The Jam 1982 is written by Buckler and Zoë Howe and, in full color, glossy format, tells the eye-witness account of the band’s epic last year together, featuring previously unseen images from Buckler’s own collection. A strictly limited edition, signed hardback of the volume, including an exclusive print, will be available on the same day, and can be pre-ordered here.
The book also includes contributions from key members of those in and around the ever-influential band at the time, including DJ Gary Crowley, producer Peter Wilson, A&R manager Dennis Munday, photographer Neil “Twink” Tinning, Jennie Matthias (the member of chart group the Belle Stars who sang on “The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow”), and touring musicians Jamie Telford and Steve Nichol. Other friends and acolytes sharing their tales of 1982 include Eddie Piller, Paolo Hewitt, and Mat Osman.
Beat Surrender
“From the moment I teamed up with Paul [Weller] at school to start a band, everything else became secondary,” says Buckler. “We started out as a three piece with Steve Brookes on lead guitar and vocals, Paul on his prized Hofner violin bass and backing vocals, and myself on drums. We also had a name – not a very good name we thought – but it would do until we thought of a better one: The Jam. Dave Waller joined on rhythm guitar, learning to play on the way.
“Rehearsing in Paul’s bedroom,” he continues, “we got together a set of sixties covers and put on an hour of music as we worked towards our first gigs in Sheerwater Youth Club, county fairs, and anywhere around the Woking area we could secure a booking. Dave soon dropped out and in the meantime we continued to go out as a three piece, improving our set and adding in some rather dodgy self-penned love songs along the way.”
Bucker concludes: “Forty years after the split of The Jam, the real inside story hasn’t been fully told. The Jam still means a great deal to me and to so many others. I have always thought it was a great shame that we did not take it as far as we should.”
There’s been quite a few books written about The Jam, who still hold a huge fanbase world wide. Most mod and scooter events will have covers bands and memorabilia, why not get this book to add to your collection.
The Great Skinhead Reunion is a 4 day Festival. Including Pre Party beach BBQ on Brighton Beach England Celebrating British Subculture
Line up for 2024. Once again we have a fantastic line up of acts
Established in 2011 The Great Skinhead Reunion Brighton was designed to bring Skinhead back home to where it was born in the 1960´s When the Mods and Rockers came to Brighton and hit the headlines, establishing their own youth culture. From those early Mods came the Skinheads, who embraced the new music coming in from Jamaica known as Ska. The Jamaican immigrants to the UK mixing with British working class kids with style and attitude, to form a new youth culture.
The second wave of Skinhead began to build in the mid 70´s with the birth of Punk Rock in 76, this time musically the Skinheads adopting the Punk rock sound and aggro of the football terraces, Working class bands forming and putting out their own angry antisocial messages in music, frightening the media into a frenzy of misinformation, who promoted the image of hyper violent bootboys and girls on the loose. This was a time of major political unrest in the UK and extremist groups tried to recruit within working class culture, often targeting Skinheads and football supporters, in the hope of win one, win them all pack mentality.
By 79 The skinheads were on the fightback and in London with bands like Madness and Badmanners, linked with British Midlands such as Coventry bands The Specials. The Selector and The Beat and created the 2tone label, which firmly mixed black and white youth together against this media onslaught.
In 1981 came the next wave. Oi! music was unleashed by Sounds magazine, bringing back the angry streetpunk energy and protest into the Skinhead subculture, once again giving the media and movie makers something to chew on.
Over the years the pendulum swung back and forth, but against all the odds Skinhead in its genuine form found its way across the world, connecting the Working class of Britain with mainland Europe, during the cold war even into communist Eastern block, then across to USA, South America, and in modern times, Indonesia to pretty much every westernised nation.
At the Great Skinhead Reunion Brighton you will find the most genuine, real and very friendly welcoming event in Skinhead history. Real people who have lived the life, mixing with new faces just coming in. We actively search for new acts to showcase and tour. We reunite old bands and give them a stage to play, we encourage scene DJ´s from across the worldwide scene, to play and network. Together all of us taking the scene forward, learning from previous mistakes, without selling out our principals of a true Working class subculture. The reunion invites everyone to attend, be you a skinhead or just someone wanting to be part of the event, interested and wanting a great fun weekend. We also actively support charities every year.
FULL 3 DAYS EVENT, YOUR WRISTBAND IS VALID THROUGH OUT, YOU CAN USE IT FOR AS LITTLE, OR AS MUCH AS YOU WANT. THE EVENT WILL SELL OUT.
WRISTBANDS GIVE YOU FULL ACCESS TO ALL THE EVENT, THREE FULL DAYS AND NIGHTS OF ENTERTAINMENT, 12 BANDS, 10 DJ’S PLUS A SPECIAL PRE PARTY BEACH BBQ ON THURSDAY PRE PARTY
The line-up maybe subject to change, as so many band members and dj’s are involved, alcohol, world wars and famine can be unforeseen, but the Great Skinhead Reunion, is more about coming to Brighton to see all your friends and making some more, for 3 full days of mayhem.
SKINHEAD ONLY HOTELS .
Add to your experience, by getting a room in our Skinhead only hotels. Conveniently located, with a short walk to the venue, and no moaning neighbours to worry about. The rooms vary in size and cost, to fit your needs. all within an easy walk to the skinhead reunion venue. We have hotels exclusive to the Great Skinhead Reunion guests and bands. Party party !! please email subcultz@gmail.com with your requirements, to be booked into the Skinhead Hotels
For those on a low budget, its worth checking Hostels and campsites, but my advice, is to get in the reserved hotels, for a nice stress free, clean and comfortable holiday in Brighton.
TRAVEL INFORMATION
Brighton is situated on the south coast of England, approximately one hour from London. London Gatwick is the nearest airport. There are regular direct trains and National Express buses. The next nearest is Heathrow, We Strongly advise NOT to fly to Stansted or Luton as this is a long way and expensive UK public transport, but if you have no choice then use National Express buses from those airports, which you need to book in advance to get cheaper rates, and you risk losing valuable drinking time
The nearest ferry port serving mainland Europe is Newhaven -Dieppe . Newhaven is about 20 min drive to Brighton. Dover is about 2 hours to Brighton
PARKING ZONES – one of the worst aspects of Brighton, is a lack of affordable parking. my advice is to use street parking on the suburbs of Brighton, its a reasonably safe place. a good bus service will take you into brighton centre (churchill square) and a short walk from there to the sea front. worth allowing the extra hours work, to save yourself serious parking charges. Wilson Avenue is about the nearest free street parking to the venue, jump on a local bus back into town.
All Event Enquiries email Symond at subcultz@gmail.com. phone (uk) 07733096571
Brighton can lay claim to being a big part of the birth of Skinheads. During the Mods and Rockers battles of the 1960’s when London lads would descend on the South Coast for bank holidays to Peacock and cause ‘Bovver’ the term Skinhead was born, to describe the short haired Mods.
Becoming probably the biggest and longest standing of all the youth fashion subcultures, Skinhead has matured and now become a worldwide community. Distinctly recognized by almost military shaven head, boots and braces. The real skinhead is a working class product of the British council estate ‘salt of the earth character’ fiercely proud of his identity,with an obsession for clothing, style and music, equaled only with his love of beer.
On the first weekend of every June, since 2011, Brighton has seen an ever increasing number of Skinheads and their lovely Skinhead Girls invade Brighton. Boots, Braces, pristine clothing and a cheeky smile. Attracting scene members from right across the globe, to Madeira Drive, overlooking the beach. A full three days of Skinhead related entertainment is laid on. DJ’s playing hyper rare vinyl, from the early days of Jamaican Ska, through to modern day Street Punk and Oi. Live bands hit the stage of the Volks bar each night. With various aftershows happening until the early hours, to keep the party buzzing.
This event is to raise money for some of our girls trapped in Ukraine as the city came under attack. A few of the girls have escaped with just a bag of clothing, kids and a baby. Now homeless in mainland Europe, with an ever changing situation, we will be taking a van out to Europe directly after the event with much needed aid, size 8 girls clothes and meduim plus children and other essentials, please come to this event, have fun and do something, £10 tickets plus any donations you can do. This is very genuine i spoke to the girls as they were making their way to Romania with children and babies, they abandoned anything they couldnt carry and went by foot over the border to escape war. , bring along any donations of clothes, she asked for size 8 and medium, but all sizes will be donated to other girls. medical stuff, womens sanitary and animal supplies, everything is needed
when i spoke to Samira last week she was being bombed as she was trying to escape Kyiv with some other girls, children and babies. for four days the girls struggled to make their way to the Romainian border. Some of the girls are still missing. We have arranged accomodation in Germany for the girls temporarily and hope to get them to UK. We at Subcultz were asked to be the agent for the previous Ska band the girls had formed, but had broken up prior to the war outbreak, we now plan to work with Samira to persue her singing career with UK musicians
IF YOU WISH TO DONATE MONEY YOU CAN USE FRIENDS AND FAMILY OPTION ON PAYPAL TO SUBCULTZ@GMAIL.COM (PLEASE PUT A NOTE -(UKRAINIAN CRISIS FUND). BANK TRANSFER PLEASE EMAIL US FOR DETAILS. IF YOU WISH TO DONATE CLOTHING MEDICAL, WOMENS AND BABIES PRODUCTS, ANIMAL FOOD PLEASE EMAIL SUBCULTZ@GMAIL.COM AND WE WILL LET YOU KNOW A COLLECTION DELIVERY POINT. ONCE THE VAN IS FULL WE LEAVE. PLEASE DROP PARCELS TO 131 VALLEY ROAD , PORTSLADE BN412TN IF YOU ARE IN UK. EUROPEAN PICK UP POINTS TO BE CONFIRMED
The girls and children sheltering under a road bridge from Russian bombers during the invasion of Kyiv
Some of the girls are still missing in Ukraine
This is the items badly needed, having spoken the Red Cross
Canned food – Pot noodles – Powder soup – Baby food – Nappies – Sanitary Products – Soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste – Power Banks and batteries – Small compact sleeping bags – PPE (overall, goggles, gloves, etc) – First Aid Kits. Women and childrens clothing, small toys, sweets, pushchairs, shampoos.
Please bring any of these items to our fundraising event or post/deliver to
Angie Larter 131 Valley Road, Portslade, Brighton, BN41 2TN
Lead singer and Bass player of Mister Lizard. My very good friend and best friend of my sons was bashed by 5 guys with knuckle dusters last night in Berlin in Friedrichshain area. Completely Unprovoked attack other than him being a punk, and them casuals. He is a Northern Irish Punk, who cant speak German, and one of the nicest people I know
Adam was out with a few friends, when he was approached by an aggressive German who seemed to have a problem with Adams appearance, but not understanding the verbal confrontation Adam tried to communicate, but was then set upon by another four attackers armed with Knuckledusters
We believe the attackers could have been in Berlin in connection to a huge demonstration the following day 1st August 2020
“We left a bar and walked around the corner and a guy started shouting at us but we ignored them, then he ran up to us and I turned around and that’s when his friend hit me with the knuckleduster, screaming Antifa scum. His associates then joined in fully armed in an unprovoked ferocious attack, leaving Adam unconscious with severe head wounds.
Adam is the singer and bass player with his band Mister Lizard and has only recently moved to Berlin to play in the active Punk music scene of the city. Also a lighting tech for bands that include Slipknot. He has no political ties, but was wearing a small crossed out swastika badge on his hat, very commonly worn by punks ever since the 1970’s.
Mister Lizard singer Adam McConville attacked with Knuckledusters in Berlin
Berlin Police were called but were not interested in persuing any form of investigation. However we are appealing to anyone with information to contact us. This is an attack once again on our subculture. Most young people that get involved in subculture will at some point come up against bigotry and abuse, sometimes turning violent like the tragic case of Sophie Lancaster killed for being a Goth.
Event promoter, band manager and actor banned from facebook.
Since yesterday morning 8/6/2020 a mass of Facebook profiles have been taken down. This seems to be based on the keyword, as it has nothing to do with any personal views on the current protest movements, as this includes Jamaican musicians within the Skinhead subculture, a young mother living in Brazil Favela, event promoters in UK, Germany, band members, tattooists, people of all ages and backgrounds right across the world.
Facebook has no customer service number or ways to contact them, but have all our personal data stored. Many people have become reliant on the platform for their businesses, personal diaries, addressbook and many more things. This is a serious infringement by the corporation
Among those names pulled down are Jamaican legend Monty Neysmith. 2tone artist of the Specials Neville Staple. Skinhead Reunion promoter and ex manager of Xray SpexSymond Lawes.
Isabelle Pradel Skinhead Girl, Sao Paulo Brazil banned from Facebook
Instagram is awash with people banned from Facebook
Instagram is full of people talking about losing their facebook profiles
Skinhead subculture started out as the first youth culture to bring jamaican youth and white British youth together in the mid 1960’s The favourite music of the time being ska reggae. In 1979 2tone then blended punk and reggae together to create the biggest boom of skinheads. Since then right wing groups have tried and failed to recruit. as the years have progressed the skinhead subculture is overwhelmingly a multi racial subculture spread as far away as South America and Indonesia which brings people of all backgrounds together. An example is the Sao Paulo scooter scene
Skinheads in Sao Paulo Brazil
15/06/20 Update. Although most accounts were restored within a few days, some are still banned. Symond Lawes has another full month ban for no apparent reason, he shared a BBC published photo of a protest, which included no hate speech
ONCE AGAIN AMERICAN MEDIA AND CORPORATIONS TAR US ALL WITH THE SAME BRUSH Hundreds of anti-racist skinheads are reporting that Facebook has purged their accounts for allegedly violating its community standards. This week, members of ska, reggae, and SHARP (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice) communities that oppose white supremacy are accusing the platform of wrongfully targeting them. Many believe that.
Facebook has mistakenly conflated their subculture with neo-Nazi groups because of the term “skinhead.” The suspensions occurred days after Facebook removed 200 accounts connected to white supremacist groups and as Mark Zuckerberg continues to be scrutinized for his selective moderation of hate speech. “We apologize to those affected by this issue,” a Facebook spokesperson told OneZero following the publication of our report. “These accounts were removed in error and have been reinstated. We are reviewing what happened in this case and are taking steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.” It’s unclear exactly how many accounts and Pages were disabled. British journalist Garry Bushell, who is also a musician and former manager of the punk band Cockney Rejects, tweeted on Monday that hundreds of Facebook profiles in the United Kingdom were taken down. On Reddit, members of the punk subreddit complained of a “Facebook Skinhead/Punk/Oi Mega-Ban,” theorizing that simply liking or following SHARP and other non-racist skinhead Facebook pages caused people to be locked out of their accounts. On Twitter, dozens if not hundreds of people reported the same — from users in the U.K., United States, Canada, Brazil, Chile, and Costa Rica. Since the subculture intersects with various music scenes, bands and musicians were affected as well. That includes Neville Staple, Jamaica-born frontman of the well-known ska band The Specials. Staple has been referred to as the “original rude boy,” and is known for his legacy in the 2-tone ska community — a diverse musical genre with roots in Jamaica. “Please look into things before doing a general cull,” Staple tweeted on Tuesday. Staple regularly performs live music sets on Facebook, according to The Sun. (Facebook told OneZero on Wednesday that it has restored access to Staple’s personal account.) Skinhead subculture emerged in 1960s working-class London, and has witnessed numerous waves and movements. There is no doubt that whiteness, racism, and fascism are associated with skinheads, and it is a fact that heinous acts of violence and murder have been committed by racists who associate with the subculture. At the same time, the Southern Poverty Law Center notes that “skinhead style first emerged as part of a non-racist and multiracial scene” and shares its DNA with ska, dancehall, and reggae — a heritage to which bands like The Specials are a testimony. Skinheads owe their heritage to Jamaican music traditions, and the subculture’s later adoption by white supremacists is viewed as antithetical to its origins. As such, there are two distinct skinhead subcultures alive today. The account of Clara Byrne, singer of Brighton hard reggae band Dakka Skanks and a musician of color, was also temporarily disabled. Byrne’s most recent Facebook posts support Black Lives Matter and the uprisings against police brutality. “The irony of banning [individuals such as Staple] on the grounds of suspected right-wing or racist promotion or support is particularly galling, and shows a complete lack of knowledge (and understanding) of British music in general, especially the multicultural 2-Tone movement,” said Guy Shankland, a British journalist at music magazine Vive Le Rock whose Facebook account was also disabled for 24 hours on Tuesday. Facebook notified people that their accounts were disabled in a vague message, which OneZero reviewed. “You can’t use Facebook because your account, or activity on it, doesn’t follow our Community Standards,” it said. Several people told OneZero that Facebook asked them to confirm their identities. In a separate message, Facebook said, “To help us check that this account belongs to you, we need a photo of your official ID.” In May, the company announced that it would begin checking the identities of accounts suspected of “inauthentic behavior,” which encompasses a host of violations such as harassment, using a fake account, and artificially promoting content. “They wanted to see my ID before they would give me my account back,” said James of Brighton, England. “I refused — I don’t want Facebook having my driving license on file — and I consider myself apolitical within the skinhead scene, but overall I’m avidly anti-racist and so are my friends.” However, some users report their accounts were reinstated without such verification. Andy Laidlaw, a member of Edinburgh ska bandBig Fat Panda said his account was disabled on Monday and subsequently reinstated without him providing identification. (Though he did receive Facebook’s prompt to submit a form of ID.) “I’ve always been a fan of Facebook, but if there is no explanation I will definitely use it less,” Laidlaw said. “I still think [the ban] is to do with the term ‘skinhead.’ But not all skinheads are racist. Quite the opposite for the majority.” Some of those impacted said they were relatively unbothered by the suspensions. “As far as I’m concerned, it was a mild inconvenience and most people I know took it in stride and were joking about it after,” said Montreal musician Karl St-Pierre, who recently began fundraising for the DESTA Black Youth Network. “Compared to all of the events unfolding in North America and beyond right now, let’s just say having your Facebook disabled by mistake is of much less importance, y’know?” Still, the suspensions speak to the fraught moment Facebook now finds itself in. Last Friday, the company removed 200 accounts reportedly linked to the Proud Boys and American Guard, which are white supremacy groups. Facebook said these accounts intended to ambush protests against the police murder of George Floyd. Earlier in the week, Facebook also removed “a handful” of accounts affiliated with Identity Evropa, another white supremacy group, for creating fake Antifa Twitter accounts. The company’s content moderation system is notoriously porous, so it’s unclear whether, in an effort to scrub bad actors, it failed to distinguish the subcultures. “I’m in skinhead Facebook groups because I share a love of Jamaican ska, reggae, and 2-tone music, however, the admin are pretty quick on stopping political conversations or anyone being hateful from what I’ve seen,” an individual whose account was removed by Facebook, and who requested to remain anonymous, told OneZero. “I think what Facebook has done is try to get rid of racists (which I absolutely agree with), but gotten rid of good people because we like similar music.” This person also noted that, in recent days, they had posted support for Black Lives Matter on Facebook. Black Facebook users have previously accused the platform of deleting posts that discuss racism and locking their accounts what it incorrectly deems hate speech. On Tuesday, a private skinhead Facebook Group with nearly 11,000 members changed its name to no longer contain the term “skinhead.” An admin of the group said in a post that the change is temporary, and is a response to Facebook’s mass suspension of accounts. Even Facebook users who do not identify as anti-racist skinheads, but are affiliated with the music scene, say they were affected. “It does seem that the ones who were disabled were all fans of the 2-tone/ska movement and on skinhead pages,” said Andy Davarias of Sutton, Surrey. “I myself am not a skinhead but I do love the culture and the music.” Civil liberties groups like Southern Poverty Law Center define “racist skinheads” as a “frequently violent and criminal subculture… typically imbued with neo-Nazi beliefs.” They are separate, however, from the SHARP community or anti-racist skinheads who staunchly disavow white supremacist beliefs. “If you look deep enough, you will find Facebook sites dedicated to [neo-Nazi] bands such as Skrewdriver, and some right-wing supporters still follow the 2-Tone, punk, and Trojan [Records] bands across social media, and still attend gigs,” said Shankland. “The ironic double standards of loving Jamaican ska while hating the very people who gave it to us still makes my skull spin.” “We consider ourselves to have a different approach to what we term ‘Boneheads’ who seem to love extremist right-wing views,” said Essex DJ Pete Lacey, who is part of the SHARP community. “Racism is abhorrent to the skinhead culture.”
One of the biggest skinhead scenes now is in Bogota Colombia
“To all friends of Jaelee, Jaelee has asked me to write this and I do so with the heaviest of hearts. Earlier this afternoon Jaelee’s mum, the beautiful and vivacious spirit that was Millie Small passed away. Millie suffered a stroke over the weekend after a suffering a serious haemorrhage in her brain and was taken to Charing Cross Hospital in London on Saturday. Unfortunately the haemorrhage was such that team at the hospital was unable to remove the liquid around her brain and her condition has unfortunately been in decline since Saturday. Earlier today her doctors took the decision to take her off life support as there was no chance of a recovery and she passed away this afternoon. The team at the hospital did a fantastic job to make sure she was comfortable and peaceful in her last few days and Jaelee was at her side until the very last moments. I saw Millie briefly at the start of lockdown from a safe distance when I dropped off some supplies for her; she was her usual effervescent self, full of warmth, smiles and life so this has come as a real shock. I’m sure Jaelee will want some time and space to come to terms with everything so if you have a message for her let me know and I will pass it on.”
Milie Small with husband and child
Millie Small a legend of Jamaican Ska and Reggae
My Boy Lollypop was a favourite for many Skinheads in the UK a song many thought dedicated to them and sung by girls to their Skinhead Boyfriend for decades
The star was most famous for her hit single My Boy Lollipop, which reached number two in both the US and the UK in 1964.
It remains one of the biggest-selling ska songs of all time, with more than seven million sales.
Island Records founder Chris Blackwell announced her death and remembered her as “a sweet person… really special”.
It was Blackwell who brought Small to London in 1963 and produced her version of My Boy Lollipop, showcasing her childlike, high-pitched vocals.
“I would say she’s the person who took ska international because it was her first hit record,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
“It became a hit pretty much everywhere in the world. I went with her around the world because each of the territories wanted her to turn up and do TV shows and such, and it was just incredible how she handled it.
“She was such a sweet person, really a sweet person. Very funny, great sense of humour. She was really special,” said Blackwell.Skip Youtube post by El enano trapecista
Born Millicent Small in Clarendon, south Jamaica, she was one of seven brothers and five sisters, raised on the sugar plantation where her father was an overseer.
At the age of 12, she won a talent contest at the Palladium Theatre in Montego Bay; and by her teens, she was recording for Sir Coxone Dodd’s Studio One label in Kingston.
There, she teamed up with reggae singer Roy Panton, and they became one of the island’s most prolific duos, scoring a major hit with We’ll Meet.
Blackwell took an interest in the singer after releasing some of those records in the UK on his fledgling record label, Island, and brought her to London in 1963.
Small was enrolled at the Italia Conti Stage School for speech training and dancing lessons; and she toured the UK before cutting My Boy Lollipop with a group of London session musicians (Small claimed Rod Stewart played the harmonica solo, but he has denied being present at the recording).
Released in February 1964, it made her an international star, and helped popularise ska music around the world.
“It is the ska equivalent of Elvis’ Heartbreak Hotel or the Sex Pistols’ God Save The Queen – the disc that popularised a sound previously considered to be on the margins of mainstream consciousness,” wrote music historian Laurence Cane-Honeysett in Record Collector magazine.
Millie Small was given a hero’s welcome when she returned to Jamaica after the success of My Boy Lollipop
However, Small was unable to replicate the success of My Boy Lollipop, scoring only one further hit, a soundalike called Sweet William, later the same year.
But she continued to tour and record, and appeared frequently on 1960s pop shows like Juke Box Jury and Ready Steady Go.
“My life seemed very normal to me – even though I was only 17, I took fame in its stride,” she told the Express in 2016.
After leaving Island in 1970, she recorded for legendary reggae label Trojan Records, where her first single was a cover of Nick Drake’s Mayfair.
However, it was the b-side that attracted greater attention. Called Enoch Power, it was a defiant response to Enoch Powell’s inflammatory, anti-immigration “Rivers of Blood” speech that captured the mood of the UK’s Caribbean population.Skip Youtube post by lanman31337
Soon after that single, and the accompanying album Time Will Tell, Small stepped away from music, saying “it was the end of the dream and it felt like the right time”.
In later years, she lived in Singapore and New Zealand before returning to London, where she concentrated on writing, painting and raising her daughter.
When My Boy Lollipop was re-released in 1987 to mark Island Records’ 25th anniversary, the singer gave a rare interview to Thames TV, where she revealed she had, at one point, been penniless and sleeping rough in London.
However, she took the hard times in good grace, explaining: “That’s all experience. It was great. I didn’t worry because I knew what I was doing.
“I saw how the other half live. It’s something I chose to do.”
In 2011, Jamaica’s Governor-General made Small a Commander in the Order of Distinction for her contribution to the Jamaican music industry.
The singer is survived by her daughter, Joan, who is also a musician based in London.
A Woman Hitting a Neo-Nazi With Her Handbag (Swedish: Kvinnan med handväskan, lit. “The woman with the handbag”) is a photograph taken in Växjö, Sweden on 13 April 1985 by Hans Runesson. It depicts a 38-year-old woman hitting a marching neo-Nazi with a handbag. The photograph was taken during a demonstration of the Nordic Reich Party supporters. It was published in the next day’s Dagens Nyheter and a day later in some British newspapers and sparked a discussion in Sweden about “violence unleashed against innocent demonstrators.”
Runesson’s photograph was selected as the Swedish Picture of the Year (Årets bild) 1985 and later as the Picture of the Century by the magazine Vi and the Photographic Historical Society of Sweden.[1]
The photograph was produced using gelatin silver process and editioned by gallerist Pelle Unger.[2] Twelve copies, three AP and three PP has been produced in the size 58 by 80 centimetres (23 in × 31 in) and price ranges between €3000–6000.[3]
A statue was later erected for Danuta Danielsson
Danuta Danielsson, the woman in the photo, committed suicide, jumping to her death from a water tower, two years after the photo’s release, due to the unwanted media attention she received as a result of the photo’s popularity.[4] She was born in 1947 and moved to Sweden after marrying a Swedish man she had met at a jazz festival. She was of Polish heritage and her mother had been imprisoned in Majdanek concentration camp during World War II.[1][5][6] A local artist, Susanna Arwin, expressed desire to raise a life-sized statue of Danielsson but it was ultimately decided against for two reasons, the first being that council members in Växjö were concerned such a statue could be interpreted as promoting violence and the second being that Danielsson’s surviving family reported that they would be unhappy with Danielsson memorialized in such a manner.[5][7][8][9][10] Seppo Seluska, the man in the photo, was a militant from the Nordic Reich Party.
Friday 17th November 2006, 30 years since Punk detonated, and I had the pleasure of sharing a few drinks with Ron Watts in my home. Ron promoted many of the early bands, and organised the now legendary Punk Festival at the 100 Club on the 20th and 21st September, 1976. Ron’s just published a great book which documents those heady and (for those lucky enough to have been there) exciting times. I switched on the tape recorder, put some wine on the table and off we went, talking about our mutually favourite subject. Music! I hope people will find this interview as interesting as I did, he’s a top bloke with some great memories. Rob Maddison, Tamworth, 19th November 2006. 100 Watts, a life in Music. Written by Ron Watts and forward by Glen Matlock. ISBN 0-9543884-4-5. Available from Heroes Publishing, the Internet (it’s on Amazon) or even a bookshop!
RM) Ron, firstly, why did you write the book? Ron) I was approached by the publishers, who said “would you be interested in writing your life story”. I thought about it, for about two days, and then thought yeah. Yes, I’d do that, you know what I mean.RM) How on earth did you remember everything? Ron) Most of it was in the house, still. I just had to find all the old diaries and booking sheets and things, and it jogged my memory, you know. RM) You kept all that stuff, then Ron? Ron) Well, yes, I suppose you would, really, wouldn’t you. To be honest, I sold some stuff off at auction, about 10 years ago, when I was skint. One thing was the Sex Pistols contract from the Punk Festival, which was handwritten by Malcolm McClaren.RM) Who bought it? Ron) I think it was the Hard Rock Café in Central London, to put up on the wall.RM) When’s your next promotion Ron? Ron) Well, I haven’t been promoting for a while, but it’s in my blood, and people are expressing an interest in me doing something. I’ve got 2 venues lined up for the new year, look here for news, come February. We’ve venues in Oxford Street and High Wycombe, but can’t say too much at this point!! These gigs are to be known as Ron’s part 1 and 2…RM) Who are you promoting? Ron) What I did in 1977. RM) What, new “Punk” bands, such as The View etc? Ron) No. Same bands I did in ’77. Same bands in the same place. Some of them are reforming, I’ve been on the bone mate!!RM) Who are you still in touch with from those days, Ron? Ron) Virtually everybody. People from the Sex Pistols, met some of the Clash quite recently, Damned I’m still in touch with, no end of people. RM) Glen Matlock wrote the forward to the book and is obviously a decent bloke. Ron) Glen is a nice bloke, and definitely part of the Pistols, but is his own man.RM) Did you ban Punk? Ron) No. Punk was banned around me, and while it was banned at one venue, I still considered doing it at another, the Nags Head in High Wycombe. At the first opportunity for it to go back into the 100 Club it went back in. It’s a false supposition to suggest I banned it. It was banned because the police and Oxford Street traders association objected to Punks standing in queues outside their shops waiting to get into the club. At this time Oxford Street was the premier shopping street in Europe. I’d be getting complaints, so would go out into the street and try and get people to move out of shop doorways etc, but as soon as I went back in the club they’d be back in there. And of course there’d been some real bad violence. When a girl loses her eye that’s a pretty serious thing. You have to remember that I didn’t own the club, I just promoted there. Simple as. RM) Did Sid Vicious throw the glass that injured the girl’s eye? Ron) Well, I presume so, the barman saw him do it. He didn’t know Sid from Adam, but he pointed him (Sid) out and told me it was him that threw it. I don’t think Sid meant to hurt anybody, except the Damned! If it had caught Captain Sensible on the head he’d have liked that! Funnily enough I was down at the 100 Club a couple of weeks ago, and Michelle Brigandage, who took some of the photos in the book, was telling me that she was actually sat with the girl who lost her eye. Apparently she was an art student from South London, never wanted any publicity and was broken hearted, as anyone would be who lost an eye, especially at that age. She was only 19 at the time. Michelle was sat with her when it happened, she was her mate, and it’s the first time I’ve had a real chat about it. She said herself that though she accepts that it was Sid who threw the glass, he hadn’t intended to do that. But at the same time, he had thrown the glass with malice, and might’ve done even worse damage to someone else, you never know. So in one sense, he’s exonerated to a degree, and in another sense he’s still a malicious Pratt.
Ron Watts manager signs The Damned. with Stiff Records
RM) Was there any collusion to get Sid off by discrediting the barman’s story? Ron) No, but so many people went down with him, to the police station, and said he didn’t do it that the CPS probably thought 250 against 1 and dropped it.RM) Were you surprised by Sid’s eventual demise? Ron) No. You know, his mother, Ann Beverley moved up to Swadlincote, near here. She got some money from Sid’s estate, and the Pistols gave her some money. She got a cheap house and a few bob in the bank, and when she’d run through that she topped herself. As for Nancy, the police weren’t looking for anybody else, but we don’t know, do we.RM) Ron, how proud are you of your role in Punk, and could it have happened without the 100 Club? Ron) Yeah, it would’ve happened anyway. It might have happened in a different way, but I suppose the traumatic birth it got, and the big hand it got via the Punk festival etc helped, otherwise it might have taken a bit longer. RM) Could it have started in any other city other than London? Ron) I think it needed London. It gave it the credibility. It might have happened somewhere else, and it might have been more interesting if it had happened, say, in Liverpool or Newcastle or somewhere, but it would have taken longer to be accepted, and London would have taken longer to accept it.RM) I suppose the Pistols, who catalyzed the movement were a London band, and people like Paul Weller, Pete Shelley etc always say the seeing that band is what galvanised them. Ron) Yes. They were the catalyst. We needed to have them in the Capital, playing in the middle of the Capital. It was always going to be a shortcut for them, you know. So yes, it would have still happened elsewhere, but in a different way. RM) Whose idea was the 1976 Punk Festival at the 100 Club? Ron) Mine. My idea, yeah. I approached Mclaren, as I knew that I needed the Pistols to headline it. And the Damned, they said that they wanted to do it, and The Clash agreed immediately, then we had to cast around to find some more. The Manchester bands were got down by Malcolm (Mclaren). Siouxsie approached me direct, although it wasn’t much of a band. Then, the Stinky Toys were volunteered by Mclaren, although I’d never heard of ‘em, and hardly anyone’s heard of ‘em since! Never mind, they got on eventually on the second night!RM) I read in the book that the Grande Piano on the stage got used like a climbing frame. Were you actually liable for damages if things got broken? Ron) The piano wasn’t going to get moved off the stage. It always stays there. Thing is, you’ve got to remember that it was a running, 7 nights a week club, for Jazz and Blues mainly, and the piano was a part of all that. The owners of the club left me to it for my nights, very seldom that they were there, even. If the place had been wrecked, it would’ve been down to me, I’d have had to pay for all the damage, you know.RM) Punk 77’s owner wondered if you thought the Banshees sounded as bad as he thought they did?! Ron) Well, in ’76 they weren’t really a band, you can’t comment. What they were doing was performance art, just getting up onto the stage and doing something off the top of their heads. They didn’t know any songs, and it sounded like it. It was weak, it was weedy. Sid just about tapped the drums. Siouxsie was doing the Lords Prayer and stuff like that. You couldn’t say it was a gig, or a rehearsed act, it was just people, getting up and trying to do something. I let them do it, you know, I might have done something like that at their age. I don’t think Siouxsie really lived up to her reputation, if you like. Well, not initially. RM) I didn’t like them, but the Banshees went on to become very skilled, musically. Ron) Yes. By then she’d recruited some good blokes. She’s been living in France for a long time now, I don’t see her.
RM) Were the early Punks, like Siouxsie, middle class students? If so, how did they feel when Punk was taken up by the masses? Ron) No. The early Punks were solidly working class. There was the art college mob, they weren’t numerically very strong, but they were the most vivid people, because of their appearance. They set the standard, the tone, you know? But immediately behind that, by the time of the punk festival of ‘76, the bulk of the audience was being formed by young, working class people and they took it to their hearts at once. RM) Were the movements roots biased towards the fashion element or more towards the music side, or was it one package?Ron) The fashion and art side, you know, was where Siouxsie was coming from. They took it very seriously, it was a new movement and they only had the one band to start with. It was very arty, but it was an art movement that worked. If you’d been there the first night I put the Pistols on, I think it was March 30th 1976, and you saw the Bromley Contingent coming in! They didn’t all come at once, they come in dribs and drabs. Each time, it was breathtaking and jaw dropping just to see them walk through that door.RM) Were contemporary Londoners shocked by the appearance of the early Punks? Ron) Initially, yeah. They’d got used to it by the end of that year. But initially, like in the early months, absolutely.RM) The summer of ’76 is famous for its heat wave. I bet you’ve great memories of it? RW) In that summer, and remember that it was the hottest, the best summer in living memory, it was the summer, people still talking about it now, and nothing was happening, everybody was asleep, you know. Anyway, this New Zealand film crew turned up to capture London. They’d been dispatched from Auckland to film London, in the summer. They were bright enough to cotton on to the movement, and they were haunting me! I mean, they got so many yards, so many miles of film, some of it’s not even been seen yet. All the main punk films, like the Rock ‘n Roll Swindle, The Filth and the Fury, were relying on their footage. They were amazed when they got their first, full on, Bromley Punk. They could not believe it. They said “You guys are 200 years ahead of New Zealand!” RM) Were you interested about the politics in Punk? Ron) I tried to keep it at arms length. I wasn’t interested in sub-divisions.RM) What about The Clash? Ron) Didn’t know that they were! (political). I think they were just trying to make it, I mean, they latched on to it. The Pistols had got a lot of the market wrapped up with their attitudes, so The Clash had to find some attitude, and they probably cooked it up with their manager, I reckon. What attitude can we have? Well, the Pistols have got this, that and the other and they found the one that they could go for. RM) I’ve read that the purists hated them, but I loved The Jam. They flirted with politics early on, and then really got involved, with Paul Weller joining Red Wedge later. Ron) The Jam were some of the biggest winners out of Punk. There was such a lot of talent in that band. That band was so tight.RM) Did you get more involved with them once they’d started to get bigger? Ron) They wanted me to help them with their American tour, by going ahead from city to city publicising it. But this was ’77, and I was amazed that their manager John Weller had asked me, and I would’ve loved to have done it. But, I was at the height of my promoting career, and I realised that. So I said “No, I’ve got to stick with this.” RM) The Jam always felt like a band that, as a fan, you had a stake in. Ron) I tell you what, they did a show for me at the 100 Club, when they’d been doing really huge venues like the Hammersmith Odeon. They’d always said, when we get there, we’ll come back and do one. They ended up doing three for me. One at Wycombe Town Hall, one at the Nags Head, which is a pub, you know! And, the 100 Club. They were really good like that, and I appreciate what they did for me and I love ‘em to bits.RM) It’s weird that there was all that acrimony between those people, and even stranger that Rick, and now Bruce, are playing in a Jam tribute band. (The Gift).Ron) Good drummer. I think, and this is my opinion, as I’ve no proof of it, that the girls all used to go for Bruce Foxton. The band was great, and they knew the band was great and they loved Paul Weller. But, in their hearts they all fancied that they’d get off with Bruce Foxton. When I did the box office at the 100 Club, there’d be all these girls turning up in school uniforms. I’d be saying “How old are you?” and the answer was always “19!” Am I really going to sell these girls tickets?!RM) I read somewhere, years ago, that Sid Vicious and Paul Weller had a fight after arguing about the Holidays in the Sun/ In the City riff. Did you hear that one? Ron) No. I can’t see that. Paul Weller was from a tough, working class background. A fight between him and Sid Vicious would have lasted about 8 seconds. He would have dealt with Sid in no time at all. It didn’t happen. Sid would need to have been tooled up, and I’ve had to fight him 3 times when he was. And I’m still here. Sid came at me with a chain, once. I confiscated it, and wish I still had all these weapons, as I could put them up for sale at Christies, couldn’t I?! And I saw Sid with a knife, threatening Elle, the singer out the Stinky Toys with it. I took that off him and gave it to Malcolm Mclaren. Wish I’d kept it. RM) Ron, did you have much to do with Rock Against Racism (R.A.R)? Ron) Only in as much as I endorsed it. And, I wouldn’t have any racist behaviour, as it says in the book, in any of my venues. I just wouldn’t. No way, I mean my bouncers were black, a lot of my acts were black, and I wasn’t going to have it. There were a few occasions when it surfaced, and I did the natural thing and let the black guys sort it themselves.RM) Empowerment? Ron) Yeah. At Wycombe Town Hall, the British movement guys were having a go at my bouncer, Gerry. One black guy against twenty or thirty of them, so I said to him “I’ll take your position, don’t be long, go down the pubs and get your mates.” And he come back in with a dozen big black lads. I said to them, “Look, you’re here to look after Gerry, not to kill these white guys.” So, Gerry stood in front of them, and there wasn’t a word out of them again! They moved out of the way, and went down the other side of the hall, these bullies. They saw the odds evening up a bit, and given the other 8 or 9 bouncers I had stood in the hall, we would’ve murdered them. RM) Jimmy Pursey went on-stage with The Clash at R.A.R in Victoria Park. Was this damage limitation on Pursey’s behalf? He seemed to get his fingers burned when the Skins affiliated to Sham 69. Ron) Exactly. And I don’t think he liked that one little bit. See, now, Jimmy Pursey is another guy, like Paul Weller and Joe Strummer, probably all of them at that time. Underneath he was a much nicer person than the media, and the world, would realise and portray. He was an alright geezer and he caught the wrong end of the backlash. People were believing what he was portraying and singing about, and that wasn’t necessarily him!RM) Did Sham 69 dance a bit to close the flame? They could be perceived as “rabble rousing”, if you like. Ron) They were looking for something to hang their stick on, if you like. The Pistols found it in one. Joe Strummer looked around with The Clash and thought about it and did it, you know. The Jam done it through their potent mix of soul and punk, and I think Jimmy Pursey thought he’d go with the hard boys in the East End. The skinheads, and the mobsters and the ruffians, you know. RM) Musically, Sham 69 were similar to the Pistols… Ron) Yeah, closer than some. I liked Sham 69, they were alright. I think Pursey is another guy who hung his hat somewhere, and that hat got on the wrong peg.
RM) How fast did Punk spread throughout 1977? Ron) Well, it got going in ’76. The Wycombe Punks, because they had me to promote at the Nags Head, got their first Sex Pistols gig there on September 3rd, which was actually 3 weeks before the 100 Club Festival. They were on the case really early. In ’76, Wycombe and the surrounding towns were full of Punks. By the end of that year, they even had a black Punk in Wycombe, a guy called Marmite. He had black hair, with a silver zigzag stripe in it. By ’77, it was all up and running everywhere. By January or February 1977 almost everyone under the age of 18 or 19 was a Punk.RM) When did the press really get hold of it? Ron) Then. But they were on to it before the Bill Grundy Show, the Punk Festival was before that show and from then it was just….you know. I used to get phone calls, from NBC and CBS in America asking if anything’s going on, or coming off, could you let us know. RM) That’s odd, being as the Americans claim to have invented Punk! Ron) They were a year or two ahead. It’s like most things. It’s like the Blues. We had to take the Blues back to America for White America to know about it. Cream, Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, those sort of people. RM) America’s too big and too diverse. It couldn’t host youth movements like Punk and 2-Tone.Ron) No. It had to come from somewhere else. I mean, in New York it was a club scene, in Britain it was a national scene. RM) What did you think of those American bands?Ron) Some of them were really good. I didn’t think New York Dolls were as good as bands like Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers. They were probably the best Punk band I ever saw, actually. RM) And Blondie? Ron) Well, Blondie. The bass player, Nigel was a guy from the Nags Head. Tigger, we used to call him. That was his name round Wycombe. He played at the Nags Head before he was in Blondie. I’ve got to say that Tigger and Blondie didn’t get on. Maybe she fancied him, and he didn’t fancy her!
RM) He would’ve been the only British male in the late ‘70’s who didn’t, then?! Ron) Perhaps he knew something we didn’t!RM) Back to the serious stuff, Ron. The Clash flew to Belfast, had some nice photos taken near some barricades and murals. Then they flew home. No gigs played. What do you think about all that? Ron) Well, it’s up to them. Sometimes, promotional events can take over. You can be wise after the event, it might have sounded like a good thing at the time. Who knows, I mean, it might have been sincere. I didn’t see them as a band who had very political motives outside of the publicity. I’m not saying they didn’t have a heart, but sometimes publicity sows a life of its own, you know.RM) If they’d played, this would never have been an issue with people over the years. Ron) No, but they would do benefits and things, R.A.R, and one just before Joe died, for a fireman’s benefit. RM) It’s ironic. The Pistols and Strummer/Jones last gigs in England were both strike fund benefits. And the Pistols, apparently, never cashed their cheque from that Christmas Day one. Ron) I wasn’t a party to any of that, but yeah, that was a good gesture. A lesson. A guy came down to interview me, and he lived near Joe Strummer. Lived in the same village and he was a long time journalist. He said that he thought that Joe Strummer had a lot of heart, and it was very typical of him that he’d go out and do a benefit as The Clash, but commercially would only do The Mescalero’s.
