STREETWISE SKA

The ROUGH KUTZ started off life in a small terraced house in stoke on trent in 1992ish. Brigga,Hazza,and Rat got together and decided that the new 3rd wave of ska that had hit the world a couple of years earlier,just wasnt hitting the spot that the angry 2tone movement had done a decade or so earlier.it was at this time that the decision was made to start a band that would at least have some agression and a bit of 2tone energy about it.the pop friendly ska of the third wave needed a shake up. The ROUGH KUTZ was born.
In 1993 after recruiting a number of fledgling musicians the first line up was unleashed.almost a year of song writing and rehearsing had been done and The ROUGH KUTZ played a show in stoke at a local club in Chell Heath in front of many friends..1993/94 continued mainly locally and after a while a few promoters started taking notice, good local crowds had made The ROUGH KUTZ brand of Ska a hit, at least around Staffordshire.
A couple of  years of gigging followed and a demo tape was made and sent to various record labels etc.Antwerp based record label Skanky Lil took a chance and agreed to release an album for the band.

In 1996 the first album 'a bit o rough' was recorded and released in 1997, it got some favorable reviews and due to The ROUGH KUTZ new management, the band toured the uk and parts of europe for the next couple of years.The band were featured on a couple of various artist ska compilation albums at this time,using tracks from this album.a couple of line up changes to various members of the band happened but in 2002 the band recorded the 2nd album 'welcome to our world' again on the skanky lil label, many gigs both in europe and the uk followed and again the odd line up change followed and a friendly parting with management.

In 2006 the 3rd album 'another week another war' was unleashed ,again on the skanky lil label and this featured guest guitar from none other than THE SPECIALS own RODDY(radiation)BYERS. Roddy went on a short european tour with the band at this time and also performed a couple of specials songs with the band at these gigs.again with a couple of line up variations the band continued to write and played around the uk.

In 2009 the band wrote a new album and recorded it for release on their own R.K record label.this 4th album entitled 'gangsters playground' was released in 2010 and various european trips to promote it have followed.

The ROUGH KUTZ were included on the specialized charity album in support of the teenage cancer trust in 2012 and performed at the cd launch gig in the home of 2tone,Coventry, and at this gig reunited with a guest appearance from RODDY BYERS.

2013 is the 20th anniversary of THE ROUGH KUTZ as a band, and the band have been writing and recording a new 5th album,due for release this year, again the band have been playing gigs in both uk and europe.the band have been included in this years specialized charity album too, which will be released very soon.the current line up of the band is BRIGGA..vocals HAZZA..keyboards RAT...guitar TONY...bass SHAUN....lead guitar and YATESY..drums. THE ROUGH KUTZ plan on making SKA WITH ATTITUDE,for a few years yet.