You know you’re in chilled out and atmospheric pub when there’s a comfy well-worn couch in the main bar and the time stained autographs of satisfied visitors on the low ceiling. The Fricsan pub in the deep valley village of Cwm y Glo, gave a warm Spring Equinox welcome to the return of Anglesey good time ska reggae band Redstripe.

Crammed in, and at close proximity, the 12-piece unit worked methodically to set up their personalised equipment and snaking leads. The best part of a gig sometimes can be the jumbled layers of sound check, as percussive keyboard strikes adjoin to the iconic flow of jazz trumpets. Beneath the babble of melodies, DJ fflyffilyfbybl aka Dewi Llwyd Evans of the Byd Mawr Music Collective, delivered a heartbeat pulse of synchronous bass that kept the band members grooving as they prepared.

Redstripe has seen a scaling down of their live output during the pregnancy of Lead singer Belinda; but reunited with the band the happy mum was in full form as her pyrotechnic style had the tightly packed audience bouncing and cheering.

The audience was like a who’s who of the music and culture network in North Wales, with Vashti from Sometimes, Soracha from Poetica, Ceri from Bandabacana, Lhotse from Oxjam, and Djs form Byd Mawr mingled with new age traveller, ethnic, alternative, reggae music lovers of all cultures and ages. In a time of over processed, quality control free guitar rock, Redstripe provides a refreshing tangent with a set of original ska reggae compositions. Fielding a personnel list of a dozen musicians, the band is the genuine article bringing with them a recipe of complimenting disciplines and textures. As well as a new addition to the Redstripe family, the positive effect of time out has been a new crop of new songs. Once initial feedback glitches and volume balances had been dealt with, fruits of time away from the stage “Reggae Cymraeg“, and “Dreadie Island” blended with Redstripe standard “Big in Holyhead” as if they had always been a part of the set list.

Parental duties saw a quick exit from the stage of vocalist Belinda, and after a short intermission, a substitute warming up on the Redstripe sideline was called into play. Authentic afro reggae vocalist Nebs C took the band onto another level with a foot stamping ska rhythm. After a demanded encore Redstripe said goodnight like they had never been away, and looking forward to a return to active gigging.