RM) Back to the Pistols, now Ron. What was their early live sound like? Ron) I’ll tell you something now that I’ve never told anybody before. Musically, when the Pistols started, I thought that they were, or sounded like, a youth club heavy metal band. Not the songs, or the vocals, or even the presentation but the actual sound of the band. It wasn’t a weak sound, but it wasn’t particularly pokey. Within three months, they’d perked it up a lot. RM) How big an influence was Dave Goodman to their sound? Ron) He brought a lot of stuff to them. He gave them a lot of advice. He’d make them sound a lot more pokey, he’d get them to do things. I spent a lot of time with Dave Goodman, as when you’re a promoter, you’re there to open it up. And Dave used to arrive early, you know, he’d arrive at four in the afternoon. I’d give him a hand in with some of the gear, and we’d spend some time together as we’d be the only ones there for a couple of hours. I’d be answering the phone and stuff, doing other things like that, but I got to know that guy. He never actually spoke to me about Punk. He mentioned the Pistols, but he never actually spoke about the Punk movement. I wish I’d recorded all those conversations!RM) Did you always fill the 100 Club? Ron) Well, after the first couple of months, it filled out, yeah. I mean, the Pistols didn’t pull a crowd for about their first six gigs. We’re talking about 50 – 80 people, the Bromley Contingent and a few interested parties!
RM) Some people must’ve come in to watch the Pistols out of curiosity? Maybe just walking by the club, then deciding to see what was going on in there, and finding their lives would never be quite the same again? Ron) Yeah, I think that younger people who come down to see it would change. They’d come down the first night with long hair and flares, and by the third night they’d seen them they’d come down in drainpipes and Punk haircut, you know?
RM) What about the other clubs, Ron, like the Roxy? Ron) Went to the Roxy, yes, many times. It was a bit of a pokey hole actually. The Roxy didn’t last long. The Vortex I went to. The stories I used to hear about that place! It was more of a disco crowd, actually. Rent-a-Punk, you know? It wasn’t for the faint hearted, not very savoury! RM) Did you get to read many of the fanzines? Ron) Yeah, I did. I used to see them all. We had one out in the Home Counties called the Buckshee Press, which is a piss take of the Bucks Free Press, of course there was Sniffin’ Glue, we used to see that at the 100 Club all the time. There were others, too, I came across them all over the place, actually, some of them were just one issue, you know, and just a couple of pages.RM) Did you know Mark Perry and the music hacks the time? Ron) Yeah, I knew Mark. Caroline Coon, too. Caroline has been very kind to me in her books, and things, you know. In fact she blamed me, or congratulated me for the whole of Punk in one of them, special thanks to Ron Watts, and that’s nice! Caroline was the first dedicated journalist who wanted to see Punk happen. And, I’m glad in a way that it happened for her, too, because she put her money on the table, you know? Same as I did. She ran that Release thing, which got all the hippies out of jail for cannabis. She was ahead of her time, I mean seriously, you can’t lock someone up for 6 months for smoking cannabis! RM) Changing tack again, Ron. What did you think of Malcolm Mclaren? Ron) I like Malcolm personally. No doubt, you know, I’m not just saying that. On first impressions he looked like an Edwardian gentleman. He’d got that off to a tee, I’d never seen anyone look like him, actually. I never had any bad dealings with him, and he was always very straightforward.RM) People either loved or loathed Mclaren. John Lydon isn’t a fan. Ron) Yeah, I think it was more of a financial thing, but I mean, John Lydon should also remember that without Mclaren he probably wouldn’t have been in them. Mclaren set the scene going, I was the first to pick it up, from that, before recording deals, but he never stuffed me like he stuffed the record companies. They made a lot of money, initially.RM) Did the record companies drop the band so willingly because it was Jubilee year? Ron) Well, the Pistols were full on and did it. I mean, “God Save The Queen” become one of the biggest selling British hit singles, didn’t it? It’s still selling now! And they wouldn’t let it on the shelves, would they. Bless ‘em! RM) You were on the legendary ’77 boat trip up the Thames, when the Pistols played and Mclaren got arrested. What was that like? Ron) It was lovely! You should’ve been there, honestly. The band were ok, they just did their normal gig. I enjoyed seeing people that you wouldn’t expect, talking to each other. When you’ve got the boss of Virgin, that business empire, talking to Sid Vicious, can you imagine what sort of conversation they had?! I’d loved to have taken a tape recorder in there! RM) Do you think the police raid on the boat was planned? Ron) I tell you what, I was amazed at that. I was actually on deck, and the boat was going downstream, back towards Westminster Pier. The Pistols were playing, and it got a bit jostley. You know, a bit of charging about in a small space ‘cause it wasn’t very big, the boat, really. So, I went out on to the deck by the railings, and a couple of other people come and joined me. There was plenty of food and drink, and I had a beer and a chicken leg or something, you know. And I’m looking and I can see these two police boats, and they were a way off. Downstream, I could see two more police boats, and they were a way off, too. I carried on eating the chicken and drinking the beer, looked round, and they were all there, together, at the same time! I mean, the degree of professionalism was just amazing! And then they were on that boat, in force, like about twelve or fifteen coppers, in moments. The boat was quite high sided, but they were up there. And you know what they were doing, they were up there and on that boat and we were escorted into the Westminster Pier basin.RM) Then Mclaren was nicked. Do you reckon he did just enough to get the publicity of an arrest without being charged with anything serious? Ron) I saw that. He got a lot of press out of it, yeah. He knew. Everybody turned to me, to try and sort it all out. One of them was a Countess! RM) Ron, you mentioned that no other bands were on the boat. Was there a real rivalry between these new bands at the time? Ron) The Jam were the young upstarts according to the Pistols, you know. The Clash were their biggest rivals at the time. The Damned, they had no time for.RM) Why don’t The Damned get their due credit? In my opinion, they should. Ron) I don’t know. A lot of people say they’re just a Punk cocktail act. You don’t see a lot about them, and yet they were the first to get a single out and they could play. Scabies could play. Brian James come up brilliant, but then he’d have done anything, if they’d have asked him to join Led Zeppelin he’d have done that, and Captain (Sensible), well I like Captain.RM) Buzzcocks were, from what I’ve heard on bootlegs, a bit rough to start with. They really hit a rich seam once they got up and running. Ron) If the Buzzcocks could make it, anybody could. I wasn’t impressed, really. But what’s in the future’s in the future, you never know what is at the time. They blossomed.
RM) And Magazine? Did you rate them? Ron) Yeah, I did. Brilliant guitarist, John McGeoch. And Penetration, they were a good band, and X-Ray Spex.
RM) Which bands are you the most pleased to have seen play? Ron) Well, I mean, it’s all of them. But where do you start?! Alright, the Pistols and The Clash, definitely, yeah. The Jam – pleased to see them anywhere, anytime. I did enjoy the Damned at an early stage, but they’re not in the top 5. And Sham 69, and The Heartbreakers.RM) I heard “Pretty Vacant” on the radio in my car earlier today, and I got the old goose bumps. Does any of the music from that time affect you the same? Ron) All the early Pistols stuff, yeah!RM) What’s your view on Punk and Reggae getting married? Ron) Yeah, if people want to get together and cross pollinate ideas, then that’s alright. It was the underbelly, twice. You had the white working class and the black working class responding to each other at last! RM) Some Punk bands who had a go at playing Reggae were better than others. Ruts, SLF and of course The Clash all cracked it in their own styles… Ron) The worst Reggae act I ever saw, were The Slits. Actually, probably just the worst act! RM) Do you think that Punk and Reggae blending in ’77 was the root of Two Tone? Ron) Yes. I’m sure it came out of that. I used to have a lot of Reggae acts on in that club, aside from Punk and the Blues and everything. I’d put on Steele Pulse, or an American Blues artist like Muddy Waters, as long as it was what I liked. RM) Your best front men and women? Ron) I’m thinking about this one…The best oddball front man was Wayne County. Best front woman, from what I saw, Faye Fife.RM) You rate Faye Fife over Poly Styrene?Ron) You’re putting me on the spot there! I’d put them equal for different reasons. Faye used to put on a great act. They were perennially at the club and at the Nags Head. Because I had so many venues, when they were coming down again, I needed to know, because that’s three bookings to give them. It was always like, “get your diary out, mate, when you coming down?” If I gave them three bookings, they’d come down, and they could fill it out with other stuff, do the rounds. X-Ray Spex were good, too. Really good band. The Rezillos are still going, actually. RM) I watched a documentary on TV the other night about that Stiff Records tour. The one where they hired a train from BR. Ron) They did the first night for me, at High Wycombe, yeah. There were some funny people there! Wreckless Eric was at the Punk thing I did in Blackpool this year. It took me about an hour to recognise him. I kept looking and looking and vaguely remembered him. Not a nice bloke. RM) Here’s the last one, Ron. Punk lit a fuse for many people. I’m one (albeit two years late), the other people who contributed questions to this interview are others and there’s millions more. As Ed Armchair puts it, his fuse is still burning to this day, and has affected virtually every aspect of his life since it was lit. Do you have the same feelings about Punk as we do? Ron) Yes. I got going through that and it still survives. My first love in music was, and is, Blues. I see a lot of similarities between Punk and Blues. They both come from the underbelly of a society, and they’ve both triumphed against all the odds. They both spoke for their people of that time and place. They’ll reverberate forever. Punk freshened up a stale music scene and the Blues were the bedrock for twentieth and twenty-first century music.RM) Ron, thanks for your time and best of luck with your new projects.END
It is a massive pleasure & honour to feature an interview with English actor, director, producer and musician Gary Shail on “Mods Of Your generation”. Best known for his role as “Spider” in the iconic cult movie Quadrophenia that many of us still admire and talk about today. This year (2019) marks the 40th anniversary of the film which is a massive milestone for everyone involved. The fact that its still talked about today makes it even all the more great. Gary is a great guy who has attended a lot of events over the years in aid to raise money for charity. We asked Gary about his own event coming up called QUAD 40 and about his career and experiences filming Quadrophenia & Jack the Ripper. We also discussed his book “ I think I’m on the guest list” published in 2015 and his Christmas song “ Modding up my Christmas list ” (2017) and more. Gary has done a variety of interviews throughout the years so it was difficult to ask him questions that he hadn’t been asked before, however I hope you enjoy the interview as much as we enjoyed asking the questions. Make sure not to miss out on the anniversary celebration of the movie on Brighton Pier August 25th 2019 for more information go to www.quad40.co.uk#ModsOfYourGeneration
(1) I have heard you are a huge fan of the Regents a four-piece band based in Essex heavily influenced by the original mod spirt of 1964. Are there any other new bands influenced by the mod scene who you are also a fan of? Yes I’m a big fan of ‘The Regents.’ I’ve known Sea Jays the lead singer since he was 16yrs old and he definitely has the right attitude. Mind you, he has always had the right attitude! Another young band I am really impressed with are ‘The Lapels’ who I saw play in Derby at a MOTM event the year before last. They completely blew the roof off the place, and nobody wanted to go on after them! The drummer was only 14yrs old at the time I think, and I watched them play with his mum! (2) You were just 18 when you were cast to play spider in Quadrophenia. I am sure you have been asked this many times before but did you think Quadrophenia would become the phenomenon it is today at the time of filming. Of course I didn’t know that I’d still be being asked questions about a film I was in 40yrs ago, but, I think we all knew at the time that it was definitely something special (3) On Christmas 2017 you released a song called “Modding up your Christmas list” to become number one. Have you any plans to do this again in the future. “Very catchy tune by the way LOVED IT” HAHAHAHA..My Mod Xmas Song? Well, I actually got a hell of a lot of flak for doing that by certain people who shall remain permanently nameless. But it was great fun to do, and a lot of people loved it, especially the kids. I had people sending me videos of their children doing dance routines in their living rooms, which was brilliant! But no, I don’t think I’ll be the next Cliff Richard.
Modding Up My Christmas List- 2017 (Official Video) (4) You have been involved in many MOD and Quadrophenia events over the years. Is this something you enjoy being part of and do you have any memorable moments from any of the events that stand out. Yes I do enjoy all the events I get asked to. Over the years I must have met thousands of people who love Quadrophenia, and it’s always a great feeling when my presence can actually help to raise money for a worthy cause. Some of the funniest memories I have are probably un-printable, but trying to get a kebab in Stoke at three in the morning with Alan May (The Glory Boy Radio Show) doing Withnail & I impersonations sticks firmly in my memory! (5) Your character in Quadrophenia had many memorable quotes in the film. What is the one that fans mention the most? Always the one about getting a gun! (6) Your book “I think I’m on the guest list” published by New Haven publishing LTD in 2015 was highly regarded and recommended. I found the book to be a very funny memoir of your life and the extraordinary people you have worked with and met throughout your career. Can your briefly describe the book to someone who has not yet read it. The book was actually written because of Gary Holton (The Rocker who beats Spider up) Gary and I became really good mates after Quadrophenia, and actually formed a band together called ‘The Actors.’ But when Gary sadly died in 1985 I never spoke to the press or anyone else for that matter about it. Then I was contacted 30yrs later by someone who was writing a book about him and wanted a contribution from me. I wanted to put the record straight about a few things, so I agreed. The publishers of the book loved what I’d written, so I was offered a publishing deal for my own story. I thought I’d better do it myself before I was dead and some other twat was ‘putting things straight’ about me! It’s certainly not your average autobiography I think, and later on this year I will be doing an Audio Version with a soundtrack, which will be totally different to anything you’ve ever heard I hope.
(7) Many fans of Quadrophenia have expressed an interest in a follow up to the film. Is this something that you would support? or like myself do you feel it is best left alone. There has always been talk of a “follow up” But I can’t see that ever happening. It’s always interesting to hear some of the Ideas of what our characters would have been doing in later life though. I think Spider would’ve become a hit-man for Ferdy’s drugs cartel!
(8) You are a huge fan of Trojan records, what is your favourite track, album or artist under the Trojan label. Yes I grew up with the Trojan record label, and one of the first artists I remember driving my parents mad with was Desmond Dekker. But I’ve always loved reggae and had a very respectable collection of Jamaican Pre- Releases by the tender age of 13. Last November, I was proudly invited by Neville and Christine Staple to their 50th Trojan Anniversary weekend at ‘Skamouth’ In Great Yarmouth where I actually met ‘The Pioneers’ who were about 100yrs old. They could still cut it though! (9) This year (2019) marks the 40th anniversary of Quadrophenia (film). To celebrate this, you have organised, and event called Quad 40 in Brighton on the 25th of August 2019. Tell us a little bit about what to expect from the event and where fans can buy tickets. It’s actually on the 25th August Johnny! Yes I have hired Horatios Bar on Brighton Pier from 12 noon ‘till midnight on Sunday the 25th August. And I can tell you now that I never thought I had this much bottle to actually try and pull something like this off. It’s a logistical fu**ing nightmare, but I’m actually really enjoying it. I’ve spoken to almost all of the other cast members of Quad who have all promised to attend (work permitting) but trying to get us all in the same country together is hard enough, let alone on a bleedin’ pier! On that morning before the actual party, Quadrophenia is being honoured with ‘The Brighton Music Walk Of Fame Plaque’ to be unveiled at the pier entrance, so it would be great if there were a few mods about. Tickets and details available at www.quad40.co.uk
(10) A question received by Jimmy Hemstead follower of Mods of Your Generation and Blogger at MOD TV UK “HI Gary in your younger days was you ever a mod and did you ever own a scooter, can you tell me when and how you got into acting and why please?” Hi Jimmy, love all your art-work by the way!No, I was far too young to be a mod; I was born in 1959, so I was only 5yrs old in 64 and the only scooter I owned was made by ‘Chad Valley.’I never had any ambitions to become a professional actor at all when I was a youngster, but somehow found my way into drama school at the age of 12, thanks to my parents and a couple of Comprehensive High School Teachers who probably just wanted me just out of the way!Quadrophenia was my first professional job when I left. (11) Do you have any plans to release more music, Books etc or what are you doing now that we can look forward to in the future? Yes, I will definitely be writing another book I think, but not part 2 of my autobiography, that would just be a bloody diary. It will probably be about my time working in the advertising industry in the 1990s. You think actors and musicians are crazy? They’ve got nothing on advertising people! Musically though, I never really stop. I had a solo album out last year called ‘Daze Like This’ (see below) which a lot of people liked, and I guested on ‘The Transmitters’ debut album which was great, although I hear that they have now split up. I’ve also recorded a couple of tracks with Steve ‘Smiley’ Barnard which are on his ‘Smiley’s Friends’ albums, and I’m back in the studio in a couple of months with ‘The Regents’ for their new album. I’m always writing though, and will hopefully record some of my own stuff probably next year now.
Title track from the album “Daze Like This” (12) Do you keep in touch with any of the main characters of Quadrophenia 40 years on? Yes, I see quite a lot of Trevor Laird (Ferdy) and I’ve recently been working with Toyah. Hopefully I’ll be seeing the others soon
(13) What do you regard as your biggest achievement in your career or what are you most proud of? I actually don’t think like that. Everything that keeps me off of the unemployed statistics is an achievement these days! I am extremely proud of my family though, and very recently became a granddad to a beautiful baby girl called Ellie May. I’m very proud about that! (14) In 1988 you appeared as the tough pimp “Billy White” in the tv series of “Jack the Ripper”. Sir Michael Caine also appeared in the series as Chief Inspector Frederick. Caine was a huge influence on British Culture in the 1960’s and referred to by many as a style icon.What was it like working with such an influential person in British pop culture? Making ‘Jack The Ripper’ in 1988 was like a dream come true, and working on a film with Sir Michael Caine was an experience I shall never forget. He was so interesting to watch, whilst he was working on camera, and I learnt a great deal from him. Everywhere you looked on that set there was something extraordinary going on in the acting stakes. Lewis Collins, Armand Assante, Susan George, Jane Seymour, Lysette Anthony, Ray McAnally, Hugh Fraser, Ken Bones etc etc.They were all giving it their all. I was just glad I gave it mine!
(15) Finally, How would you like to be remembered? Just to be remembered at all would be nice! Again it was a massive privilege to interview Gary shail and a big thank you to followers of “Mods Of Your Generation”, Please continue to show your support. Please like & share the “Mods Of Your Generation” Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/modsofyourgeneration/ interview conducted by Johnny Bradley for “Mods Of Your Generation”interview (C) 2019 to Johnny Bradley & “Mods of your Generation”
Mods Of Your Generation – Interview – The Kite Collectors MODS OF YOUR GENERATION·SATURDAY, 21 DECEMBER 2019 The band is based in Wiltshire UK and formed 2013, taking their main inspiration from the music of new wave and the 1960’s. The result is a mixture of influences and attitudes with a quality blend of infectious energetic melodies that literally fizzles in the ears. The band have attracted a huge fan base and the new album is greatly received by many. The band stopped gigging to concentrate on their studio work and “Never Look Down” is the result of the last 18 months. The album is superb and is instantly one of my favourites of 2019. Every song is relevant to the daily struggles of life and the lyrics bring some understanding, comfort and peace.Robby Allen the lead vocalist and song writer captures the true struggles of daily life in many of the tracks. A great example of this is the song “The Ballad of Mental health Issues” Making the tracks clear and relevant to the listener.Robby Allen has been an advocate of the mod/garage scene for many years. He found success in the late 1980s with garage rock outfit The Mild Mannered Janitors. Support slots include The Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets, The Prisoners, The Prime Movers, Steve Marriot, The Godfathers, Zoot Money, Graham Day and the Forefathers with many more.Buddy Ascott (Chords) and two-time KCs producer Sam Burnett (Back To Zero) referred to drummer Pete Summerfield as one of the best out there. We aren’t going to argue and certainly agree. Everyone who contributed to this from the sound engineer Keith Holmes who worked on some of “The Yardbirds re-masters to Robby Allen and the whole band, I would like to thank you all for providing me with some great music to listen to and cherish.
The Kite Collectors Promo – Never Look Down
When was the band formed?
I started work on the first album in 2012. The first version of the band was formed in 2013 in Wiltshire, UK.
Where does the name Kite Collectors come from?
The original idea behind the Kite Collectors was to be like John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in which I would be at the centre of it and bring in people to augment it. They would be the ‘kites’ that I collect. That was what the first album ‘Mildred’s Tree’ was. The main addition to it was my former bandmate from The Mild Mannered Janitors Steve Duffield (he also played in the Beta Band and now with Steve mason). He is a brilliant bassist with a talent for finding bass melody. Towards the end of that first album I also roped in Pete Summerfield to play drums. I had seen him play live a number of times and asked him to be in a band before but he was always busy doing other things – then I got lucky and he said yes. I added Dave Roe on guitar and Bryn Evans on organ; bassist was a young lively lad called Tom Williams. We had one practice and then did our first gig. That was it really – after that we started travelling the country playing – building up a really loyal set of followers.
The Kite Collectors live
The new album “Never Look Down” is dedicated to the Glory days Choir. Who are they?
In 2015 I was travelling back from work and was thinking about call and response songs – I wanted one for the people who spent their hard earned cash in coming to see us. Something I could dedicate to them. So, I wrote Glory Days. I sang it into my phone in a traffic jam and then finished it when I got home. There’s so much that we moan about in life but I think it’s important to also remember that we have good days too. We’ve lost a lot of friends recently because we are now at that age where time and illness catches up. It’s just a call to remember that some days are great, especially when we’re together and that one day we will look back on these days with fondness too. These are our glory days. We call those who follow the band the ‘Glory Days Choir’.
Tell me about some of the bands musical influences?
John Mayall, Small Faces, The Who, The Beatles, Medway sounds like The Prisoners and the New Jersey sound of The Smithereens; mix in a little classical music from Mendelsohn and you have what I write. Steve Marriott was my music hero though – my favourite song of all time is Tin Soldier. I got to support Steve 3 or 4 times in the 1980s. He was playing with the Packet of Three. I remember when he had just sound checked (which consisted of him touching the jack lead and saying ‘yeah, that’s alright,’) he started playing a keyboard. I was sitting on the edge of the stage with my music hero behind me playing blues licks on the organ and I thought that music life couldn’t get much better than that. I was chuffed when he remembered my name next time we played with him – although he did tell me to ‘fuck off’ out of the dressing room later the same night because I kept interrupting him with requests from people to sign stuff.
kite collectors live at The Fiddlers Elbow
What inspired you to write & record the new album?
After a gig in London I got quite ill, really bad actually – mental health wise. On the way home in the car, curled up in the footwell; I realised that I needed a break. I was feeling a bit broken. I said to Pete and others that we wouldn’t gig anymore and kept talking about the Sgt Pepper model – where you write and record but don’t gig it.I started building up songs and demos again and I did consider putting them out as a solo thing. But – Pete is such a brilliant drummer I didn’t want to do it without him. He is also like part of my sanity in music. He is a bit crazy but with me he is often the reasonable one – like the adult. He brings so much energy to the songs. The whole feel of the album is one of creating space for all of the elements to stand out. It also meant convincing Pete to be more repetitive in the beats he plays – he found it a challenge but does it brilliantly. It’s basically me and him and a few guest singers. I play everything apart from the drums.We recorded 24 songs – I always have loads more than we need for an album. I have never stopped writing. I’ve had more time to play with these tracks than I did with the previous album (Shockerwick 135). It has been more like it was with Mildred’s tree or Clockface. I enjoyed the process and freedom much more.
What is the meaning behind the new albums music & lyrics?
Window World starts with a big Hammond Organ sound. It’s like those big classical pieces that are meant to make you think ‘wow – it’s started’. I love the way it stays on the last chord of the intro and the Lesley amp sound pulsates. We wanted to keep it really airy. Not fill the space too much – that’s why it is organ, bass and drums at first. The electric piano comes in later and the guitar not until the solo. Like a lot of the album it talks about a relationship. The contrast between people and that awful cynicism that can set in – that’s in the line: ‘I gaze upon the sun and feel the rain’.This is Me Again was a quick song to write – many are. I sat down with my Rickebacker 330 and just started thrashing at it – simple chords in which I could paint a picture of normal life. It’s a comment on the mundanity of life and how we navigate it. Wayne Lundqvist Ford is singing backing on it and does a great job.Let it Reign had a weird start. I was thinking about the way Steve Duffield does a little shuffle on stage when he plays bass – I’d just seen him with Steve Mason. I then wrote around that movement he does. When I was doing the guide vocals one of my dogs barked and I liked it – so I kept it in and looped it at the beginning. What I like most about the song is the way the bass stays on one note for the first part and the guitar chords change over it. I also messed around with percussion – sometimes it sounds a little out of time but then comes round in time. It’s uncomfortable then comfortable again in a sequence over the chorus. It’s another relationship story – mostly about how little we listen to partners sometimes.Fly Away was an older song that I brought forward and re-recorded. I asked Anne-Marie Crowley from the Speed of Sound to do the backing. I knew she would do a great job so just left her to do what she does best. It really zips along and has a great 1960’s feel.Hallelujah Goodbye is a bit strange. It was another older song that I re-recorded. It’s a bit psychedelic I guess as I’m just playing with words and phrases. Sometimes things don’t make much sense but the words just fit in the melody. I wanted the regular chugging sound like a helicopter in it and that was achieved through a trance keyboard sample and piling on effects to get where it is now. It acts as additional percussion.Soothing is an out and out three minute three-piece band wonder. Bit of feedback and then smack – straight into it. It’s good to crank the amps up and just let Pete go nuts on the drums.In Strawberry Time Again I wanted to tell a fuller story about someone remembering a complete and brilliant weekend at a cottage with their partner who is left full of regret that in the end it didn’t work out because they didn’t say the things they wanted to. Later they go back to the place but end up just getting drunk and falling asleep in a barrel in a garden. The versus are in mono and then switch to stereo for the chorus. The song ends with a mass of swirling backward guitars and Pete thumping his way round the kit.The Ballad Of Mental Health Issues was written on the piano – I don’t do that very often. I was wary of exposing these mental health elements of myself to friends and the Glory Days choir in this way but, I think people are more accepting of anxiety and similar issues now and I wanted to speak about mine. I orchestrated around the song with strings. The vocal is prominent in the mix because although the music sounds great we wanted the words to stand out above all.
The Kite Collectors – The Ballad of Mental Health IssuesYou is a nightmare. That was how I saw it – as a really bad dream. There is so much trivia in life that we just get stuck in a loop about. That’s what the solid guitar and hypnotic drum is about – that brain loop where it just won’t shut up and you’re almost screaming at yourself that none of it actually really matters. But you don’t listen to yourself. John Armstrong from Speed Of Sound did backing on this – He has a great unusual singing voice and I layered it and put it through a bunch of effects to make it sound like an ethereal keys sound.Take Me With You Please has the feel of a Smithereens song I think; that New Jersey sound. I love Pat Dinizio – he was heavily into The Beatles, as am I – and I guess that comes through. It’s driven by an acoustic guitar and jangly Rickebacker. The person it is describing is trying to reassure them self that the person they want will want them – even though friends are talking the possibility of it down.A Form Of Hello was written around a drum loop and a repeated jangly Rickenbacker riff. I added a harsher sounding guitar beneath it to give it an edge and then we took the loop out and Pete replaced the beat with his own. It has some weird stuff going on underneath from sounds and effects I was playing with at the time – including playing a spring on an old desk lamp with violin bow and then a drumstick.I was a little concerned about the song ‘pretending’ because it has a double meaning. It is about someone considering suicide – that’s what it means by ‘don’t be too keen’.; but metaphorically it’s also about being on the edge from a mental health or stress point of view. At the end of the song there is quite a lot going on with guitars and strings and flutes – the idea was that although the e-piano riff at the end continues going, the other instruments would be added as it progressed. It builds up to that last organ chord.Icy You is quite psychedelic. It had a simple premise – one guitar riff throughout that sounds like it is three different guitar riffs by changing the sound of it. The vocal melody for each verse is also completely different. It was like I had to write three songs with one tune – I loved the difficulty of that. Pete plays a very mechanical beat too – a challenge as he is usually a bit of an animal on the kit!Never Look down is very personal. It’s about the advice you get from a loved one that you now miss because geographically or physically they are no longer around you. It’s sort of about their positive impact on you and the lessons you learn and take forward. It’s parents, grandparents, friends that accept your ‘character’ and help you.
Where do you find inspiration for your music and lyrics?
From the things I listen to, things that people say and how I feel. Sometimes I work on a song for weeks on and off and sometimes it just appears out of nowhere. There is a song called Tell Me it’s Real (on Icon Paradox) that I started and I turned a recorder on and sang it. It came out fully formed. I then listened back and wrote down what I had sung. The song wonder (on Clockface) came because of that famous photo of the little boy on the beach who had drowned. I didn’t write about that as such but it set a feeling that inspired the song.
The Kite Collectors – ‘Wonder’ (Clockface Promo)
The band have had so many great reviews and have worked with various people throughout the years – tell me about some of those people?
Two that had a massive affect were not band members but on the production side of our stuff – that often gets overlooked and so I’d like to mention them. A fantastic talented guy called Keith Holmes mixed and Mastered the new album – he was with me for the Box Dwellers ep too and came in to try and save Shockerwick 135 which was in trouble till he came along. We worked very closely on the sonic feel for the new album. Sam Burnett (Back to Zero) mixed and mastered Clockface – he completely bought into the story and worked so hard on it with us. He also worked on Glory Days single.
The Kite Collectors: Album Shockerwick 135
Have you any future gigs or charity events coming up?
We’re going to get back out there in 2020 although we don’t intend to play quite as much as we were before. Do some special things that we’re hoping to announce soon. Have fun and meet great people.
The Kite Collectors – Inside Out – Dublin Castle – 19th October 2013
What has people’s reaction been to the new album?
It’s been great. We’ve tried to push things forward a bit more. So, some elements on it are different – you can’t stand still and just do the same thing. Sam Burnett once talked about ‘progressive mod’ and I completely understand what he means. You can still have that core that sits at the centre of what you are musically and sub-culturally; and then you push at it. It’s not easy selling music these days but the glory days choir is wonderfully loyal and we are continuing to gain new members to it.
What can we look forward to and expect from the Kite Collectors in the future?
Mod Ghosts a first book by new author Andy Morling who grew up in a working class family in the Suffolk market town of Ipswich. This book resonated with me in so many ways, it is a detailed account from many people who grew up in urban Britain featuring first hand accounts from the people who influenced a Mod Revival together with period and present day photographs. The book explains each individuals account on discovering how mod changed there outlook on life, How it shaped their existence and identity. Showing how it lead them from young teenagers into adulthood. Each persons interpretation of mod is different and it means something different to many who attach themselves to the phenomenon. Each persons account is different but it doesn’t mean its not mod. The book also highlights the places these people grew up in and how modern Britian has changed somewhat forty years on. The thing most interesting thing about the book is how the subculture affected people in many different ways and the different experiences each individual had growing up in the respective hometowns across the UK.
As mod continues to evolve and many young people discover the scene today each person brings their own adaptation. Despite the book being called “Mod Ghosts” the subculture has stood the test of time were others have faded. I highly recommend this book and its definitely something you need as part of your collection. This book is everything I want to say about mod but don’t have the intelligence, intellect, and vocabulary to explain. I wanted to find out more about the man behind the concept and was excited, honoured and privileged to interview him.INTERVIEW BELOW
What is the main concept of the book?
Mod Ghosts is the first product from The Mod Project which I began in 2016. The thinking behind the broader project is to offer a series of slightly different perspectives on the Mod experience. My ambition is to follow up the book with further multimedia sub-projects hopefully including film and the visual arts.To answer your specific question, the idea behind Mod Ghosts was threefold. Firstly my aim was to identify and contrast iconic photos of original and revival Mods with shots taken at precisely the same location in the present day. I’ve always been very attracted to these ‘then and now’ type image comparisons and, as a lifelong Mod, this was a natural choice in terms of subject matter.I’ve been doing this on Twitter for a few years now and, in time honoured fashion, the positive reaction led me to consider publishing a book. As a child of the sixties, my thinking was that books are somehow more permanent than social media. I’m not sure that’s actually true but either way, I really wanted the memory of these places and these people to endure.In addition to the photographic comparisons in the book, I was also lucky enough to secure first hand accounts from revival Mods by way of interview. Each story was unique and fascinating and I hope this adds context and a human dimension to the atmosphere created by the photos. In simple terms, I wanted to illustrate how both the urban settings and the people depicted in the photos have changed over the last four decades.The third and final element of the book is my own commentary on the Mod phenomenon. Quite apart from the external, visible signals of Mod observance, for me, Mod has been a powerful internal driving force. A philosophy. Astute readers of the book will no doubt notice references and quotes from the great Stoic philosophers from ancient history. I’ve long believed that Stoicism captures the very essence of Mod. I would hazard a guess that this is the first time this school of thought has featured in a book about Mod! As a friend of mine said in jest recently, the Romans were the first Mods.I also wanted the book to capture some of the lasting emotional impact of the subculture on me as a person. Sounds a bit introspective and indulgent, I know, but I hope at least some of that resonates with many others. I’m also an opinionated old sod so I had one or two controversial views that I simply had to surface!
This book highlights how mod changed the life of those who followed it. Why was it important to tell their story?
I’m under no illusion that Mod Ghosts isn’t the first book to tell the story of those who were there during the Mod revival. In fact, its not even the first this year. With the very greatest respect to those featured in the book, what I wanted to do with Mod Ghosts was to focus on the lives of the subculture’s more ordinary participants from across the country.By the start of the 80s, every village, every town and every city supported a population of Mods. These folk made the movement the culture tour de force it was to become. These were the last generation truly to have experienced youth subculture in its purest sense so their experiences need to be recorded. They are also good people whose lives have been shaped to some extent by their experiences forty summers ago.Forging an identity from the assimilation of musical, stylistic and other cultural cues in early adolescence was standard fare for those of us born in the sixties. I think sometimes we fail to appreciate what an unusual trajectory this is for our 21st century counterparts. For that reason alone, I think these are stories worth telling.
The book covers accounts from various people throughout the UK. I imagine this meant a lot of travelling. What was that like and did this become challenging?
Fortunately I was able to carry out interviews by correspondence so travel wasn’t an issue in that regard. Where I racked up the miles was in identifying the locations for the period photos and then taking the present day shot. There were one or two Homer Simpson moments when I arrived home after a day on the road only to find that i hadn’t quite captured the correct angle or, in one notable case, I’d taken a fantastic photo of the wrong house. I’m indebted to John Gale for saving me from having to make a third long trip to Hastings in as many months for a few shots I’d totally messed up twice previously.
Why was it important for you to tell the story of the people but also the places in which they grew up, discovered the subculture and attached themselves to it?
I think we are all the product of the place of our birth and upbringing. The history and culture of these places imprints itself on our personality, attitudes and beliefs more than we recognise. Location leaves a trace on our DNA. I like to think of it as the human equivalent of terroir in wine production.So in the book I wanted to contextualise the lives of these young Mods by telling a small part of the history of the geographical backdrop of their young lives. I’m particularly fascinated by the spiritual artefacts that attach themselves to certain places. Tens of thousands of special moments lived by tens of thousands of ordinary people leave a palpable feeling in a single place over the course of history. Hard to explain satisfactorily but I find it mind boggling. I particularly enjoyed researching the historical origins of the legendary Phoenix in London’s West End. I don’t think I’ll ever walk past the pub again without thinking of its near and very distant past.
A lot of books highlight how the mod scene grew in London. Did you purposely choose how the mod scene affected many of those beyond a particular place?
As our political and cultural capital it was impossible to ignore London when writing about Mod. I take my hat off to the influential London based figures that gave the rest of us this wonderful thing and those that have written so eloquently about them.But yes, it was a conscious decision also to focus on the small town Mod experience. I lived my Mod life in nondescript town in Suffolk with fewer than 100 others of a similar persuasion for company. The passion and commitment we provincial peacocks had to Mod’s core principles was in no way diminished as a consequence. I was never a face by any measure, not even in my home territory of central east Ipswich, but I certainly gave it all I had. I think the same can be said for those whose story I had he privilege to tell.
The book demonstrates how the urban landscape has changed over many years. Why was this an important factor to depict through photography showing the places then & now?
As I said earlier, I’ve always enjoyed comparing ‘then and now’ images. The urban environment has changed dramatically in the last forty years, particularly with the slow collapse of high street retail, the decline in the pub trade and the cultural vandalism of the working class home. I wanted to say something about this pictorially. Few of the present day photographs illustrate an improved landscape so I also wanted to stimulate conversations between the generations about why this might be. I don’t have the answers but I hope my book will at least pose the questions.
Why do you think mod means so much to many different people and why it has stood the test of time from a small group of young teenagers in the 60’s to become a worldwide phenomenon?
That’s a tough question. In the blurb to the book I say that it is the capacity of Mod to change with people that ensures its continuing relevance today. What I mean by that is that Mod remains accessible, even in middle-age, in a way that no other subculture can manage. I enjoy the knowing glance of recognition when my eyes meet those of a fellow Mod on a crowded underground train in London, for example. The signals are generally subtle but we both know instantly. I love that about Mod. It’s not about parkas or patches but about heavily nuanced influences and vanishingly small stylistic cues.I talk at length in the book about the way in which Mod provided a robust platform from which to launch into adult life. From my own perspective, I believe my life would have been very, very different had I not discovered Mod. I think this is the same for many of my peers. The continuing value of a comparatively sophisticated appreciation of music and clothing and a broader sense of style should not be underestimated.
The book has already had many great reviews in a few short weeks of being published. What has people response to the book been like?
Truly humbling. I’ve been genuinely staggered by the enthusiasm with which the book has been received and the kindness of the comments made about it. As a first time author rather than an established name in Mod literature, an investment in my book was always going to be a leap into the dark financially. I’m extremely grateful to those who are open-minded enough to make that leap and I hope the content of the book repays their faith. My aim all along was to offer something a bit different and something that is beautiful to look at and own. I’ll be more than happy if I’ve managed to achieve those things alone.
Can we expect any further books, projects or anything else in the future?
Oh yes. I’m already planning Mod Ghosts 2 and as I mentioned at the start of the interview, I hope to take the concept into other areas such as film, television, photography and maybe even poetry and fine art. Watch this space.Despite a healthy catalogue of Mod related books in recent years, I still believe there is more to be said about this thing of ours. I’m less interested in showcasing the razzmatazz of Mod culture and the bigger ticket aspects of the scene. For me it’s all about the ephemera and those beautifully elusive, almost indefinable subtleties that give Mod it’s unique meaning.
Is there anything else you feel you’d like to highlight about the book?
It would unforgivable if I didn’t thank the wonderful people that allowed me to tell their stories in words and pictures. To John and Ed Silvester, John Gale, Dave Ratcliffe, Billy Drinkwater, John Nicholson and Del Shepherd, I thank you all. True gentlemen each one. Many more contributed original photographs for which I’m eternally grateful.I also really appreciate the opportunity to have this interview and I wish you continuing success with Mods Of Your Generation.
VFM, the organisers behind The Isle of Wight International Scooter Rally have announced today (read the press release below) that the August Bank Holiday rally will be relocating for 2020. The main hub of the rally has been at Smallbrook Stadium for the last two decades but the redevelopment of the site and the granting of planning permission for a new multi-million-pound ice rink (to replace the perfectly good existing one located right in the heart of Ryde town) at the site means it’s no longer able to cope with the size of the rally.
Sandown Airport
Isle Of White Scooter Rally main site moves
It’s a positive move though, the rally will be held at Sandown Airport, located just 1.2 miles out of the pretty seaside town. The huge grass field site boasts plenty of room for campers (and camper vans etc), hardstanding for the trade area, a cafe, an aircraft hanger (which will be utilised as a northern soul room), there will also be a marquee for the main evening entertainment and the site will also have the best washing and shower facilities brought in for the weekend.
Moving to that side of the island (it’s just 6 miles from Smallbrook) will also mean there’s more chance of getting B&B or hotel accommodation, as long as you get in quickly. Get on to Booking.com as soon as you’ve read this, there’s also a Premier Inn in Sandown. Coaches will be laid on so rally goers can explore this ‘new’ town and still get back to site, although it is within walking distance.
We’ll bring you more information as we get it but hopefully, this move will get people excited for August Bank Holiday once again. It may still be the same little island across The Solent but it’s a whole new place for most of us to explore.Click here for the latest on Booking.com
“The Eton Boys are undefiled/ The Bullingdon Boys, running wild”
Suggs and co. have a dig at Boris Johnson in the lyrics to their new song. CREDIT: Getty Images
Madness have released ‘Bullingdon Boys’, their first new song in three years – and it features lyrics aimed at Boris Johnson and his Eton cohorts – listen to it below.
The pioneering ska band’s snap release is a “barbed swipe at the charlatans, rotters and chancers at the top of the tree who have done their best to take the shine off 2019,” according to a press release.
Inspired by the fact that 19 of the 54 UK Prime Ministers have come from Eton, the new song takes aim at Johnson, who was educated at Eton College before going on to study at Oxford, and his peers with anti-Tory lyrics.
“The Eton boys are undefiled/ The Bullingdon Boys, running wild,” Suggs sings on the chorus. “And England slides into the mist/ No hope they’ll cease nor desist.”
Other lyrics include: “They’re making England Great Again/ But make way for the bagmen/ When everything’s been sold and bought/ We’ll soon be off the life support.”
The song’s artwork features what is assumed to be a group of Eton students donning a variety of masks, including Halloween villain Michael Myers and Porky Pig. It includes the tagline: “Don’t get bullied by the Bully Boys.”
Accompanied by a supercut video that features scenes from Clockwork Orange, the Batman TV series and The Riot Club, you can listen to ‘Bullingdon Boys’ below:
Madness Electric Ballroom 2019. Credit Symond Lawes
The Camden Town legends played the Electric Ballroom on November 17 – 40 years to the day since they launched the legendary Two Tone Tour at the very same venue. Tickets were just £2.50 (plus booking fees).
The revelation came from a new general election campaign video in which the Prime Minister is seen walking around the Conservative Party headquarters answering questions.
Hello. I want to share with you my recollections and memories of the skinhead scene that I have always been a part of. At the moment I am recovering from falling off some scaffolding, so this has given me time to get to grips with modern technology and given me a chance to reflect for the first time on the subject of Skinhead culture and share with you some of the stories and memories of the past from like minded people which has been prompted by hearing the interview with Symond Lawes on the Brighton skinhead reunion recorded some time ago. I will start by telling you about myself. I’m a 50 year old skinhead and bricklayer now living in Wendover, Bucks. I grew up around the Camden Town/Somers Town area of London. When I was a kid, kicking a ball around at night, my mum always said: ‘Be home before the Mods come out!’
This was around 1969, she was referring to the lads, who would have been Mods, who had inherited the same patches outside the local pubs that their elder brothers hung around some years earlier.My parents still called them Mods, and I always thought of Mods as being the the elder statement of skinheads. These were previously the 7/6d’s, that have now come of age. We knew which families they came from, and who they were, and our families knew their families and so on. There were some real tough families in the area at that time. By this time the groups that my parents remembered were growing up, getting married, they were joining the Army and working for Her majesty ( GPO) or staying at one of her Hostels. (HMP Pentonville was near my home)The GPO tower was looming over us, like a calling card, it was a respectable career to aspire to and a lot of us did end up going to Mount Pleasant GPO, after being kicked out of school. But a further aspiration, was to join the local gang. I was way to young for this at the time but I would look out of my bedroom window, with envy watching this group, evolve from 1968 onwards. I will never forget the sound of the the light buzzing of scooters as the gang rode their inheritance from their older brothers. They were a group of lads who had this tough but smart look about them, They wore mostly denim jackets, with Crombies ¾ length coats, boots and braces. The gals didn’t have the skinhead feathered hair cuts, like they did later. Some of them looked a bit like the Toyah Wilcox character in Quadrophenia. Most of the girls had Crombies but looked feminine but they still looked like Sixties Mod girls, with kilt type minis, they wore their hair in a shoulder length style that hinted at skinhead look. It was a bit like a flat mullet, with a fringe, that looked like it had been cut around a saucer template. You always looked out for “Names” on the skinhead scene. “Names” who were hard enough to have been kicked out of the local boxing gyms. The word got out amongst the scene. They were always tough Jamaican offspring kids, and they were ALWAYS part of the group. These kids where always in the mix, as some of the top boys, but in many ways smarter. “wiv the threads” a right proper mixed bunch who always fought and hung around together, Skinheads or mods, peanuts, however they were, they were the was the only group you would ever see with blacks kids.
