Dakka Skanks - Featured Artist of The Month

Buckle up, ska lovers—our Featured Artist of the Month is a band that’s been melting genre boundaries and smashing festival stages across Europe and beyond. Enter Dakka Skanks, a Brighton-born powerhouse blending Jamaican rhythms with snarling indie guitars, punk punch, and magnetic vocals. Think skank-ready beats laced with real-world grit—and you’re halfway there.

Formed in 2017 at a Brighton music college, the band didn't waste time finding their groove. Their sound is a bold cocktail: ska's infectious bounce, punk's rebellious spirit, and lyrics that don't shy away from tough topics. Clara Byrne's voice—soulful, fierce, and raw—is the lifeblood of every track, channelling social issues into stage-shaking anthems.

Their early days were anything but quiet. They were selected for the Camden Roundhouse Emerging Artists programme and caught the ear of ska legend Spider Johnson (Potato 5, Lee Perry, Acid Jazz), who helped craft their debut album into something polished but still pulsing with underground energy.

From there, it’s been a non-stop skank across Europe. A whirlwind of shows in Spain, Germany, France, and Belgium quickly earned Dakka Skanks a reputation as one of the tightest and most exciting live acts on the scene. They’ve shared stages with Madness, Neville Staple, The Skatalites, and The Toasters—legends that only reaffirmed Dakka’s growing status.

Then came you-know-what—but Dakka didn’t stop. While the world locked down, they fired out releases like Mr Murder, Sir Action, and the thundering anthem Babylon Falling, proving you can’t quarantine ska spirit.

Post-pandemic, they came out swinging—headlining Brighton’s first live event at The Dome and dominating festivals like Illusive, Tearout, Leeds Ska Festival, Lakefest (where they were called back for an encore main stage set!), and closing out the year with Madness at House of Fun.

Since then, it’s been a relentless rise. 2022 and 2023 saw Euro tours, EP drops (In Control, Reworks), and support slots for The Selecter, Dub Pistols, Popes of Chillitown, and ska-punk royalty The Slackers. They stormed venues like The Underworld and Camden Assembly, and made their Rebellion Festival debut.

In 2024, they turned things up another notch: three German tours (hello This Is Ska and Freedom Sounds), a UK tour with The Slackers, a killer Rebellion set in the Empress Ballroom, and they dropped Reworks—a blistering EP of ska and punk covers that proves their range runs deep.

And now, in 2025, they’re not just riding the wave—they are the wave. With another German tour on the way, a knockout set at Manchester Punk Fest, another Rebellion appearance booked, and—wait for it—their first US appearance at Supernova Ska Festival, Dakka Skanks are pushing global. There are even more US dates in the pipeline, and yes—there’s a brand new album brewing, with fresh tunes already shaking venues to their core.

So why are Dakka Skanks our Featured Artist of the Month? Because they represent everything that makes the modern ska and punk scene thrilling—genre-bending, socially aware, ferociously energetic, and totally unstoppable. If you haven’t caught them live yet, what are you doing? Go. Skank. Now.