The Invisibles
A Vintage Offbeat Dance Machine
The Invisibles are a Postmodern Offbeat (Ska) Band. To put it simply, it’s pop music in an offbeat time machine. It’s today’s music, both original numbers and top hits, as they would have sounded if they were recorded decades ago by Jamaican artists in the legendary Studio One in Kingston, Jamaica.
“We like to think of our music as a postmodern evolution of what started in Jamaica in the end of the 50s – beginning of the 60s, when something so incredibly powerful as Ska music, originated from a fusion of Mento, Calypso, Rumba, Mambo, Cha Cha, Caribbean and Latin genres, together with Jazz, Blues, Rhythm & Blues and early Soul from the US and UK, took over the international scenario and settled down to stay. Original Ska, Rocksteady, Blue Beat and Early Reggae have been the foundations of modern Reggae Music, DUB Music, Ragga, Dance Hall, Jungle, Drum & Bass and lately a huge portion of what’s generically called Electronic Dance Music. Through decades since their birth till now, Jamaica’s Offbeat Style has influenced many other musical genres and thousands of artists in the whole world, building a legacy which grows stronger and stronger through the years, generation after generation. There is always gonna be someone playing those amazing classics by The Skatalites, Don Dummond, Lee Scratch Perry, The Ethiopians, Toots & The Maytals, Tommy Mc Cook, Derrick Morgan, Byron Lee & The Dragonaires, and many many more. And there is always gonna be someone keeping the flame burning through the times, offbeat after offbeat”. Enrico Cioccolini Gotink
The Invisibles were born in The Netherlands in 2013, when the founder, singer, composer and arranger Enrico Cioccolini Gotink put together a 14 international musicians’ line-up. In June 2013 they released their first EP, First Act! containing 8 tracks, recorded and produced by Robert Curiel (Dubcellar, Amsterdam) and Enrico Cioccolini Gotink, then mastered at The Soundmasters in London by Kevin Metcalfe.
Their first gig was on October the 11th 2013 at Studio K in Amsterdam, and since then The Invisibles performed in many venues and festivals in the Netherlands and Belgium.
At the end of 2014 The Invisibles produced a Christmas single, Fairytale of Kingston, an offbeat tribute to the Pogues’ Fairytale of New York and then decided to make a video out of it. The video was featured on the Pogues’ Official Facebook page, getting something like 3k YouTube views in less than 3 days, plus hundreds of Facebook shares, thousands of likes, hundreds of comments.
Inspired by this success, at the beginning of 2015 The Invisibles decided to start a YouTube channel, completely dedicated to modern and evergreen pop music, turned into vintage Jamaican offbeat takes. Covering pop hits in a Jamaican sauce is always been Enrico’s favorite hobby since the 80s, continuing a tradition of Ska music itself, born and developed as a cover music culture and style. Inspired by the experience of Scott Bradley’s Postmodern Jukebox, since May 2015 The Invisibles have been posting more or less every week a new video. The playlist is called Take Her To Jamaica (from a famous Jamaican Mento number) and it’s here for everyone to enjoy.
Again on January the 3rd 2016 and also later on April the 1st they scored another big mention: they got featured on Talking Heads Official Facebook page with a version of Once in a Lifetime, great classic of this historical new wave band, getting something like 4000+ likes, more than 900 shares and almost 8000 views on YouTube in less than 48 hours in total!
And again on April 15th 2017 The Invisibles score another incredible major feature: this time a legend of Jamaican Ska-Rocksteady-Early Reggae, nothing less than Toots & The Maytals themselves! Their version of Monkey Man was featured on their Official Facebook page in order to promote their coming gig in Liverpool together with The Specials. Again that post has been shared something like 120+ times and the video was suddenly pumped up to more than 4k views in just a few hours. Not to be mentioned what this did in terms of pride and joy to the band. They’re all still shocked and just can’t believe it happened for real!
The Invisibles have a flexible line-up, with a few stable members and other musicians who come in depending from the band’s format (duo-trio, quintet-sextet, small-medium-large horn section, 1-2-3 backing vocals).
Their repertoire includes more than 70 numbers and counting, increasing every time Enrico Cioccolini Gotink arranges a new cover for the YouTube channel Take Her To Jamaica or just writes a new song.
The Doctor (Enrico Cioccolini Gotink)
Vocals
Rosa Smit
Vocals
Doris van Iperen
Vocals
Abriel Ferreira
Trumpet
Alba Careta Arnaus
Trumpet
Joe Rivera
Trumpet
Thomas Wessels
Trumpet
Marco Vincenzo Bernardi
Saxophones
Robbert Tuinhof
Saxophones
Jan Kooper
Saxophones
Gianni valenti
Saxophones
Alla Blehman
Alto Saxophone
Frans Cornelissen
Trombone
Alba Pujals
Trombone
Robert Curiel
Drums
Rumy Jansen
Drums
Lucas Roorda
Drums
Vincenzo Castellana
Percussions, Mouth Harp, Mandolin
Kay Hasselbaink
Electric Bass
Bunn Riley
Electric Bass
Cees Schouten
Keyboards
Randy Matadin
Keyboards
Alexander Broussard
Keyboards
Massimo Melena
Keyboards
Dinesh Badri
Guitar
Freek Volkers
Guitar
Robin Manders
Guitar
Prosper Ramaker
Guitar