In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson’s Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Somers Town like this:
SOMERS-TOWN, a chapelry and a sub-district in St. Pancras parish and district, Middlesex. The chapelry is a compact portion of the metropolis; lies between New Road, the Regent’s canal, and the Great Western railway, 2 miles NW of St. Paul’s; occupies ground which was mainly unedificed so late as 1780; and has a post-office‡ under London NW, and an S.-Police station. Pop., about 14,500. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of London. Value, £300. Patron, the Vicar of St. Pancras. The church was built after designs by Inwood, at a cost of £14,291.—The sub-district extends beyond the chapelry, and comprises 184 acres. Pop. in 1851, 35,641; in 1861, 39,099. Houses, 3,907.
Some of the lads dressed smarter then the others, the way they dressed reminded me of the slick character in the 70’s TV show “Please Sir” some of the black lads had the Tennis Fred Perry shirts, and braces with “Peyton Place jackets. My mum wanted to see me dress like that, as she fancied the film actor Ryan O’ Neil. She seem eager to see me in one of those outfits, more then any other form of attire. Later on most of the Jamaican kids were smartly dressed in tonics and loafers especially on music nights and at that time they had the same inner London accents as most of them had come over in the 1950’s when they was babies and a few of the younger lads was born in the UCH the same as me. On youth club nights I would hear the sound of the club in the Cumberland Market down in NW1. This was mixed with the turn out of the dads and older lads coming out of the Kings Head opposite my house. At the time I didn’t know what the stuff they were playing was, but it had such a infectious bounce to it, and it echoed all around my room at night. I used to tuck my head under my eiderdown. I felt so spellbound by the rhythms and beats. So much so, that I would wake up with it almost resonating like an exact recording in my head the next morning.
This would stay with me for life. Later on I discovered exactly what it was and that it was the ska/rocksteady music. The ska would be played at the early part of the night just as it was getting dark, and the sound would be taken down a level later in the evening with the Rocksteady beat. At the time I was too young to get involved and my nearest encounter of rubbing shoulders with this crowd, was seeing these older kids break away from the group and go on the march to Highbury, on Saturdays. The older lot headed for the boozers and then the North Bank, while we went to the West Stand with my dad,and my mates who all had older brothers in the ranks so with that and the fact that there parents knew mine and who’s boy I was! As I got older, I would go around me mates gaffs, a lot of their elders had left home to start families. It was almost the unwritten law at that time, that the elder brothers room should remain untouched, and that included record collections. For me, at the time that was heaven. I understood that ska was the main stay amongst Skinhead record collections, although a lot of skinheads at the time, did listen to other stuff apart from reggae there was a popular local band called “The Action” that locals still followed also nearly everyone of them had “Who” and “Small Faces” poster or disc, and also would you believe: “A Kind Of Blue” by Miles Davis. which his brother always called his “Shagging music.”
Madness have become the most successful band to have come out of the Skinhead Subculture, From Camden Town, inspiring a Ska movement worldwide
I thought it was a kind of dance at the time and I remember being glad to see those records and posters as it kind of blessed what I thought was a guilty secret of mine, my love of “The Who.” In a way it wasn’t that strange, as we all gravitate to a kind of group or music that attracts us and that was the whole Mod ancestry! It wasn’t quite the mainstream but it was heavy enough to be called Geezers music but it never crossed over to hippiedom which I always thought of as being “THEM” the group you never want to be with. I inherited a hatred of them, not so much the music coz there was a lot of “Blues” which I always loved, and that’s when I started to get more knowledgeable about this kind of music, as I knew that it was the root of ska, a Jamaican take on the blues that they had heard from the Southern states. So this also gave it a blessing to like “The Blues” as well.
My dislike for hippies came from the fact that they all seem to talk posh and they always seemed to be moaning in middle class accents and I despised those military wing greasers.The music consisted of “geezer rock” or white English men who played “Soul” and “Blues” that came out of “Rock” getting it slightly wrong. This was a style that developed by mistake. This clashing together of styles seem to repeat itself later on with Punk which I embraced quickly as soon as I was old enough to welcome it all but I had always being a Skinhead or Suede head since the time I tried to dress like guys from 1968 and 1969.
I have never been anything else as my age stopped me being a Mod. Then Punk came along and there was no way I was going to wear flares and attend concerts with the hairy ones on ice at Wembley!!! I’m pleased to say, that I have lived my life as a skinhead, and never succumbed to wearing flares no matter how out of step I was with the early to mid 70s. I would also like to touch on something that Skinhead/Suede head discussions seem to overlook, This is when I started to hang around music venues the remainder of Skinheads from early days to the early mid 70s suede heads, were influenced by “Glam Rock” although it was from the less feminine side such as Mott the Hoople and Steve Harley. There seem to be the pre- punk, side which was full of the skinhead types, and that was “Pub Rock”. There were so many of us in our group, we would make our way up to Tally Ho boozer in the north end Kentish town, to see the bands that played there, that included all of us and those who were old enough to get in “legit”.
We were all part of the old gang of would be skins. This time more of them were wearing DMs, and crombies, with either a No2 or slightly grown out suede head haircuts. This was still the family “Skin” very much so, and this was the heavier aggressive sound that was for working class inner Londoners, or any other cities youth. We could relate to it.. it was our Generations “The Who.” I sounded out all of these bands, pre-punk even trying to get down to that London in Essex hotspot which was Southend. I thought Dr Feelgood were fucking magic. My mates started to hunt through those record collections to find stuff like it and in hindsight we enjoyed Kersal Flyers Brinsly Shultz etc….. I loved all that stuff. By then of course we’d turn up trying to get in to gigs (I was still too young by the way) to any gigs that we thought was of that ilk, but once we got to them and heard them there was something more unhinged about some of those bands: “London SS” and the “101ers” need I say more that was my introduction into punk and then for a year or two I indulged my self into it. I met up with mates all over London, that I knew from Boxing Gyms by way of boxing, regular trips down to the Bridgehouse, when it was in Barking Road also it was only a short walk down to the “Roxy” it was close to us and we used to just to hang out there. We Heard that “Dee Generate” out of “Eater”, was our age so we thought: “Let’s ave some of that.!” Some of the punks were a bit creepy, and a bit too arty, for my liking, but I went with it. There was some crumpet, but the girls were all weird wiv suspenders and stuff, and their knockers were sticking out of bin liners! This was great for a kid my age, especially the at the “Roxy” the mighty Menace at “The grope and wank her” (Hope and Anchor yes we used to think it was funny!!!!!!) We would chat to Charlie Harper at the George Roby,there was this lesbian down the west end. We used to go and hang around with her with an added idea I was gonna cop an eyeful, but that turned out to be the only place a lot of bands were able to play, thanks to the then Tory run GLC so although I did do a lot of growing up in experiencing ways of female flesh. It wasn’t the lesbo orgy I was expecting. I will like to add, that at times we could feel a change happening, felt a ruck coming on, there were more swastikas, appearing with some of the punks. My jeans were scruffier but I still wore my black “Peyton Place” jacket and me Fred Perry tennis shirt we used to call em, not polos, they was well cheap then down Petticoat lane or Roman road. I always wore me DMs, and my hair was a bit above No2, I was a punk, but I always stayed a skinhead,too so the Swastika was a symbol that we despised. We grew up with parents and grandparents that had experienced it.
Half the streets were still corrugated fenced up, from Bomb sites, back in the days of me observing original skins I used to read read battle picture library and War picture library, those booklets, you know the kind of thing I mean. I used to have dreams of single handedly wiping out Nazis. I used to go to bed thinking that there was an army of rapist, Nazis hippies and coppers, and Narkie Grasses. and how I can dispose if them.It also was a symbol of The Grease, another reason why we hated them, because of their treachery of wearing what Nazis wore. although we hated “The Filth” and any establishment figure,, we were still working class British people and we was not that rebellious. So I resisted wearing that stuff but we was always up for a ruck people tend to think or want to believe it was the far left that was bovver boys when it was the opposite. I hate politics in music or subcults ,that’s why I don’t hold wiv no S H A R P stuff, but I will say this, we never saw a Tory never mind supported them.
Everyone came from Labour voting working class families,, so we knew what we wasn’t, but never dwelt on what we were or what we were going to be. I hated politics and what’s great about being a skinhead then and at now my age is that it’s like being in stir “You don’t ask questions.” The nonces will be found out and dealt with at some point, and a skinhead gathering is the same for anyone on both sides. Both far extremes will feel marginalised eventually and this it started out as a youth sub culture, and we have taken it with us. It’s what you feel, being a skinhead is all about, and it is what brings us together. As it’s the furthest thing away from being a 14 to 15 year old Mod. Skinhead, Rude Boy in the 1960s, suede head 1970s is politics. Thats what your mum and dad talk about, and as I still haven’t grown up nor do I want to I am a old but proud pathetic old git, and I won’t never change! Going back to attitude. Well, We did speak in a way that isn’t talked now, but even your hard line trade union lefty activist would be slaughtered by the speak Gestapo now!!! it was another time, there was paki – bashing by gangs of mixed black and white youths especially after the arrival of Ugandan Asians not because of colour but because they were new and strange and our ignorance wasnt enlightened by the lack of integration and not willing to embrace, the culture,, unlike the Irish around our way which was a massive wave of families and for young people the West Indians shared there fashion and music it was ignorance and for us, the it was an overwhelmingly important pastime of fighting. This could be amongst any inner city youth Asians were just another group to ruck with, nothing more or less, as far we were concerned! As a group, privately who knows or cares what your views was away from the the lads was,, there was and there wasnt, least among us anyway and especially skinheads who were the hardest lot of the roughest manors, but I am sure Teds, Rockers, fuck even some working class hippies that went along for the trip as it were spoke like that,or picked on someone or something they didn’t understand that they felt weary of amongst not just kids but everyone at that time.
Most skinheads got a bashing from other skinheads most people amongst us was working class, and most of them were skinheads, or related to skinheads. I recall skinhead battles tales amongst the groups , and later on, about area gangs, they didn’t think in terms of London boroughs, just London areas and it was all very Territorial, for example there was Somers town, were I was, Kentish town, Upper Holloway Archway,Clarkenwell ,Shorditch/Hoxton/ Dalton, Queens Crescent, Camden town, then going eastwards there was Stoke Newington, Clapton and then the East End, Bethnal Green, Mile end , Wapping, Stepney, go further east and you get Canning Town, or West Hammersmith, Chelsea Fulham and Shepherds Bush.
Or you might know guys from these areas from work in the centre or boxing club circuit, or gigs, and you would talk and have a laugh but if you were meeting for a ruck then you be knocking shit out of each other if they were representing the area, and further to that, you might have a West Ham or Chelsea supporter in your local gang who would fight with you if you were called out by another manors lot but as they were mostly Arsenal around our way any friendship went at for that fixture. same goes for an Arsenal supporter from Fulham he’d be rucking his mates at football and come Saturday you looked at the scarf not the person that’s what how mad it was I have been told about it from older skinheads that I used to admire when I was looking at them from my bedroom window, fuck some of these guys are in there 70s now.
It was slightly different when I turned the age to shag and ruck but not that far off, but you get me gist !!! so I think Asians at the time got more of ribbing then a hiding it was other groups but most people would unite if they saw greasers setting on a skinhead or what you deemed as one of your ownAs for the Hambourgh tavern I’ve got my own views on that I was there although not for long we couldn’t get to it, but I remember feeling so fucking angry, to see skins that look like they were on the side of the the filth again it was whipped up by both right and left, press and lay politicians and more so the music press who hated the thought of working class council kids being a force, I don’t blame the Asians, they were young fuel filled lads protecting their area or what was force fed to them,they were young like us and was up for a ruck, like any group of whipped up teenage lads, we wanted to go down here or there and make some working class noise and have a few pints. I’m not a conspiracy weirdo, but there was so many reasons why the fucked up middle class left, the fucked up Nazi right wing plus the broadcast media and music press caused that, as the latter didn’t like something that was based around youth led pastime angst and they didn’t like something that they didn’t make or break because it was real and not manufactured, it was something that we could enjoy and dictate what happened with it. It served our purpose, it gave birth to the boneheads that have soiled a working class culture and ruined the fledgling stages of young rock n roll bands,And took away a good deal of their income at a time when they should of been making it good. We could enjoy a good few years of live working class punk rock, seeing as it was taken away from its own manufacturers and given to people who could enjoy it it started going down hill after the Clash signed to CBS it was salvaged and put to good use but the press wanted it dead. These days we can relax with it as our first love and enjoy the Ska and rocksteady that we adopted, and still love, through our own choice as Middle Aged skinheads, that the music press didn’t intend us to love and there’s fuck all they can do about it!!! I’ve got through a whole pack of 20 smokes, in the time it’s taken to do this, didn’t realise the time, that’s more then i get through in three days, but I have enjoyed sharing this with you all…. as you can tell I can go on for ever about this…
Those days were right proper heady,, faces were on stage,in bands that you knew from seeing them around the chippy/ newsagent in tobert street,,or the youth club, and you know faces from school ,, punk , Arsenal ,especially (Arsenal/Highbury grove ) school , most of the locals around our way went to William Collins ,, I was expelled from secondary schools,, St George’s in St. John’s wood, Highbury grove, ect , only two weeks at William Collins, I was used to seeing loads of local faces being on telly,, in bands, you took it for granted,(Pauline’s people then Grange Hill) 70s corona drink ads,ect ,, i stopped noticing,, people from Anna Scher and all that!!! and so on,,but I know who your talking about now ,Low Numbers, they were in the Dublin castle,,i recall ,seen em with Madness,( or invaders, cant remember what stage they were at, the time) loads of us started bands, we loosely played,,,,but nothing proper,,, some bands went further then others,,we were called THE St Pancres Chronical after the local Rag, but we were shit,,, I played guitar but every time I picked i it up , I just ended up playing Blues,,,bending notes,,,and sounding to much like Heavy Rock?,, I was fine with it, but it pissed the rest off,,,so we decided to stick to being in the crowd watching/ listening, ,,coz I knew people from other schools in other manors , we kind of broke away from Cumberland market faces , except for four mates in Robert st,,,and The Crown Flats,local people became just another face ,,you recognised ,and the families they came from,,, and who your dad and grandad drank with, ,There was a local crooner type who went of to the Army,,, geezer called Gary Driscoll,, he was the first local I knew off, that was dragged up there!! To get noted,, ,my ole man used to be mates with the landlord,of the Dublin castle ,then a Irish fella called Barney Finley,,I was. Mates with his boy Raymond,, they passed it on to the present family,,in the late 60s ,we used to run about in there after lock up, two o clock on Sunday afternoons, coz we’d often go to av sunday dinner with them!!so it was only right I would later make that me local,, so i witnessed the start of all that too,,was lucky Spose living between West End and Camden Town, ,,I was able to get into clubs in soho,,in the late 70s coz me dad knew all the faces and names ,Jimmy and Rusty Humphreys ect,, that’s why I was able to hang about the latest clubs, being younger,me dad ran an electrical repair /retail shop ,,in Berwick street,called Friel and Francis ,with me uncle Bob (pic,on the front of oasis album), would you believe,, the first parking metre in Westminster was unveiled outside the shop,and a young spiv that hung about in and out was Alan Suger came down parked his van with hilivery A .M .S .TRADING,,marked on the side,coz he knew the press would be snapping, me dad used to sell his car Ariels,(cute ,, got to love that) anyway they used to rig up the sound in Ronnie Scott’s, I used to bunk of whatever school I was in ,to work on Berwick street market,,, ,we used wheel the sack barras to pick up the veg and stuff from around what was to become the Roxy before the fruit and veg moved across the river,, John Holt used to have something to do with it , I remember , it was converted from that,,,so that’s why I familiar to it to hang around there,,later,,, coz I was a cocky little shit, and coz Eaters drummer was from the sticks and was our age , we dint want him to out do us ,to be part of it all.. , i knew Id be looked after,,by someone that would be to hand,,if it got to heavy we could UP any older punk that snarled at our presence,,when they did, we was quick to take of our young punk head , and say “we ain’t fucking punks were skinheads”,,,you tossers,,, although we were at the time,,, lot of the older punks were from the sticks,, so when we got snarled at ,, we’d give it our “( we’re from here,you ain’t and you don’t know what’s around the corner on the way out ,) ,,the other local connection was my grandads drinking buddy ,who liked drinking with riff raff,was Constance Lambert, he used to live up Park Village East and come down to The Victory ,in Albany St ,he used to drink like a gooden apparently , corse he pegged it before I or the The Who was born,so he dint see his sons success ,!
‘Skinheads & Cherry Reds’, Gerry Stimson, Rolling Stone, July 26 1969, pp. 22-23
This is from the UK edition of Rolling Stone, the American music paper. There are plenty of misspellings and typos, these are from the original. There’s also some racism expressed.
They are the people you may see on the fringe of things, at free concerts shouting out for their favourite football team when everyone else wants to listen to the music, hanging around outside of the Roundhouse trying to annoy people with long hair, or you may see them just hanging around on the street. They are the kids who have short cropped hair, wear boots and levis with braces. They don’t really have a name as such, outsiders call them crop-heads, prickle heads, bullet-heads, spike-heads, thin-heads, bother boys, or agro boys. The lack of a name is strange, for most groups of people with an image of their own eventually get a name, Mods, Rockers, Hippies, Heads. ‘We are not mods really. Some people call us Mohair Men because we wear suits at the weekend, mohair men waiting for the agro. We’re just sort of stylists really because we keep in with the styles.’ The thing that they are known by is the gang and the area they come from. Like Mile-end, the Highbury, the Angel. The gang will have a hardcore of members with the rest of the bullet heads in that area supporting this gang against gangs from other areas. ‘There’s about 30 of us here from the Town (Summerstown), you know, King’s Cross and all of them areas. If we ever got into trouble, the geezer’s down there’d back us up; like there was 120 over the Hampstead Fair, geezer’s we knew, and everyone would back us up if we was in trouble.’ Trouble is the key activity of the gangs. Known as a ‘bit of agro’ – a bit of aggravation. Trouble can start at some event such as a football match, a free concert ‘like up Parly Hill’ or at just about any other time. At the Hampstead Fair ‘all the rival gangs, they all meet up there. Holloway, Highbury, and all them mob, like, and they all stick together, they’re all one mob and we’re the other mob.’ Trouble starts in several ways. It may be planned days ahead over some rivalry between two gangs, or it may just break out over some small incident. ‘You just see a face you don’t like. You know, I mean we get a bit of aggravation with the guys up there. All you hear all the time is the Holloway’s looking for you, the Highbury’s looking for you: and everytime we go there and pull someone about it and say ‘what’s all this trouble with the Town?’, no-one knows nothing about it. So every now and again, like, when people say ‘we hear the little Holloway turned you over’ we can’t have that like, so we have to go up there and turn them over.’ Each gang seems perpetually on the alert for some trouble. Sometimes months will go by without a fight, then suddenly there’ll be a fight every night. ‘We are friends with no-one, no joke. There was a time when we couldn’t go out of our area like unless we were thirty handed. We fucking hit every crew from right round here, up that way St. John’s Wood, The Edgeware Road, Tufnell Park, Archway, Burnt Oak, Mile-end, Kilburn, Holloway, Highbury, just sort of everywhere. We just sort of, about eighteen months ago, went made didn’t we, for about three weeks, getting into fights and whacking crews. We whacked someone from nearly everyone of them areas and they was all after us. There was a lot of agro then.’ That was the time when someone in a car came after the Town with a shotgun. There was some uncertainty as to whether it was a shotgun or an airgun, and if it was a shotgun, whether it had real or blank cartridges. ‘The guy with the gun thought we’d all run like and hide but he came a bit unstuck ‘cos we didn’t. We stood there and fucking waited for it. We he can only shoot two of you can’t he.’ The outcome was that they threw dustbins under the car making it skid up the pavement into a brick wall, then threw bottles. ‘The geezer with the gun, got knocked out, and they says they’d never come down no more, cause they’re all made down that Town.’ Some of the action is centred around football, for most of the gangs support some team. But little of the fighting is with other supporters of London teams; instead it is with supporters of teams from the North and Midlands. The Shed boys are those who support Chelsea (see the slogan ‘Shed’ painted on the walls) who watch the match from the Shed, one of the stands on the ground. Any who is not a Shed boy goes into the Shed is liable to get a kicking. Some of the fighting with other supporters takes part after the match, like at Euston when after a match you can see the crowds of bullet heads roaming in the streets nearby. Other things may follow the match, like kicking in shop windows and taking the cigarettes, or the time a crowd went up to Parliament Hill after a match and threw bottles at the Fleetwood Mac. The clothes and the walk all fit in with the hard image. The usual gear is levis worn short with braces, tee-shirts, v-necked sweaters or cardigans in blue, khaki, brown, mustard or green. An innovation is the v-necked short sleeved sweater that doesn’t quite reach the waist so there is a hint of braces. Sometimes there are tattoos and sometimes gold signet rings worn two or three at a time. The cropped hair started coming in about three years ago and is probably copied from the spade haircut. And then there are the boots, the most important part of the gear. There are different types of boots and the styles change just as they do with shoes. Members of one gang tend to buy the same kind of boots. The boots probably arrived because a lot of bullet heads were wearing them for work, along with levis, and they’d come home from work in these clothes and what’s the point of changing if you are only going to stand round on the street corner. Then a style developed. ‘Like me, I didn’t start wearing them, we not really, because I thought, well I couldn’t half land a good kick with them, I bought them because everyone else did.’ The boots are one of the symbols of the hard image, and of course are very useful for fighting with. If you go out in your boots you are wearing a very handy weapon that is not so obviously a weapon like a knife. Even when the gang gets dressed up in their mohair suits on a Saturday night the boots are still worn, but then they will be highly polished. The trousers of the suits are worn short like the levis in order to leave room for the boots. The boots are different colours and the favourite ones change over time. When it first started everyone was wearing tuf boots, Big T with the rubber sole, ‘then these boots came out, they call them Cherry Boots, Cherry Reds, with a toe cap like and sort of yellow trimmings. Then the black ones of these, then Monkey Boots which lace all the way up, and then Doctor Martins came out. Now there’s some new ones, with high backs, they’re just called Stompers, big steel toecap and everthing. The walk too expresses the toughness. Its a sort of bouncy swagger with the shoulders spread broad. Its a ‘here I come stand out of the way’ walk. When there’s a group going somewhere walking is done in a long crocodile in single file, all hunching along behind the guy in front. Most of the time seems to be spent waiting for something to happen, a bit of aggravation or a ‘caper’. During the week there is little else to do but hang about on the street, in cafes or Youth Clubs (if they haven’t been barred). Usually its the case that a few members of the gang have been barred from a club and so the rest don’t go because they don’t want to split up. The weekend is when it all happens. Those that are working have money and so maybe there is drinking or dancing at clubs. Clubs are not so popular as they used to be a year or so back. Then it was the Tiles and the Scene and other clubs round Wardour Street. A few now may make it down to Birdland. The weekend may also be the time for a caper down to the coast, Southend, Clacton or Brighton. Sundays it may be the Lido for swimming and a film in the evening if there is something on that they fancy, like a cowboy. Clint Eastwood goes down big. Strangely so did The Graduate. Tough films are liked best. Sometimes there are parties when peoples parents are away. Drinking mainly and the occasional smoke or pills. The thing is that most do not have money to do much, especially during the week. If you’ve got a job and you’re not drawing just your £2 10s. 0d., from the Youth Employment the wage is likely to be around £10 or £15 a week, in labouring, apprenticeships and unskilled jobs. It is like they are in between everything. Not long out of school with a bit of money but not enough to go drinking in the pub every night, and in any case there is the age problem in pubs for most are between 15 and 17. To young and not enough money to buy cars or scooters. Sometimes someone will have a firm’s van which will be used to bomb off to the coast at the week-end. Too old to get much out of youth clubs. The girls they grew up with are now going out with older guys and only a few of the gang have girls. In some gangs girls are important. Squabbles over another gang’s girls may be a source of aggravation. But with other gangs girls are conspicuously absent and if some gets a girl he spends more time away from gang activities. So the excitement comes from the action. But even that is avoided by some who can’t afford any more nickings. ‘Like that’s why we don’t go down the coast at the holidays no more. We’ve got too many up against us as it is. If you’ve got a lot of previous you’re doomed you are. If a copper gets hold of you and he recognises that you come from the Town you’re doomed to a fucking good hiding before you ever get near that nick.’ Like other groups there is the feeling that you get caught for the wrong things. That the bust is always the phoney one when you are not guilty. ‘We used to be really fighting all the time and they could never get any of us. Then they really started coming down, nicking you for just being there. Then a lot of it died down cause we gave a couple of them a good hiding. These two blokes came at us so we went at them, then one starts shouting that he was a police officer. It was too late then.’ The arrests are for insulting behaviour or assault. ‘I got one for using an offensive weapon. I got a good hiding off all these students and I got a nickering for it. I threw a bottle at them when they run. One of the geezer’s got his nose cut off.’
The Great Skinhead Reunion Brighton
As well as the gang fights there are fights between just two people. In a team fight between gangs anything goes but if two people fight and it looks fair they are left to it. ‘You get one geezer fighting another geezer, it’s a straightener like, he might be looking for so and so and he might go up and say ‘right you, a straightener, then we leave ‘em alone.’ Some of the gangs like the Highbury and the Angel have leaders but many of the smaller gangs have different leaders for different activities. Some people are listened to more if an event is planned. Someone will organise something ‘like going to Southend for the weekend or a crew going out and whacking someone.’ Then of course there are those that are the best fighters. ‘There are fighters and then there are cranks, madmen. Like Tony. Everytime we have a fight some cunt he just wants to stomp them into the ground. He goes mad and starts shouting ‘Stomp Stomp’. You know that cunt what was on the floor at Ally Pally. Tony had this huge broom pole and was stomping him for five minutes. ‘We had a bit of agro up there like.’ There are other targets as well as rival gangs. The targets are other easily identifiable groups such as students, Pakistanis and Greeks. Weirdos and students they cannot understand. ‘What I hate about weirdos is that the majority of them is students. We’re paying for them to go to their colleges to get educated so they can help us run the country, it may not be my taxes but everyone contributes like, if it weren’t for them your tax would go down even if it was just a penny. Then those fucking peace demonstrations. The’re all shouting about fucking love and peace and that then they go down Grosvenor Square smashing windows and we get a bill from the Americans; we fucking owe them enough dough as it is.’ The feeling is that if weirdos want to dress strangely and be dirty ‘they’re right states they are, right two and eights’ then they are entitled to get done over. One way to get a weirdo is to jump him if he does not move off the pavement out of the way of the gang, or to wait in the entrance tunnels of the tube and to rush at him and jostle him. Sometimes landing a few kicks. ‘Weirdos is no fun to jump though because they don’t fight back, they just curl up while you kick them.’ Weirdos are also hated because they are friends with foreigners – Bubbles (Bubble and squeaks – Greeks) and ‘them Black Irishmen from the north – Pakkis.’ ‘We can’t stand the Pakki’s – we all went down Drummond Street one night, down the road that is, like its all infested with Pakkis. About fifty of us went down fucking putting bottles through their restaurants and that was a good laugh that was. It got in all the papers, how the Pakkis were asking the police if they could arm themselves and form vigilante groups.’ And of course the Irish. ‘I don’t know why we don’t fucking give them back Ireland if they give us back Camden Town.’ Strangely they don’t dislike West Indians. It might be because they dig the West Indian Music and dance their dances. Double D – Desmond Decker, Arthur Connely, Roland Owl, Otis Redding, The Ethiopians, The Skatallites, Buster, The Untouchables, and Max Romeo. Sometimes a bit of bubble gum creeps in but mostly its Blue Beat, Ska, Rock-Steady and Reggae music. The Blacks are admired by the gangs. ‘Like they were the first with the short hair. They’re alright the Rude boys. Rudies hang out with Rudies mostly, and with white girls, and Black fight Blacks and Whites fight Whites and that’s it.’
Mods Of Your Generation Interview – The Electric Stars – “Beautiful Music For Beautiful People” MODS OF YOUR GENERATION·SUNDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2019What can say about The Electric Stars that hasn’t already been said?Formed in 2011 the band have featured in countless magazines and had many glowing reviews, with their album “Sonic Candy Soul” making the Top 12 of 2012 best albums in ‘Scootering Magazine’ alongside the likes of Paul Weller. Recently front man Jason Edge featured in the September 2019 issue of Scootering with an incredible two pager. They have the incredible ability of taking inspiration from all the best music from any era and blending it together to create original, new modern music. Their Psychedelic Rock n Roll sound and their upbeat soulful vocals sets them aside from others. They have one mission and that is to make “Beautiful Music For Beautiful People” and that is exactly what they do. Personally i would like to thank them for providing an alternative. I believe “music is the soundtrack to our lives” If you agree then you need the Electric stars in yours. To find out more about the band continue reading below
The band formed in 2011 how did it all happen? We formed while we were in the studio recording Sonic Candy Soul. The Album was already written & as myself, Keef & Andy went in to record we didn’t have a drummer. We used a guy who was hanging around with us & began laying down the tracks. The whole concept began to fall into place, the sound, the look, the vibe and the name, while we were recording. As soon as we finished it, that’s when we found our drummer, Johnny.
You signed to Detour Records in February 2012 and released a single in March. Then released your debut album ‘Sonic Candy Soul‘ in September. What was the reaction to the single and album? Once we had the Masters of the Album we started to look for the right label. Dizzy at Detour has always been great with us. He has great History on the Scene and is a Fab guy! The first single came out & got a brilliant response. In fact you can’t get a copy of that anymore! When the Album came out, I think we were happy with it, well most of us were ha ha, but you never know how the public will like it. But the response we have had since day 1 for the Album has been fantastic. Wherever we go around the UK now people have it, play it and talk about it. It’s a great feeling to know that people dig our songs.
THE ELECTRIC STARS Blind Album Sonic Candy Soul How did you come up with the name of the band – ‘The Electric Stars’? The name.. A lot of people ask about it! When we were in the studio everything was kind of in a melting pot. The image of the band is very important. We are very influenced by the late 60’s early 70’s sounds. So it is natural we dress that way. Lots of colour, vibrant imagery, psychedelic patters ya know. The name is suggestive. Like our music & vibe The Electric Stars suggests something! I’m not a fan of dull music & dull clothes. I like my Rock n Roll Stars to look Godlike! Local pub bands might dress in jeans & t shirt. The Electric Stars dress to kill.
The album was featured as one of the Top 12 albums of 2012 in ‘Scootering Magazine’ alongside Paul Weller. That must have been amazing, Tell me bout it? One of the 1st reviews we got for Sonic was in Scootering and it was Ace. We were a bit shocked but blown away with the write up! Then at the end of the year, they do a round up of the best Albums & Sonic Candy Soul is in there alongside Paul Weller… Totally Cosmic! In fact now you’ve reminded me about that, It’s brought back the way we felt & it was very humble. To get a review like that makes you appreciate every bit of support from everyone!
In 2014 the band recorded their own version of Belfast Boy, A song first released in 1970 by Don Fardon. Tell me about the reasoning behind releasing the track and how the idea developed? Belfast boy came about from a chance meeting I had with Eamon Holmes. He is a massive George Best fan like me. We got chatting about music and fashion. He is a big fan of The Electric Stars. He reminded me of the Don Fardon song and said that he didn’t think that anyone had ever recorded it since. We got in touch with the GB Foundation and the MUFC Foundation, both said they were behind the idea! Then we got a load of Players & Celebs to write about Georgie in the sleeve notes. It was a bit of an ambitious release but it got to Number 15 in the BBC Indie Charts.. Nice! The most pleasing thing for me is the B side. I wrote The Brightest Star about one of my Heroes and to have his sister say it is one of the best things ever recorded about George means more than the chart placing.
Belfast Boy – The Electric Stars | George Best Charity Single ‘We Love You’ released in 2018 & ‘Sunshine’ released in 2017 are two of my favourite tracks. Which songs do you like performing live from your incredible repertoire? We Love You and Sunshine are both on the new Album – Velvet Elvis, The Only Lover Left Alive! To be honest I like all our tunes, we don’t let any bum songs get through quality control ha! Picking favourites is tough because they all mean so much to me. 136 is special.. It was written over in Florida & I really wanted to get the message across about this new band.. What we were.. Where we had come from.. What the message was going to be! Music for me is not just going through the motions. I can’t stand what is happening to music in 2019. Beautiful Music for Beautiful People is what we try to do. That lyric sums up The Electric Stars. We are trying to keep the flame burning and that’s important!
The Electric Stars – Sunshine ☀️ You headlined the ‘100 club’ which had an incredible response. Tell me about the night and what is was like performing at such an iconic musical venue? The 100 Club is a wonderful venue. Probably one of the most Iconic in the world! Most of my Heroes have played there and to go on last to a sold-out crowd was off the scale! All the bands on the night were Fab. Turner, Darron J Connett, The Sha La La’s all played out of their skin. It was a bit of an experience for sure. I hope we get to play there again as it’s a special stage to be on.On the back of the gig we got loads of press & our good friends at Scootering gave us a Fab double page spread. The support they have given us since day 1 has been Brilliant.
The Electric Stars – 100 Club – 2016The new single has been released ‘The only lover left alive’ where can we buy or download the album? The new album should have been out so long ago. Just down to laziness on the bands part I guess! The Only Lover Left Alive, Sunshine, We Love You & Loaded With Regrets are all on the new Album. Its gonna have a more stripped back feel to it.. More acoustic & less polished I think. More like the live Stars & less produced.
The Only Lover Left Alive – The Electric StarsDescribe the bands musical style and would you compare it to another? Mmmmm, well we are not ashamed of our influences. Retro, yes for sure, but with our own songwriting style! You can hear plenty of Who, Stones, Kinks, Faces for sure. But you can also hear Bowie, Bolan, Beatles & Floyd. I love American music, so Hendrix, Velvets, Doors & Love. Mix it all up with Blues & Grooves.. What do you get? Beautiful Music for Beautiful People!
Who are your musical influences as individuals or as a band from any era past or present? The Record Collection is huge man. But if you’re going to push me.. The Rolling Stones! I will gladly fight anyone in the car park who tries to tell me they are not the Greatest Rock n Roll Band in the world. There is a little bit of Stones in everyone & there is a little bit of everything in the Stones.
The Electric Stars are a Manchester based band, the city has an incredible history of producing many great artist and bands. Did this inspire you to get into music and to take up playing your instruments? Manchester is a wonderful city. We are great at most things. But, when it comes to Music, we are quite Spectacular! It’s a working class city that is big enough to challenge London and small enough to create its own culture and swagger. Being in a band in Manchester is something we just did! The Hollies, 10cc, Buzzcocks, Joy Division, Mondays, Roses, Oasis.. Not bad is it for a bunch of Mancs ha ha!
British actor & musician Gary Shail is a huge fan of the band and asked you to perform at the Quad 40 event on Brighton Pier. What was it like to be asked to perform at such an iconic event celebrating the 40th anniversary of a timeless cult film Quadrophenia? We met Gary a long time ago at a gig. He loves live music and used to be in a band before he was an Actor. He liked our sound and we became friends. Last year he called me up and said “Jay, I’ve got an idea & I want the Stars to be part of it”. What an idea it turned out to be! Quad 40 was absolutely Fantastic! To be asked to be part of the Anniversary of one of the most Iconic British Films ever made.. WOW It really was a Brilliant event. Still buzzing from it to be h honest.
Do you have anything you would like share with all your supporters? I think if I’m going to finish on something it’s just to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us. The people who come to the gigs & buy our music. The people who write about us & book us to play all over the UK and Europe. We write our own material and we never take it for granted that people prefer us to cabaret. We want to make a difference & in 2019 that is getting harder than ever! Thanks to you Johnny for giving us the opportunity to tell people about the band & see you all soon!
Mods Of Your Generation Interview – The Electric Stars – “Beautiful Music For Beautiful People” MODS OF YOUR GENERATION·SUNDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2019What can say about The Electric Stars that hasn’t already been said?Formed in 2011 the band have featured in countless magazines and had many glowing reviews, with their album “Sonic Candy Soul” making the Top 12 of 2012 best albums in ‘Scootering Magazine’ alongside the likes of Paul Weller. Recently front man Jason Edge featured in the September 2019 issue of Scootering with an incredible two pager. They have the incredible ability of taking inspiration from all the best music from any era and blending it together to create original, new modern music. Their Psychedelic Rock n Roll sound and their upbeat soulful vocals sets them aside from others. They have one mission and that is to make “Beautiful Music For Beautiful People” and that is exactly what they do. Personally i would like to thank them for providing an alternative. I believe “music is the soundtrack to our lives” If you agree then you need the Electric stars in yours. To find out more about the band continue reading below
The band formed in 2011 how did it all happen? We formed while we were in the studio recording Sonic Candy Soul. The Album was already written & as myself, Keef & Andy went in to record we didn’t have a drummer. We used a guy who was hanging around with us & began laying down the tracks. The whole concept began to fall into place, the sound, the look, the vibe and the name, while we were recording. As soon as we finished it, that’s when we found our drummer, Johnny.
You signed to Detour Records in February 2012 and released a single in March. Then released your debut album ‘Sonic Candy Soul‘ in September. What was the reaction to the single and album? Once we had the Masters of the Album we started to look for the right label. Dizzy at Detour has always been great with us. He has great History on the Scene and is a Fab guy! The first single came out & got a brilliant response. In fact you can’t get a copy of that anymore! When the Album came out, I think we were happy with it, well most of us were ha ha, but you never know how the public will like it. But the response we have had since day 1 for the Album has been fantastic. Wherever we go around the UK now people have it, play it and talk about it. It’s a great feeling to know that people dig our songs.
THE ELECTRIC STARS Blind Album Sonic Candy Soul How did you come up with the name of the band – ‘The Electric Stars’? The name.. A lot of people ask about it! When we were in the studio everything was kind of in a melting pot. The image of the band is very important. We are very influenced by the late 60’s early 70’s sounds. So it is natural we dress that way. Lots of colour, vibrant imagery, psychedelic patters ya know. The name is suggestive. Like our music & vibe The Electric Stars suggests something! I’m not a fan of dull music & dull clothes. I like my Rock n Roll Stars to look Godlike! Local pub bands might dress in jeans & t shirt. The Electric Stars dress to kill.
The album was featured as one of the Top 12 albums of 2012 in ‘Scootering Magazine’ alongside Paul Weller. That must have been amazing, Tell me bout it? One of the 1st reviews we got for Sonic was in Scootering and it was Ace. We were a bit shocked but blown away with the write up! Then at the end of the year, they do a round up of the best Albums & Sonic Candy Soul is in there alongside Paul Weller… Totally Cosmic! In fact now you’ve reminded me about that, It’s brought back the way we felt & it was very humble. To get a review like that makes you appreciate every bit of support from everyone!
In 2014 the band recorded their own version of Belfast Boy, A song first released in 1970 by Don Fardon. Tell me about the reasoning behind releasing the track and how the idea developed? Belfast boy came about from a chance meeting I had with Eamon Holmes. He is a massive George Best fan like me. We got chatting about music and fashion. He is a big fan of The Electric Stars. He reminded me of the Don Fardon song and said that he didn’t think that anyone had ever recorded it since. We got in touch with the GB Foundation and the MUFC Foundation, both said they were behind the idea! Then we got a load of Players & Celebs to write about Georgie in the sleeve notes. It was a bit of an ambitious release but it got to Number 15 in the BBC Indie Charts.. Nice! The most pleasing thing for me is the B side. I wrote The Brightest Star about one of my Heroes and to have his sister say it is one of the best things ever recorded about George means more than the chart placing.
Belfast Boy – The Electric Stars | George Best Charity Single ‘We Love You’ released in 2018 & ‘Sunshine’ released in 2017 are two of my favourite tracks. Which songs do you like performing live from your incredible repertoire? We Love You and Sunshine are both on the new Album – Velvet Elvis, The Only Lover Left Alive! To be honest I like all our tunes, we don’t let any bum songs get through quality control ha! Picking favourites is tough because they all mean so much to me. 136 is special.. It was written over in Florida & I really wanted to get the message across about this new band.. What we were.. Where we had come from.. What the message was going to be! Music for me is not just going through the motions. I can’t stand what is happening to music in 2019. Beautiful Music for Beautiful People is what we try to do. That lyric sums up The Electric Stars. We are trying to keep the flame burning and that’s important!
The Electric Stars – Sunshine ☀️ You headlined the ‘100 club’ which had an incredible response. Tell me about the night and what is was like performing at such an iconic musical venue? The 100 Club is a wonderful venue. Probably one of the most Iconic in the world! Most of my Heroes have played there and to go on last to a sold-out crowd was off the scale! All the bands on the night were Fab. Turner, Darron J Connett, The Sha La La’s all played out of their skin. It was a bit of an experience for sure. I hope we get to play there again as it’s a special stage to be on.On the back of the gig we got loads of press & our good friends at Scootering gave us a Fab double page spread. The support they have given us since day 1 has been Brilliant.
The Electric Stars – 100 Club – 2016The new single has been released ‘The only lover left alive’ where can we buy or download the album? The new album should have been out so long ago. Just down to laziness on the bands part I guess! The Only Lover Left Alive, Sunshine, We Love You & Loaded With Regrets are all on the new Album. Its gonna have a more stripped back feel to it.. More acoustic & less polished I think. More like the live Stars & less produced.
The Only Lover Left Alive – The Electric StarsDescribe the bands musical style and would you compare it to another? Mmmmm, well we are not ashamed of our influences. Retro, yes for sure, but with our own songwriting style! You can hear plenty of Who, Stones, Kinks, Faces for sure. But you can also hear Bowie, Bolan, Beatles & Floyd. I love American music, so Hendrix, Velvets, Doors & Love. Mix it all up with Blues & Grooves.. What do you get? Beautiful Music for Beautiful People!
Who are your musical influences as individuals or as a band from any era past or present? The Record Collection is huge man. But if you’re going to push me.. The Rolling Stones! I will gladly fight anyone in the car park who tries to tell me they are not the Greatest Rock n Roll Band in the world. There is a little bit of Stones in everyone & there is a little bit of everything in the Stones.
The Electric Stars are a Manchester based band, the city has an incredible history of producing many great artist and bands. Did this inspire you to get into music and to take up playing your instruments? Manchester is a wonderful city. We are great at most things. But, when it comes to Music, we are quite Spectacular! It’s a working class city that is big enough to challenge London and small enough to create its own culture and swagger. Being in a band in Manchester is something we just did! The Hollies, 10cc, Buzzcocks, Joy Division, Mondays, Roses, Oasis.. Not bad is it for a bunch of Mancs ha ha!
British actor & musician Gary Shail is a huge fan of the band and asked you to perform at the Quad 40 event on Brighton Pier. What was it like to be asked to perform at such an iconic event celebrating the 40th anniversary of a timeless cult film Quadrophenia? We met Gary a long time ago at a gig. He loves live music and used to be in a band before he was an Actor. He liked our sound and we became friends. Last year he called me up and said “Jay, I’ve got an idea & I want the Stars to be part of it”. What an idea it turned out to be! Quad 40 was absolutely Fantastic! To be asked to be part of the Anniversary of one of the most Iconic British Films ever made.. WOW It really was a Brilliant event. Still buzzing from it to be h honest.
