The Skabards

The Skabards were a short-lived ska band from Longyearbyen, Svalbard, formed in the late 1960s by a group of miners and seasonal workers.

At the centre was Leroy "Icebox" Campbell, a Jamaican-born singer and guitarist from Kingston. After years moving between dock work, merchant ships and temporary contracts around the North Atlantic, Campbell arrived in Svalbard almost by accident, taking a job connected to the mining settlement.

Their only known release, "Midnight Sun Ska", circulated locally before the group disappeared as work contracts ended and the members moved on.