrangements.

The Wordsmith album (Folk, World Music)
The Hobo Manifesto Album(Folk, World Music) was released on HMI Records
The King of the Jungle Album (Rock, Punk, Oi, Acoustic) was released on Randle Records
The Acoustic Warrior album (folk, world, country) was released on Lounge Records
The Road I've Travelled was released on Somebody's Music Records
Belmont Avenue
Street Poet
Sweet Little Princess

The Road I've Travelled: The road to rock is a hard one. For some it's a quest for a crock of gold at the end of a rainbow. It's a road littered with broken hearts, broken dreams and broken lives. For others it's a path of self-discovery in search of the grail. And for some it's a mixture of both.

The road started for me in a back street in London it lead me up the High road where the local record shop played Dion, "the last of the one named singers" singing The Wanderer on an outside speaker mixing with busy traffic noise.

The road lead me to watch Jimi Hendrix at the Ram Jam club with fellow musical travellers, down the Cold Blow Lane where I picked up my love for football and into deepest Kent.

Sometimes I lost sight of the road for the trail of empty beer cans. Sometimes I couldn't see the road for the 2 white crystal lines that seemed to stretch out in front of me.

Today, the road has also led me to the top of Glastonbury Tor. I often watch the sun set over the Mendips to the sound of fellow traveller Haggis playing the bagpipes. If I try to take twelve simple steps in one day I seem to travel a lot further than I have ever done before.

Arthur Kitchener July 18th 2004

Arthur Kay

Arthur Kay & The Clerks – The Night I Came Home

(Released on Grover Records - Germany)

A local band from Cologne joins forces with a legendary Londoner for a top-class ska album. That’s only one of the extraordinary tales written by the international ska community these days.

In this here story, the Freedom Sounds festival (based in Cologne) plays a major part. With much patience and persuasion, its promotors were able in 2016, to haul Arthur Kay out of retirement back onto the stage, in Germany. For those who don’t know: Arthur Kay is an Original rude boy, who started his career in the 1960s as a session musician for the Trojan label. In the 1980s, he spread his Cockney charm on a number of albums whose production unfortunately couldn’t live up to Arthur’s qualities as a fascinating storyteller.

What followed was a long downtime. Until last year, when Arthur showed up in finest thread, supported by The Clerks who had offered to be his backing band for a weekend. Arthur Kay was so blown away by their shared performance that, as soon as he was back in England, he sat down to write new songs and vowed to record them with The Clerks.

The resulting album, which was mixed by Nico Leonard in the Belgian Pum Pum Hotel, comes with an air of the local pub. It’s a knockout how Arthur delivers catchy slogan refrains like in "Don’t Give A Damn“, and then again takes the listener on the intricate ways of his story in „Wide Boys & Cowboys“. And between all that, The Clerks seem to always find the best musical expression, from soundscapes to stompers. The Clerks proof their status as the most complete, versatile ska band far and wide, when they shimmer effortlessly between serious reggae and merry ska. That’s top class.

Photos: courtesy of Arther Kitchener aka Arthur Kay