Do you have anything you would like share with all your supporters? I think if I’m going to finish on something it’s just to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us. The people who come to the gigs & buy our music. The people who write about us & book us to play all over the UK and Europe. We write our own material and we never take it for granted that people prefer us to cabaret. We want to make a difference & in 2019 that is getting harder than ever! Thanks to you Johnny for giving us the opportunity to tell people about the band & see you all soon!
The Touch are back after 40 years with their brand new album ‘Lost and Found’They were a mod revival band in the 70’s recording one album which was confusingly released by their record company under the wrong name. as well as know track titles or any other information about the band.I was kindly given a copy of the NEW album before its release and became instantly hooked to find out more about the previous album and the confusion around the first albums release. There may of been confusion around the previous album however there is no confusing who they are now. Whether your a fan of great music or a new fan of The Touch, whether you just like the Mod revival, or brilliantly written creative and relatable music. I suggest this album needs to be part of your collection.I was so excited about the new and old album that i immediately needed to interview them to find out more. I am also incredibly intrigued to see what they do next.
(1) Where do you find inspiration for your song lyrics & music? The music usually starts with an idea that magically arrives’ in the head, either as a riff, or a melody. It’s rare that one starts out with the idea to create a particular progression, and more often the rest of the music gets built around that one idea. Lyrics are a different matter. They are almost always either autobiographical or about something we’ve observed. For example, we must have been in the depths of teenage misery when we wrote Grey Day and I’m a Stranger as they are certainly based on real events. On the other hand, Walk in the Park, and Stop Stop are social commentaries. (2) How and when was the band formed? An early version of the band (The Flames) came together as a unit around 1976 with Son Jack on lead guitar and vocals, Gerry on rhythm guitar, Charlie on drums and Jim Henebury on bass. When Jim left, for a while we were 2 guitars and drums, weird but it sort of worked. We used to rehearse at Alaska Studios in Waterloo round the corner from the famous Wellington pub where many of the great early mod revival bands used to play. The studio was owned by ex-Vibrators bassist Pat Collier, and it’s thanks to him that we got started properly, but more about that later.
(3) When & where was your first gig? As The Flames our first gig was the Rochester Castle, Stoke Newington November 3, 1977 opening for the Stukas. We also supported them every other Thursday that month. As The Touch, our debut was at the Nashville on Dec 29, 1979 supporting the Bishops.
(4) Has anyone played a major role in your music career? We’d have to say that Alan May, Dizzy Holmes, and Albert Cummings are the three kings for us right now as they are responsible for us being back together. Another big shout out goes to Pat Collier who got us started in the first place. We were a scrappy 3 piece called The Flames rehearsing at his Alaska Studios in London in ’77 when he helped us out playing bass, booking our first gigs, and helping us with promotion. Having him produce this album was brilliant and brought things full circle. (5) Your new album was recently released. What has the reaction been? We’ve been blown away by the comments and overall reaction, really, just staggering. You usually expect a spread of opinions in the feedback and so far it’s been just amazing.
(6) What were the biggest challenges in doing this album? That’s easy. Time. Son Jack lives in the states, Dave is in Devon, and Charlie and Gerry are in London, so trying to find time when we could all be in the same place at the same time was hard. It’s amazing we managed to get together as often as we did, and over a 6 month period Son Jack flew to London 5 times to get this done.The second biggest challenge was re-learning songs that none of us had touched in 40 years. This involved converting lots of old dusty cassettes into MP3’s and hunting through old boxes of lyrics to track down the words and song structures. (7) Where can fans buy or download the old & new albums? Pretty much everywhere! There are a bunch of options:1/ Via Paypal (UK and Europe only and incl s&h) send £13 to g.czerniawski@uel.ac.uk2/ Worldwide CD fulfilment via CDbaby at https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/thetouch43/ For streaming and downloads it’s on Amazon, iTunes, Spotify, Google Music, Deezer, Napster, Pandora, Shazam, Tidal, Youtube Music and a bunch of other places.
(8) Have you got any future gigs coming up and what’s next for the band? We have just one more gig on the books at the Mod Weekender in Brighton on August 24th. We’re at the Hope and Ruin in Queen Street and are playing a double bill with the Teenbeats. Last time we played together was at Marquee in ’79 I think so this will be a very special gig. We’re also pricing it for the fans at £13 on the night, or £10 in advance at http://bit/ly/TouchTeenbeats.
(9) What’s the story behind the first album being released under the wrong name? We have theories but would risk getting sued for defamation of character if we shared them J. Let’s put it down to being young, naive, and star-struck at having an album at the age of 18. Twenty/twenty hindsight and all that.
(10) Can we look forward to another great third album? Haha! Mate, we’ve just finished this one and that took 40 years! Seriously though, it’s too early to tell but if we think we can do a knockout third album, and there’s demand for more then we’ll definitely consider the idea. (11) After the band disbanded after confusion over release of first album, what did each of the members go on to do musically or other? Son Jack: I didn’t play for over twenty years. It was only after moving to the states that I got the blues bug, and started trying to learn how to play it. I started out playing solo, then duo, then full on 4-piece band and enjoyed a 10 year career playing blues all over the world and recording 4 albums. Best part was getting to meet some amazing people like BB King, and we even got to open for Chuck Berry in the legendary Duck Room in St Louis.Gerry: I spent a few years playing in different bands including the tail end of The Fixations, Bad Karma Beckons, Waving Not Drowning and Mojo Hand. I’ve got a ‘day job’ but the music side of things has never really left my soul so keep my hand in one way or another.
Charlie: Although I played on the early demo’s included on the Detour release, I had left the band before the first album was recorded so didn’t actually play on it. Instead I went back to education and retook some exams. Played drums for garage band called Bad Karma Beckons with Gerry, they released an album, Mutate and Survive, in 1986. Currently also playing in a couple of active London bands namely The Phobics and The Beatpack.”Dave: After the touch I played in a number of new romantic groups in London including The Marines, and concentrated on learning the keyboards and developing my song writing. In 2000 I spent ten years living in Catalonia and during that time played in a popular dropzone band.
(12) When did the band decide to get back together and why? We got “re-discovered” through an insane set of unlikely events about 2 years ago. It’s a really long story but in short, Alan May and Dizzy Holmes tracked us down. Alan urged us to consider getting back together, and Dizzy wanted to do an official re-release of the original album on his Paisley Archive label. Alan also put us in touch with London promoter, Albert Cummings, who offered us a gig. So basically, everything was lined up and we had a reason to get back together. Without Alan, Dizzy and Albert I don’t think we would have bothered so we’re incredibly grateful for their support and encouragement. (13) Where would you like to see the band in a few years and what can we expect from you in the future? We’d LIKE to see us being waited on hand and foot on a private Island in the Caribbean but that probably isn’t going to happen. We’re in this for the love of it, not the money so we’re not on the career path that the younger more ambitious acts are. As long as we’re making music together, even if occasionally, that will be a beautiful thing. (14) Do you have a message for fans and a response to the reaction the band has had from the new album? That’s an easy one. THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS! You’ve made a bunch of old geezers feel like teenagers again.
(15) How would you describe the bands musical style if you were to compare it to another band? That’s a tough question as our musical style doesn’t easily fit one definition, as it evolved over time. We started out playing rock’n’roll (Gene Vincent, Johnny Kidd, Chuck Berry etc) in Charlie’s basement around 1973, and then when punk rolled around we got into that for a couple of years. Then we did the whole mod revival thing which also blended with Power Pop. So, you’ll hear elements of all those phases in the songs.
Animal. Lead singer of Anti nowhere league attacked by glass wielding thug
CCTV images have been issued of a person we would like to identify in connection with a serious assault in #TunbridgeWells.
It is reported that at around 6.20pm on Friday 2 August 2019 a man aged in his 60s was struck with a glass in an area of The Pantiles.
The victim sustained injuries and received treatment at a local hospital.
Investigating officers are continuing to carry out a number of lines of enquiry and are now able to release images of a man who may have important information about the incident.
Man captured in CCTV just before attacking singer with a glass
Anyone who recognises him is asked to call us on 01622 604100 quoting 46/152946/19.
Alternatively, contact the independent charity #Crimestoppers anonymously, by calling 0800 555111 or using the anonymous online form at Crimestoppers-uk.org
Mods Of Your Generation Interview – Being Film – Director & Artist Devlin Crow
MODS OF YOUR GENERATION·TUESDAY, 19 FEBRUARY 2019Devlin Crow is a film director and artist, who has made a series of renowned, award winning short films. Has worked with Pete Townshend, Nick Cave, Sir John Tavener, Christopher Lee and among others.Brighton Palace Pier unveiled a commemorative plaque to celebrate his most recent film Being, that has a nod to The Who’s Quadrophenia and shines a light on young carers and the neurological condition Multiple Sclerosis. BBC filmed the event and covered it in news. The film has received many positive reviews and as myself and many others look forward to the Follow up go for it girl. We asked Devlin Crow if he would kindly do an exclusive interview for the Mods Of Your Generation community.
(1) As you have said before in various interviews your inspiration for writing a film about Multiple Sclerosis was caring for your wife who suffers with the condition. Was this a difficult process as the subject was so close to your heart?
When you have to dig deep and open you heart to something close, moments can be difficult as your tapping into the uncomfortableness of grief, the remembrance of your love one struggles with the daily condition and what has been taken away by M.S. These times are never without sadness as you writing about emotional experiences the ups and downs of caring and witnessing the cruelness of the neurological condition. Though through the adversity there is always a crack of joy and fleeting happy memories that challenges the darkness of the subject, I think this is conveyed in the writing and film, and in-turn a truth, honesty and a humanity wins out.
(2) Is there a reason why you choose The Who, Quadrophenia and the mod scene as “Buddy’s” escape from caring for his mother “Margaret.” I wanted to make a film that acknowledged the importance Brighton, Modernism and The Who had on my youth and to “Quadrophenia”, the soundtrack that was central to my adolescence. It seemed right to make Buddy a Mod, who is into the whole 60’s scene, his mum Margaret would naturally passed on her love for the style, music to him. Buddy is also an individual, a bit of a loner and whom does not follow the crowd and popular trends. I think Buddy is like Jimmy in as much, that he’s angry and confused and in away lost. Though with Jimmy drugs and manic bipolar are his demon, for Buddy its feeling trapped as his life is on hold due to caring. With Jimmy, Modernism, scootering and Brighton became marred and the magic of the bank holiday bubble burst and disillusionment set in, for Buddy the Mod ride out saved him and gave him purpose a break from responsibility and demands, allowing him to experience joy and lost youth.
(3) Devlin you have directed a series of renowned, award winning short films, including Expelling The Demon, The Anatomist Notebook, Word Made Flesh:Sir Peter Blake, Little Whispers, Monstrous Creature & Of course Being. Did you face any challenges directing Being that you did not face with the other films? Being was based on a real life situation and moments plucked from home life, whereas with the others they were fictional and had a element of the fantastical. Or in the case of the programme “Word Made Flesh” presented a portrait of the artist Sir Peter Blake. (4) You have Worked with Pete Townshend in the past. What did you work on together and how was it? Kennedy my partner and I worked on documentary on the English Pop artist Sir Peter Blake, Pete Townshend loved the film and composed an original score. He worked for a week on it, it was a very special moment to work with someone you admire and respect for his artistry and grew up listening to. I will never forget him playing a bit of Baba O’Rilely on the guitar to both of us, as he used some of this in his opening arrangement.
(5) Being has had many positive reviews and I am looking forward to the follow up and so are many others. Can you give us a sneak peak into the plot for Go For It Girl? Or will we just have to wait? At this stage all I will say is that Margaret, Buddy’s mum get politicised and starts fighting for her rights. Also there going to be a strong Mod element running through feature, fans of “Being” will not be disappointed. (6) Many people have been inspired by Being and it has highlighted two important issues. Can we expect the same from Go For It Girl? Yes “Go for it Girl”, will be topical and will cover some important issues, though I stress the film will celebrate the importance of friendship and loyalty. Increasingly in this fractured world with so much hurt we need uplifting stories to highlight some beauty and love.
(7) You have said on Social media that you have happy memories meeting with Mark Wingett at Bar Italia “drinking good coffee.” Did Mark Wingett have much input into the storyline and what influence did he have on the making of the film? Mark Wingett did not add to the story, this has already been finalised. We spoke about logistics of filming scooter scene, he put me in touch with Trevor Laird for his guest appearance and we spoke about the issues film raises. Over good coffee we spoke about the Quadrophenia shoot and The Who, it was special to hear Mark’s stories, he’s a raconteur when it comes to a tale. We will have to return to Bar Italia prior to “Go for It Girl” going into production seems only fitting to keep up the tradition.
photo (c) Devlin Crow – Being 2019 (8) When should we expect Go For It Girl to be complete & will it also feature on Blu-Ray. The script has been written and I will be approaching a digital channel and private backers hopefully for finance, rather than the Crowdfunding route. You need a largest budget for a feature, I know how much love there is for “Being” and public are willing to support as they want the feature to get the green light. However I could not expect financial support through Crowdfunding for it will be a three figure sum. When it is released it will come out on Blu-ray, DVD and will be streamed. If Being Buddies keep sharing news on “Go For It Girl”, following and liking its social media sites, we can gain a strong media presence for a theatrical cinema release. Im sure you would love that!
photo (c) Devlin Crow – Being 2019 Thank you for agreeing to do this interview and I look forward to the feature of go for it girl.Mods Of Your Generation Community- Please like and share the interview far and wide. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who likes the MOYG page and to invite you all to like the Being film Page & I also encourage you to join Being Buddies Group to keep up to date about latest news on “Being” and “Go For It Girl”.Being Buddies GroupBeing Film Page
Photo (c) Being 2019 Photo (c) to Devlin Crow & Being film interview (c) Johnny Bradley & Mods Of Your Generation copyright by Mods of Your Generationinterview conducted by Johnny Bradley for Mods of your Generation
Lydia Lunch: ‘If it’s for the money, you’re not doing art. You’re doing commerce’
The no wave legend has worked with Sonic Youth and Nick Cave, written books and created art. At 56, she still rages against the commercialisation of pop culture
Lydia Lunch: ‘Just call me Lady Gaza.’ Photograph: Ulf Andersen/Getty Images
Lydia Lunch takes the stage in Berlin. Gazing behind her black bangs into the front crowd at Urban Spree’s DYS Festival, she points her red nails through the dry ice, screaming: “Narcotics and psychotropics, ecstasy slips through my hands. I’m still searching for the drug – I need a year in a sexual coma to take care of my problems – I tried crack five times, I couldn’t get high.”
Even at 56, Lunch remains the voice of New York’s underground, from which she emerged in the late 70s as part of the no wave movement. A singer, poet, actor, visual artist and spoken word performer, she has no manager or PR agent – she’s even been homeless at points in her career.
“If you’re doing it for the money, you’re not doing art. You’re doing commerce,” she said. She says that being an artist is not a career choice, but a necessity “if your blood boils”. Even if spoken word performance is dying, it doesn’t stop her from being what she calls “the last war whore left”.
After 37 years on stage, Lunch – who got her name because she used to steal food for her friends, American punks the Dead Boys – is in discussion with various American universities and institutions to place her colossal archives of over 1,500 books, posters and diaries, unseen live footage, unpublished photos and fan mail, for public view.
“It’s everything I’ve ever done,” says Lunch over a glass of white wine in Berlin’s Michelberger Hotel. “I’ve been taking photos since 1990, each one needs to be scanned. I have letters from guys I don’t know – letters with bodily fluids. Thirty-seven years is a lot of time for creating. I want it all available.”
Lunch is now hosting a writing workshop with former Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, a Buddhist writing institute in Boulder, Colorado. She plays San Francisco’s DNA on 29 July and at Los Angeles’ Teagram Ballroom on 31 July. That same night, Lunch opens an exhibition of her photos in a two-woman show with Jasmine Hirst called Beautiful Wrecks at Los Angeles’s Lethal Amounts Gallery, where her black-and-white photographs of adolescent boys, All My Heroes are Killers, are on view. She then heads to Melbourne for the Supersense arts festival. Bloodworks, an anthology of her poetry, is slotted for release next year in France.
After Melbourne, Lunch will return to Woodstock to write her next book, a tome about sex which she says will stand in stark contrast to her previous work. “I’m into pleasure rebellion,” she says, lighting a cigarette. “I’ve shared all my misery and tragedy but in my personal life I’m a cheerleader, an optimist. That aspect of myself is not shared. Once you are free from trauma, you are going to luxuriate in pleasure and happiness – personal pleasure. A divine gluttony, I should say.”
For this book, she’s done “a lot of research with one person”, whom she declines to name. “It took me this long to find someone who is going to inspire what I think is going to be a great work of art and needs to enter literature. Sex is often portrayed so badly, 50 shades of what? It’s insulting, so shallow.”
Lunch fled New York in 2004 when Bush won a second term: “I couldn’t take it.” Based in Barcelona, she travels frequently to writer’s residencies and arts festivals and tours with her band Retrovirus. This nomadic lifestyle, she says, is why she is looking for a permanent place for her archives. Upbeat and garrulous, she has always taken a stance against mainstream pop culture and doesn’t hold back her opinions on corporate America.
“The celebrity of riches and being famous for doing nothing is a cycle and I hope one day there will be a cultural rebellion,” she said. “People will be sick of vacant, culturally bankrupt bullshit based on how much you paid for your dress or surgery. Will there be a generational rebellion? We can hope the next cycle will be anticorporate. Corporations have won – your worth is based on what you make, not what you do or what you say.
“Madonna and Lady Gaga have stylists who are cultural vampires who steal the ideas from the underground then elevate transgression to a mainstream,” she adds. “Complete fraudulence on every front. These are my enemies. That’s why I say: ‘You can call me Lady Gaza.’”
However, there are some musicians she does admire. Electronic musician Nicolas Jaar contacted Lunch as a fan, asking if he could remix a track from her 1990 spoken word album Conspiracy of Women (COW), which he reissued on his label, Other People. “He is doing something to support people,” she said. “He is the beginning of the cultural revolution of people his age. That’s where my hope doesn’t ever die.”
Born in Rochester, New York, in the 70s Lunch moved to New York City, where she founded Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. Along with bands like James Chance and the Contortions and Mars, the band were an integral part of the no wave scene – a raw, noisy and arty alternative to the more commercial new wave movement of the time, typified by bands like Talking Heads and Blondie.
As well as Sonic Youth, Lunch has worked with Nick Cave and Henry Rollins, with whom she co-starred in a short film called Kiss Napoleon Goodbye. She curated and starred in the work of artist Richard Kern. “A lot of the people I worked with were no more famous than I was, they just became more famous,” she says. “They did the same record 100 times, I did not.”
The new Retrovirus album Urge to Kill was released in May on her own label, Widowspeak, its nine tracks filled with meandering, scratchy vocals and wailing guitars. Lock Your Door is a vengeful breakup anthem, while Dead Me You Beside is infested with fuzz guitar. “I’m just a writer, I just use music as a machine gun to get the words across,” she said.
Despite her illustrious body of work, Lunch still feels like she’s had no cultural impact. “I always say ‘Don’t blame me for Courtney Love, she’s a trainwreck crash into a bank’. I know I’ve impacted individuals and that’s what’s important but I see no culture reflecting back the impact I’ve had.”
Nevertheless, she battles on and encourages others to do the same. Lunch has created a workshop called From the Page to the Stage, which helps writers perform. “Women should write stories, even if it’s for the exorcism of their own demons.
“People have always been afraid, I don’t know why. This is why I feel like I haven’t had a cultural impact otherwise women would be ranting on street corners and shouting and whispering. After 37 years, one can learn to master it.”
John Daly’s Hollywood-like life has been equally exciting and – given his mission to give back to the world while constantly skirting the grim reaper – inspiring.
BY MAXINE LIPTZEN DOROT OCTOBER 15, 2016 02:59
Keeping active, John Daly pedals long distances over difficult European roads to help raise funds for orphans in Nepal. (photo credit: RONY R. BOONEN)
Metro readers first met 43-year-old John Daly in February 2009 in “The Harrowing Life of a Jewish Skinhead.” The article detailed his unbelievable life as a member and eventual leader of the North Florida branch of the Nazi Skinhead American Front.
Growing up in a small town in Florida, John Daly hooked up with a group of nonconformist kids with whom he thought he could fit in – an anti-racist skinhead group named after the county he lived in, Marion County Against Racism (MCAR).
While most people immediately associate the word “skinhead” with “Nazis,” there are different types of skinheads that most people don’t know about: non-racist SHARPs (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice), and those who are black, Jewish and even gay.
As Daly recounts, “In my small high school in Ocala, if you weren’t on a sports team, you were a nobody. I wanted to be accepted so I got involved in an anti-racist group of skinheads, MCAR. We didn’t do much of anything except hang out and talk about what was going on with the racist skins in larger cities, relieved we didn’t have them in our town.
“The guys all knew I was Jewish, but it didn’t bother anyone. It was all cool.”
One night, two of Daly’s friends went to Orlando, where they were approached by local racist skinheads (neo-Nazis) and were ordered, with threats of beatings and intimidation, to give the neo-Nazis the names and addresses of their skinhead friends in Ocala for recruitment in order to build up their dwindling ranks. One of the names was Daly’s.
Several days later, there was a knock on the door of the Daly home. When John opened it, he saw three neo-Nazi skinheads, complete with swastika tattoos. Afraid to let them in his house where they’d see the family’s menorah and other Judaica, he got in their car and drove off with them. He knew that if they had come into his house and saw the “Jewish stuff,” they’d kill him.
In the car, the three Nazi gang members took turns telling him stories about how certain individuals had been mysteriously hurt and hospitalized trying to escape. The driver then turned to Daly, put out his hand and said, “Welcome aboard.” Daly, a nice Jewish kid from a nice Jewish home, was now officially a neo-Nazi skinhead.
He lived in constant fear that his secret would come out. Whenever Jews came up in conversation, he would change the subject, saying, “Well you know there’s no shortage of minorities.”
Most of the time, he and his buddies would hang out, drink and fight “rednecks.” Daly had a sharp tongue and would verbally go after people, scaring them off with threats. This earned him a reputation as a good fighter and kept him from having to use his fists.
Daly miraculously escaped death when his Jewish identity was revealed by a jilted girlfriend of one of the skinheads, and the furious neo-Nazis decided it was time to “kill the Jew.”
He was beaten viciously and then plunged into the Atlantic Ocean to the chants of “Die, Jew boy! Die!” Thinking they had succeeded in drowning him, the would-be murderers fled, but miraculously Daly survived and made his way home.
While in the hospital, he was questioned by police. The skinheads, realizing they were in serious trouble, testified against each other to avoid long prison sentences, all the while planning revenge against “that dirty Jew.”
Upon recovering from his injuries, Daly took up martial arts, knowing he had a target on his back. He eventually earned numerous black belts in three different types of martial arts.
IN SEPTEMBER 1997, as the last of the skinheads were being released from prison, Daly, then 23, made aliya and was sent to Ashkelon because there was an opening in the absorption center there. He learned Hebrew and adjusted to his new life, doing volunteer work wherever he felt there was a need for his help. He has been living in Ashkelon ever since.
In 1999, taking a break from his studies in Ashkelon College, he accepted a job offer to go on a speaking tour around the US. His incredible story was the catalyst for raising awareness of the dangers of the growing threats of racism and the skinhead movement there.
He visited Anti-Defamation League chapters, Jewish and Christian groups, schools and retirement homes to talk about Israel. He was also a motivational speaker for addicts and at-risk youth.
Not being drafted into the IDF – though not for lack of trying and never getting an answer as to why he had been rejected – Daly views his speaking on behalf of Israel wherever he goes as his “personal army service.”
In 2001, he was accepted into an academic program offered by the Jewish Agency. This allowed him to go to college tuition-free in return for volunteering (which he had already been doing). He earned a bachelor’s in sociology and political science from Ashkelon College and Bar-Ilan University, with a minor in Judaic studies. A master’s in public policy and administration followed a few years later.
Since returning from his US speaking tour, Daly has been busy with jobs as a travel agent and teacher, but his passion is still volunteering. For many years he was the Ashkelon volunteer coordinator for Yedid, a nonprofit with one stated aim – to empower people to solve their problems by teaching them to work together to find solutions on a local or national level. In February 2009, Daly ran for the Knesset with the Hayisraelim Party on a platform of electoral change. (The party didn’t win any seats.) He has also been active in the English Speakers of Ashkelon and with a city animal rights group.
DALY WAS leading a healthy, active life, which came to a sudden halt on October 10, 2009.
In a synagogue enjoying Simhat Torah services, he suddenly crashed to the floor – having suffered, for the first time ever, a seizure. He regained consciousness in the ER of Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center, totally oblivious to what had landed him there and to the fact that he had undergone several tests and a CT scan.
Electrodes connected to an EEG help to track seizures caused by a brain tumor that is an inoperable cancer (photo credit: GAL SELA)
He was soon transferred to Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba where, relying on the CT, doctors told him that he had a brain tumor resting on the right frontal lobe (which controls higher mental functions, motor skills, emotional stability and helps with concentration) and there was nothing to do but give him anti-seizure medication.
Three days later, Daly was sent home with a bagful of medication, and returned to college life. He was summoned for an MRI a month later; there, Soroka’s chief of neurosurgery gave him the grim news, “The only person I know who might be able to help is Prof.
Tsvi Ram at Ichilov Hospital [part of Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center]. He’s your one chance. Good luck.”
Daly’s records were sent to Prof. Ram at the end of December 2009. With his mother, Ruth, one of his brothers and his then-girlfriend anxiously waiting, He endured his first “awake” brain surgery, a procedure during which the patient is totally conscious in order to respond to different commands to see how their brain is functioning.Recommended videos
He was given a sedative to relax him and a local anesthesia was injected into his scalp. The anesthesia didn’t take, which according to doctors happens in just 1 percent of patients – and he was one of that group. He remembers intense, agonizing pain, screaming, cursing, yelling, drilling and the sounds of anxious voices all around him trying to calm him down.
Because of the excruciating pain, not only could he not pay attention to what was being asked of him, there was the real possibility of a life-threatening seizure. The anesthesiologist then sedated him completely. One of the results of this surgery was that his left side became partially paralyzed and he still endured massive seizures after the operation. To minimize the episodes, he started on doses of medications but nothing helped; he was time and again experiencing potentially fatal seizures.
His life became a series of doctor visits with regular trips to an epileptologist, a neurosurgeon, a neurologist and a neuro-oncologist. Throughout all this, he still managed to volunteer at Yedid to the best of his abilities. On September 2013, back in the hospital, Daly was taken off all medications for a full week. This was done to induce seizures so a video testing system could track them, allowing the specialists to understand them better. He was a prisoner in his hospital room, attached to electrodes and cables. It was here that he celebrated his 40th birthday, not knowing if he’d reach his 41st.
These procedures led to a second awake brain surgery in February 2014, carried out with the help of Dr. Gal Sela, a neuropsychologist. Ram once again performed the procedure and, thankfully, it went smoothly and without pain. During the operation, a portion of the tumor was successfully excised, but not all of it could be removed. As a result, Daly still has seizures, though they aren’t as aggressive.
Incredibly, after long months of physiotherapy, he was able to return to his life with some physical limitations. He still does volunteer work and lectures in high schools and colleges around the country, never covering the long, bright scar that runs across the top and side of his head. For him, it is a badge of honor.
Daly considers the long scar running across the top and the side of his head a badge of honor (photo credit: RONY R. BOONEN)
IN JULY 2014, Daly was tracked down by a former friend who had been a member of the skinheads but was not in on the attempt to kill him. He wanted to make amends for his youth.
Although there was the chance it was a setup, Daly agreed to meet him, hoping that the friend’s goal was indeed legitimate.
The friend invited him to Prague, and since his seizures were less aggressive and to conquer his fear of traveling and meeting someone from his vicious past, Daly flew to meet him. This meeting resulted in a soon-to-be-released documentary, Escape From Room 18, making the rounds of global film festivals this season.
At an international pro-Israel rally in Jerusalem, Daly met a Belgian woman named Sandy, a staunch supporter of Israel. Intrigued by his life story, she invited him to Europe for the first of several trips speaking with audiences all over the continent.
This connection led him to an orphanage in Nepal founded and privately supported by a group of Belgians. To raise funds, they sponsored a bicycle trip, and Daly – who for years was not allowed to ride a bike or even think of driving a car – got the okay from his doctor and volunteered to join, provided he wore protective gear. he trained hard in preparation for this trip and was proud and elated to be an active part of it.
From this past May through August, under the Daly-designed banner of “Survivors for Survivors,” off he rode through wind, rain and heat on bumpy European roads. Exhilarated and crying with joy as he rode, thinking again and again, “I’m not supposed to able to do this,” he and his team got donations from as far away as Australia and the US. In the end, they raised more than €4,000.
To ensure all the money makes its way to the orphanage, Daly has been asked to go to Nepal for two weeks. He plans to expand the operation of the orphanage and to repair damage caused by the massive 2015 earthquake.
TODAY, DALY is in a watch-and-wait state. His tumor is an inoperable cancer that is constantly growing, albeit very, very slowly. If the tumor gets to the point where it must be treated, Daly will have radiation and chemotherapy treatments, but no one can predict how his tumor will behave.
Meanwhile, he lives an amazingly active life with daily doses of medicines to ward off potentially fatal seizures, which could happen at any time. The average life expectancy for someone with his type of tumor is five years.
Daly is going into his eighth.
Daly and his mother, Ruth, share a light and caring moment at her home in Ashkelon (photo credit: JOHN DALY)
“I’ve been living under a death sentence since I was 17, and now this tumor can go crazy at any time,” he says.
“Just as I refused to let the skinheads win, I won’t let this mass in my brain stop me from fighting for this country with my words, encouraging support of Israel from people abroad and helping people living here.”
Besides the surgical staff who saved his life, there is another hero in this saga: Ruth Daly, his beloved mom.
Having her son lead the dangerous life he did as a teen would be enough to overwhelm any parent, but Ruth, constantly worried for her son’s safety, was always there for him. No matter what, he always knew that he had a loving home to return to along with unconditional love.
Ruth made aliya to Ashkelon in 2009, a year after becoming a widow – Daly’s father, Ken, is buried in the Ashkelon cemetery. Ruth still worries about her son and is frightened for his health, safety and well-being, but one would never know it since she’s always smiling and laughing. When she looks up at her 1.8-meter-tall son, it is with a tremendous amount of love and a bit of awe that he’s still beating the odds.
Daly ended his meeting with Metro on a pensive note.
“When they tried to kill me, they shouted, ‘Die, Jew boy! Die!’ but they failed spectacularly. My revenge is not only living, but living in Israel, sharing my love for my heritage and this country, even if it costs me my life. You know, it’s very simple. They lost. I won.”
Daly’s Hollywood-like life has been equally exciting and – given his mission to give back to the world while constantly skirting the grim reaper – inspiring.
Kurt Cobain suffered serious mental health issues and drug addiction
The following blog comes from Achal Dhillon – the MD of British independent music company, Killing Moon. Dhillon (pictured inset) tackles a tricky subject: is the music industry doing enough, in the right way, to protect at-risk artists’ wellbeing?
That’s right. I am calling it a mental health crisis, because that’s what it fucking is.
There’s no real need, from where I am sitting right now, to ‘sell’ the importance of addressing the ever-presence of mental illnesses and lacklustre well-being in our music industry.
The fact of the matter – if you have a heart, that is – is that people are dying. People will continue to die if we do not deal with this sooner. And more of them, more frequently than ever before.
However, I recognise that we live in a country, indeed a world, that finds it perfectly acceptable to walk past the homeless, impoverished and (more often than not) the mentally ill in the streets whilst they are actively asking for their help, ignore them, and somehow still sleep at night. (Honestly, if you are one of those people, good for you. I really mean that. I just can’t fucking do it, despite trying.)
So when it comes to a vehicle that was largely born out of selling a particular image of the perfection of human creativity – ie. the music business – you’ll have to forgive me for assuming that many people, including those we all deal with on a regular professional basis, need a degree of poking and prodding on the subject in the headline above. In music, mental health – and indeed the issues and ailments surrounding it – is fashionable. It is a hot topic. A buzz phrase.
On the odd occasion, I have even witnessed it become so pervasive that depression and anxiety seem more like marketing drivers, rather than illnesses and conditions to be identified and treated seriously.
Prima facie, it is very easy to take what I have written here out of context and do the now-typical thing of forming an online mob and getting angry about it. (A trend that itself obviously warrants getting angry about.)
However, I am not resentful about this situation (or, truthfully, as much as I have been in the recent past). Every art form, including music, must necessarily have a business element in order for it to get, well, anywhere. And anger isn’t going to help a goddamn thing.
Fact: depression, anxiety and, ultimately, suicide, as far as the artist community is concerned, historically results in a surge of sales (or I guess streams) for the affected artist. This, for the business enterprise concerned with these acts, deserves serious contemplation. As does the wider narrative which surrounds these situations. (Question: would anyone have given a shit about Nirvana if Kurt wasn’t so visibly fucked up?’)
Ian Curtis commited suicide
“THE MUSIC INDUSTRY SAW THE THREAT OF PIRACY AS CLEAR AS CRYSTAL… THE MENTAL WELLBEING OF ARTISTS IS A NEW THREAT, ONE WHICH CARRIES MORE GRAVITY.”
It is therefore no surprise to me that there is a rather large barrier to orchestrating any meaningful form of change, given that we sensationalise illness to this point.
Our propensity to get all ‘Candle In The Wind’ about it as soon as a cultural tragedy befalls us, always beckons into view a lens of possibly profiting from it somehow.
And yet, the ongoing narrative today suggests that we may be warming to the gravity of the problem. I do not believe, however, that this warming is happening nearly as quickly as we need it to.
I am writing this to make the argument for pan-industry (trade bodies, private companies, public companies, PROs, musicians, fans, and indeed any other stakeholder I currently can’t think of) action on dealing with our mental health crisis.
This must inevitably be done in the context of money, which I have come to appreciate is generally the single language that the world can best understand.
The music industry saw the threat of piracy as clear as crystal on that basis. So hopefully this will have a similar effect in terms of generating a similar degree of response – both in terms of volume, and indeed unity. The mental wellbeing of artists is a new threat, one which I believe carries more gravity than our historic realisation that we cannot control, nor indeed destroy, the internet.
So there you go: I’m after money. Not for me. For us. Specifically, for further research into the conditions that I believe either stimulate pre-existing and unmanageable addictions or behavioural tendencies, or, in worst case scenarios, create the nuances that lead us into depression or anxiety, or both.
We then also need some more money based on the outcome of this research – hopefully to tell us how the fuck to deal with this. Training. Experience. Awareness. Identification. Treatment. All of it.
From what I hear, the industry is now swimming in money again. So what is the largely-financial argument I need to make in order to render this cause something that pretty much anyone can get behind?
Here it is: we are fucking ourselves as a business by not adequately providing the knowledge base – or the degree of fiduciary responsibility to pretty much any stakeholder (i.e. those which I have referenced above) in the music industry – on how to correctly identify and deal with mental health-related issues.
We are losing money, rooted in consequential loss as opposed to just pure economic loss.
Bluntly put, what good to us is a dead artist? Or a dead product manager? Or a dead fan? Can you make money out of them, in the long-term?
“WE ARE F*CKING OURSELVES AS A BUSINESS BY NOT ADEQUATELY PROVIDING THE KNOWLEDGE BASE ON HOW TO CORRECTLY IDENTIFY AND DEAL WITH MENTAL HEALTH-RELATED ISSUES.”
Let’s take one of the more abstract (as least as far as I am concerned) recent examples of an incident occasioning mental health issues – Chester Bennington (pictured, main).
How many team members, such as a product manager, an A&R, a tour manager, will now not have a job as a result of that artist no longer being alive? How much income from live outings or record sales are lost due to the festivals he will no longer play or songs he will no longer write? How many people will now not start bands, or labels, or management companies as a result of not being inspired to do so by a person of such creative and fiscal importance?
I would otherwise talk about Scott Hutchison, which admittedly – even as a slight positive – has inspired me to put this column to writing at this time. Because the issue is too important now, isn’t it? Because he was one of ours, wasn’t he?
Hopefully you can understand why, at this time, basically I can’t talk too much about Scott.
I’ll concentrate on the guy I didn’t know to get this across, otherwise I won’t be able to concentrate at all.
It is very easy for me to sit here and preach about this. But it is something that we put into practice on a regular basis at Killing Moon, in respect of most if not all of our monetised businesses. And it isn’t just coming from me either, given that my staff and I are quite unified in this quest to put a heart to the motherbrain of the re-ignited music industry.
I love picking on my management assistant Rob as an example most of the time (in the nicest possible way, of course). In this context, that’s especially true – given that the following event took place on his very first day in the office, back in September 2017.
Whilst getting used to our systems and indeed my own nuances/cursing out loud, we rather abruptly received the offer for Annabel Allum, an artist I had been managing for around 2.5 years at that stage, to support Beth Ditto on her entire EU (still counting the UK in that y’all) live run in October 2017.
This was seemingly our moment that we had been waiting for and we had to act fast.
We had a grand total of about five seconds to say yes to the tour, and then I had about a week to find the money in order to make it happen.
Rob, utilising his rather extensive experience as a touring artist himself, was put to the task of organising the routing, hotel bookings and air/ground transportation for the tour. I’ll leave you to decide which task was more laborious, and which one was more stressful.
By the next day – and obviously at this point we had confirmed that this was all going ahead – Rob did a rather brave thing. He told me he thought Annabel shouldn’t do the tour.
At this point, I am Mo Farah on the final run up to the finishing line at London 2012, and this guy is in my fucking way.
It begged the question, ‘Why, Rob? Why would you try to fuck this up for us?’ And so the question was asked. The response needed to be said: ‘I am a touring artist with nearly 10 years’ experience. The routing is far from a nice, coherent oval shape. It is a fucking spaghetti junction. If Annabel misses one connecting flight or bus, it will consequently fuck up the rest of the tour dates. It will take an immense toll on her physically and mentally, and that will really have a direct knock-on effect onto the quality of her performance.
‘I’m not sure I could do it, and right now, on paper, I’m really not sure it is in her best interests overall to do this in this manner.’
We also semantically debated the merits of sending a young woman, on her own, in these circumstances, into central Europe for the very first time. Not that we want to seem patronising or anything.
The net effect here was that, on reflection, we needed to get more money to ensure that Annabel could eat, sleep and travel in a manner consistent with dealing with a venture of this magnitude.
Which basically means I had to get the credit card out. I also needed to go out with her to the first show, make sure she was acclimatised to Beth Ditto’s crew and live environment, and that she could generally get into the swing of the touring routine. Which, to be honest, I can’t even do myself having ended up as tour manager/merch boy on several tours back in the proverbial day myself – lasting about three days before I started crying, and wanting to go home.
Beth Ditto, on the first date of the tour, invited Annabel to travel with her on the tour bus. Why? “Because she used to be me,” Beth told me as I said goodbye following the sold-out show at Copenhagen’s Vega venue, whilst she was talking to a bunch of fans that had waited outside the stage door after curfew to just catch a glimpse of her.“ No way in hell am I letting her travel alone out here by herself. And I wish someone did that for me when I was her.”
So, that was £2,500 on PDs, travel and accommodation well-spent. And I really, really mean that.Music Business Worldwide.
Promoters are often overlooked in the music business, probably one of the hardest jobs there is, because of the risks involved. The mammoth hours trying to convince people to come along to the show. In modern times the online abuse, a promoter can be the target of. Then the responsibility of the event itself. making sure you have enough money raised to cover the events cost, and to hopefully earn something for your own time. Bankruptcy and breakdowns is a regular for the promoter. Even friends think its cool to come to the show without any financial support. Artists often demanding payment and treatment well above their own value. This all weighs on the promoter, nights of non sleep and anxiety .
Todd Youth passes away, a huge loss to the Punk Rock community worldwide
NYHC legend Todd Youth, who played in Agnostic Front, Warzone, Murphy’s Law, D Generation, Danzig, and more, and most recently Fireburn, has reportedly passed away. Todd’s Fireburn bandmate Ras Israel Joseph I (also formerly of Bad Brains) posted on Facebook:
On the passing of my friend, and my Brother Todd Youth There are no words to express how sad I am at the passing of my brother Todd Youth. The music he made will forever be remembered, and I’m so thankful that I was able to work with him and that we created Fireburn together. Todd and I were living separate lives doing hardcore and reggae music. We met each other in 1992 and then never spoke again until 2017. We created Fireburn within two weeks of knowing each other and finished writing two of my favorite hardcore records that I ever worked on: “Don’t stop the youth”, and “Shine”. Closed casket records signed the band and we were on our way. We had great shows and lots of people showed up to them. We toured with gbh from England, hung out with the guys from Negative Approach, and got our blessings about our music and our records from the Bad Brains. I know that Todd is now resting in peace and I know that Krishna is taking his soul to a better place. He was a devout Hari Krishna and The Devout human being. Todd wherever you are I hope that we will make music again one day. Life is a circle and I know I’ll meet you again in that circle brother. We will meet again. Rest In Peace, Rest In Power, rest my brother. I am saddened that we cannot make music again together, but I am happy that you are finally going home to be with Krishna that Haile Selassie has finally giving you peace and comfort my brother. one day, I too will lay down and die. This body that I ware is temporary. I will probably be alone. They’re probably be no one around me. However I know that I will join you and all of our other friends in that good place and we’ll all see each other again. I’m sorry you died Todd. I’m sorry I can’t see you again. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you. You are my friend and my brother and I love you. Rest in peace my brother. May your visit to our Heavenly Home be full of peace, and comfort, and closeness to Krishna. Haribo. Haile Selassie I. FIREBURN.
Todd Youth live on stage
NYHC show promoters BlacknBlue Productions also posted, “I can’t ….. A very sad day for NYHC FAMILY . 😞😞😞🙏🏼🙏🏼 Todd Youth . We love you . Condolences to all friends & family . Tell the people you love that you love them any chance you get.”
Todd was always such a positive character and passionate about his music. The scene has lost a great character. On behalf of The British Skinhead and Punk scene I send my most sincere thoughts and love to all his family and friends across the pond
Symond ( subcultz ) England
Hatebreed also posted a tribute:
Rest in peace, Todd. You’ll be missed and your crucial contributions to NYHC and beyond will live on.
Watch the full set video of Todd playing with Warzone for the Raybeez tribute in 2017, stream the latest Fireburn single, and listen to one of the Murphy’s Law classics he recorded with them:
Vicious Rumours make a comeback..Brighton Skinhead Reunion 2017.
Question 1. Why would you like to play the great skinhead reunion, in brighton ..Symond, 2 1/2 years ago, you reached out to me and asked if we would consider playing the Reunion.. Well you and I had many exchanges, surprisingly most of them about our kids, principles and general outlook on life.. We discovered that we were very much cut from the same cloth… I was so excited to be playing and it was going to be our first show back together in England since the Main Event.. Then unfortunately we were unable due to JC and his wife expecting a baby right at that time. Symond, whilst disappointed never once showed or held it against us or me personally and we have continued to build our friendship these past couple of years.. Okay (I tend to ramble so this will be a long interview, so if edited I will take no offence) now why we/I want to play Reunion 2017.. This Event is to get together people from all over the world who love this scene and for some has been part of their lives since their early teenage years as it was for me.. I love music and ever since I can remember that has always been my first love.. Along came punk and then punk/Oi!/ska.. Well that was it. As you can see from the picture my vast taste in music.. See I told you I ramble.. What was the question? Oh yes. This is an event to see old friends, make new and a way to show our and my appreciation to you all and thank you for letting us/me be part of something that will live forever.. And this event is about just that.. Being in a band was and still is a dream for me but none of this means anything without you lot, so when Symond said yes a 2nd time to my/our request to Play 2017 my face and heart lit up and we promise to give you a show to remember.. Don’t forget we are one big family xx
2. When did you start the band, and why. in 1979 around April /may I had the idea of a starting a band. A friend of mine Dave field played guitar and another Al Kilpin was up for trying put drums.. Why, well it seemed like fun, I loved to sing and a few other kids at school had put together bands.. So why not me!!
