band info the special guests: artist info, press photos, technical rider

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It grooves, it swings, it drives. And it rocks. "I come with my friends and we rock the nation" - what may sound like pretentiousness to the ears of grumpy couch potatoes, is for every connoisseur of THE SPECIAL GUESTS feat. WILLIE OCEAN is a promise: ska - without handbrakes and without blinkers. Party, dance, celebrate.

The nine Berliners are on the road again and they have their latest album BEETROOT (moanin'/rough trade/iTunes) in their luggage. An album on which they combine the power of traditional Jamaican beats with their own personal attitude to life. What makes their sound special is that they have never cared about supposed stylistic boundaries and ska clichés that have been cultivated to this day. With success: for 13 years now, they have been delighting an audience that includes far more than just ska purists. Where others tread water, they set the standards - if you want to know what ska made in Berlin sounds like in 2007, THE SPECIAL GUESTS feat. WILLIE OCEAN.

The band's special mix also appealed to the creative department of the German-French culture channel arte: director Paul Ouazan brought the band to Paris for a video shoot. Several clips were produced in the arte studios in the avant-garde filmmaker's typical alienating video aesthetic.

THE SPECIAL GUESTS feat. WILLIE OCEAN not least because of their energetic live performances. The band, led by charismatic frontman Willie Ocean, has fired up every audience, be it between Aachen and Zittau, in Madrid, Paris, Vienna or Copenhagen. Their concerts are hot, ecstatic and often too tight. Why is their latest album called Beetroot? Certainly not because THE SPECIAL GUESTS feat. WILLIE OCEAN have attended some kind of eco-camp. Nor have they joined a sect that seeks inner purification through strange food rites. The music takes care of that for them. Rather, the well-known red beet stands for the power and energy of the roots - in this case, the musical roots. The record contains 12 of their own songs and a cover of the Tracy Chapman classic"Talkin' Bout A Revolution".

Because just making music is not enough for the energetic Berliners, they also shot a no-budget video for the BEETROOT title track themselves - in the living room of Berlin pensioner G. Krepinski. The clip - made without any editing, by the way - has been extremely popular on the Internet video exchange YouTube for some time now and is included on the album as bonus material.