3. Who were the original members, and how did you meet? Okay, I met Dave Field at Church, we were I the Boys Brigade together and actually ended up going to the same school.. Al Kilpin on drums, we also met at the church in one of those kids club things, but Alan was also hanging out at the local youth clubs and knew everybody. Also Alan’s good friend and co-worker was Micky F lead singer of an up and coming band called the Business. Also we had a stand in bass player, Phil Lecomber.. So that was the original up.
4. Who were the writers? I did most of the writing once we starting playing more gigs and then the band would put it all together as at first we only had about 4 songs, including Vicious Rumours, which was actually written by a girlfriend of ours, Lesley and Dave and I wrote music.. The rest of the songs I the first few months were mainly sex pistols covers, even some early Adam and the ants, oh and Chip on your Shoulder was one we played at every gig till Bout 81..
5. What was your first gig? Our first gig was at welling baptist church with a local band Called The Reprobates, whose guitarist Ian eventually ended up being our guitarist a couple of years later. We co-workers and recorded This is your Life together..
6. What would you say was the most memorable, for good or bad reasons? Wow, most memorable.. Okay sorry Symond I will have to name 3..only because of different reasons and all good.. 1.our first high at Skunx, May 1982. JC, AL, Worve and myself. Supporting The Business and One Way System.. It was our first Big gig in London as all the others were in local pubs, church halls and youth clubs.. It was very special and the crowd really accepted us.. 2.Red Lion, Gravesend 2015..simply because it was our first gig back in the U.K in 25/26 years and the friends that showed up on a Wednesday night, in the middle of nowhere was just overwhelming.. To see so many smiles, hugs and just felt the love.. Absolutely priceless.. Plus it was my introduction to the lads in The East End Badoes.. Just a great band and brilliant blokes.. We have become friends for life.. Now there were gigs in the early days, France, Old Bexley, The Lovel, Danson youth club, Isle of wight scooter run, Coventry but for my 3rd is… 3.PSK 2015 Stockholm, Sweden and this is why.. Pike Kollberg and Niklas Törnblom put on an outstanding show.. Amazing bands and put their heart and soul into it as I know that you can relate to Symond.. They were enthusiastic, Genuine and made us feel right at home.. Now the crowd, playing to people that had never seen us before, we’ll most of them, all I could feel was an amazing energy, total support and people having a great time and enjoying us.. What a beautiful feeling, this was also my 50th birthday trip so to spend it doing what I love, with people that I love and making new friends. Honestly, what could be better..
7. Why did the band fold up? The band stopped playing after the main event, for me and I know for JC we were disappointed with our performance that night.. I insisted on a wireless guitar cable which didn’t work, and a few other hick ups, , well we didn’t talk about splitting we just took a break then in 1990 I left for the States.
8. What happened to the members after you moved on in life? Well now, JC Lives in France, and He still loves playing his bass.. Danny lives in Malta, Ian(worve) sadly passed away a couple around a year ago as for some of the other members along the way I’m not sure but all of them had a part to play in the band..
9. What do you feel about the modern scene, as opposed to the 80’s? As JC would say to me and still does that I am clueless.. I just love people.. Love meeting them and being a part of an amazing culture.. Though I have seen fights break out at gigs, I myself have never once had a problem.. I am extremely happy that there is still such a strong scene as it gives us a chance to do what we love, and a chance to make memories with the best people and Symond, would you not agree making great memories and having fun is what it is all about!! I know you do mate..
10. What advice would you give to young bands starting out? Well young bands starting out, have fun and enjoy it, be humble and appreciate anyone who shows an interest in your band, get to know some of the bands that you enjoy and could see yourself playing with, it is so easy now to get in touch with them because of the Internet etc.. and start off by just introducing yourself, let them know you have a band.. Start there.. Practice practice practice then gig gig gig.. I still reach out to bands that I have always looked up too, even at 51..The Cockney Rejects, still absolutely first class till this day. I got a message from Jeff Turner and I was like a big kid, it meant so much to me.. Micky Fitz from the day I met him at the age of 14 has always treated me with nothing but kindness and respect. He is my mentor and I have always looked up to him and appreciated the way he treated me. Although Jamie Flanagan, lead singer with Tear Up have never met we have built up a great relationship this past year and a half.. I am saying this because he has done everything that I just said to do and not because I suggested it, because of who he is.. Love ya Bruv xx Okay last thing that I want to say is…. I love this Band, 37 years and I can honestly say the line up that we have now sounds brilliant, tight and full of energy. Mad Max Spartan back on rodie duty, keeping everything on track..Tom Sultans our youngster drummer is brilliant, Dave Hayman on guitar who just bets it out like I only wish that I could, Dave Reeves on guitar who is a fantastic solid seasoned player, John Coupé on bass and as tight and poised as ever, Nippa Troth, my little brother right there with us and Myself on vocals ready to give my all heart n soul and a night you will always remember.. Love and respect Symond and of course everyone else cannot wait to see you in Brighton.. Always, Johnny Mundy xxx
The trouble caused by mods and rockers in May 1964
Bank holidays in Brighton tended to be busy, jolly affairs in which thousands of Londoners flocked to the sea and sunshine.
All that changed in 1964 during the Whitsun bank holiday when more than a thousand mods and rockers fought pitched battles with each other on the prom and pavements.
There was more trouble in 1965 during both the Easter and August bank holidays, only this time they were met by a force of 100 policemen chosen for their barn door proportions.
Deckchairs were a favourite weapon and if they were not being used for striking enemies, they were destroyed in fires on the beach.
Mods pictured in May 1964 throwing deckchairs from the roof terrace of Brighton Aquarium on to Madeira Drive below
There were 75 arrests and the courts were kept busy for weeks afterwards in dealing with all the cases. Images of the fights went all round the world.
In a new book on the shady side of Brighton, David Boyne says, “As shocking as the violence for many of the older generation was the discovery that many of those involved were taking drugs, particularly amphetamines.”
The Brighton Council of Churches found that more than half the mods and almost half the rockers were taking blues, a form of speed.
There was more trouble in 1965 during both the Easter and August bank holidays, only this time they were met by a force of 100 policemen chosen for their barn door proportions.
Boyne says all kinds of ideas were offered to solve the problem, including bringing back conscription, hard labour and even reviving the stocks.
Sentences handed out by Brighton magistrates were generally tough. One of them, Hebert Cushnie, referred to the youths as “sawdust Caesars”. He was widely quoted but few were sure what he meant.
But after that there was comparative peace on bank holidays until the late 1970s when the Brighton-based film Quadrophenia and the start of the punk fashion led to a mod revival.
This time the enemy was skinheads rather than rockers and confrontations Police worked out a simple but effective way of stopping youths from kicking each other. They made youths take out their bootlaces.
Mary Whitehouse, the doughty defender of old- fashioned morals, blamed the violence by young people on copying what they saw on TV.
Less predictably, support for mods and rockers came from the National Federation of Hairdressers as both sides paid much attention to style.
Forty years ago pictures of Mods and Rockers shocked polite society. But were they staged by the press?
It all kicked off between the mods and the rockers this weekend in 1964. But appearances can be deceptive
Robin Stummer reports
They came, they saw, they beat each other senseless on the shingle. Or did they? Forty years ago this Easter weekend, mods took on rockers for the first time, fuelling Britain’s first mass-media scare over dissolute, drug-taking, mindlessly violent youth.
They came, they saw, they beat each other senseless on the shingle. Or did they? Forty years ago this Easter weekend, mods took on rockers for the first time, fuelling Britain’s first mass-media scare over dissolute, drug-taking, mindlessly violent youth.
Starting with a spot of bother at Clacton, Essex, over the Easter weekend of 1964, the tabloid press feasted for months on the gory new phenomenon breaking out at sleepy seaside towns across the South-east.
Beside gleefully horrified headlines – “Riot police fly to seaside” – were photographs of pale youths in Italian fashions fighting pale youths in engine-oil-caked leathers beside penny arcades at Margate, Brighton, Bournemouth, Clacton, Southend and Hastings.
But now mod experts and some of the old rockers and mods themselves are admitting that many of the candid newspaper shots of seaside gang fighting in 1964 – so shocking at the time, and now considered classic images of Sixties Britain – were staged.
Further, with the tales of drug-fuelled derring-do and flying deckchairs now the stuff of pop-culture legend, a new, far less violent picture is emerging of what actually happened. It’s a world far removed from Quadrophenia, the cult 1979 film based on The Who’s mod-nostalgia album.
“There are famous photographs taken in Brighton where the photographer paid the lads a few shillings,” says David Cooke, a Brighton-based mod ephemera dealer and an authority on the history and lore of the mod world. “Quite a few people know that photographs were set up in Brighton.”
Finding that gangs were engaged not in open warfare but aimless wandering, some photographers and reporters paid youths to stage mock fights and chases.
“At Margate some photographs were definitely staged,” recalls Howard Baker, in 1964 a purist mod and now a writer whose novel Sawdust Caesar is set against mid-1960s mod culture. “Reporters and photographers were paying off a lot of kids. You’d get a fiver or a tenner. We’d get pissed on it.”
“The media made it sound much worse than it really was,” says rocker Phil Bradley, a veteran of dozens of seaside “visits” in the Sixties and a repentant mod-baiter. Bradley became a rocker at 14 when he bought his first motorbike, and spent most of his teens trading insults with the scootering mods. But bloodshed? “There wasn’t as much fighting as what has been made out,” he says. “The press hyped it right up. There were only isolated incidents. There weren’t riots like in that film Quadrophenia. The odd deckchair came flying through the air, but there weren’t weapons like you see nowadays.
“And we certainly didn’t go chasing after old people, even us rockers. If we saw an old lady going across the road having trouble, we’d walk across with her.”
Tabloid headlines about the drug menace facing Britain’s youth, which for a few months in mid-1964 alternated with seaside warfare headlines, pointed to another glaring falsehood. “There was an idea that amphetamines, which were the mod pill of choice at the time, caused us all to be terribly aggressive, but that wasn’t the case,” says Alfredo Marcantonio, 40 years ago a devoted mod and now a leading figure in British advertising. “Most of the time you danced your socks off in clubs, but afterwards you were so worn out you wouldn’t want to fight anyone.”
No, says Howard Baker, there was real fighting as well as fake fighting. “The Brighton photographs weren’t staged. I was there. The violence was nasty, but there weren’t guns.”
Mods were not averse to fighting other mods, rather than rockers. “It wasn’t really mods versus rockers, as the press put it, anyway,” says David Cooke. “Mods were fighting each other. The north London mods hated south London mods. South London mods hated north London mods, and east London mods hated everybody, and everybody hated them.”
“You could almost tell which part of London a mod was from by which colour suit he had,” recalls Mr Marcantonio. One of many early mods who went into advertising and the media, he remembers spats, but maintains pitched battles did not happen. “The streets were not strewn with broken deckchairs,” he says. “The police herded you up and you ended up walking around Brighton in the great phalanxes of people looking a bit pissed off.
“The seaside towns were the domain of the rocker, their patch,” he explains. “Every rocker, you imagined, dreamt of working on the dodgems, with the sound of Del Shannon echoing past the helter-skelter. So a lot of us turning up on scooters, it was asking for trouble. But mods didn’t ever get on their scooters and go down to the coast for a fight. Real mods were far too concerned about their clothing. I mean, we’re talking about possibly losing buttons – you know, creasing or tearing clothing you’d saved for!”
But isolated outbreaks of violence did continue throughout the Sixties. “The Battle of Hastings, about 1965, was quite a big one,” remembers Phil Bradley. “Some scooters and bikes went off the top of the cliff. Margate in 1964 was the worst – the cells filled up. There were only seven coppers in Margate at the time, and one Black Maria – but there were about 4,000 mods and 500 rockers!”
In the end, the mod movement mutated. “Everyone diverged,” says Howard Baker. “Lots of mods became hippies or freaks and wandered off to India, like I did.”
“I haven’t the foggiest idea why there was any fighting with the mods,” says Phil Bradley. “I really don’t know.”
The early 1980s revival ebbed away and since then all resorts including Brighton have not suffered from large-scale fighting by violent gangs of youths.
It is almost half a century now since the first clashes and some of the combatants have become nostalgic about them.
Every September there is a huge convoy of men on motorbikes and scooters who ride down to Brighton for the day.
Now mostly pensioners, they reminisce about what they see as the good old days while often drinking nothing stronger than tea.
By Adam Trimingham
Bloody British History: Brighton by David J. Boyne (The History Press £9.99)
Brighton information Still one of the most popular seaside destinations in the UK, Brighton has been a tourist hotspot for many years thanks to its climate, nightlife and fantastic shopping. The advent of the railway really helped to boost the city’s profile. Brighton has consistently attracted visitors for day trips, weekends and entire holidays, with its proximity to London has helped create a huge tourist industry that erupted during the Victorian era, with the building of several attractions including the West Pier and the Palace Pier. Modern-day Brighton has much to echo the luxury of the Georgian and Victorian eras, with a new swathe of independent boutiques opening in key shopping areas of the city, such as The Lanes, which is packed full of quirky shops, jewellers, antiques dealers and specialist restaurants. Brighton has been a mecca for youth culture, ever since the 1960’s infamous Mods and Rockers battles. Punk found its south coast home during the 70’s and 80’s, with an explosion of Acid House at the end of the 80’s. in modern day, Brighton has a huge independent music scene, with world renowned bands regularly springing up and touring the world. The town has also seen the rise of a huge Skinhead weekender every June, where people come from across the planet to Moonstomp the weekend away. Showing what a cultural diverse and amazing place the City is
The best punk singles record covers – in pictures Punk 45: The Singles Cover Art of Punk 1976-80 is a collection of punk’s seven-inch sleeves, whose distinctively DIY designs encapsulated the attitude at the heart of the musical genre. Co-edited by Jon Savage and Stuart Baker, the book includes interviews with some of the designers whose use of montage, Day-Glo colours and hand lettering created the punk aesthetic. For Savage, it was the single, not the album, that was the perfect format for the succinct speediness of the music (“A lot of punk songs were two minutes or under,” he says), and here he describes some of his favourite covers of the era
This book is a revelatory guide to hundreds and hundreds of original 7” record cover sleeve designs – visual artefacts found at the heart of the most radical and anarchistic musical movement of the 20th century. Punk Rock 45 Soundsystem! is introduced (and co-compiled) by Jon Savage, author of the acclaimed definitive history of punk, England’s Dreaming. As well as the encyclopaedic visual imagery featured inside, the book also includes a number of interviews with celebrated designers involved in creating punk’s original iconic imagery. The revolutionary do-it-yourself ethic of punk was applied to the aesthetic of design as much as it was to music, and record sleeves acted as lo-fi signifiers of anarchy, style, fashion, politics and more with an urban and suburban invective courtesy of the 1000s of new bands – punk, post-punk, pre-punk, nearly-punk and more – that emerged at the end of the 1970s. This book is an exhaustive, thorough and exciting celebration of the stunning artwork of punk music – everything from the most celebrated and iconic designs through to the stark beauty of the cheapest do-it-yourself lo-fi obscurities.
Punk record covers: Punk Record covers x ray spex X-Ray Spex: The Day the World Turned Day-Glo Jon Savage: “A perfect fusion of music and image.”
Punk record covers: Punk record covers Ramones Ramones: Blitzkreig Bop Design by John Holmstrom of Punk magazine. “A very good example of their cartoon format.” Photograph: Soul Jazz Books
Sex Pistols: God Save the Queen Design by Jamie Reid. “An archetypal image for an archetypal single.” Photograph: Soul Jazz Books
Punk record covers: Punk record covers crass Crass: Nagasaki Nightmare Art and design by Crass. “Crass record sleeves were a mine of information, illustration and agit-prop design” Photograph: Soul Jazz Books
Punk record covers: Punk record covers scritti politti Scritti Politti: Work in Progress 2nd Peel Session “A fantastically influential sleeve, which includes a detailed breakdown of the cost of production.” Photograph: Soul Jazz Books
Punk record covers: Punk record covers the panik The Panik: It Won’t Sell Design by Steve McGarry. “The image of hustlers is from a 1964 Time magazine. The Panik were the first group to be managed by future Joy Division and New Order manager Rob Gretton.” Photograph: Soul Jazz Books
Punk record covers: Punk record covers the middle class The Middle Class, Out of Vogue “A great illustration of the suburban nightmare.” Photograph: Soul Jazz Books
Punk record covers: punk record covers Buzzcocks Buzzcocks, Orgasm Addict Montage by Linder Sterling, design by Malcolm Garrett. “I worked with Linder Sterling when we produced a magazine called The Secret Public. From the first moment I saw her work, I was a huge fan, and very pleased to work with her. I also love the colour that Malcolm Garrett put behind the central image, which is so striking. It’s a feminist image on a pop record sleeve for a song about sexual excess, which manages to be at once extremely true and also very funny.” Photograph: Soul Jazz Books
Punk record covers: punk record covers subway sect Subway Sect: Nobody’s Scared “Their first single, a good example of the underground imagery prevalent in punk.” Photograph: Soul Jazz Books
Punk record covers: Punk record covers punk 45 book cover Available on Amazon and other outlets
With The Great Skinhead Reunion looming we dropped into Jamie from Tear Up to see how things were cooking, so here’s a 5 minute interview
Whilst looking for new bands to introduce to the skinhead world, i came across Tear Up last year, and after a brief chat with the singer Jamie, sussed out, he had the right attitude and decided to give them a whirl at the Great Skinhead Northern gathering, an event which i thought might intimidate a young band, being in the deep dark north East town of Sunderland, home of British ship building and strong working class community, but they rode it like professionals and brought the house down. Apprenticeship served, they are up for smashing the fuck out of the Brighton Skinhead Reunion.
Takes me right back to early Cockney Rejects with a touch of Peter and The Test Tube Babies
1. the first thing that jumped in my mind when i saw Tear Up was, why would a young bloke be into oi? Well I grown up always loving the cockney rejects and I have known Jon from argy bargy and Nick from angry agenda since I was really little so they got me hooked on the oi scene I love the passion and aggression behind it
2. why did you decide to form a band I wrote a few songs in prison and when I came out I tried giving them to Terry Hayes from the east end badoes but he said I should start my own band so got on stage with them a few times then started my own band
3. where are you from, whats your history and connection to the oi/ skinhead scene Im from watford I was a bit of a scallywag growing up but I got a my little boy Ronnie now the only thing I love more than the band as I said previously there is a few bands out of Watford u go to a gig talk to people and your network just gets bigger and bigger
4. who writes for tear up I write all the stuff for us I co wrote a song with Steve thurlow from Peckham Rolex and I am currently writing a song with John mundy from vicious rumours top bloke he is
5. what was your first song My first song was bollocks to the smoking ban
6. what was your first gig, and the highlight so far My first gig was angry agenda nicks birthday at some club in Watford I was so nervous I pace up and down and drive everyone mad lol we played 4 songs I think
7. whats the plan for 2016 -2017 Just gotta finish recording the album and get it out there hopefully get a few gigs over the water
have you released any material for people to buy We have a 5 track ep called fuckin av it I’m sure we will have a couple kicking about in Brighton
9. why did you ask to play the skinhead reunion, a tough crowd to please We played the northern gathering and people loved us not as tough as they look lol I had lost my voice as well I’m pretty sure you asked us when we had all them jager bombs 10. can we expect new material from tear up soon We have 3 New songs called dodgy Dave, punch the cunt out of you inspired by the YouTube video cockney rejects trouble at bridgehouse and another song called retribution .
Gavin Watson was born in London in 1965 and grew up on a council estate in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. He bought a Hanimex camera from Woolworths in his early teens and began to take photographs. Upon leaving school at the age of sixteen, Watson moved back to London and became a darkroom assistant at Camera Press. He continued to photograph his younger brother Neville and their group of skinhead friends in High Wycombe.
The ‘Wycombe Skins’ were part of the working-class skinhead subculture brought together by a love of ska music and fashion. Although skinhead style had become associated with the right-wing extremism of political groups like the National Front in the 1970s, Watson’s photographs document a time and place where the subculture was racially mixed and inclusive. His photographs were published in the books Skins (1994) and Skins and Punks (2008), and the director Shane Meadows cited them as an inspiration for his film This is England (2006). In 2011 and 2012 Watson photographed campaigns for Dr Martens and began a project with the singer Plan B.
Former MOTÖRHEAD Drummer PHIL ‘PHILTHY ANIMAL’ TAYLOR Dies At 61
November 12, 2015
Another Legend goes to the Great Gig in the Sky
Ex-MOTÖRHEAD drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor died on Wednesday, November 11 at the age of 61.
Taylor‘s former MOTÖRHEAD bandmate “Fast” Eddie Clarke posted the following tribute to his colleague: “My dear friend and brother passed away last night. He had been ill for sometime but that does not make it any easier when the time finally comes.
“I have known Phil since he was 21 and he was one hell of a character. Fortunately, we made some fantastic music together and I have many many fond memories of our time together.
“Rest in peace, Phil!”
Taylor played in MOTÖRHEAD from 1975 to 1984 and again from 1987 to 1992.
In a 1983 interview with Artist magazine, Taylor stated about his drumming approach in MOTÖRHEAD: “Well, once [MOTÖRHEAD bassist/vocalist] Lemmy starts playing, he’s sort of out there on his own, in a way. It’s something that came naturally; but when Robbo [Brian Robertson, guitar] joined the band, we started working it out a bit more. When Eddie was with the band, I played more with the guitar than I did with Lemmy, because he’s not really a bass player. Lemmy always plays so fast that it’s always been down to the guitarist and me to keep the rhythm and melody going. Lemmy is just non-stop playing all the time, so for the highs and lows of the numbers, the ups and downs, light and shade — whatever you want to call it — it’s basically down to Robbo and myself. I’d never played much before, so it’s probably a lot more difficult for Robbo than for me. He’d always played in bands that had a proper bass player, so to speak.”
Pictured in his early days as a 1960’s Skinhead
Clarke and Taylor rejoined their former bandmate Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister on stage on November 6, 2014 at National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England before Clarke, Lemmy and current MOTÖRHEAD drummer Mikkey Dee ripped through a blazing rendition of the MOTÖRHEAD classic “Ace Of Spades”.
Asked in a 2011 interview with Guitar International if he had any plans to ever reunite with Taylor and Clarke, Lemmy said: “No, because these two guys with me now have been with me longer than the original two. They played ‘Ace Of Spades’ more often than those two. They played ‘Overkill’ more often than those two. Why should I put Phil [Campbell] and Mikkey on hold to go off with guys who probably can’t play them as well? They’ve been out of practice. It’s ridiculous to think of it. Then I would be a nostalgia act. I’m all for the now and the future.”
Regarding whether he still talks with Phil and Fast Eddie, Lemmy told Guitar International: “Now and then. I like Phil, he was my best mate. Eddie was kind of a friend except he was always complaining about something. It got kinda tedious. Last time he left, we laid low. Before, one of us would go off and bring him back. It was a shame he shouldn’t have done that, we had a lot going for us back then. He should have stuck though it. It was the Wendy O. Williams thing and I couldn’t understand that (reference: recording ‘Stand By Your Man’, a cover version of the Tammy Wynette with Wendy O. Williams). He just gave up on it because Wendy wasn’t immediately perfect on it, she just needed to go through it a few times and he left the band over it. I couldn’t fucking believe it. I think he was expecting to be talked back in. Phil came in the room and said, ‘Eddie‘s left again.’ I said, ‘Whose turn is it to go talk to him?’ [Laughing]. I said, ‘Fuck it, I’m not doing it.’ That’s the way it went. Wrong decision on his part.”
The Great Skinhead Reunion Brighton Every Year, the first weekend of June, Skinheads come from across the globe to Brighton seafront. for full event details go to www.subcultz.com
FULL 3 DAYS EVENT, YOUR WRISTBAND IS VALID THROUGH OUT, YOU CAN USE IT FOR AS LITTLE, OR AS MUCH AS YOU WANT. THE EVENT WILL SELL OUT, AND THERE WILL BE NO ADVANCE DAY TICKETS AT A REDUCED DAILY RATE , IN ADVANCE.
The line-up maybe subject to change, as so many band members and dj’s are involved. Babies coming along, alcohol, world wars and famine can be unforeseen, but the Great Skinhead Reunion, is more about coming to Brighton to see all your friends and making some more, for 3 full days of mayhem.
SKINHEAD ONLY HOTELS .
Add to your experience, by getting a room in our Skinhead only hotels. Conveniently located, with a short walk to the venue, and no moaning neighbours to worry about. The rooms vary in size and cost, to fit your needs. all within an easy walk to the skinhead reunion venue. We have hotels exclusive to the Great Skinhead Reunion guests and bands. Party party !! please email subcultz@gmail.com with your requirements, to be booked into the Skinhead Hotels
For those on a low budget, its worth checking Hostels and campsites, but my advice, is to get in the reserved hotels, for a nice stress free, clean and comfortable holiday in Brighton.
TRAVEL INFORMATION
Brighton is situated on the south coast of England, approximately one hour from London. London Gatwick is the nearest airport. There are regular direct trains and National Express buses. The next nearest is Heathrow, There are also direct trains from Luton Airport . Its advised not to fly to Stansted, as this is a long way, and you risk losing valuable drinking time
The nearest ferry port serving mainland Europe is Newhaven -Dieppe . Newhaven is about 20 min drive to Brighton. Dover is about 2 hours to Brighton
PARKING ZONES – one of the worst aspects of Brighton, is a lack of affordable parking. my advice is to use street parking on the suburbs of Brighton, its a reasonably safe place. a good bus service will take you into brighton centre (churchill square) and a short walk from there to the sea front. worth allowing the extra hours work, to save yourself serious parking charges
All Event Enquiries email Symond at subcultz@gmail.com. phone (uk) 07733096571
Enoch Powell stood in British Parliament, and made one of the most famous speeches in history. This speech has been debated ever since. Was is a genuine warning, or did it actually make immigration a ‘Race’ issue. To date its estimated there are around 10 million immigrants and their descendants now living in the UK, with hundreds of thousands joining every year. No longer from just ex British colonies. making up around 15% of the UK population as a whole, but a much higher percentage of younger generation.
This is the full text of Enoch Powell’s so-called ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, which was delivered to a Conservative Association meeting in Birmingham on April 20 1968.
The supreme function of statesmanship is to provide against preventable evils. In seeking to do so, it encounters obstacles which are deeply rooted in human nature.
One is that by the very order of things such evils are not demonstrable until they have occurred: at each stage in their onset there is room for doubt and for dispute whether they be real or imaginary. By the same token, they attract little attention in comparison with current troubles, which are both indisputable and pressing: whence the besetting temptation of all politics to concern itself with the immediate present at the expense of the future.
Above all, people are disposed to mistake predicting troubles for causing troubles and even for desiring troubles: “If only,” they love to think, “if only people wouldn’t talk about it, it probably wouldn’t happen.”
Perhaps this habit goes back to the primitive belief that the word and the thing, the name and the object, are identical.
At all events, the discussion of future grave but, with effort now, avoidable evils is the most unpopular and at the same time the most necessary occupation for the politician. Those who knowingly shirk it deserve, and not infrequently receive, the curses of those who come after.
A week or two ago I fell into conversation with a constituent, a middle-aged, quite ordinary working man employed in one of our nationalised industries.
After a sentence or two about the weather, he suddenly said: “If I had the money to go, I wouldn’t stay in this country.” I made some deprecatory reply to the effect that even this government wouldn’t last for ever; but he took no notice, and continued: “I have three children, all of them been through grammar school and two of them married now, with family. I shan’t be satisfied till I have seen them all settled overseas. In this country in 15 or 20 years’ time the black man will have the whip hand over the white man.”
I can already hear the chorus of execration. How dare I say such a horrible thing? How dare I stir up trouble and inflame feelings by repeating such a conversation?
The answer is that I do not have the right not to do so. Here is a decent, ordinary fellow Englishman, who in broad daylight in my own town says to me, his Member of Parliament, that his country will not be worth living in for his children.
I simply do not have the right to shrug my shoulders and think about something else. What he is saying, thousands and hundreds of thousands are saying and thinking – not throughout Great Britain, perhaps, but in the areas that are already undergoing the total transformation to which there is no parallel in a thousand years of English history.
In 15 or 20 years, on present trends, there will be in this country three and a half million Commonwealth immigrants and their descendants. That is not my figure. That is the official figure given to parliament by the spokesman of the Registrar General’s Office.
There is no comparable official figure for the year 2000, but it must be in the region of five to seven million, approximately one-tenth of the whole population, and approaching that of Greater London. Of course, it will not be evenly distributed from Margate to Aberystwyth and from Penzance to Aberdeen. Whole areas, towns and parts of towns across England will be occupied by sections of the immigrant and immigrant-descended population.
As time goes on, the proportion of this total who are immigrant descendants, those born in England, who arrived here by exactly the same route as the rest of us, will rapidly increase. Already by 1985 the native-born would constitute the majority. It is this fact which creates the extreme urgency of action now, of just that kind of action which is hardest for politicians to take, action where the difficulties lie in the present but the evils to be prevented or minimised lie several parliaments ahead.
The natural and rational first question with a nation confronted by such a prospect is to ask: “How can its dimensions be reduced?” Granted it be not wholly preventable, can it be limited, bearing in mind that numbers are of the essence: the significance and consequences of an alien element introduced into a country or population are profoundly different according to whether that element is 1 per cent or 10 per cent.
The answers to the simple and rational question are equally simple and rational: by stopping, or virtually stopping, further inflow, and by promoting the maximum outflow. Both answers are part of the official policy of the Conservative Party.
It almost passes belief that at this moment 20 or 30 additional immigrant children are arriving from overseas in Wolverhampton alone every week – and that means 15 or 20 additional families a decade or two hence. Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependants, who are for the most part the material of the future growth of the immigrant-descended population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre. So insane are we that we actually permit unmarried persons to immigrate for the purpose of founding a family with spouses and fiancés whom they have never seen.
Let no one suppose that the flow of dependants will automatically tail off. On the contrary, even at the present admission rate of only 5,000 a year by voucher, there is sufficient for a further 25,000 dependants per annum ad infinitum, without taking into account the huge reservoir of existing relations in this country – and I am making no allowance at all for fraudulent entry. In these circumstances nothing will suffice but that the total inflow for settlement should be reduced at once to negligible proportions, and that the necessary legislative and administrative measures be taken without delay.
I stress the words “for settlement.” This has nothing to do with the entry of Commonwealth citizens, any more than of aliens, into this country, for the purposes of study or of improving their qualifications, like (for instance) the Commonwealth doctors who, to the advantage of their own countries, have enabled our hospital service to be expanded faster than would otherwise have been possible. They are not, and never have been, immigrants.
I turn to re-emigration. If all immigration ended tomorrow, the rate of growth of the immigrant and immigrant-descended population would be substantially reduced, but the prospective size of this element in the population would still leave the basic character of the national danger unaffected. This can only be tackled while a considerable proportion of the total still comprises persons who entered this country during the last ten years or so.
Hence the urgency of implementing now the second element of the Conservative Party’s policy: the encouragement of re-emigration.
Nobody can make an estimate of the numbers which, with generous assistance, would choose either to return to their countries of origin or to go to other countries anxious to receive the manpower and the skills they represent.
Nobody knows, because no such policy has yet been attempted. I can only say that, even at present, immigrants in my own constituency from time to time come to me, asking if I can find them assistance to return home. If such a policy were adopted and pursued with the determination which the gravity of the alternative justifies, the resultant outflow could appreciably alter the prospects.
The third element of the Conservative Party’s policy is that all who are in this country as citizens should be equal before the law and that there shall be no discrimination or difference made between them by public authority. As Mr Heath has put it we will have no “first-class citizens” and “second-class citizens.” This does not mean that the immigrant and his descendent should be elevated into a privileged or special class or that the citizen should be denied his right to discriminate in the management of his own affairs between one fellow-citizen and another or that he should be subjected to imposition as to his reasons and motive for behaving in one lawful manner rather than another.
There could be no grosser misconception of the realities than is entertained by those who vociferously demand legislation as they call it “against discrimination”, whether they be leader-writers of the same kidney and sometimes on the same newspapers which year after year in the 1930s tried to blind this country to the rising peril which confronted it, or archbishops who live in palaces, faring delicately with the bedclothes pulled right up over their heads. They have got it exactly and diametrically wrong.
The discrimination and the deprivation, the sense of alarm and of resentment, lies not with the immigrant population but with those among whom they have come and are still coming.
This is why to enact legislation of the kind before parliament at this moment is to risk throwing a match on to gunpowder. The kindest thing that can be said about those who propose and support it is that they know not what they do.
Nothing is more misleading than comparison between the Commonwealth immigrant in Britain and the American Negro. The Negro population of the United States, which was already in existence before the United States became a nation, started literally as slaves and were later given the franchise and other rights of citizenship, to the exercise of which they have only gradually and still incompletely come. The Commonwealth immigrant came to Britain as a full citizen, to a country which knew no discrimination between one citizen and another, and he entered instantly into the possession of the rights of every citizen, from the vote to free treatment under the National Health Service.
Whatever drawbacks attended the immigrants arose not from the law or from public policy or from administration, but from those personal circumstances and accidents which cause, and always will cause, the fortunes and experience of one man to be different from another’s.
But while, to the immigrant, entry to this country was admission to privileges and opportunities eagerly sought, the impact upon the existing population was very different. For reasons which they could not comprehend, and in pursuance of a decision by default, on which they were never consulted, they found themselves made strangers in their own country.
They found their wives unable to obtain hospital beds in childbirth, their children unable to obtain school places, their homes and neighbourhoods changed beyond recognition, their plans and prospects for the future defeated; at work they found that employers hesitated to apply to the immigrant worker the standards of discipline and competence required of the native-born worker; they began to hear, as time went by, more and more voices which told them that they were now the unwanted. They now learn that a one-way privilege is to be established by act of parliament; a law which cannot, and is not intended to, operate to protect them or redress their grievances is to be enacted to give the stranger, the disgruntled and the agent-provocateur the power to pillory them for their private actions.
In the hundreds upon hundreds of letters I received when I last spoke on this subject two or three months ago, there was one striking feature which was largely new and which I find ominous. All Members of Parliament are used to the typical anonymous correspondent; but what surprised and alarmed me was the high proportion of ordinary, decent, sensible people, writing a rational and often well-educated letter, who believed that they had to omit their address because it was dangerous to have committed themselves to paper to a Member of Parliament agreeing with the views I had expressed, and that they would risk penalties or reprisals if they were known to have done so. The sense of being a persecuted minority which is growing among ordinary English people in the areas of the country which are affected is something that those without direct experience can hardly imagine.
I am going to allow just one of those hundreds of people to speak for me:
“Eight years ago in a respectable street in Wolverhampton a house was sold to a Negro. Now only one white (a woman old-age pensioner) lives there. This is her story. She lost her husband and both her sons in the war. So she turned her seven-roomed house, her only asset, into a boarding house. She worked hard and did well, paid off her mortgage and began to put something by for her old age. Then the immigrants moved in. With growing fear, she saw one house after another taken over. The quiet street became a place of noise and confusion. Regretfully, her white tenants moved out.
“The day after the last one left, she was awakened at 7am by two Negroes who wanted to use her ‘phone to contact their employer. When she refused, as she would have refused any stranger at such an hour, she was abused and feared she would have been attacked but for the chain on her door. Immigrant families have tried to rent rooms in her house, but she always refused. Her little store of money went, and after paying rates, she has less than £2 per week. “She went to apply for a rate reduction and was seen by a young girl, who on hearing she had a seven-roomed house, suggested she should let part of it. When she said the only people she could get were Negroes, the girl said, “Racial prejudice won’t get you anywhere in this country.” So she went home.
“The telephone is her lifeline. Her family pay the bill, and help her out as best they can. Immigrants have offered to buy her house – at a price which the prospective landlord would be able to recover from his tenants in weeks, or at most a few months. She is becoming afraid to go out. Windows are broken. She finds excreta pushed through her letter box. When she goes to the shops, she is followed by children, charming, wide-grinning piccaninnies. They cannot speak English, but one word they know. “Racialist,” they chant. When the new Race Relations Bill is passed, this woman is convinced she will go to prison. And is she so wrong? I begin to wonder.”
The other dangerous delusion from which those who are wilfully or otherwise blind to realities suffer, is summed up in the word “integration.” To be integrated into a population means to become for all practical purposes indistinguishable from its other members.
Now, at all times, where there are marked physical differences, especially of colour, integration is difficult though, over a period, not impossible. There are among the Commonwealth immigrants who have come to live here in the last fifteen years or so, many thousands whose wish and purpose is to be integrated and whose every thought and endeavour is bent in that direction.
But to imagine that such a thing enters the heads of a great and growing majority of immigrants and their descendants is a ludicrous misconception, and a dangerous one.
We are on the verge here of a change. Hitherto it has been force of circumstance and of background which has rendered the very idea of integration inaccessible to the greater part of the immigrant population – that they never conceived or intended such a thing, and that their numbers and physical concentration meant the pressures towards integration which normally bear upon any small minority did not operate.
Now we are seeing the growth of positive forces acting against integration, of vested interests in the preservation and sharpening of racial and religious differences, with a view to the exercise of actual domination, first over fellow-immigrants and then over the rest of the population. The cloud no bigger than a man’s hand, that can so rapidly overcast the sky, has been visible recently in Wolverhampton and has shown signs of spreading quickly. The words I am about to use, verbatim as they appeared in the local press on 17 February, are not mine, but those of a Labour Member of Parliament who is a minister in the present government:
‘The Sikh communities’ campaign to maintain customs inappropriate in Britain is much to be regretted. Working in Britain, particularly in the public services, they should be prepared to accept the terms and conditions of their employment. To claim special communal rights (or should one say rites?) leads to a dangerous fragmentation within society. This communalism is a canker; whether practised by one colour or another it is to be strongly condemned.’
All credit to John Stonehouse for having had the insight to perceive that, and the courage to say it.
For these dangerous and divisive elements the legislation proposed in the Race Relations Bill is the very pabulum they need to flourish. Here is the means of showing that the immigrant communities can organise to consolidate their members, to agitate and campaign against their fellow citizens, and to overawe and dominate the rest with the legal weapons which the ignorant and the ill-informed have provided. As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see “the River Tiber foaming with much blood.”
That tragic and intractable phenomenon which we watch with horror on the other side of the Atlantic but which there is interwoven with the history and existence of the States itself, is coming upon us here by our own volition and our own neglect. Indeed, it has all but come. In numerical terms, it will be of American proportions long before the end of the century.
Only resolute and urgent action will avert it even now. Whether there will be the public will to demand and obtain that action, I do not know. All I know is that to see, and not to speak, would be the great betrayal.
Immigration and the National Health Service: putting history to the forefront
Stephanie Snow , Emma Jones | 08 March 2011
Executive Summary
The Coalition Government’s plans to restrict immigration to the UK through capping non-EU immigrants and to introduce more stringent controls for highly skilled migrants are contradictory given the long history of recruitment of overseas health workers.
Since the 1930s, successive governments have recruited doctors, nurses and other health workers from overseas to work in UK health services with the first mass recruitment waves of nurses from the African Caribbean in the 1950s and doctors from the Indian subcontinent in the 1960s.
The need for health workers was significantly increased by the creation of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948 and the expansion of specialists and technologies.
Immigration controls were tightened during the 1960s and 1970s but the increasing demand for overseas health workers continued.
Discrimination around training and career opportunities of first generation overseas health workers has had negative consequences for recruitment from the second generation.
The lack of any system of accurate data to monitor the migration, immigration, recruitment and retention of health workers has exacerbated the difficulties of manpower planning.
Shortfalls in certain fields of nursing and medicine continue and are predicted to intensify because of an international shortage of health workers.
Putting history to the forefront would help policymakers realize the significance of the NHS’s continuous dependence on overseas health workers and the need therefore both to improve equity and opportunity for such health workers and to integrate this fact of health manpower planning into national immigration policy.
Introduction
The current recruitment of junior doctors from India appears incongruous given the Coalition Government’s plans to cap non-EU immigrants, apply transitional controls for all new EU members in future, and introduce more stringent controls for highly skilled migrants. Yet present preoccupations about immigration take no account of the impact of such measures on public services such as the National Health Service (NHS) which has a long history of reliance on overseas health workers. Since the 1930s, successive governments have resolved staffing crises through recruiting workers from overseas. The NHS currently employs around 30 per cent of nurses and doctors from black and minority ethnic (BME*) groups with approximately 30 per cent of doctors and 40 per cent of nurses born outside the UK. The low awareness of the historical importance of overseas recruitment to the NHS has artificially constrained immigration debates. It has also contributed to the failure to tackle the discrimination experienced by these workers in training and career opportunities. BME clinicians are over-represented in the lower grades of the professions, under-represented in senior managerial positions, and work in the less popular areas; fewer than 10 per cent of NHS senior managers and only 1 per cent of NHS chief executives have a minority ethnic background.
Putting history to the forefront requires addressing deep-seated and difficult questions around immigration and the NHS that have never been tackled by policy makers. Health worker shortages have been a perennial problem for a number of interrelated reasons including difficulties around nurse recruitment and retention, the reluctance of UK-trained doctors to take up posts in unpopular locations and specialties, and the challenges of balancing the production of doctors and nurses with NHS staffing needs against the unpredictable forces of immigration and emigration. The difficulties look set to continue given the international shortages of health workers which are anticipated to reach 53,000 in the UK, 40,000 in Australia, and 275,000 in the US over the coming year.
Recruitment of overseas nurses
Staffing crises in British hospitals had been identified long before the establishment of the NHS in 1948 and concern over nurse shortages had been the subject of numerous government inquiries which blamed low recruitment on inadequate training, poor pay, and the marriage bar. During the Second World War, hospital domestic and nursing work was regarded as vital to the war effort and attracted a large number of women into national service. But staffing the new NHS was compromised by the national post-war labour shortage. The unprecedented increases in the medical and nursing workforce over the first decade of the NHS exacerbated the problem. Between 1949 and 1958 the medical workforce increased by 30 per cent in England and 50 per cent in Scotland; the nursing and midwifery workforce increased by 26 per cent across Britain. The most severe shortages were in unpopular areas of nursing such as hospitals for the chronically sick, mental hospitals and in geriatric nursing.
As early as 1949 the Ministries of Health and Labour, in conjunction with the Colonial Office, the General Nursing Council and the Royal College of Nursing launched campaigns to recruit hospital staff directly from the Caribbean. Recruitment was aimed at three main categories of worker: hospital auxiliary staff, nurses or trainee nurses, and domestic workers. Senior NHS staff from Britain travelled to the Caribbean to recruit, and vacancies were often published in local papers. In 1949, the Barbados Beacon advertised for nursing auxiliaries to work in hospitals across Britain; applicants were to be aged between 18 and 30, literate, and willing to commit to a three-year contract. By 1955 there were official nursing recruitment programmes across 16 British colonies and former colonies. Over the next two decades, the British colonies and former colonies provided a constant supply of cheap labour to meet staffing shortages in the NHS, and the number of women from the African Caribbean entering Britain to work in the NHS grew steadily until the early 1970s. By the end of 1965, there were 3,000-5,000 Jamaican nurses working in British hospitals, many of them concentrated in London and the Midlands. It has been estimated that by 1972, 10,566 students had been recruited from abroad, and that by 1977 overseas recruits represented 12 per cent of the student nurse and midwife population in Britain, of which 66 per cent came from the Caribbean.
By the late 1980s, the NHS again faced serious problems in the retention and recruitment of nursing staff, much as it had done in 1948. The problem now involved chronic shortages of both trainees and qualified nurses. Nursing’s popularity as a career choice among school leavers had declined markedly. Changing social expectations and financial constraints meant that young people were now seeking better-paid job opportunities in other sectors of the economy. The abolition of work permits for overseas nurses in 1983 added to the difficulties. Meanwhile, an estimated 30,000 nurses were leaving the NHS every year; their departure blamed on long-standing problems associated with low salary levels and the pressures of the job. By 1998, there were reports that the shortages in newly qualified nurses were approximating 8,000 a year. Problems intensified with the expansion of the NHS in 2000 which created additional demand for nurses that were met by recruiting workers from India.
Recruitment of overseas doctors
The shortage of doctors in the UK was well-established by the 1960s especially in unpopular locations such as single-handed general practices in deprived urban areas and remote rural locations, and in hospital specialties like mental health and care of the elderly. In 1944, the Goodenough Committee had recommended expanding medical schools to relieve shortages but the 1957 Willink Committee decided that student numbers should be cut because of the risk of overproduction. Taking into account the minimum five year period of training, the Committee concluded that reducing medical student intake by 10 per cent between 1961 and 1975 would keep numbers in balance. Since 1939 student numbers had increased by more than a third and even before the Committee’s recommendations were made public some medical schools had begun to reduce their student intakes. Yet, within months of the report’s publication, it became evident that in fact a shortage of medical personnel was imminent.
In retrospect it is clear that the Willink Committee’s estimates failed to anticipate the need for extra doctors to improve future health services and to meet the requirements of a growing population. These underestimates drove the first mass wave of medical recruitment from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and by 1960, between 30 and 40 per cent of all junior doctors in the NHS were from these countries. In 1961, Lord Cohen of Birkenhead told the House of Lords: ‘The Health Service would have collapsed if it had not been for the enormous influx from junior doctors from such countries as India and Pakistan’. The emigration of these doctors built on Britain’s historical links with its ex-colonial territories, especially India. As a direct result of colonial rule, by the time of Indian Independence in 1947 Indian medical schools and hospital administration ran along the lines of the British model. Medical education and training were delivered in English, and geared towards meeting the requirements of the General Medical Council. This ensured that Indian-trained doctors would be able to work in Britain, and encouraged overseas medical graduates to come and gain further training and experience that they would then take home. Emigration of large numbers of UK-trained doctors to work mainly in the United States and Canada, because of the relatively poor pay and conditions of the NHS, compounded the shortages. By the late 1960s, Henry Miller, Professor of Neurology at Newcastle University and chairman of the British Medical Association’s Committee for Planning, estimated that the annual emigration of British trained doctors amounted to between 30 and 50 per cent of the annual number of medical graduates.
In 1963 the Conservative Health Minister, Enoch Powell, who later led the call for stricter controls on immigration, launched a campaign to recruit trained doctors from overseas to fill the manpower shortages caused by NHS expansion. Some 18,000 of them were recruited from India and Pakistan. Powell praised these doctors, who he said, ‘provide a useful and substantial reinforcement of the staffing of our hospitals and who are an advertisement to the world of British medicine and British hospitals.’ Many of those recruited had several years of experience in their home countries and arrived to gain further medical experience, training, or qualification. In 1968, the recruitment of overseas doctors was fuelled again by the predictions of further medical shortages by the Todd Committee, which recommended expanding medical schools. By 1971, 31 per cent of all doctors working in the NHS in England were born and qualified overseas. Overseas doctors remained central to NHS staffing throughout the last decades of the twentieth century, filling vacancies in locations and specialties that were unpopular with UK trained doctors. In 1997, 44 per cent of 7,229 newly registered doctors (under full registration) had received their initial medical education overseas.
Brixton riots 1981.
Racial integration has caused issues in British society for many years, with street riots in areas like Brixton in London
Immigration controls
Since the nineteenth century and before, Britain has had a long history of immigration and racial tensions have arisen from groups such as the Irish and East European Jews settling in the country. However, post-war mass migration changed the UK’s ethnic landscape in an unprecedented way and successive governments sought to allay public anxiety by introducing tighter controls around immigration. By the 1960s, the 1948 Nationality Act, which had granted British citizenship to citizens of British colonies and former British colonies, was under attack. In 1962, the then Conservative Government introduced the Commonwealth Immigrants Bill, restricting the admission of Commonwealth settlers to those who had been issued with employment vouchers. In the eighteen-months before the Act was passed, many new arrivals came to Britain. This large influx stoked popular fears of uncontrolled immigration, which sustained calls for increased controls. In 1968, a new Labour Government introduced a second Commonwealth Immigrants Act, which distinguished between British passport holders, with the right to live in Britain, and those without. The law was rushed through with the primary purpose of restricting the entry into Britain of Kenyan Asians, driven out by the ‘Africanisation’ policies of the Kenyan government. As British passport holders, Kenyan Asians had had, up to this point, unconditional right of entry. While this new piece of legislation applied to all Commonwealth countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, it was more unlikely that people from the New Commonwealth would qualify as patrials, thereby creating a division between white and black Commonwealth citizens.
Exceptions to immigration controls were made for essential and well-qualified staff, hence both nurses and doctors were exempt from the immigration controls imposed in the 1960s. In general, the men and women who came to work in the NHS were welcomed throughout this period of political agitation. Their professional status distinguished them from the mass of migrants, most of whom were classified as unskilled. In spite of his later vocal opposition to black and Asian immigration in general, Health Minister Enoch Powell championed the recruitment of overseas nurses in the early 1960s. As historian of the NHS, Charles Webster suggests, this apparent anomaly was perhaps because the immigration of nurses not only ‘provided a plentiful supply of cheap labour, reduced wastage, and undermined the shortage argument’ but also ‘strengthened his hand in pressing for a strong line against the nurses’ pay claim, which itself was his chief weapon in his wider campaign to induce colleagues to adopt a more aggressive approach to the control of public sector pay.’ Immigrant nurses were therefore an expedient means of providing political leverage.
The situation had altered by the 1970s. Immigration laws undermined the employment rights of overseas nurses. The automatic right of entry to prospective nurses from the Commonwealth was withdrawn with the passing of the 1971 Immigration Act. Later, in 1983, work permits for nurses were also abolished prohibiting further entry of overseas nurses to train in Britain. A report for the Commission of Racial Equality, published that same year, found a higher proportion of trained overseas-born nurses, than overseas-born nurses in training. It also stated that less than 9 per cent of nurses employed by the NHS were born in developing countries. Despite attempts to improve recruitment within the UK, the shortage of qualified nursing staff continued, and was approximating 8,000 a year by 1998. The subsequent expansion of the NHS under New Labour created a need to rapidly increase the nursing workforce but while the number of British training places was increased, this did not solve the immediate demand for workforce growth. International recruitment became one of the government’s key strategies in tackling the chronic shortage of qualified nurses, this time with a focus on recruiting already trained nurses and midwives from overseas, rather than training them in the UK. In 2002-03 more than half of the nurses newly registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council had trained outside Britain. Unlike for overseas nurses, the tightening of immigration controls in the 1970s and 1980s had not significantly reduced the numbers of overseas doctors coming to Britain, while the output of UK medical schools continued to fall short of the NHS’ manpower needs. The flow of overseas doctors into and out of the UK is not monitored, but estimates from the early 1980s suggest that around a third of the yearly influx of overseas doctors returned to their home country. In 1985 the work permit scheme was eventually extended to include doctors. An official ‘loophole’ was created however which meant that overseas doctors could continue to seek postgraduate training in Britain for a four year permit-free period, extendable for a further year after approval from the postgraduate dean. In 1997, this permit-free period of postgraduate training was extended to six years.
The output from UK medical schools was increased in 2000 and this brought a change in attitude towards overseas doctors. By 2005 the government feared that the recruitment of overseas doctors would deny employment to a large number of home-grown medical graduates, especially as International Medical Graduates (IMGs), who were often highly skilled, and with several years’ experience in their chosen field, remained an attractive prospect for the NHS. In a bid to keep junior posts open for graduates who were British or EEA nationals, in April 2006 the Department of Health retrospectively sought to debar IMGs from applying for training posts in the NHS. Under new rules, hospitals were told they must prove they could not recruit a junior doctor from the UK or the EU before shortlisting candidates from other countries. The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) challenged the Government in the High Court, which ruled that the Department of Health’s guideline was illegal. The judgement was upheld by the House of Lords in April 2008, but not before thousands of overseas doctors had had their opportunity of permit-free training abruptly withdrawn at great personal and financial costs to themselves and their careers. The long-term implications of this action however were not anticipated so the UK is now once again looking to recruit Indian-trained doctors to fill vacancies in specialties unpopular with UK-trained graduates.
Discrimination, qualifications and training
Migrants arriving in the first wave of mass migration endured verbal and physical abuse both within and outside the workplace. White trade unionists resisted the employment of migrants and imposed a quota system. Within the NHS, concern that importing overseas workers was likely to create tensions was recognised in a 1949 Home Office memo:
‘it has been found that the susceptibilities of patients tended to set an upper limit on the proportion of coloured workers who could be employed either as nurses or domiciliaries.’
Racism and discrimination have been universal experiences of health workers migrating to the UK especially around training and career progression. Many of the nurses who came to the UK from the Caribbean in the 1950s expected to achieve the internationally-recognised State Registered Nurse qualification (SRN) which would allow them to return home and gain employment. But nursing authorities at that time argued that their racial characteristics limited their intellectual capacities and motivation to achieve that level of training. Thus many overseas nurses were forced or even duped into State Enrolled Nurse (SEN) training rather than the more prestigious and more highly valued SRN qualification. The longer term consequences of this were significant as the SEN was not an internationally-recognised qualification and limited overseas nurses’ options for returning home.
The move towards recruiting overseas-trained nurses has not prevented discrimination and exploitation. Overseas-trained nurses are required to complete a programme of supervised practice placement and adaptation, but as the Researching Equal Opportunities for Overseas-trained nurses and other Healthcare Professionals (REOH) Study found, the skills and experiences of these highly trained individuals are not given adequate recognition within the inflexible formal assessment and accreditation system in the UK, leading to under-grading, deskilling, and skills waste. Like nurses, BME doctors have been disadvantaged by the medical profession’s internal hierarchies which left them working on the geographical and institutional margins of medicine. As migrants, they experienced difficulties in getting shortlisted for jobs and were more likely to gain posts away from prestigious teaching hospitals and medical schools. Some even had to accept lower remuneration in order to support themselves and their families. Nor were BME doctors trained in the UK exempt from barriers, particularly around selection processes where those responsible for shortlisting candidates frequently excluded individuals on the basis of a foreign surname.
The legacy of discrimination against first generation overseas health workers has had consequences for the recruitment from the second generation. Nurses, especially, do not see nursing or other health service work as a career they would wish for their daughters. And although some of the barriers have been removed since the 1990s with new legislation and workplace regulations, institutional discrimination within the NHS continues to impede many working lives. This has direct implications for the future of the NHS and its status as a world-leading provider of healthcare as it is likely to continue to need to recruit manpower from overseas
Manpower planning
Since the 1930s, unplanned shifts in population growths, upturns and downturns in economic conditions, and changing political motivations have created and continue to create contingencies in NHS staffing for which successive governments were and are unprepared. It is clear that any government would find it very difficult to manage health manpower requirements by achieving equilibrium between migration and immigration flows. Shortages of health workers, especially doctors, are difficult to handle because of the lag time between the creation of training places and qualification.
Nevertheless, a lack of longitudinal data to track the migration, immigration, recruitment and retention of health workers has contributed to the difficulties. As has the fact that workforce planning for medicine and for nursing has been treated as two separate enterprises, despite evidence from economic analysts since the 1960s of the inherent problems in this approach. In May 2006, Josie Irwin, Head of Employment Relations for the Royal College of Nursing, summarised the difficulties in oral evidence to the House of Commons’ Health Committee. Numbers of nurses, she said, had increased by 85,000 since 1997. However: ‘the quality of workforce planning in the UK means that we do not know where all those nurses have gone; we do not know how many of them have stayed in the UK; we do not know how many of them have stayed in the NHS … we do not know very much about the retirement behaviour of these nurses … the success of importing new numbers of nurses in the UK is challenged by not knowing enough about them once they have entered the workforce.’
Manpower challenges persist. A 2008 report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, The Looming Crisis in the Health Workforce, suggests that the overall pool of potential workers will diminish internationally on account of contractions in younger age cohorts. UK medical and nursing school places have increased significantly over the last 10 years with the aim of developing a sustainable UK-trained workforce. Yet history suggests that the UK’s dependence on overseas health workers will continue and may even be exacerbated by the international shortage of health workers.
Conclusions
The Coalition Government’s resolve to introduce further curbs on immigration as a response to public concern about the drain of migrants on local resources simply repeats the contradictory patterns of earlier administrations. Putting history to the forefront would help policymakers construct historically-evidenced agendas that could aid health manpower planning and improve equity and opportunity for significant numbers of health workers.
Current debates need to reflect on the impact of tightening immigration controls – including those for highly skilled migrants – on public services, especially the NHS. The forces of migration and emigration are unlikely to weaken given the global nature of the healthcare market, and the NHS will continue to need to recruit staff from overseas. Acknowledging the UK’s long reliance on overseas health workers and establishing a system for the collection of longitudinal data to monitor the migration, immigration, recruitment and retention of health workers are achievable short-term policy goals which would help manpower planning enormously. Measures could be put in place to ensure the qualifications and training of highly skilled migrants are recognised within UK systems; and institutional discrimination around training and career opportunities in the NHS needs continuing redress. Addressing the deep-seated problems around nurse recruitment and retention, and the unpopularity of certain medical specialties and locations are much more challenging issues and will require a longer timeframe. History shows that it is in the UK’s long-term interests to ensure that future generations of overseas health workers operating in a global market will choose to work in the NHS.
*Technical Note: BME: the predominant term employed throughout this article is ‘black and minority ethnic’, or BME, to describe all members of minority racial groups. Other terms such as ‘black’, ‘West Indian’, ‘Caribbean’, ‘Afro-Caribbean’, and ‘South Asian’ and ‘Asian’ have been used where appropriate to distinguish between ethnic minority groups. We recognise that the persons to whom the terms are applied do not necessarily define themselves by such terms.
Further Reading
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (2008) The Looming Crisis in the Health Workforce.
Panayi, Panikos (2010) An Immigration History of Britain. Pearson Education. Julian M Simpson, Aneez Esmail, Virinder S Kalra, Stephanie J Snow (2010) ‘Writing migrants back into NHS history: addressing a ‘collective amnesia’ and its policy implications’,Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 103(10): 392-6.
Smith Pam A., Helen Allan, Leroi W Henry, John A Larsen, and Maureen M. Mackintosh (2006) ‘Valuing and Recognising the Talents of a Diverse Healthcare Workforce’, Report from the REOH Study: Researching Equal Opportunities for Overseas-trained Nurses and Other Healthcare Professionals. European Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, the Open University and the Royal College of Nursing.
Stephanie Snow and Emma Jones are Wellcome Research Associates in the Centre for the History of Science, Technology & Medicine, University of Manchester. stephanie.snow@manchester.ac.uk; emma.l.jones@manchester.ac.uk. This paper is based on their new book, Against the Odds: Black, Minority and Ethnic Clinicians and Manchester, 1948-2009, published by Carnegie Press, 2010 on behalf of Manchester Primary Care Trust who funded the research.
Football, or as Americans call it ‘Soccer’ may be one of the fastest growing sports in America – with the English Premier League watched by millions each week – but it appears some of its worst excesses may have crossed the Atlantic.
Two gangs of rival supporters were seen brawling in the streets of New Jersey Sunday afternoon ahead of a heated clash between the New York Red Bulls and newly-formed New York City Football Club.
In scenes reminiscent of the blood-soaked battles between British hooligan gangs, shirtless men bellowed ‘who are ya?’ at one another and lashed out with full trash bags and sandwich boards outside a supporters’ bar.
The unedifying confrontation raised the prospect of a violent soccer culture having migrated west, along with many of its best-known players, who have accepted big-money deals to devote themselves to U.S teams.
Scuffles break out outside New Jersey bar ahead of soccer derby
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Attack: Street brawlers were pictured in Newark, New Jersey, attacking one another with sandwich boards and shouting ahead of a New York City FC vs New York Red Bulls soccer match
‘Who are ya?’: The fighters were shouting at one another in faux-British accents, appearing to mimic the hooligan cultures which plagues UK soccer
The clash took place not far from Penn Station in Newark, and under a mile from the Red Bull Stadium, where the Red Bulls eventually beat NYCFC two goals to nil.
The fans fought – reportedly only for a few minutes – outside Bello’s Pub and Grill, a New York Red Bulls supporters’ bar.
A member of staff told DailyMail.com the clash did not involve patrons drinking inside and it is the first known instance of soccer-related violence around the stadium
Violence and gang culture related to soccer fans has been a serious problem in Great Britain and other European countries, where riot police and mounted officers often attend the most emotional games in an attempt to keep the peace.
One passing witness said ‘Some of the guys had tattoos and were making hand gestures, whilst bouncing on the spot, a bit like a child desperate for an ice cream’
Soccer authorities have been promoting a sanitized version of the game in the United States, garnering many fans in the process.
The elevated profile of the sport – as well as big-money contracts – have seen famous European players moved to American teams.
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Shirtless: The appalling site of fat guts put local residents off of their hot dogs. Some of the fans wore little clothing as they clashed not far from Newark’s busy Penn Station
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Intervention: An NJ Transit Police squad car was seen headed for the fans towards the end of the clip
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Quite the welcome: Fans at the game displayed this banner – satirizing the way many European players towards the end of their careers have signed deals with U.S. clubs. Big names include David Beckham, Thierry Henri and Chelsea’s Frank Lampard – who played Sunday for NYC FC.
Hollywood producer Albert Goldstein has immediately called for a script to be written, and is desperately looking for an English sounding American actor to play firm boss ‘Road-sign Randy’
The violence tonight raises the question of whether individual soccer fans may be attempting to transfer the so-called hooligan culture across the Atlantic.
The video shows an New Jersey Transit Police squad car responded to the violence. DailyMail.com has contacted NJ Transit and the Newark Police Department for comment.
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Reminiscent: The men seemed to be imitating the football violence which is common overseas – pictured above are fans in Germany being held back by riot police
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Transplant: Former Chelsea player Frank Lampard, pictured above with his fiancee Christine Bleakley in Times Square, is one of several European stars to transfer to the US
The height of the British hooligan culture, was the 1970’s and 80’s until Maggie Thatcher clamped down on it, with heavy fines and jail terms. The New Yorkers have some distance to go, than a few cafe signs and ‘Oo Are ya’s’
SOCCER HOOLIGANISM VIDEO ECHOES ELIJAH WOOD ‘GREEN STREET’ FILM
Soccer fans brawling in the streets may be new in reality, but the fascination of hooligan-style violence to Americans has been given the silver screen treatment in the past.
2005’s Green Street Hooligans, which stars Elijah Wood, demonstrated told the story of a Harvard drop-out who was enticed into the violent world of British sporting violence.
Wood’s character left college in disgrace after taking the fall for his roommate’s cocaine use, then moved to London and got caught up in the Green Street Elite, a group with links to London’s West Ham football club.
The young American gets caught up in the brutality and camaraderie of the so-called GSE, which organizes huge, bloody brawls with fans of rival clubs.
However, he is scared away from hooligan culture for good after a family friend is beaten to death when a fight gets out of hand. Elijah Wood joins British football hooligans in Greet Street
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Visceral: Elijah Wood, right, starred in Green Street, which saw him take on British football hooligans on their own turf
PUNK was far less important than ex-punk Tom Logan likes to think, it has emerged.
Historians have taken issue with claims made in the autobiography of former Septic Nipples drummer Logan, which include the assertion that punk “changed everything”.
History professor Mary Fisher said: “Clearly many areas of life were not affected by punk. The car industry, for example, did not start making Allegros covered in spit with an anarchy symbol Tippexed on the side.
“Mr Logan – or Johnny Piss, as he was known then – believes punk had some political significance. But it was followed by Thatcherism, which was all about buying your own house and making it look nice, which isn’t very punk.
“It’s also possible that if punk had not existed, grunge would have been invented sooner and we could have just listened to Nirvana and not pretended to like the Slits.”
However Logan defended the importance of punk, saying that without it he would not have a vast stock of underwhelming anecdotes.
Logan said: “I was at a party with Johnny Thunders and the Pistols at Siouxie Sioux’s house, and the Damned turned up without any booze, so Siouxie told them to fuck off and get some from the off licence, and some crisps.
“All that craziness was a long time ago though. Today I’m an IT consultant with a wife and two kids living in a semi in Leeds.
“But there’s no way that could have happened if it hadn’t been for punk.”
Featuring Live bands Citizen Keyne, Skapones, Adverse society, Tear Up. Toxic. Anti Social
Full DJ line up for a second room, playing SKA, And all Skinhead related music
The Great Skinhead Northern Gathering 9th + 10th October In Sunderland. Our second year of our Autumn Gathering, as a celebration of the skinhead culture A full day of Dj’s in one room, and Live bands in another. A full line up to follow, watch this space. Ony £15 for the whole event. Cheap beer and rooms nearby. Friday will be wristbanded 7pm -3am bands and DJ’s. Saturday 10th noon -5pm free entry meet and greet. After 5pm it will be wristband only, Live bands and DJ’s The weekend wristband £15 is valid for both nights
This is a family friendly event. Children are welcome until 9_9:30pm, but must be off the premises by then, by law so all are welcome, the venue is The Corner Flag. Central to the city center in a good location for local transport connections, trains, metro etc it’s the corner flag located at high street west, with plenty of fast food outlets and restaurants nearby, there will be something for everyone a good mix of Oi,ska,two tone a little bit of everything, a good size venue capable of holding this event, any bands wishing to play, Oi,Ska,Two Tone also any dj’s wishing to spin a few disks, should contact subcultz@gmail.com. www.subcultz.com If you missed last years then you have to come to this one, good music,good beer,with very good people
URGENT NEWSFLASH!!!! IT LOOKS LIKE THE ‘WORKERS’ OF OUR RETARDED RAILWAYS ARE THINKING OF STRIKING ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE GREAT SKINHEAD REUNION, I UNDERSTAND THEY WANT TO JOIN US FOR A PISSUP, BUT THIS DOESN’T HELP OUR SKINHEADS GETTING TO BRIGHTON. SO MY BEST ADVICE IS TO USE NATIONAL EXPRESS BUSES, THESE RUN FROM ALL LONDON AIRPORTS AND LONDON VICTORIA, GET OFF AT POOL VALLEY, BRIGHTON, WHICH IS ABOUT 2 MINUTES FROM THE VENUE ON BRIGHTON SEAFRONT BOOK HERE http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx
KEEP AN EYE ON THE NEWS REPORTS, HOPEFULLY, THE LAZY TWATS WILL AT LEAST SAVE THEIR HOLIDAYS UNTIL AFTER THE REUNION http://www.nationalrail.co.uk
This event is now done, but we are back for 2016 on 3-4-5th June on Brighton beach again, for The Great Skinhead Reunion big 6. we will be putting things together as we go, finding the very best bands on the scene, organising DJ’s, sorting out peoples tickets and hotels. To make the big 6 even bigger. Massive thanks to everyone who has supported the skinhead subculture, and the reunion. see you all soon.
Bands and DJ’s wishing to perform, all info and enquiries, contact Symond at subcultz@gmail.com
Details below are the 2015, New bands will be performing for 2016.But i will leave this link up, to give you the idea, of what the reunion is all about
Video made in 2013
THE TICKETS ARE £40 EACH, WHICH IS FOR THE FULL 3 DAYS EVENT, YOUR WRISTBAND IS VALID THROUGH OUT, YOU CAN USE IT FOR AS LITTLE, OR AS MUCH AS YOU WANT. THE EVENT WILL SELL OUT, AND THERE WILL BE NO ADVANCE DAY TICKETS AT A REDUCED DAILY RATE , IN ADVANCE.
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The line-up maybe subject to change, as so many band members and dj’s are involved. Babies coming along, alcohol, world wars and famine can be unforeseen, but the great skinhead reunion, is more about coming to Brighton to see all your friends and making some more, for 3 full days of mayhem.
DISCOUNTED HOTEL RATES QUOTE REFERENCE SUB001 When making a booking Hotel rooms, of all sizes. 3 hotels available to fit your requirements email Ed at info@granvillehotel.co.uk or phone 0044 1273 326302. You must quote the reference SUB001 to get your rooms. The rooms vary in size and cost, to fit your needs. all within an easy walk to the skinhead reunion venue. These hotels are exclusive to the Great Skinhead Reunion guests and bands. So no public to worry about. party party !!
YOU CAN NOT BOOK THESE HOTEL ROOMS VIA THE HOTEL WEBSITE, YOU NEED TO CONTACT THEM DIRECTLY, AND GIVE THE CODE, AND SAY YOU ARE ATTENDING THE SKINHEAD REUNION
For those on a low budget, its worth checking Hostels and campsites, but my advice, is to get in the reserved hotels, for a nice stress free holiday in Brighton
PARKING ZONES – one of the worst aspects of Brighton, is a lack of affordable parking. my advice is to use street parking on the suburbs of brighton, its a reasonably safe place. a good bus service will take you into brighton centre (churchill square) and a short walk from there to the sea front. worth allowing the extra hours work, to save yourself serious parking charges
All Event Enquiries email Symond at subcultz@gmail.com. phone (uk) 07733096571
Brighton can lay claim to being a big part of the birth of Skinheads. During the Mods and Rockers battles of the 1960’s when London lads would descend on the South Coast for bank holidays to Peacock and cause ‘Bovver’ the term Skinhead was born, to describe the short haired Mods.
Becoming probably the biggest and longest standing of all the youth fashion subcultures, Skinhead has matured and now become a worldwide community. Distinctly recognized by almost military shaven head, boots and braces. The real skinhead is a working class product of the British council estate ‘salt of the earth character’ fiercely proud of his identity,with an obsession for clothing, style and music, equaled only with his love of beer.
On the first weekend of every June, since 2011, Brighton has seen an ever increasing number of Skinheads and their lovely Skinhead Girls invade Brighton. Boots, Braces, pristine clothing and a cheeky smile. Attracting scene members from right across the globe, to Madeira Drive, overlooking the beach. A full three days of Skinhead related entertainment is laid on. DJ’s playing hyper rare vinyl, from the early days of Jamaican Ska, through to modern day Street Punk and Oi. Live bands hit the stage of the Volks bar each night. With various aftershows happening until the early hours, to keep the party buzzing.
Acts appearing so far booked
Peter and The Test Tube Babies
Make no mistake! Peter And The Test Tube babies have written some of the best punk songs ever. In the early ’80s they stood out, above all other bands to emerge, with their tales of the hazards of being young punks in Brighton – “Banned From The Pubs”, “Intensive care”, “Run Like hell”, the list goes on…all had the Test Tubes hallmark, combining personal experiences, real cool tunes and, most important of all, maintaining a great sense of humour.
At the time, their gigs were fun filled events with electrifying tunes and plenty of entertainment. Harmless humour of those early gigs was captured on their debut album, “Pissed And Proud“. From those early gems, the Test Tubes just got better and better. The next crop of songs, “Jinx”, “Blown Out Again” and “September” all featured on “The Mating Sounds Of South American Frogs“, which stayed at number one for four months at the top of the independent charts. A US tour followed, climaxing with a 4,000 capacity sell out show at the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium.
The mid ’90s saw the release of “Supermodels” and the departure from the band of Trapper and Ogs (bass and drums), excellent musicians. The band brought in fresh blood, the young and dynamic Rum and AD on bass and drums respectively. To promote the Supermodels album the band then went on a 25 date tour of Germany, Holland and Switzerland.
On their 20th anniversary in 1998 the band flew to Germany to record the “Alien Pubduction” album, their first with AD and Rum. The band also undertook a massive US and Canadian tour that lasted five weeks, lots of UK gigs and of course the annual German Christmas tour.
Rum quit in 1999 due to the punishing tour schedule. Paul ‘H’ Henrickson, known to the band and a Brighton stalwart, took over on bass. The band hit the road with renewed vigour touring repeatedly throughout the UK, Germany, Ireland, USA, France and making an impact on the summer festival circuits. Early in 2001, after years of taking punk to the masses, the pressure took its toll and A.D. left the band. Harp playing Christophe from Paris took over on the drums, beating other hopefuls to the job in hard fought auditions. The band were soon back on the road touring all over the world including a visit to The Shetland Islands!
Drums rolled again in 2003 as Christophe yielded the role to Dave ‘Caveman Dave’ O’Brien. Christophe joined Peter and Del in the studio to aid with their creation of vibrant Test Tube material for the twenty first century.
In 2005, after a seven year hiatus, the band released “A Foot Full of Bullets“, recorded at Ford Lane Studios, Ford, West Sussex. The album was definitely worth the long wait demonstrating a familiar core sound matched with smart self assurance gained from decades of experience. Storming on with characteristic vigour, the Test Tubes gained praise as “the best band of the weekend” (Lars Friedrickson) at the WASTED festival before closing the year with the annual German Xmas Tour 2005.
A remix of “A Foot Full of Bullets” was produced with contributions from Campino (Die Toten Hosen) and Olga (The Toy Dolls) at the start of 2006. “For a Few Bullets More” was released in August. Not long after, web master Dr Nigel announced he was bowing out of the band’s website after years of valued service. The band are all indebted to Nigel and wish him all the best. Creating a new web presence took the band through to the next big tour date…The band flew down under in September to play Australia and New Zealand for the first time.
The Test Tubes remain one of the best punk bands to come out of Europe. Appearing on the first Oi! albums in the early 80’s, The Test tubes have remained a favourite for many of us, ever since. See them live at the Great Skinhead Reunion
The Rough Kutz where formed by Hazza (Hammond organ), Brigga (vocals) and Rat (guitar) in 1994. The band changed the band line-up over the years, the current line-up consists of four other members; Mucka (vocals), Tony (bass), Sean (lead guitar) and yatesy(drums). The first studio album, A Bit O’ Rough was released in 1998 on Antwerp-based ska label Skanky ‘Lil Records. After this release the band began touring Europe. They released second album Welcome to our World in 2002 and, in 2006, followed with Another Week Another War. On this album Roddy Radiation from The Specials played guest lead guitar.[1] In 2006, they also performed a European tour with Radiation on guitar.in 2010 the Rough Kutz released their fourth album gangsters playground on Rk records.in 2012 the Rough Kutz recorded a version of the specials song Rude Boys Outa Jail, for the specialized charity album in aid of the teenage cancer trust.they performed live at the cd launch gig in the home of Two tone records, Coventry.
The Crack. Although they are best remembered as being members of the Oi! punk movement, the Crack were actually closer to the musical stylings of punk popsters 999 and mod rockers the Chords than any of their Oi! brethren (the Business, Cockney Rejects, etc.). On the musical scene since 1982, often compared to Slade, in their musical sound. They won a national televised battle of the bands, probably one of the only skinhead bands to have gained any positive recognition on British Televisions history. the Crack didn’t release this debut album until 1989. Like many bands of the era, as the main skinhead culture nose dived in the UK. The Crack, together with Argy Bargy and Cock Sparrer fought the hard times in Europe, to bridge the gap, and keep the flame burning, taking Skinhead and Oi music worldwide.
Franky Flame. A legend of the Skinhead culture. Franky will be there for his one man Cockney Joanna ‘Pie n Mash’ knees up
In the scene for many years,with his band superyob, Franky plays a traditional london dancehall version of oi tunes, making a great sing a long, beer filled malarkey
For a long time now Aarhus has been Denmarks Oi! capitol and Last Seen Laughing is another band in that tradition, which we are proud to belong to!
Last Seen Laughing is a 3 piece band, with members who all come from OI/Punk/Hardcore musical backgrounds. We’ve all played in various bands over the last approx. 20-30 years. We have played together about 4 years and had our debut in our hometown of Aarhus, Denmark in Dec. 2008.
The Line-up is:
Steen – Bass, Chorus : Frontman, leadsinger & guitarist in legendary Danish punk band The Zero Point still goin’ strong since 1979. Drummer in Hardcore outfit War of Destruction.
JP – Drums, Chorus : Drummer in Oi! band The Hoolies. Singer in Oi! Band The Outfit. Drummer in 80’s punk band Dayli Kaos and 90’s punk band deFuldeprofeter (The Drunken Prophets).
Kres – Guitar, leadvocal : Guitarplayer in 90’s Hardcore band Toe Tag, bassplayer in 90’s Hardcore band Tiny Toons. Guitar in 90’s punk band deFuldeprofeter and Guitar in The Hoolies and The Outfit.
After The Outfit decided to call it a day, Kres as being the main idea holder of the band, had tons of unused material, decided to start on his own along with brother JP on Bass. Back then we called ourselves The Jutland Muster. Jutland being the part of Denmark where we live. After about 8 months JP couldn’t find the extra time to play music, but Kres kept on with various bass players and drummers (very hard to find musicians that want to play or know oi music in Denmark). It was always kept as a 3 piece band to keep it minimalistic, aggressive and tight. After approx. 2 years of practicing and creating songs JP decided to join back in and took over the drums. 3 months later in late 2008 we hi-jacked Steen to play bass and Last Seen Laughing was born.
In late 2009 we went into the studio to record a demo with 3-4 songs, but ended up with recording 9 songs! We sent out the material to different labels and negotiated with especially one of them. Things dragged on and time went by and we played more and more shows both at home and abroad, and we kept on writing more material until we by the end of 2010 was ready to hit the studio again. This time we recorded 5 songs. 1 song was for a local comp which hasen’t been released yet and the 4 remaining songs was together with the 9 previously recorded songs was going to be our debut album. Suddenly we were contacted by Randale Records in Germany, who had received our 9 song cd earlier, and they wanted to do an album with us. We seized the opportunity and accepted their offer after a bit of negotiating with both them and the other label we had talked to earlier. That resulted in our debut album being released in June 2011. The vast majority of people who have heard it are very pleased with it and reviews of the album are all in all very positive.
Then later that year we landed ourselves a part of a christmas comp. That song brought about the idea of a split christmas Ep together with fellow hometown band The Guv’nors. It’s a picture Ep in the shape of a christmas tree. It has to be the ugliest record you’ve ever seen!!!
We recorded material for the next album & an EP in 2012. The EP containing a teaser from the new album and a song that’s solely on this release. It was available from Randale Records on dec. 20’th 2012. It sparked the interest for the new album to come and the response was really good. The plan was that the new album should be released a couple of months later but due to circumstances it was delayed untill October 2013. The titel of our second album is “As true as it gets” and it’s also released by Randale Records. The impact of this album has really lifted the band to a new level and made our name more well known.
Last Seen Laughing is inspirered by the second wave of Oi! from the 80’s as well as the Oi! Revival of the 90’s. We take bits and pieces from many different bands and mix it into our own sound. The style is aggressive, minimalistic and catchy! Last Seen Laughing has already made quite an impact on the scene in Denmark especially with the song ”Tæsk” (translates Beating or more precise ”to get your head kicked in”), which is somewhat of a hit or anthem in the underground. These last couple of years has also seen a very fast growing interest for Last Seen Laughing from abroad and we’ve already been to England, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands and Germany to play gigs. So far Last Seen Laughing has played a lot of concerts in Europe and we still have more to come. The future for Last Seen Laughing looks remarkably bright if you look upon the bands history so far!
A new young band from The heart of Ireland. The amazing vocal talents of female vocalist, Shannon Doyle, Playing their own original Reggae /Ska songs. already kicking up a storm, right across the ska scene in Ireland and the UK. We are very excited to see what they can pull off infront of a full house of skinhead veterans, at Brighton.
Gerry Lane (Guitar),
Ciaran White(Drums)
Alan Daly (Bass)
Robbie Collins: Trumpet
Andy Mullan: Saxophone.
Skinheads from across the pond, Minneapolis, USA
Degeneration is Oi! with a capital “O!” These boys have been having a laugh and having their say for 20 years. The band formed in 1994 in Minneapolis, where the music scene was not to favorable for a bunch of skins to be shining out. But they carried on, despite the negative press skinheads were having at the time. The band storms the stage and play unrelenting music, with scorching guitars, heavy bass, and growling vocals. They know what they what needs to be done and then proceed to get it done.
The boys released their first single “Blind.” in 96. They played hundreds of gigs and then put out “Oi! For the Kids”, where they had their first success. They quickly followed that up with a new drummer, who’s still here today, and 2 more 7”s. “Boots and Braces-Studs & Chains” and the “Young Life EP”. Going from strength to strength, they put out their first cd “Carry The Torch”.
Moving forward, always staying true to their Oi! roots the band, continued on. They recorded a few songs for compilations, and things slowed down. They stepped away from the stage and raised some families. Never forgetting the music they love, they knew it was time to let the world know that they were still standing tall!
Their new LP “Standing Tall” will be released on 11/11/15 and they will be coming to Europe for the first time to play both old and new songs. What a better place for a bunch of skinheads to hear them then at the Great Skinhead Reunion!
Degeneration is
Jason is Lead GuitarGreg on DrumsPhil “Ox” on BassMe VocalsChris “Joker” Rhythm GuitarOi OI Music
SKAbretta, is a 6 piece band that takes you through the years of SKA and Reggae from the early Blue Beat sounds of Prince Buster to the 80’s revival, covering everything in between. Created in mid 2012 they have quickly become a local favourite as there blend of old and new styles caters for every taste whether your in to 2-tone or the more traditional Trojan groove you are in for a night to remember.
In less then a year Skabretta have gone from playing local boozers and clubs to playing venues such as the 12 bar Club in Denmark Street, Folkstone SKAfest and the iconic 100 Club on Oxford Street. With a packed diary and gigs coming in up and down the country, they will be coming to a town near you soon.
Our DJ’s are selected like a fine wine, from around the world of skinheads. Each DJ has a strong history. They all come and play the best music you are ever likely to hear, and most run their own nights elsewhere. so please support these guys and girls, who are the backbone, of the Skinhead Reunion and the scene overall
Gary Olas, The Upsetter
Olas has been hosting our Friday nights since the first Reunion.Old school vinyl sound system playing the best in all types of reggae with gigs all over the world. This is also runs the OLAS BOSS REGGAE RADIO SHOW. Twice a week OLAS BOSS does two internet radio shows, Wednesday at 7pm until 9pm playing the very best in roots and dub reggae across all time dates. The later Wednesday, from 9pm till midnight, show is boss reggae/rocksteady/ska – two tone at ten for fifteen minutes – then at 11pm, the world famous Dabble Under the Duvet. An hour of the finest old school lovers rock. All genres of reggae are covered over the two shows. You can also listen again at any time. the radio site iswww.channelradio.co.uk. OLAS BOSS REGGAE RADIO SHOW.
Barry ‘Bmore Mcvowty’
From the Wycombe skinheads, been active in the skinhead scene since 1979. One of the very best DJ’s, with a wide knowledge of eclectic music. Dont miss Bmore performing as he spins. And dont be surprised with what hits the decks, Bmore plays from the soul!
Skavoovie
SkavooVie! .. Infectious SKA Beats and Killer Diller Rocksteady rhythms. WHERE? Currently enjoying a monthly residency at Upstairs at the Mez, 4th Saturday of the month. Serious SKA choons on original 45’s from the vinyl vaults of Blue Beat, Studio One, Dr. Bird, Top Deck, Treasure Isle and many more…Scorchers!!!
A regular and key player in Brighton, with a record collection, most DJ’s would die for.
Weekend tickets are available at www.subcultz.com
Lee Evans. Has been around the London scene, longer than red buses. From the Wycombe Skinheads, Lee was a well known face DJ’ing around London in the 80’s with bands like the Riffs and Hotknives, Desmond Dekker and Laural Aitkin shows, to his credit. Now running regular DRC nights
Martin Long..I’d like to welcome Martin Long from Portsmouth, to our list of guest DJ’s at the Great Skinhead Reunion 5. Martin has been a long term skinhead and very active in the skinhead and scooter scene for many years, and its a pleasure to have him play for us in 2015
Rob ‘Double Barrell’ Powell. Is active on the London circuit and Carnaby Street skins, and Elephants head meet ups of the modern day. And his only fools and scooters events. Playing a cross section of skinhead related tunes
Fuxy AKA The Hungarian’s Boss Sounds
Active on the Dublin scene, Live and direct from Hungary.
Playing, punk, Oi! and Boss sounds
Skashack Toast, will be back in residence for 2015, playing his saturday setS
Erin Donnachie: Erin’s interest in Music started at a young age learning piano and later singing in choirs and jazz bands. It was when she was approached by Gianluca and Gavin to join their band that she adapted to becoming a strong rock vocalist.
Gavin Williams: Gavin picked up a guitar at 17 years old after idolizing legends such as Slash and Black Sabbath since he was quite young and formed a band with his best friend Gianluca before forming Life on Standby.
Gianluca Demelas: Gianluca asked for a drum kit for his Christmas after seeing a friend learn drums and dreamt of being like John Bonham. Through school Gianluca jammed with Gavin and the two soon formed a band which became Life on Standby.
Liam Walker: Liam (originally a guitarist) has an interest in blues and John Mayer. Liam joined Life on Standby as the band’s bassist while he was still in school.
Biography of Life on Standby:
Life on Standby is an Alternative Electronic Rock band who formed in Greenock, Scotland in 2011. Since their formation, the four piece have released two EP’s ‘Set the Sail’ and ‘Masquerade’ as well as 3 singles. However since the release of ‘Masquerade’ the band have climbed up the ranks of the Scottish live music circuit from playing the Glasgow O2 Academy and Garage Main Stages to Headlining King Tuts Wah Wah Hut and sold out Oran Mor. 2014 has been a big year for the band, being invited to perform with bands such as Marmozets and The Hype Theory, Life on Standby were invited down to the Red Bull Studios in London to record a live track and video while observed by Alternative break through band Don Broco, which ultimately led to their first ever performance on English soil at Download Festival followed by a very successful first UK tour. Life on Standby are now looking forward to releasing their debut album in March 2015.
Live Shows and Tours:
Past Venues: (2011-2012)
Garage Attic (Glasgow, Scotland) Garage G2 (Glasgow, Scotland) Word Up (Greenock, Scotland)
Oran Mor – Sold out Headline show (Glasgow, Scotland)
PJ Malloy’s (Dunfermline, Scotland) Download Festival 2014 (Donnington, England)
Recent UK Tour: (Oct 2014)
Green Room (Perth, Scotland) Eagle (Inverness, Scotland)
Nice N Sleazy (Glasgow, Scotland)
Lomax (Liverpool, England) Lounge 41 (Workington, England) the Victoria Inn (Derby, England)
Future Live Events: (2015)
Audio – Glasgow, Scotland: Fri 30th January
Lounge 41 – Workington, England: Sat 7th March
The Swan – Stranraer, Scotland: Fri 13th March
The Green Room – Perth: Sat 14th March
Fanny by Gaslight – Kilmarnock: Sun 15th March
Reviews:
“Incorporating snatches of electronica affords them an eclectic variation on their hard-chugging, contemporary sound, with front woman Erin Donnachie’s spirited performance lending them a streak of punk edge” – Jay Richardson, The Scotsman.
“One of the best unsigned Alternative Electronic bands in Scotland” – Daily Mail.
“Definitely a band to look out for” – Duncan Gray, Triple G Music.
“Life on Standby were the standout act of the night, such a mass of raw energy and emotion” – Underground Uncovered.
“One could perhaps argue that Greenock’s Life on Standby don’t fit the usual mould of a Download Festival band, but don’t be fooled by their electronic leanings. Behind the synths and front woman Erin’s soothing vocals lays a body of eclectic, crunching riffs that will shake off any Sunday hangover.” – Daily Dischord
“SINCE forming in 2011, Life on Standby has emerged as one of Scotland’s best unsigned alternative electronic bands.” – Evening Times.
A few years ago, i flew over to USA to see friends in California. But also, to go see one of my friends bands, called Cock Sparrer. As we drove down from LA to The Great American Music hall in San Fransisco, listening to the car radio, it really struck me, how important British music is to the world. Here i was heading down to a sell out show, by an obscure punk band, in the cool capital of the world. The average British person, would have never heard of this band.
Everywhere you go, you will find it playing. its not only The Rolling Stones, Beatles and Elton John, or Oasis, but Punk Rock, Indie, 70’s, 80’s and every other decade of popular music. The same in Argentina, Brazil, Scandinavia, all across western Europe and beyond. Gone are the days that Britain is known for military, or railways. Whatever Governments have come and gone, British music has found its way to every corner of the Globe. A major export, not only for financial benefit, but for British cultural benefit. The welcome you get as a British person, in so many countries, is due to the love affair many nations have to our, British Music. Many of those music fans making a pilgrimage to the UK, to see where it all began.
But before it reaches those places, it is a seed in a kids garage, then a local pub. if they get lucky, they step up to the next town or city, playing their songs, working, promoting, and slogging away. One in a thousand, then get a bit of radio play, a larger gig, a record deal. One in 20.000 get BBC acknowledgment. A hard , hard career to follow. With no support from the UK Government. There are many reasons why live music, is in such a bad state. No more Top of the pops, no financial support, a lack of imagination with record labels. But the extremely high price of beer, is killing pubs at a rapid rate. Every town, is being raped, of the grass roots venues. Venues being sold off for development, for a fast profit.
Symond Lawes.
Independent venues are more than just places to see bands – they’re at the heart of their communities. But if the music industry doesn’t step in soon, we’ll be writing even more obituaries for these vital outposts of culture
What makes a great venue? From the perspective of musicians, it’s when owners realise that good customer service is at the core of everything they do. Give the musicians the basics so they are able to do their job. That includes a comfortable and warm backstage room, plenty of time for a sound check, a respectful crew and a good sound system. Most of these things can be achieved with common sense more than money. But can owners of venues really raise the bar if all they offer is a fridge stuffed with Red Bull? Sadly the lack of resources is keeping standards too low for independent music venues in the UK, compared with, say, the rest of Europe.
Often, venues don’t feel like an artist’s home any more. They’re treated as normal, independent businesses rather than being valued as centres of culture in their communities. Venue owners are often former musicians and they are passionate about live music. But even the best of them are forced into dark alleys to survive, making compromises and potentially killing their passion for the music as it’s dragged down into the shit with them.
Last week, I was a panelist at Venues Day, a conference that was organised by the Music Venue Trust and Independent Venue Week about the future of independent music venues in the UK. I was asked to represent the point of view of the artist, discussing what makes a good venue great.
Mindofalion Live and raw in 2014. The grass roots of music, which becomes a worldwide export
Madame Jojo’s Placards outside Madame Jojo’s nightclub in London. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images The event took place at the Purcell Room, in London. It was the first time I’d taken part in a conference. Venue owners from all around the UK had filled the room, and someone had told me the participants were “very angry”. I had no idea what to expect, although I knew very well that many small, independent music venues have been in crisis for a long time.
I got involved with the issue the day my favourite venue in London, the Luminaire, shut down in 2009. That day, I lost more than just a place to see live music – I lost my second home. As I walked into the Purcell Room, it was even more clear to me that the owners of such venues need help. They need money, and they need it now, or more of the hundreds of venues that are essential to the culture of the UK and the music business in particular, will follow the fate of Madame Jojo’s and the Buffalo Bar in London, which are each soon to become extinct.
“This has to be addressed at the very top of Government, Live music venues are the training ground for one of Britain’s largest exports, and Icon of pride, which excludes, no class, age or race“
The disastrous financial situation of independent music venues has direct consequences for everyone, including musicians. Take branding. No artist should have to play with a Jack Daniel’s logo on the stage if they don’t want to, or a Vodafone sticker on their monitors if they don’t want to. Artists should not become vehicles for advertising if that’s not how they choose to run their business. Don’t get me wrong, I am not 100% against branding; I understand the need to raise money. But the stage is a sacred place, and if a venue makes a deal with a beer company, it should not involve the musicians.
Let’s take another example: during Venues Day, many owners acknowledged that club nights are how they’re able to survive these days, which means they book two events in one night. Who can blame them? They need money. But what does it mean for the artists? Well, it means that even if they sell out a show, the promoter might book a club night to start after you finish. They eject you, your crew and your fans at 10pm, then a DJ comes in and a whole new crowd invades the premises. Instead of playing at 10pm, your show needs to start at 8.30, which means support bands have to play at a painful 7.30pm. Obviously, there is no time after the gig to sell your merch or to meet your audience. Not only does it kill the band’s small chance of making extra money, but it also kills guitar music. Who wants to see rock’n’roll at 8.30 at night?
Another iconic Music venue, the 12 Bar, on Denmark Street, London. Right in the heart of Britains world famous Tin Pan Alley. Been handed the death sentence, at the end of 2014, by Westminster council, In favour of commercial short term property speculators.
It is urgent that we find solutions to finance independent music venues which respect the spirit of live music and musicians. Artists are their customers, too, and we know that branding and club nights are not enough to keep some of our venues afloat.
How can we achieve this? One solution became apparent during the conference, where owners were joined by promoters and booking agents. Let’s do the maths: the venue owners need money and the large agents need to make a healthy profit. Got it? The last panel of the day, entitled What’s Next?, was supposed to address solutions available to venue owners. I took the mic to suggest that the industry itself should fund small venues. Agents, big promoters and venue groups should reinvest part of their annual profits into small venues. This is an idea my friend Andy Inglis, who used to co-run the Luminaire, has been talking about for years. After all, they belong to the same industry, don’t they? Just because small venues are the grassroots of the industry, that doesn’t have to mean they can’t benefit from the profits the others make.
I was surprised by the audience’s lack of response. The Music Venue Trust cautiously expressed its intention to create a charity system to support small independent venues, but I didn’t get the feeling it would pick up the funding idea and make it a priority. From what I understood, the two main ideas taken from the day were the need for tax cuts for small venues and an online resource for venues to share ideas and advice. Although it is important to begin with a couple of rallying points and get recognition from government, I still believe that music industry support is essential for the survival of independent venues.
At this point in the conference, I didn’t get a sense of much anger or desperation in the room. I could only assume people were too scared to speak up. Or maybe I’m totally wrong and most venues don’t want funding to come from the industry. I believe the idea is more popular among professionals than we think, but maybe it demands a bigger effort – or someone, a hero, to fight for it.
Next January, The band Savages and I will settle in New York City for three weeks to play a series of club shows. Sold out all nine shows in just one hour, which has never happened to us so fast before. Could this become a new model? Audiences love to see live music in small venues. Let’s hope they survive before we realise how much we needed them.
Find more information about Venues Day 2014, the speakers and partners on venues-day.com
The punks and skinheads were rounded up at a local concert
Dozens of young men and women have been detained for being “punk” and disturbing the peace in Aceh, Indonesia’s most devoutly Muslim province. They are being held in a remedial school, where they are undergoing “re-education”.
Rights groups have expressed concern after photographs emerged of the young men having their mohawks and funky hairstyles shaved off by Aceh’s police.
They look sullen and frightened as they are forced into a communal bath.
But Aceh’s police say they are not trying to harm the youths, they are trying to protect them.
The 64 punks, many of whom are from as far away as Bali or Jakarta, were picked up on Saturday night during a local concert.Aceh police spokesman Gustav Leo says there have been complaints from residents nearby.The residents did not like the behaviour of the punks and alleged that some of them had approached locals for money.
Mr Leo stressed that no-one had been charged with any crime, and there were no plans to do so.
They have now been taken to a remedial school in the Seulawah Hills, about 60km (37 miles) away from the provincial capital Banda Aceh.
“They will undergo a re-education so their morals will match those of other Acehnese people,” says Mr Leo.
But activists say the manner in which the young people have been treated is humiliating and a violation of human rights.
Aceh Human Rights Coalition chief Evi Narti Zain says the police should not have taken such harsh steps, accusing them of treating children like criminals.
“They are just children, teenagers, expressing themselves,” she says.
“Of course there are Acehnese people who complained about them – but regardless of that, this case shouldn’t have been handled like this. They were doused with cold water, and their heads were shaved – this is a human rights violation. Their dignity was abused.”
But Mr Leo disagrees.It is the second time the police have cracked down on punk culture in Aceh
“We didn’t arrest them, they haven’t committed any criminal offence,” he says.
“They are Aceh’s own children – we are doing this for their own good. Their future could be at risk. We are re-educating them so they don’t shame their parents.”
This is the second time Aceh’s police have clamped down on punks in the province, which is the only province in Indonesia allowed to implement shariah law.
There is a thriving underground punk music scene in Aceh, but many punk-lovers are viewed suspiciously by local residents.
Many of the young teens sport outrageous hairstyles, in keeping with punk culture, but against the norms of the keenly religious in Aceh.
Aceh is one of the most devout Muslim provinces in Indonesia, and observers say it has becoming increasingly more conservative since Islamic law was implemented a few years ago.
Indonesian punks stand in line before prayer. Indonesian punk rock fans, their head shaved clean, stand in line before prayer at the police school in Aceh Besar, Indonesia. Photograph: Heri Juanda/AP Mohawks shaved and noses free of piercings, dozens of youths march in military style for hours beneath Indonesia’s tropical sun – part of efforts by the authorities to restore moral values and bring the “deviants” back into the mainstream. But the young men and women have shown no signs of bending. When commanders turn their backs, the shouts ring out: “Punk will never die!” Fists are thrown in the air and peace signs flashed.
A few have managed briefly to escape, heads held high as they are dragged back. Sixty-five young punk rockers arrived at the police detention centre last week after baton-wielding police raided a concert in Aceh – the only province in the predominantly Muslim nation of 240 million to have imposed Islamic laws.
They will be released on Friday, after completing 10 days of “rehabilitation” – from classes on good behaviour and religion to military-style drills aimed at instilling discipline. Nineteen-year-old Yudi, who goes by only one name, said it was not working. He tried unsuccessfully to shake off police when they took an electric razor to his spiky mohawk. At the sight of his hair scattered in the grass, he recalled, tears rolled down his face. “It was torture to me,” he said. “I can’t wait to get out of here,” he added. “They can’t change me. I love punk. I don’t feel guilty about my lifestyle. Why should I? There’s nothing wrong with it.” His girlfriend, 20-year-old Intan Natalia, agreed. Her bleach-blonde hair has been cut to a bob and dyed black and she has been forced to wear a Muslim headscarf. “They can say what they want, but I like life as a punk,” she said. “It suits me.” Two young men hated it so much at the detention centre, they tried to escape. They pretended they had to go to the bathroom then fled to the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, 30 miles away. Police found them strolling the streets nine hours later and brought them back. It was just after midnight. “They said they missed their parents, but it’s pretty clear they were lying,” said the local police chief, Colonel Armensyah Thay. “They didn’t go home. How could they? They’ve been living on the streets.” The crackdown marked the latest effort by authorities to promote strict moral values in Aceh which, unlike other provinces in the sprawling archipelagic nation, enjoys semi-autonomy from the central government. That was part of a peace deal negotiated after the 2004 tsunami off Aceh convinced separatist rebels and the army to lay down their arms, with both sides saying they did not want to add to people’s suffering. More than 230,000 people were killed in the towering wave, three-quarters of them in Aceh.
There’s something going on. An emerging scene reacting to the overwhelming EDM rains that floods every single garage here without mercy – wiping out the kids trashy hang-outs where they desperately tries to ruin their lives. Garages are turned into silent aquariums. It is such a perfect clean-up. But hey, the aquarium is cracking up.
It’s explosive, dark, potent, and psyched out. And the main little monster fish here is the band MANKIND.
Currently whipping up the underground and warehouse parties in Stockholm with their runaway, throbbing and decadent show, Swedish MANKIND is getting attention.
MANKIND, four guys that could have been seeds planted at Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, drawing strength from the graves of Jim Morrison, Chopin and Gertrud Stein.
Instead the plants grew in Ingmar Bergman’s land of held back silence – bonded by a mutual musical love and existential brooding.
The bands first track “Blood, Sugar” – not least apparent by the video (directed by Johan Stolpe) – is unmistakably Scandinavian with Fever Ray-ish aesthetics. It’s produced by Gordon Raphael (The Strokes, Regina Spektor). Although early recognized and loved by The Needle Drop, “Blood, Sugar” was never sent out in the world. So lo and behold, this is now corrected. Needle Drop:
MANKIND were brought up on music released long before they were born and in boroughs far from where they lived (the early 90’s Seattle scene, the Velvet’s New York, The Door’s California, London 60s…) and that’s exactly where they belong artistically. But in addition they also have their own DNA, a unique sound full of odd MANKIND figments, twisted song structures, lyrics that are clever, angry, darkly funny, upsetting and on-point and a world of imagery and ideas that we know will keep us busy and alert.
Band are Arthur Batsal (vocals), Oliver Boson (drum), Alexander Ceci (guitar), Fredrik Diffner (bass) – just over 20, lives in Stockholm, Sweden
So I love me some Laurel Aitken, and I’m singing along in my car to Sally Brown driving down the highway and my son starts laughing. I’ve belted out these lyrics so many times I don’t hear them anymore, but my son’s fresh ears pick up on perhaps the silliest words to ever grace a ska song–yes, the cukumaka stick. What the heck is a cukumaka stick? I decided I’d find out.
The cukumaka stick is actually a coco macaque stick. It was first used by the Arawaks in battle, even though they were largely a peaceful people. The Arawak, or Taino Indians as they were sometimes called, were one of the native people of the Caribbean. They came to the islands of the Caribbean from Guyana or perhaps from other islands in the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas. They were still a Stone Age people whose tools were primitive and they were an agricultural and fishing people.
The Arawaks used the coco macaque, a heavy solid strong stick or club, as a tool, but they also used it to bludgeon their victims or enemies in combat. In Haiti, the coco macaque stick was called “the Haitian Peace Keeper.” In Cuba, where Laurel Aitken was born, it was called “the Cuban Death Club.” And in New Orleans, the coco macaque stick is called “the Zombie Staff” or “Spirit Stick.”
The coco macaque stick was used in Cuba and Haiti as a weapon and became a part of the cultural vernacular after it was used by the dictatorial regimes in Cuba and Haiti against political activists. During the regime of Papa Doc in Haiti, the coco macaque stick became a symbol associated with the “guaperia,” or his military. According to one article, the “Cocomacaco was the main weapon of the notorious tonton macutes, his the personal body guards.”
The Daily Gleaner on March 1, 1915 wrote of a coco macaque stick when reporting on a corrupt Haitian dictator who stole money from the country’s coffers. It stated, “He could only find a few thousand pounds to seize, though he sent an army to make the levy: an army strongly armed with superdread-nought cocomacaque sticks.”
Aitken is likely informed by many of these interpretations of the coco macaque stick, but perhaps none as much as the one in his own country which saw the coco macaque stick as a weapon associated with slavery. On the Cuban sugar plantations, slave owners beat their slaves with a coco macaque stick. The weapon later became a “tool of correction” used by men on women, and there was a Cuban proverb that said that wives should be “corrected with cocomacaco hard,” which may also shed light on why, when Laurel Aitken was once asked about this lyric, he hinted at a sexual connotation, as was common in the calypso, mento, and subsequent musical traditions–just think of Jackie Opel’s “Push Wood” for an example with a similar object–wood–but there are dozens if not hundreds of others with different objects–shepherd rods, needles, etc.
The coco macaque stick also had a life all its own. The Taino Indians and Haitians who practiced Voodou believed that the coco macaque stick walked by itself. The owner could send the coco macaque stick to run errands or dirty work, and if the coco macaque stick hit someone on the head, they would then be dead by morning.
Here is some information I found in an article on voodoo: “Coco macaque is what many refer to as a very real magical Haitian vodou implement or black magicians helping tool. Made of Haitian Coco-macaque palm wood or what ever wood one has at hand it is basically just simple thick 1 to 2 inch wooden cane, which is supposed to be possessing one of many magical powers, The strangest one is that to be able to stand up and walk on its own. Though it’s appearance of walking is described more like a hopping or bouncing action. This Voodoo Magic walking stick is not bound by gravity and is said to bounce off of houses and homes and even roofs as it travels to it’s commanded destination. Sometimes many people might refer to them as Voodoo Zombie Canes and swear that by all known accounts and means that they or it is possessed by the spirits of the dead. By all old Haitian accounts many will tell you that it is a simple design or sometimes crudely hand carved by a voodoo black magic priest using what ever found wood is available to them at the time. And it is a cursed or controlled by specific spirit that causes the walking stick to appear to move all by itself.”
Here are the lyrics to that classic Laurel Aitken tune, Sally Brown:
She boogey, she boogey, she boogey down the alley Let me tell you about Sally Brown Sally Brown is a girl in town She don’t mess around Let me tell you about Sally Brown Sally Brown is a slick chick. She hits you with a cukumaka stick Cukukukukumaka stick Hits you with a Cukumaka stick
Colin Harvey aged 47 was attacked on his way home, late Friday night/Saturday morning 1am 1st November 2014
All he knows of The attackers, was a group late teens about 5 or 6 of them, Chatham Court, Station Approach road, Ramsgate.
Sherina ‘Rena’ Burke says. One lad was about 6.2 the others about 5.6 /5.7 about 1am yesterday morning Don’t know if, or who who’s dealing with it at the Police station, as we left about midday so he could get cleaned up and have a sleep. Not even sure he was going to proceed with dealing with the old bill ! Oh and his wallet was missing too.
Locals we think, but Colin didn’t recognise any of them. The poor neighbour phoned the police, but was too frightened to open the door as she was elderly, I’m sure some one will find out something as they are bound to brag to the wrong person !! Colin’s spirits remained high, he had us all laughing, not sure if I’d have been so upbeat, I’m glad they didn’t knock that out of him. What a trooper !
This attack happened feet from his door 6 youths (late teens) were sat on the steps leading to his door he asked them to move and they attacked like a pack of animals ..he has remained in good spirits and still has his sense of humour, even after cracked ribs, Broken nose, fractured jaw, missing teeth, two black eyes and a large shoe print bruise across his face x Been a skinhead since his teens not that it makes a difference !!
Skinhead for Life
Colin is well liked, born and lived his whole life here, has had the girls arriving in droves yesterday with beer baccy soup etc. Colin is a regular attender of skinhead events, and is a big ska and oi fan, one of the crowd. He was wearing one of our Great Skinhead Reunion Shirts, So this is an attack on all of us. Do your bit for a brother
Anyone in the area, can you please post this around. The lads are probably boasting, and could be local.
Ramsgate , is situated on the South East coast of England in Kent, quite a run down area, and is mainly recognised as a major ferry port for Europe. A close knit local community, but does attract alot of transient people. If you saw, or know anything, lets help to get justice for Colin.
If you have any info, please let us know,or contact Kent police on 101
Friday, July 4th, 1981 had been a hot summer’s day in the Western suburbs of London. Late that afternoon, a small group of us took the bus from South Harrow to Hayes and met up with Hayes skins. From there about 15 of us travelled the short distance up the Uxbridge Road and arrived early at the Hambrough Tavern in Southall. As we walked from the bus stop, along the pavement and into the pub’s forecourt, we hadn’t noticed a hint of trouble anywhere and we weren’t expecting any either!
The pub was a good size. Inside it was bright from the evening sun thanks to the large bay windows but more on those later… The pub is located on the edge of Southall, on the main road leading into a town renowned for its large Asian population but we never thought that going to an Oi! gig on the edge of Southall would provoke a large part of its population to riot. Oi! bands had played in other areas across London with large immigrant populations before and there had never been any trouble.
Inside the pub, it grew noisier as more skins started to arrive. The atmosphere was buzzing – the 4-skins, the Last resort and the Business were going to play.
rob smith and friends
Inside, I remember thinking this gig had very little that was extreme right wing about it. I was aware of this because I’m of mixed race. There were no Nazi flags, no siege heils and it definitely didn’t feel like an extremist’s right wing get-together. Everyone was there – for this much looked-forward-to gig – for the bands, and to hear some good Oi! music.
Round about 8 O’clock, the crowd was getting a little impatient because the 4-Skins hadn’t yet arrived – you could see the gig organisers were getting a bit impatient too; but sure enough, through the large bay windows, we saw the band arrive, hurrying through the forecourt, ready to go straight on stage.
While the 4-Skins were playing something else was going on. Through the large windows, out in the darkening Uxbridge Road, we could see more and more Asians arriving and gathering by the wall of the forecourt. Inside it was stiff upper lip and the music carried on but there were a lot of murmurings as it became obvious there were going to be a lot of trouble.
The crowd outside got surprisingly larger by the minute. A few police had arrived and were forming a barrier between the restless, shouting Asians and the pub but as the crowd outside became larger and noisier, it became clear that the music inside would have to stop.
Events passed the point of no return when a brick came crashing through one of the bay windows. The music stopped and everyone inside took up defensive positions but no one would go outside – that would’ve been suicide. In the falling darkness, more bricks and missiles came hurtling in through the windows and it wasn’t long before we knew we had to get out… petrol bombs were being thrown at the pub. Many of us weren’t sure if we were going to get out alive because the police outside were looking as if they were failing to contain the situation. Inside, what had just been a calm evening’s entertainment had turned into a war zone. Broken furniture and glass lay all over the place as we fought to defend ourselves.
As more busloads of police arrived, a passage was formed to escape through. As bricks and bottles flew from 100’s of amassing Asians, we headed out of the pub across the no-man’s land forecourt, into the Uxbridge Road, behind the protection of police lines. Looking back, we saw a hijacked police car being set on fire. It was then rammed into the pub by Asian youths, sending the Hambrough up in flames. Fire engines, ambulances and more police cars arrived. Blazing sirens were drowned out by the noise of the riot. The night sky turned a reddish hue from the huge blaze. Even after we’d got back to Harrow, 4 miles away, we could still see the red glow of the sky from the burning pub!
The national newspapers, and radio and television news headlines the next day and for the next few days, were full of it but what I read in the papers and heard on the news didn’t match what I saw that night. The media were pinning all the blame on us skinheads, accusing us of going to Southall to start a riot and throwing petrol bombs at Asians. But I clearly remember going to Southall for a drink and a gig in a pub. There were no Nazi saluting skinheads in the pub. There were no skinheads throwing petrol bombs at Asians and there were definitely no plans to incite a riot.
Because of what happened at Southall, left-leaning media outlets and much of the right-leaning middle classes found every excuse under the sun to marginalise skinheads and Oi! music but their prejudices were based on false accounts! It was the assembled Asians that were the cause of the rioting that night, no matter how much they thought they were justified in doing what they did. They even continued rioting long after the last skinheads left the scene! But it was skinheads who got blamed, even though it was the police who had to defend us, not the other way round. We were the small minority needing police protection from the 100’s of rioting Asians! In fact, there were a few Asian skinheads inside the pub for the gig… these Asians weren’t rioting, the ones outside were! There were a few Black and Greek skinheads inside too.
On a lighter note, one funny thing I heard, don’t know if it’s true, was that the manager of the 4-Skins band chased the pub manager up the Uxbridge Road, wanting his money for the gig!
Seriously, the Southall night changed the course of Oi! – From that time on, the media ensured that Oi! would never get the positive publicity it deserved but despite all attempts to stamp it out, Oi! is still around and now global and long may it be so, but it will always be at home in London, where it all began.
Hanborough Tavern Southall, burned down by Asian Mob
cheers Rob Smith
Hounslow Robs Account I also went to that gig at the Hambrough tavern in Southall, the area itself is not too far from where I was living in Hounslow so it was an ideal opportunity for me to get to see a couple of the bands I was well into at that time, the 4skins and the Last resort.
Anyway, being only 15 at the time (turned 16 later that month) I hadn’t been to that many gigs, one that I had been to was at the Hambrough tavern a few weeks earlier. It was the Meteors and I hadn’t even planned to go; I’d been hanging around Hounslow bus garage which was a meeting place for the younger skins in my area when a local skinhead girl turned up and asked me to help her find the pub. Being a true gentleman (and because she was a right looker!) I went with her. As soon as we got off the bus on Southall Broadway we started to get abuse shouted at us by groups of Asians that were hanging around. Feeling nervous but putting a brave face on we headed towards the pub after asking one of the few white people we saw for directions. We noticed a group of Asians up ahead and as we got closer they blocked the road and surrounded us, there were maybe a dozen of ’em and looked to be in their late teens or early 20’s. One of them said “what are you doing in our area? “, as I turned to answer I got punched from the side and they all piled in. Would love to be able to say I had a good go back but didn’t have a chance really and ended up curled up on the ground getting a good kicking! To be fair they didn’t hit the girl although that was the only fair thing about it! Eventually they ran off and I found I wasn’t in too bad a condition, a few cuts & grazes but nothing serious. We made it to the pub and saw the band and I’m just mentioning that night cos it gives a bit of background to the area and how the Asians saw it, they regarded Southall as their town and you even had graffiti on the walls saying “whites out”!
Going back to the night of the riot I obviously had bad memories of the place but wasn’t gonna miss the chance to see the bands so headed to the bus garage in Hounslow where I knew some older local skins would be meeting up, an advance guard had already left but another 20 or so were there so I tagged along with them. Luckily we got a bus to Hayes and then another into Southall, I say luckily cos if we had taken the direct route it would have taken us to the Broadway and we’d have ended up on the other side of the massive mob of Asians that had already gathered by the time we got there. I don’t remember any talk on the bus about it kicking off with the Asians that night, the only time I can recall someone mentioning trouble was about the possibility of old area rivalries between skinheads coming up at the gig. On reaching the Tavern there was a line of police further up the road heading into the main part of Southall and you could clearly see the Asians on the other side of them. In the pub itself there was a good crowd and it was mainly skins but I noticed a few rockabillies and straights. As was mentioned by Cockney Express and London Rob there were also a few black skinheads in the pub and although there would have been right wing skins in there as well I don’t remember any friction between the skins inside.
West London Skinhead Girls who were at the infamous Southall gig
As for the bands themselves, the gig itself is a bit of a blur and my memory has failed me a bit there. I’d never heard the Business before but enjoyed their set. The Resort I did like, having heard the 3 track tape on sale at the shop. I remember Hodges & co on stage and have read elsewhere that they were playing “Chaos” as the windows came in, dunno about that but it would have been perfect timing!!! I do remember the bricks coming into the pub ‘tho, were standing quite near to the big bay windows where the curtains had been drawn. Looking back I suppose this stopped the bricks and flying glass doing more damage but a number of people did get hurt. I got a small cut on the cheek myself but others had much worse, can still picture a skinhead girl who had blood all down the side of her face. Of course everyone moved away from the windows but many also headed for the door, partly because you didn’t know what was gonna come in next but also to get out and get stuck in if they could, Skinheads were breaking up chairs and tables to use as weapons & to say people were angry would be an understatement! Outside it was chaos, the old bill was trying to keep the Asians away from the pub but because of the numbers they were struggling. It’s true that some skins were in the front line standing shoulder to shoulder with the police, through the lines you could see the Asians were going mental and were well tooled up, waving sticks, bats and even swords above their heads! Some skins actually managed to get into them, talk about suicide missions! One guy came back with the whole inside of his lower arm opened up, said it had been done with a meat cleaver! From the look of it I didn’t doubt it! We were being pushed back away from the pub and I can remember seeing the petrol bombs flying, didn’t actually see the moment the pub was hit or when the van was pushed into it but recall seeing the pub burning and the flames high in the sky. Looking back now I dread to think of the outcome if a petrol bomb had entered the pub whilst everyone was still inside really doesn’t bear thinking about!
On our side of the police the skins were pretty much able to do as they wanted as the police had their hands full trying to control the Asian mob. A few lighter moments did occur, a number of shops had had their windows smashed and some skins had entered into ’em to find weapons or just to do a bit of looting! One of the older Hounslow lot reappeared out of a shop with a box full of crisps! A full blown riot going with petrol bombs flying around and you’ve got skinheads walking about munching crisps! I’m sure some were even asking what flavours he had! (I was at the back of the line so had to make do with ready salted!) Cockney Express mentioned in a post that he saw people throwing bottles of cresta at the Asians; I remember that drink, they should have tried setting fire to it, probably would have burnt better than petrol!! At one point word went round that some Asians had managed to get around behind the police line and were up one of the side roads, we all went steaming up there but it was either a false alarm or they had thought better of it and scarpered. Anyway on the way back a couple of skins started knocking on doors and whacking any Asian that answered, out of order maybe but then again the circumstances that night weren’t normal! One door flew open and a bloke came running out waving his arms and shouting “I’m white, I’m white, paki’s 2 doors down”!!
London skinheads who were at the Hanborough Tavern when it was attacked
Eventually most of the skinheads were rounded up by the police and we were marched away from the area towards Hayes and Harlington station where the skins from other parts of London were to be put on trains. Those skins from west London carried on as we didn’t want to get trains into town. One thing I did notice was that the further we got away from the pub the worse we were treated by the old bill, we were being stopped every 100 yards or so and searched and hassled by ’em. The police earlier in the night had been fine with us because they knew what had happened and knew the score. Now there were coppers being brought in who hadn’t been at the front line and probably thought we had been the ones who had kicked it off, maybe not the case but it might explain their attitude and actions. Also on that walk there was a confrontation with a group of white geezers who had pulled up in a van and jumped out with baseball bats calling us Nazi bastards, we were well spread out by this time and only about 10 of us were together in a group but we stood our ground and after a short stand off the police turned up and the blokes jumped back in the van and sped off, dunno who they were but they’d obviously been watching the news! We ended up getting a night bus back to Hounslow and found a few local skins that hadn’t been to the gig waiting at the bus garage. Of course we played it up and you could tell they were gutted to have missed the night. I must admit I was guilty of the same when I met up with my mates the next day, probably bored ’em to tears going on about it, just like I’m doing now to anyone whose bothering to read this!! Eventually got home about 4 in the morning, my mum was still up. She just looked at me and said “I don’t have to ask where you’ve been, I’ve been watching you on the telly”!
Looking back now the young Asians in Southall must have planned to attack the Hambrough tavern that night, they were just too organised for it to have been a spur of the moment thing, and they would never have got those numbers out at short notice.
I personally think Southall happened cos the local Asians were never gonna let a skinhead gig take place on their manor without having a pop at it. They did see it as their town and thought they had to put on a show of strength. The fact that most of ’em probably thought (as did most people not in the know thanks to the media) that every skin was a raving Nazi obviously played a part as well! Still. it was a lively night! Wouldn’t have missed it for the world!
Cheers Hounslow Rob
Cockney express (terry London) Account Before I go any further I should point out that the following is my version of what I saw at the Southall riot. It is my own view of what lead up to the riot and it is my own view on the bands and the era itself. No disrespect is meant to any person/persons or bands. As far as I know there are only two people that have taken the time to sit down and write what they saw. Both of those versions lead to the same end but, differ because of the people that wrote them and perhaps where they were on the night. At the time of the riot I was Living in Bethnal green in London’s east end which was just a stone’s throw from the shop; The Last Resort. This shop at the time was world famous because of the Skinheads that used it on a regular basis and, because it was just THE place to be. Living so close didn’t mean that either me or, any of the other Skinheads that lived nearby used the shop or went to it regularly. To us it was just a shop that was around the corner. Any novelty the shop held had long since worn off. We left people from outside the East end to hang around the shop and look hard? And indeed get ripped off by the owner a certain Mickey “Millwall” French and his wife in crime…Margret and of course who could forget their fellow muggers of Skinhead money…”Fat Andy and “Shorditch” Ian. Anyway before I lose my thread………………. I had followed first Sham 69 then obviously the Cockney rejects but as these two bands either lost their way or, turned heavy metal I needed to find something new. That something new came in the form of a fellow that lived just a few streets away by the name of Gary Hodges and of course the now legendary 4 SKINS. To most at the time they were THE oi! Band. To us no one came close to them and if the truth be known it’s my opinion that since they (Hodges line up) split no one ever has. As far as I’m concerned since mid-1982 everything that came after has just been clutching at straws but please remember that is just my opinion. It is however an opinion that is shared by many that grew up during that time; living in the birthplace of oi! And, as a lot see it the eventual death place of oi…London’s east End. Yes I am aware of the bands that carried on and in some cases went from strength to strength I/e the Angelic upstarts and the Business but for me what followed was second rate. I will add that yes it was good music but to me it was second rate. If you like oil! at this time had started to grow up and spread throughout the country and in doing so newer bands injected their meaning into the music. For me oi! Was about life in London, no, life in the East end….tuff, hard and a slum where no one gave a toss about us…the kids. The only ones it seemed that cared were the bands of the time. Listening to the likes of Blitz from Manchester or the Angelic Upstarts from the North east just wasn’t the same as listening to the Cockney rejects/The 4 Skins/Eastend badoes or, Cock sparer. Perhaps the only band that came later that made us listen again was the Ejected. You could call this narrow mindedness and I couldn’t give a f**k if you did…hey it’s not the first time I’ve been called that and, I doubt it will be the last. My take on it is simple….we came from an era which was very tribal and as such listening to what we called a foreign band Like the Upstarts was a no no. Of course we went to see them and of course we bought there albums and played them until they wore out but they just didn’t speak for us in the same way as our own. Just as a side point regarding the Upstarts; in later years I have spoken to many people from the North east and they felt the same way about London bands as we did about, non-London bands…like I said we were tribal. Who knows perhaps this is the real reason for the demise of the oi! Scene. Some say that it was the right wing whilst others say it was the left wing. Some even say it was when Skinheads grew their hair. There are many factors that contribute to its demise but, without a shadow of a doubt the main one IS the now infamous Southall riot.
Could this album really cause so much trouble for the Oi! scene? In the eyes of the media/government and any other dimlo that wanted to jump onto the “lets ban Oi! bandwagon” it could…or could it? The album ‘strength thru oi’ which takes its name from a Nazi slogan ‘strength thru joy’ has been used as a scapegoat to justify the unfounded claims of the media from the day of its release until now. It’s true that the front cover had a photo of the late Nicky crane who was a member of the British movement and, head of the leader guard. It’s true that he had British movement tattoos. It is also true that he was a last minute stand in because the cover should have featured Carlton leach the notorious West ham and ICF hooligan but due to one thing and another he didn’t show. It’s also true that on the rear of the cover it pays homage to various non-white peoples.Thats as far as I will go with that because I don’t feel it’s worth going into detail about what Jesse Owens did or who he was or/Sugar ray Leonard etc. etc. What I will say is this. It has been common knowledge for a long time now that the Front cover was changed because of the real cover model not showing. What you might not know is this. Others who I cant mention have indicated it was actually the rear cover that was changed due to its right wing content…..think about it! Either way that album was and always will be the best of all the Oi! Albums in the series. To me everything that came after carry on oi was a waist of money. I and others were due to leave on coaches for Southall that were to leave from the Last resort in Goulston Street, East London. As it turned out around twenty of us didn’t because a couple of weeks before we had arranged to meet Skinheads from Ealing (West London) at Ealing. We had met the Ealing Skinheads at various 4 Skin gigs and got to know them and would travel to a pub that they used called the Victoria. I also knew a couple of the Green ford Skinheads who at the time were working at the same place I was in Old Street. One of these Skinheads was talking about the planned gig at the Hambourgh Tavern in Southall one Monday morning at work. To come to the point the same Skinhead told me on the Wednesday of the same week that he wouldn’t be going because he had heard that the Southall youth Movement was going to try and disrupt the event. Talking with some Ealing Skinheads later that day it was confirmed that they had also heard the same. This is a bit of information that to my knowledge has never been mentioned anywhere by anyone that has ever spoken or written about what happened on the night. It turned out that we got held up in Ealing and arrived in Southall almost forty five minutes late. As we made our way to the Tavern it was obvious that what I had been told was quite true because of the huge amounts of Asians that were gathered and, armed. We were a good thirty in numbers and just cut straight through these people without any sign of them even trying to have a go at us. As we came near to the tavern there was about ten Police already on duty outside. We got the usual bollox that they tended to give Skinheads back then but it did them no good because they were just ignored which I don’t think they liked all that much. Now, at this point I would like to point out that the media has established a myth which goes something like this. They, the media claim that what sparked the riot was us. Skinheads came into the Southall area and were abusing Asian woman/daubing walls with Swastikas and racist slogans etc. This is complete and utter bollox. The real reason is this. Two months prior to the event a gang of Asians had been arrested and two had been beaten whilst in Police custody (something that was quite common back then). The end result of the tension that this event caused lead straight to the doors of the Hambourgh Tavern. The Asians were looking for an excuse to get back at the Police and despite three meetings with the elders of their community and the Southall youth movement to keep the peace it was going to go off. Claims that the British Movement and National Front were in the pub were complete rubbish. Claims that on one of the coaches that brought people from the Last Resort there was a National Front flag in the rear window are rubbish. Perhaps what people don’t know is that inside the pub there were Black Skinheads that had travelled from the Kilburn area. It was these that were the first to be hurt as the windows came through and believe it or not it was these that were pulled to safety by white Skinheads. Any notion that this was a right wing motivated event is an untruth. Obviously there were right wing supporters in the pub as there was left wing. We all knew each other and it was an unwritten rule that on a 4 Skins bill you kept that at home. Who would want to tangle with Gary Hodges and those that he had with him? Only a fool that’s who. Playing on the night were three bands…they were. The Last Resort. The Business. The 4 Skins. It was those Black Skinheads that were hurt first and as ive said were pulled clear. I don’t know if they were in the bay window on purpose to wind the Asians up or what but if that was the case then it worked. One of their names was Lenox and he came from Ladbroke grove and as a side point was also injured at Acklam hall during another event that went tits up. As the windows came through i would have to say that we were still not too worried inside the pub about what was going on outside because we thought the Police would move the Asians on. I have never worked out why they didn’t or, why it got so out of hand.We have to be honest here because the Police could have been heavy handed and forced the issue but obviously the event with the Asian gang had something to do with it. The only thing people were concerned about was the woman that were there…one of whom was pregnant and the younger ones. I’ll never know how everyone got out safe and sound but, we did. It certainly hasn’t got anything to do with the Police because they just lost it. I was in a group of East end Skinheads which included Gary hitchcock/The 4 Skins and Lol Prior. Because we all knew each other we all stayed together and stayed in the pub until we were forced out by the fumes and smoke that at this point was pouring in through the smashed windows. The now legendary story about Lol prior trying to get the bands equipment out before it burned is quite true. He was beaten back by the flames and he was dragged out kicking and screaming. Just a head of us as we came out of the pub were the bulk of the Skinheads that i presume Rob is talking about when he says they were escorted through the Asians. There are many stories about that night that have been told since and some i smile about because i know that they are rubbish. One is when Hoxtom Tom the bassist with the 4 Skins was supposed to have knocked on the door of an Asian seeking help and was knocked over the head with a frying pan…funny but untrue. Another is that Gary Hitchcock jumped into the back of a Police van and wouldn’t come out. also untrue. These people were all in the same group together until we arrived back in East London safe and sound.
One thing that is true is this. As we left the pub and tried to charge at a group of Asians that had begun to fight toe to toe with the police that were trying to get away from the pub; they ,the Police screamed for us to help them which we did. With hindsight this was a mistake on both ours and the polices part because this just enraged the Asians even more. I mean, there we were with a solid line of police between us and the Asians and we were beating the living daylights out of ten or more Asians that had been caught as the police reinforced their lines. I suppose it must have looked or was seen by the press as a racist attack but……one of the black Skinheads was also having a go at the Asians…figure that out. Rightly or wrongly but those Asians that were caught and hurt and, i do me they were hurt deserved it. What stuck with me as i sat and thought about it over the following days was the amount of camera flashes. What the f**k was all that about? how did anyone from the media arrive on the scene so soon? In the papers the following weekend these photos began to appear along with photos of burnt British movement and National front leaflets? One word can describe these leaflets and I’ll leave you the reader to make up your own mind…the word is…PLANTED. During a conversation with Gary Hodges he came up with the idea that the police had put those leaflets there the following morning as a ploy to avoid any questions raised about their complete incompetence over the tactics they used on the night. I’d say that is as true an explanation as I’ve heard. I don’t recall seeing any leaflets being handed out. The only leaflets i was given were for future Oi! events and one for a gig which was to take place in the pub two weeks later for a Rockabilly night with the band the Deltas.
The police gathered up the Skinheads that were left over from the pub and tried to force us to the Local British rail station and onto Paddington I believe. Gary Hitchcock gave them a simple two word answer “fk Off”. The police couldn’t argue because they had other things to attend to. For some unknown reason we ended up in North Harrow When we arrived they MADE us all buy a ticket or they would arrest us. Anyway, whilst on the platform another group of Skinheads arrived who obviously had the same idea as us which was to somehow get back to Southall and have a go back. Among the group which was mainly Chelsea and the South London Skinheads was Chubby chris of Combat 84.By now we were a good forty in numbers and these were all the people that you wanted with you. Thinking on it these days it was quite a surreal situation because there on that tube train platform were two sets of people who probably hated each other more than any other group. The hatred all came down to East/South London and West ham/Chelsea. Funny though, because none of that was mentioned as the hate for the Asians was a lot greater. Well as it turned out we didn’t get back to Southall because we were being followed every step of the way by the Police who were at all the stations we went through. I would like to be telling you how we did make it back to Southall and, how we did take revenge on the Asians but if I’m honest its lucky we didn’t. Looking at it now im older there’s a good chance that i might not have lived if we made it back. It goes without saying that the amount of weapons we had gathered up and the mood we were in we would have killed or been killed. As it was many Asians throughout London fell foul to Skinhead attacks in the following weeks and during one of these attacks one Asian that got a little too mouthy was knifed to death. I don’t have a problem with that because not one Asian when asked by the media said that what happened in Southall was wrong. We are aware of the tightknit community these people have and we were aware at the time that they knew the truth that was hidden behind that riot so ,fk THEM. You could say that im a callous bastard but i was at Southall and was also there the night the Asian was killed. I don’t think it too relevant to go into detail about his death but he deserved what he got as did those that turned up on the night in question. What you have to remember is tensions were running high within the Asian community and, amongst Skinheads. Some of the younger Asians took what they read in the papers as truth. Lets just say that when a group of Asians turned up to gloat and gave it large to a group of Skinheads that were at Southall then they were inviting trouble…..like i said tensions were running high.
The story came out about the Asian gang and the beatings the police gave to two of them but by now people’s minds were closed. We all thought f**k it then…if this is what you think we are then that’s what we will be.
We eventually ended up at Harrow on the Hill where there was also a large number of Skinheads but by now the police had, had enough. Everyone just drifted off onto the tube and went home. Obviously we all knew it was on the cards that there would be a backlash but i don’t think that anyone realised it would be on the scale that it was. At the time it was as if the whole world and his sister had something to say about the oi! Movement and, everyone wanted to have their say. The papers were full of it each and every day for two solid weeks or more and no one wanted to touch an oi! Band or, even touch and oi! Event. Clubs and pubs that were due to host an event pulled out and gave some lame reason. It really was a case of us and them at the time. Skinheads were getting grief from every direction; even those Skinheads that were still at school were being threatened with being kicked out if they didn’t grow their hair. Those that were putting the records out were it seems fighting a losing battle with the music industry and the bands were being slaughtered by people that had been all ready to promote them just a few weeks before. The right wing was claiming a victory over the left and in turn the left was claiming one over the right. It was even spoke of in parliament………………… None and, i do mean NONE of this dampened the spirits of those that were involved in the scene because all though at the time we didn’t realise it, this is what we all thrived on and lived for……Confrontation. That is what the whole meaning of oi! Was and should be about even today. What an absolute victory the Carry on Oi! Album was and, what a sigh of relief was breathed on the streets. Out of all the Oi! Albums this one might not be the best but, it certainly was the most well received of them all. This album to us at the time represented two fingers firmly stuck up to the them……………………………..The establishment. I would have to say that most if, not all didn’t like the cover notes because to us they went too far…..they were too apologetic. It was if the words wrote on the rear of that cover played straight into the hands of those that were trying to destroy the Oi! Movement. It felt like the establishment had said, either toe the line or, we WILL destroy you. This was too much for some of the more loyal within the Oi! Scene and so they left it. Gary Hodges and the 4 Skins came in for so much flak that it got too out of hand and caused too many arguments so he (Gary Hodges) did the natural thing and left the band. It goes without saying that he went out in a blaze of glory and this was all down to the track that was on the carry on Oi! Album…………….Evil, it says it all really. Once Gary left the scene it began to fill with what can only be described as kiss arse apologists who played straight into the hands of both the right wing and, the left. It was these people that really brought politics into our movement with their bullste rantings. You only have to have a look at the so called Oi! Albums that came after Oi! Oi! that’s yer lot. Just have a look at the bands that were on these albums and also the cover notes………….Bollox to all that ste. With the exception of perhaps the new 4 Skins/Vicious rumours and of course the Business the following albums were rubbish. It was the people that were behind the said albums that played straight into the hands of the right wing. You can try all you like to pull that statement apart but history will prove you wrong. By mid-1983 the door was well and truly closed on the whole Oi! Movement; it wasn’t a shadow of its former self and because of those that were now running it….Oi! was lost. Everything was turned on its head by the middle class, suburban rebels that had taken it upon themselves to try and speak for the kids. These people were on a collision course with a man that came onto the Skinhead scene kicking, growling and causing havoc. He met these people head on and; with his band he just took over and, blew away the cobwebs and told the establishment exactly what they could do and, where they could go. Oi! Was dead but, Ian Stuart had arrived and, in style. The left put up a form of resistance but it was just too weak…….. Who honestly could take Chris Dean, Nick King or Martin Hewes of the Redskins seriously? Please, If anyone is in any doubts then think…..Jubilee gardens. Probably the biggest pile of bullste that came out of those few years was that the Redskins were signed to Decca records which in my mind says it all. The Redskins were supposed to be what they the establishment wanted Skinheads to be like Bollox to that idea because there was no way that any self-respecting Skinhead would listen to three middle class drop out types that had nothing in common with us. These people openly supported the Socialist workers party anyway. Correct me if I’m wrong but the way i see it is like this; if you can’t have the right then you can’t have the left Oh! But of course these type of people don’t think like that do they….too much bullste floating around in their heads and not enough streetwise suss’. It’s at this point in the history of Skinheads that the so called S H A R P Skinheads began to pop up. Yes i don’t understand them either. The bit i can’t seem to get my head around is when they say they are non-political…..errrrr if you say so. Now before i get accused of championing the right wing let’s just get something straight. In Ian Stuart those people that were beaten down by the media over Southall saw someone that again spoke for them. Those people would be the ones that came from the street., the real Skinheads/the real Herberts and the real football thugs. Not the Sussed Skins as they were known as at the time or the loony left wing lets ban everything and support everything that just isn’t worthwhile, types. We are all aware of where Skrewdriver went and what they did and that’s not relevant so, it won’t be spoken of. By the time Skrewdriver had announced their true intentions most if not all of the original Oi! scene had moved onto either; Football hooliganism and the casual way of life or were too busy earning a crust to give a fk. As the 80’s wore on under a Thatcher government people began to think in a different way to a few years before i mean…like her or hate her she gave us money/jobs and a meaning. The spirit of Oi! Was about changing the way we were living and getting ourselves out of poverty. She gave us that and, we took it. We are all aware of the miners’ strike but we didn’t give a toss about that because it was a case of “were all right jack”. It takes me back to the point i made about being tribal so nuff said. In any case a lot of the Skinheads that i grew up with watched our Dads being made unemployed as they the establishment closed down the docks in the East end of London…the same applied for the hated ones that lived over the river in South London. We had experienced it…..i don’t recall any miners standing alongside my Dad on picket duty in the 70’s.His favourite saying to me as i grew up was “Boy, the dosh is out there so grab it with both hands and never let go…fk everyone else” too bloody true. Now if that aint Oi! then i don’t know what is.
2004. Oi! Can never be as it once was because of the way we live today but that doesn’t mean the bands that have emerged and in some cases re-emerged cant still play good old fashioned Oi! The way it should be played. There are allot of bands that call themselves Oi! but as far as I’m concerned the only two that are worth a mention are…Argy bargee and Section 5.These two have the spirit of the old bands. The rest are too busy with politics which was not what we were about. It’s good to see younger people getting involved in the newer scene and enjoying the music of the older one. The future Who knows, let’s just take it as it comes and try to enjoy it while it’s here. It could soon be gone.
And lastly, It would not be right to end this article without naming the bands and recordings that made it all worthwhile. The Bands…… 1.The 4 Skins (Gary Hodges line up) 2.The East end badoes. 3.The Cockney rejects. 4.The Business. 5.Vicious Rumours. 7.Cock sparrer. 8.The Gonads. 9.The Ejected. 10.The Last Resort.
The Records…… 1.One law For Them.(The 4 Skins) 2.1984.(The 4 Skins) 3.Class of 82. (The Ejected) 4.England belongs to me.(Cock Sparrer) 5.We can do anything.(The Cockney Rejects) 6.Working class kids.(The Last Resort) 7.Work or riot.(The Business) 8.The Way its got to be.(East end badoes) 9.Vicious Rumours.(Vicious Rumours) 10.Fighting in the streets.(The Cockney Rejects)
As i said at the start, this article is not meant to upset or insult any band/bands/person or persons. If it has then…toughen yourselves up and get a life you mugs.
The Final words come from Max Splodge when asked for his opinion on the riot and i quote… “I think it was a conspiracy between Esso and Unigate”. Follow that. Cockney Express ( Terry London
Jinkys Account So much rubbish has been wrote about what really happened and I’m not sure I have ever read anywhere either in a book or on the internet anything by people that were there. Well that summer was a scorcher as those that remember will tell you and tempers were running high among a lot of people on the streets hence all the riots. I had been to the Hambourgh Tavern before the night of the riot but that was a Rockabilly gig. In fact I had been there a month before. Whilst on our way we got no end of grief off the local Asians but just pushed through them to the pub. I had gone the month before with two Rockabillys and another Skinhead and it was us the Skinheads we thought they were targeting but as we found out inside everyone had been given grief so we just assumed it was because we were White. Now some people have said that the Skinheads going to Southall was provocative but what a load of old tosh because explain the grief the Rockabillys got or the grief that the Soul boys got when they went there. We were told by someone that worked the bar that everyone that came into that pub on gig nights was greeted with the same hostile reception from the Asians and hey ho…they were ALL White so go and figure that one out.
What Tel says about the geezer from Greenford is quite true.. Tel his name was Greg Page in case you had forgot mate. I knew Greg through the Ealing Skinheads. Jason Harrison (Arty), Tony Jarvis (Samson) and the others; you should remember them Tel. So Greg tells us about the gig but a few days later he explains about the Southall youth Movement and what they had threatened to do if it went ahead. As a point on the side I think that if the Police had called the gig off they would have still gone on the rampage because I don’t think to this day that it was us that they really wanted to have a row with…it was the Police and the reasons have already been pointed out. Also, why didn’t the Police stop the gig because they MUST have known all the things that we knew. Maybe they wanted to use this as a way of avoiding a full on riot by the Asians against them and its far easier to blame us the Skinheads than have questions asked about them…..now there’s a thought for you to mull over. Right, I got one of the coaches that left from the last resort along with a few other pals from the East end, yeah it’s true that there was a Union jack in the back window of one of the coaches and why not?, And so what? Those that I’d gone with had already had a right good drink up and were still at it on the coach. On the journey we gave all the usual waner signs to everyone and that included the filth; Funny coz id have thought they would have stopped the coach and wiped us off but no? maybe im reading something into this that isn’t there but how about this for an explanation…the old bill knew where we were going and they knew what was going to happen and that’s why they waved us on ,sit you never know. Right, we arrive at the Hambourgh tavern in good time but you couldn’t help but notice that the little journey that we had to take from the coaches to the pub was not pleasant at all. The Asians that were gathered were making cutting gestures across their throats to us and giving the wan*er sign but I don’t think any of us realized that this was any more than a few locals giving it large. We understood what they thought we were i.e. Nazis and so we swallowed it. Some returned the gestures but can you believe that those old bill that were with us threatened us with arrest and started to get heavy handed. At the time I didn’t think on it but now I reckon that is was all for the Asians benefit but it did them no good because those that were being shoved about shoved back. Inside the pub now. I won’t talk about what happened there because Tel/Rob and Rob have spoken about that. I want to talk about what happened as we came out. Tel talks about the group he was with being the last ones out and by rights that should have been me as well but because of where I was in the pub I had to leave because I couldn’t breathe. Correct me if I’m wrong but those bay windows had large curtains hanging from them and they caught on fire and gave off smoke. It had gone from enjoying ourselves and told by Hoxton to keep calm to sudden chaos and blind panic. I thought I was going to be burned alive and I’m not afraid to admit it. As I say I was forced out of the place and was shoved towards two rows of Police and bundled forward still coughing my guts up. I managed to find two pals that I had gone with and we mobbed up with all the other Skinheads some one hundred feet from the pub. It was at this time that the last lot came out of the pub and got straight into some Asians that had come across to where a few Police had got in front of a small wall. To me it looked like these Skinheads were trying to make a stand and this caused some of those that I was with to try and get back but it was all done in a few minutes and we were bundled away. It was just as we were being told that we would be taken to the local BR that a huge bang went off then a flash that lit the place up; the Asians were all cheering and I have since found out that it was the Police car that was rammed towards the pub. There was no way I was going to get on a train and go to Paddington or wherever it was because my only interest was getting back home to East London and the same went for the seven or so I was now with. We managed to escape from the police escort and walked what seemed like miles through all these back streets. Along that way we just kept bumping into one mob of Asians after another and they wanted it and they got it. I hope this doesn’t sound like we were some kind of super heroes because trust me I was shitting myself and I don’t give a toss about admitting it either but we had to fight our way through a good fifty plus Asians in little gangs for about fifty In one of those little rows we had we came across ten or so Asians that I think wanted to kill us. As we turned a corner they were coming the other way and it went straight off but we managed to get the better of them and get them on their toes. It was as we were leaving them behind that another lot came out of an alleyway and I was hit over the head with a bottle. I tell you I went down like a ton of bricks but those that were with me stopped the Asians from putting the boot in and fought the cunt’s off me. These Asians also ran off but the talk was that a huge mob will come back our way so we had better get off ourselves. I honestly can’t remember too much about getting home because I was dizzy and seeing double. One thing I can remember is the looks I was getting from people on the bus we had jumped on and this was down to the claret coming out of my head. None of us knew where we were or where the bus was going but as long as it was heading away from that pub I don’t think any of us really care. As it turned out we ended up in a place called Eastcote where we got a tube train all the way home. Now that was luxury I can tell you. By the time we got back it was all over the TV and radio and guess who got the blame? The following day after getting along to the hospital to be stitched up from cuts I bought the papers and they were full of it and I still can’t understand to this day what the press thought they were doing. They made out that Skinheads had gone to Southall looking for trouble and got turned over by the locals. One report said that a Swastika had been sprayed on a window. If that is true I can’t see why the riot happened. The press basically said that the Asians gave us a good hiding because some of us gave them some verbal….the press were gloating over it instead of condemning it which they should have. It seems that the press were saying that two wrongs do make a right so if that was the case then why did all the revenge attacks that took place across London get bad press? No, something was most defiantly dodgy about that night and I think that somewhere in a Government vault is a paper with the names of the ringleaders from the Southall youth Movement and the names of the Police that let it all happen to protect themselves. My account (very boring one) My Memories of that night – said in short quick version. We had been drinking in the Hambrough for a few weeks before the gig It was just inside Southall on the border of Hayes. Obviously, it was mainly skins from Hayes and Southall and local areas pre the riot night and there hadn’t been much trouble every time I had gone there. I had gone there as usual but was looking forward to the gig. It was slow to start but the atmosphere was great inside. I was getting hot so went outside for some air and saw groups of Asians gathering. Suddenly Peter Soda a black guy that had gone to the same school had spotted me and came rushing over to me. He asked me why i had come tonight and that i shouldn’t have come with my skinhead as it was going to be kicking off in a few minutes and he said “loads of them have got petrol bombs ready”. He grabbed my hand and told me to go with him. (By the way I forgot to mention he was a friend) He walked me through the gathering groups to the other end of Southall – the wrong end!!! He left me near a copper close to the police station and said i should be far enough away to be safe. The Petrol bombs started going off and i saw the smoke from a couple of cars that had been set alight and could hear screaming and shouting. Loads more police shot out of the Station and towards the trouble. The copper i was standing with shot off so i dashed right into the front of the station. Some police were coming back bleeding as the Asians were attacking them too. It was getting dodgy near the station too so a copper told me to get in his car and drove me to another part of southall down the backstreets that could connect up to Yeading. He left me there then drove off, I started walking and not long afterwards I heard my name being shouted. It was my mum who had driven round the back way with the minibus from the children’s home and she was picking up some stray skinheads she found and was dropping them over to Hayes via Yeading. There were both black and white skins in the pub that night and my mate who was Black had gone with me. She had got out and got back to Hayes and had told my mum she didn’t know where I was, my mum then came out looking for me. My mate Peter told me that the Asians had gone prepared with the petrol bombs. It was a load of crap that the skins had gone there for trouble but the next day on the news it was saying we started it all and were provoking the Asians but the rioting carried on with Asians attacking the police even after all the skins had left.
When I was thirteen years old, I was miserable. I had acne, I had only hand-me-down clothing from my older sister (who was 3 sizes smaller than me), I had no friends, and worst of all, I felt like I didnt belong in any crowd. I was exposed to pictures, music videos, and songs from major mainstream pop stars, and I just could not relate. I had no idea what they were singing about. The supposed universal topics of broken hearts, dancing, and the expression of teenage sexuality all seemed like distant and irrelevant subjects to me. I knew that I would never look like them, I would never live their lifestyle, and more importantly, I knew I never wanted to be like them. I felt lost, different, and profoundly alone. Then, one day, my life changed forever.
I was in junior high, eating alone in front of my locker as was my usual routine, when I came across an old fanzine lying on the floor of my school hallway. One of the other students in the school had probably been reading it and accidently left it behind. Having nothing better to do, I started flipping pages. My eyes caught an image that I had never seen before in my life a woman with spiked up blue hair, studs all over her black leather jacket, and wailing on a guitar. It was a picture of Bekki Bondage, and that was my first exposure to women in punk rock. I decided then and there that instead of unsuccessfully trying to fit in all the time, I would do my best to stand out. I was inspired by Bekki outrageousness, her energy, her unfaltering self-confidence, and I made it my own mission to find that sense of passion and assurance in myself. I ripped the picture out of the magazine and pasted it into my locker as a reminder, and I’ve still got the photo after all these years.
Going punk was one of the most liberating experiences of my life. Instead of trying to squeeze myself into whatever teenage girl fashion there was at the time, I cut my own path and made my own clothes. I found that by creating my own aesthetic, I avoided a lot of the societal pressure placed on adolescent girls to look and act a certain way. Instead of focusing on my body image, I embraced the fact that I was a unique person with a multi-dimensional world view and personality. Through bands such as The Wednesday Night Heroes, Cock Sparrer, and Riot 99 I learned to triumph the values of authenticity, independence, and critical thinking, and I have no doubt that this subculture helped me create the strong sense of self that I have today. Punk rock is a potent medicine that I would prescribe to any young woman going through a crisis of confidence.
However, as the years went by I found myself getting more and more interested in oi! music, and eventually cropped in as a skinhead. I still loved punk, but I no longer felt the need to spike my hair out in a million different directions in order to show the world that I was different. I already felt the difference on the inside, and I wanted to find a subculture whose values incorporated not only the importance of being distinct, but also a sense of community, a sense of self-pride, and a sense of loyalty. I love the fact that oi! music is still working-class DIY music, but I also love the fact that behind its
John Lydon told an Oxford audience that all religion is “vile, poisonous and idiotic” and spoke of his exposure to paedophile priests as a young boy.
The former Sex Pistols and current PiL front man was speaking to an audience of around 300 at Oxford University’s Sheldonian theatre on Monday evening (December 8). It was his final public appearance to promote his 2014 autobiography, Anger Is An Energy.
During the talk, the punk icon took a swipe at Mick Jagger for his “embarrassing” performance at Glastonbury last year. Discussing his musical future, Lydon said he’d give up music “only if I got bored with it, and as long as there’s human being in the world, I’m not going to get bored”.
When interlocutor David Freeman asked if there was an age limit on performing, he replied: “No, only if you’re Mick Jagger. Did anybody see last year’s Glastonbury? I mean come on Mick… it’s not about age here, its about the show off bullshit… I wanted the Stones to give us the juice, the stuff that really put them there in the first place.”
He added: “But no, it’s Mick in ladies’ tights and his testicles are frocked and he’s running around like a speed freak and then there’s the band looking incredibly embarrassed and wearing the awful, I call them Tommy Hilfiger kind of colours, like Cliff Richard-on-holiday wear. And if I turn into that… then you’re all welcome.”
Asked about a possible future for the Sex Pistols however, Lydon replied, “Oh no, that’s finished. I mean have you seen us? I mean We’ve all put on weight but Mr Jones here [guitarist Steve Jones] is coming it at 500 pounds! And I did the butter advert!”
On a more serious note, Lydon also said in his talk that he was put off singing because of his mistrust of priests. “My early childhood, as far as singing goes, was spent deliberately not knowing how to sing, because I was raised a Catholic, and yeah, those priests were at it. So what you would do is everything in your heart and soul not to be co-opted into the choir because that meant the priests had direct access to you. And once that happened to you there weren’t nothing you could tell your mum and dad, because it would be mortal sin to accuse a priest of any wrong doing.”
He continued: “All religion to me is vile and poisonous and idiotic. They spend all their time trying to make you believe things that can’t possibly be true. Sounds a lot like the Tory party.”
The appearance was Lydon’s last in promotion of the book. The message of the autobiography, he told the audience, is that “self pity is for arseholes”.
Scores of youths have been given prison sentences following a Whitsun weekend of violent clashes between gangs of Mods and Rockers at a number of resorts on the south coast of England.Yesterday two youths were taken to hospital with knife wounds and 51 were arrested in Margate after hundreds of teenagers converged on the town for the holiday weekend. Dr George Simpson, chairman of Margate magistrates, jailed four young men and imposed fines totalling £1,900 on 36 people. Three offenders were jailed for three months each and five more sent to detention centres for up to six months.
Obscenities
In Brighton, two youths were jailed for three months and others were fined.
More than 1,000 teenagers were involved in skirmishes on the beach and the promenade last night.
They threw deckchairs around, broke them up to make bonfires, shouted obscenities at each other and at passers-by, jostled holidaymakers and terrified elderly residents.
At about 1300 BST Mods and Rockers gathered at the Palace Pier chanting and jeering at each other and threw stones when police tried to disperse them.
The teenagers staged a mass sit-down on the promenade when police, using horses and dogs, tried to move them on.
In Margate, there were running battles between police and up to 400 youths on the beach early yesterday morning. Bottles were thrown and two officers were slightly hurt.
Later, on the high street, around 40 young men smashed council flat windows and vandalised a pub and a hardware shop.
Last night, hundreds of young men and girls were still wandering around the resort long after the last train had left.
Police stepped in to prevent further violence and dispersed about 30 youths in leather jackets who marched up the promenade shouting “Up the Rockers!”
There were further clashes at Bournemouth and Clacton.
From the early to mid-1960s young, mainly working class, Britons with cash to spend joined one of two youth movements.The Mods wore designer suits protected by Parka jackets and were often armed with coshes and flick-knives. They rode Vespa or Lambretta scooters bedecked with mirrors and mascots and listened to Ska music and The Who.Rockers rode motorbikes – often at 100mph with no crash helmets – wore leathers and listened to the likes of Elvis and Gene Vincent.Inevitably the two gangs clashed. The 1964 Whitsun weekend violence in Brighton was famously dramatised in the film Quadrophenia (1979).In August that year police had to be flown into the Sussex resort of Hastings to break up fights between the two gangs.
But two years later, most Mods had turned their attentions to the burgeoning, more laid-back, hippie culture. While the harder working class Mods created the Skinhead Subculture
Jamaican producer and musician Harry Zephaniah Johnson, 67, credited with producing what is widely considered the first reggae single “No More Heartaches” by the vocal harmony trio The Beltones, passed away on Wednesday, April 3 in his Westmoreland, Jamaica birthplace, succumbing to complications from diabetes; Johnson leaves four children and three grandchildren.
Born on July 6th, 1945, Johnson, better known as Harry J, initially entered the music business as a bass player with The Virtues prior to becoming the group’s manager. Shortly thereafter, he took a job as an insurance salesman but his love for music continually beckoned. He booked time at producer/sound system owner Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One in 1968 and recorded The Beltones. The resultant debut release on Johnson’s Harry J label, “No More Heartaches,” is considered a defining record heralding the emergence of the reggae beat as distinctive from its rock steady predecessor. (“Nanny Goat”, a 1968 song produced by the better-known Coxsone Dodd and sung by the duo Larry and Alvin is also cited as a transformative record, moving the rock steady tempo into a reggae rhythm).
“At the time we were under contract with Coxsone Dodd but he wasn’t doing anything for us so a member of a popular group The Cables took us to Harry J; Harry was new to the business and happy to record us so we broke away from Coxsone and went with him,” recalled The Beltones’ former lead singer Trevor Shields told Billboard.biz. “The driving sound on “No More Heartache” was totally different; we were like outsiders starting something new but didn’t know it at the time. The song was No. 1 on the Jamaican charts for about four weeks, which was no easy feat in those days.”
Harry J’s next big hit “Cuss Cuss” by Lloyd Robinson, released in 1969, boasts one of the most recycled reggae rhythms in the voluminous Jamaican music canon. The same year Harry J released a succession of reggae instrumentals credited to the Harry J All Stars, a revolving cast of musicians that included pianist Gladstone “Gladdy” Anderson, keyboardist Winston Wright, bassist Jackie Jackson, drummer Winston Grennan and guitarist Hux Brown. “Smashville,” “Je T’Aime” and “Srpyone” an assortment of Jamaican originals and reggae adaptations of international hits, are just three of the Harry J All Stars’ instrumentals that garnered steady play from Kingston’s sound system selectors.
Their most successful was “Liquidator,” led by Winston Wright’s spirited keyboard solos, which peaked at no. 9 on the UK Singles chart and became an unlikely skinhead anthem there. The song’s opening bassline was subsequently featured on the introduction to The Staple Singers’ 1972 Hot 100 chart topper “Ill Take You There” (Stax Records). According to an April 7 report in the Jamaica Observer newspaper by Howard Campbell, based on a 2000 Observer interview with Johnson, drummer Al Jackson (of Booker T and the MGs, Stax’s in-house band) visited Kingston in 1969 and met Harry J who gave him a copy of “Liquidator”; Johnson was shocked to hear the song used in the Staple Singers’ hit and took aggressive steps to collect royalties from Stax but made little progress.
Following “Liquidator’s” UK success, British reggae label Trojan gave Johnson his own Harry J imprint; his instrumental productions never again reaped the popularity of “Liquidator” but Johnson triumphed working with several of the island’s vocalists commencing with Marcia Griffiths and Bob Andy: their 1970 duets covering Nina Simone’s “Young Gifted and Black” and Crispian St. Peters’ “The Pied Piper” reached the upper tiers of the UK singles charts.
In 1972 Johnson opened a sixteen-track studio at 10 Roosevelt Avenue, Kingston, which revolutionized the reggae capital’s recording industry. “Back then, we were recording two-track and four-track sessions so it took great foresight for someone to go all the way to 16-tracks, which brought us on par with the rest of the world,” engineer/musician/producer Stephen Stewart told Billboard.biz at Harry J studios; there Stewart learned audio engineering in the 1970s while still a teenager, working alongside the late Sylvan Morris. “Because he had the latest in technology Harry J attracted the best artists of the day,” Stewart noted.
A sampling of the classic 1970s roots reggae recordings done at Harry J studios includes: The Heptones’ “Book of Rules,” The Melodians’ “Sweet Sensation,” Toots and the Maytals’ “Reggae Got Soul,” Burning Spear’s “Days of Slavery” and Dennis Brown’s “So Long Rastafari.” Bob Marley and The Wailers also recorded their first four albums for Island Records at Harry J (“Catch a Fire,” “Burnin,” featuring Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh, “Natty Dread,” and “Rastaman Vibration” with the I-Threes); presently, framed gold copies of those Wailers albums adorn the walls of the studio’s main room.
Harry J Studios are featured in the 1978 film “Rockers” (directed by Theodoros Bafaloukos and starring Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace, Gregory Isaacs and Jacob Miller) in a scene that spotlights singer Kiddus I recording “Graduation In Zion” there.
Although the 1970s were Harry J’s production heyday he continued to produce and release hit singles throughout the 1980s including Sheila Hylton’s cover of The Police’s “The Bed’s Too Big Without You”, which reached no. 38 on the UK singles chart. Harry J responded to the massive “Sleng Teng” rhythm released by the King Jammys label in 1984, which jumpstarted Jamaican music’s digital revolution, with his aptly titled “Computer Rule” rhythm that spawned numerous hits for various singers and toasters including Daddy Freddy, Charlie Chaplin, Uglyman, and Little John.
Following a seven-year dormancy during the 1990s, Harry J studios reopened in 2000, under the management of Stephen Stewart who refurbished and re-equipped the facility, with Johnson retaining ownership of the premises. “Harry J pushed the business aspect of the industry, putting deals together and cataloguing his songs (including releases on the Jaywax, Roosevelt, 10 Roosevelt Avenue and Sunset subsidiaries), which were separate from the studio operations,” Stewart offered.
Countless reggae veterans including Toots Hibbert, Burning Spear, Sly and Robbie and Luciano have recorded at Harry J studios in recent years while upstart Jamaican groups Raging Fyah and Di Blueprint Band and an abundance of European reggae acts have each sought out its authentic roots reggae sound. “People come here to capture that live session chemistry where recording is more than just one person using a computer program,” observes Stewart. “The legacy of the musicianship that has come through here makes Harry J studios really special, it’s part of the vision Harry brought to Jamaican music.”
There are many great British bank holiday traditions; determined but ultimately doomed DIY projects, staring from stationary car windows in lengthy traffic jams or simply avoiding the predictable rain. One tradition though which has largely been consigned to history is the invasion of south-coast seaside resorts by teenage youth cults; namely the Mods and Rockers.
The seaside battles between the sartorially elegant Mods and their leather-clad rivals the Rockers fuelled much sensationalist media coverage in 1964. As news of the fighting and arrests filtered out, these youngsters found themselves at theforefront of public outrage. In fact, the Easter weekend shenanigans were pretty much the first mass-media scare over a drug-taking, mindless, violent youth. Of course there have been quite a few scares since. Newspaper headlines from March 1964 screamed ‘Wild ones invade seaside’ and ’97 leather jacket arrests; youngsters beat-up seaside’ as fighting broke out in Clacton-on-Sea. The trouble caused enough outrage for Panorama to investigate the groups and work out whether this phenomenon would be become a regular feature of future bank holidays. The results were strikingly candid; providing a snapshot of working-class youth at the point where deference to the establishment was beginning to wane. The Mods preached a hedonistic take on life; enjoying drugs, music, clothes and violence to a lesser or greater degree and set a blueprint for many a youth tribe to follow. The Rockers seemed more about the bikes.
Perversely for a group with an anti-establishment reputation, the Rockers citied Mods lack of education and class as factors behind their behaviour. The reality though was that both groups were predominantly working-class. The battles may have ceased almost as quickly as they began; but they have become the stuff of legend, immortalised in the album, film and now stage play “Quadrophenia”. But as with any legend, it has tarnished a little over the years amid claims that many seaside punch-ups were actually faked for the press. This tradition carried on through peaks and troughs, right up until the early 80’s when cheap Spanish holidays, took British youth abroad
Both groups still thrive today albeit in smaller, underground circles. The great Skinhead Reunion in Brighton or the resurrection of the Rockers haunt the Ace cafe in north London, or the continued vogue for modish Fred Perry clothing and their mainstream influence is still evident today, although the violence is consigned to the past.
Headhunters … Terrence Matthews and Jason Marriner By MIKE SULLIVAN, Crime Editor, and ALEX PEAKEPublished: 26th March 2011 The Sun
FOR decades the mere mention of their name struck fear and terror into football fans across the UK and Europe.
They revelled in being the most notorious hooligans on the planet.
They were the Chelsea Headhunters — dishing out their savage brand of football violence on rival fans at grounds across the country in the Seventies and Eighties.
They disappeared from the scene for a number of years following a string of convictions for violence. Then last year the ringleaders coaxed the now middle-aged and pot-bellied brutes out of retirement for one last dust-up.
But yesterday the vile thugs’ 30-year reign of terror was ended once and for all as the last remnants of the ageing, desperate gang were brought to justice following their final brutal clash.
The chance to rekindle the tribal camaraderie and blood-fuelled adrenaline the Headhunters had once lived for presented itself when Championship side Cardiff City were drawn away to Chelsea in the fifth round of the FA Cup on February 13 2010.
The Welsh club’s own hardcore group, the Soul Crew, enjoy a formidable reputation and relished the prospect of invading west London.
In the deluded minds of the Chelsea old guard, getting stuck in to the Cardiff mob was a matter of defending national pride.
The scene that unfolded was a perfect storm of football violence — punch-ups and brick-throwing in broad daylight as terrified families cowered in the carnage.
Marshalling the bloated and blowing Chelsea soldiers that day were Andy “Nightmare” Frain, 46, and Jason Marriner, 43.
Dad-of-three Marriner, of Stevenage, Herts, was yesterday jailed for two years and banned from football grounds for eight years having been found guilty at Isleworth Crown Court of playing a “pivotal role” in organising one of the biggest ever violent clashes between football hooligan “firms”.
He was due to be joined by Frain — who was last seen arriving at court swigging from a bottle of vodka — but his sentencing had to be postponed due to illness. Frain, of Chelmsford, Essex, has pleaded guilty to violent disorder and is due to be sentenced later.
Frain and Marriner have previously been jailed for seven and six years respectively in 2000 after being secretly filmed plotting violence during a BBC programme by investigative reporter Donal MacIntyre. Frain discussed his involvement with the neo-Nazi group Combat 18 while Marriner had close links to Ulster loyalists.
Andy ‘Nightmare’ Frain … last seen at court with vodkaNational Pictures
On Thursday, 13 other Chelsea fans were jailed for offences of violence after the Cardiff game and received sentences of up to two years in jail. One of those was Ian Cutler, a 50-year-old builder from Wednesbury, West Mids, who has football-related convictions for violence dating back to the 1970s. He was seen kicking and punching a man lying on the ground and given 14 months and banned from football grounds for six years.
Judge Martin Edmunds QC told Cutler and other defendants they were “old enough to know better”.
On Monday, Terence Matthews, of Morden, Surrey, and two others pleaded guilty to affray. A judge warned them they face jail when sentenced in May.
A now slimmed-down Matthews, 50, was once accused of being the “Fat Man” who rammed a bottle in a barman’s face at a pub near Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge ground.
He was jailed for four years for affray in 1986 but, to the outrage of police and victims, was acquitted of the bottle attack. He later served a two-year jail sentence for assaulting a police officer. Det Supt William Lyle of the Metropolitan Police said of the violence on the day of the Cardiff match: “Nothing like it had happened since the 1970s. One heavily pregnant woman in a car became very stressed by fighting hooligans.
“There was CCTV of a father shielding his two children as missiles were thrown over their heads. We were prepared for trouble but nobody could have foreseen that.”
These fresh convictions have ripped the heart out of the Headhunters’ hierarchy who, in their heyday, became infamous for inflicting their own brand of torture.
In their “manor” of London’s trendy King’s Road they would administer the notorious “Chelsea Smile” — so-called because victims’ faces would be SLICED from the edges of the mouth to the ears.
To hurt or even kill the victim, he or SHE would then be STABBED in the stomach so the face would RIP when they screamed.
But with the arrival of all-seater stadiums in the early Nineties, football hooliganism was all but stamped out. The shaven-headed, hate-filled hooligans got older and there was a lack of wannabes waiting to fill their shoes.
In recent years the Headhunters became nothing more than a myth.
The group faded away after MacIntyre’s documentary exposed the remaining hardcore members.
But the cup clash with Cardiff last year proved too much for the now paunchy monsters to turn down. All the old crew were back for the reunion — Nightmare, Marriner and the Fat Man too.
Scene of terror … punch-up in 2010National Pictures
Police insisted on a noon kick-off but the first signs of trouble came in the morning when more than 100 Chelsea yobs marched on North End Road, splitting into two groups with military precision to attack Cardiff coaches.
Smoke bombs went off as the rival hooligans clashed before police took control.
The court heard this week how Chelsea fans then downed up to seven pints of lager and snorted lines of cocaine in pubs as they prepared to face their Welsh enemy after the final whistle.
The thugs jostled on the Fulham Road. A group of Cardiff fans broke away and made their way to the King’s Road, where they were met by the Headhunters.
More than 200 yobs then fought a running battle for the next quarter of an hour, hurling missiles and traffic cones at each other.
Bricks were thrown at police. One officer had his jaw broken and lost four teeth after being hit in the face with a rock.
The police quickly launched Operation Ternhill to identify the thugs and collected hundreds of hours of CCTV footage.
Seventeen hooligans were named to police in just two days last July following an appeal in The Sun.
A total of 96 people have been charged over the riot so far, with more than 60 having already pleaded guilty to offences of affray and violent disorder.
mpuDet Supt Lyle said: “A high number were in their thirties, forties and even their fifties. The oldest one was 55. A lot of them went because they knew there was a high possibility of violence.”
In February this year 27 Cardiff fans received sentences of up to 14 months in jail. A second batch of 18 more were given similar terms.
Brave telly investigator Donal MacIntyre was in court yesterday.
Thugs from the Headhunters firm attacked him and wife Ameera last year in “revenge” for some of their gang being convicted as a result of his 1999 report. A member of the gang James Wild, 47, was later convicted for the attack.
MacIntyre said: “They beat my wife up when she had a brain tumour. I’m here to see justice done. I’ve been running for ten years and now enough is enough.”
385 Willesden High Road is tucked away behind a row of dilapidated 19th century houses, its entrance obscured by high locked gates and a walled yard. But 385 is a treasure trove of reggae history. It’s called Theorem, Music Village, and it’s where we’re recording several artist interviews for Reggae Britannia. As we arrive, there’s a band in the studio rehearsing a romantic Lovers Rock number, there’s a man up a rickety ladder painting the walls and another mopping up from an all night dance in the ‘functions room’ with its damp lino and garish red felt walls.
T-Jae, the tall soft-spoken proprietor of what was once called BBMC (the Brent Black Music Cooperative) helps us with our camera gear. He’s got coffee brewing in the kitchen beside an open can of condensed milk. Before T-Jae’s time this was a leisure centre filled with rattle of pinball machines and the click of snooker balls – now replaced by the drum ‘n bass of reggae rhythms leaking from the studio.
We’re here to interview Dave Barker, one half of the Dave and Ansell Collins vocal duo who set the teenage mods alight, back in 1971, performing a novelty number called ‘Double Barrel’. Dave’s a quietly spoken man with a hint of a stammer. He tells us how, when he first came to this country (and he stayed here ever after) he peered out through the window of his BOAC plane as it banked over the smoking chimneys of the snow-covered houses below and wondered ‘how come they have so many bakeries in England?’ On the drive from the airport he was shocked at seeing white men digging the road and taking out garbage: ‘Wow man, that was strange, you didn’t see those things in Jamaica’. Nor dogs wearing winter vests, nor steak and kidney pies, nor that little sparrow he spied pecking the top off a milk bottle. He can’t help himself: Dave sings a refrain from Matt Munro’s ‘Born Free’ and segues into ‘Summer Holiday’.
Dave arrived in the U.K exactly ten years before Theorem opened its doors to top British and Jamaican reggae artists passing through. Today, there’s the legendary Max Romeo sitting on bench in the winter sunshine, his grey locks neatly tucked into a woolly beret. In 1969, Max brought his wicked song ‘Wet Dream’ to Britain and its risqué lyrics – which got it banned in clubs and on the BBC – made it an anthem for skinheads in dance halls all across Britain. He sings a few lines, diffidently explaining how it caused an ‘upstir’ among the rebellious youth of the time. He’s a little ashamed of it now because, by the mid 70s, Max had embraced the wisdom of Rastafari. That was when he wrote and recorded some of reggae’s most powerful and memorable music in the Black Ark studio of Lee Scratch Perry: ‘War In A Babylon’ and ‘Chase The Devil’. When those songs arrived here, first as pre-releases and then remixed by Island Records, they inspired our fledgling roots reggae bands and then the punks and then Bob Marley too. Max intones a few lines from ‘Chase The Devil’, an ironic, cautionary tale that has been covered or sampled by dozens of musicians – including Jay-Z in ‘The Black Album’ – and was featured in the video-game Grand Theft Auto.
Dave Barker and Max Romeo – by Irfhan Mirza
‘I’m gonna put on an iron shirt and chase Satan out of earth’ he sings. ‘I’m gonna send him to outer space to find another race’. Max explains: ‘The devil is the negative within the psyche. Chasing the devil means chasing the negative out of your mind.’ There are people wandering in and out while he speaks; musicians carrying drums and guitars into this studio that’s cold as a morgue, or dropping off an amp or a heavyweight speaker, or they’ve come to pay their respects to the master, with a hug or a high-five.
T-Jae comes sauntering by with a piece of carpet under his arm to help our sound recordist dampen the ‘live’ acoustic of the room (yes, we still have a sound recordist on our crew) and he tells me that among the band members in the studio today is none other than Bigga Morrison. Bigga’s not a front man like Max, but a keyboard virtuoso and music director of renown. Reggae royalty. The band take a another break for a smoke in the yard and Bigga, immaculate in pin-striped suit and brogues, describes growing up in this country as a second generation West Indian: ‘My parents had experienced troubles and threats on the streets, back in the ’50s, with the Teddy Boys and such, but they wouldn’t discuss those things because they wanted to keep you free from the pressures. But as we grew up, we took our message and our fight onto the streets with the roots and culture music we played in bands like Steel Pulse and Aswad.’
Later during the interview, I asked Bigga to show us how the British reggae producers, back in the early 1970s, added violins to the Jamaican imports to make them sound ‘more classical’. Unfortunately, he’s lost his glasses and so can’t read the score. Tee Jay’s on hand to send for a replacement pair. Bigga fills in time by playing us a delightful new track by his band the Skatronics, but when the glasses arrive, they’re all wrong for Bigga. He wears them anyway, and peers astigmatically at the music for ‘Young Gifted And Black‘ which is layered in symphonic-style strings. Bigga (educated at Trinity College of Music) explains how Jamaican reggae gradually transformed into a British musical experience, first through the dub sounds and conscious lyrics of hardworking roots groups like Aswad and then by the bands that went platinum: the 2 Tone crowd, UB40 and The Police. Bigga’s being called back to rehearsals now, so we break for a late lunch. It’s a choice of The New Golden Duck Chinese Take Away or the Caribbean place half a mile up the road. We do the walk and settle for salt fish and akee. Or rather, the others do. I choose the goat curry on plantains and soon regret it.
Bigga Morrison
Back in Theorem, Bigga’s at the keyboards and a couple of pretty female vocalists are delivering more saccharine Lovers Rock. And that’s where we see Big Youth, in among them, gyrating his hips to the pounding bass and chugging upbeat of the guitar. He’s chaperoned by a petite Italian lady from an artists’ agency called Roots Rockers. She’s Trish, and she’s exhausted because they’ve only just returned from a nightmare flight from Spain. Trish is a miracle of calm and efficiency in the maelstrom of the struggling reggae business and it’s clear all the artists adore her. Trish has offered us the opportunity to interview Big Youth, the toaster who excited British reggae fans with his revolutionary, rasta-inspired lyrics in the mid ’70s. He’s on top form today, his wiry body twisting and swaying in the interview chair as he sings lines from ‘Hit The Road Jack’, telling me how the great Ray Charles called him up one Christmas-time to admit that Big Youth’s version was just ‘the best’. ‘Big Youth stole the scene,’ he concludes. Modesty isn’t one of Big Youth’s virtues. But I can vouch for his status, and integrity. I first met him insideRandy’s Record shop in Kingston Jamaica back in ’77. He was checking out the sales of his album – visiting these record stores was about the only way an artist could tell how many were selling. He was as big a name as Marley at the time, and revered both on the island and over here. We met again – by chance – in Lagos, Nigeria, when he was on the run from some unscrupulous promoter. He’s older and greyer now, but with no loss of energy, showmanship or sharp humour. And the red, gold and green implants in his front teeth are still there.
The filming days at Theorem haven’t only been productive for our ninety minute programme, they’ve also been enormous fun. Maybe it’s the familiarity and affection the artists have for this building, or maybe it’s what they call ‘the spirits’ of the house: a combination of all those sounds and experiences imbedded in the cracking plaster walls, the creaky floorboards which once the feet of hallowed artists trod, or the reverberating bass you can hear down Theorem’s honeycomb of corridors.
We’ll be back here later in the week to interview the fiery, bubbly Lovers Rock singer Sylvia Tella, from Manchester; and Tippa Irie who came to fame DJing for the Saxon sound system, and maybe Dennis Bovell, the multi-talented producer/song writer and bass player, who did so much to anglicise reggae music in this country. Oh, and Trish says Dennis Alcapone’s coming by, the dapper, bowler-hatted vocalist who brought a whole new style of toasting to these shores with songs like ‘Guns Don’t Argue’: ‘Don’t call me Scarface, my name is Capone, C-A-P-O-N-E!’
For him, we’ll haul our equipment boxes down the dark corridors of Theorem (we never could find the light switches, thriftily hidden away in recesses above door frames). Because we’ll place him in a room, behind the studio, which is every reggae fan’s dream, an Aladdin’s cave of antique tape machines and mixers, and an expansive crimson casting couch. The wood-trim Rainderk desk dates from the early ’70s when Reggae first exploded onto our pop charts with songs like ‘Young Gifted And Black’, bringing an upbeat musical thrill not just to those of Caribbean origin and the packs of skinheads who followed them around the country, but to the whole nation. This mixing desk was donated by Pete Townshend of The Who. It has made history since, recording reggae artists like The Wailers, Gregory Isaacs, Aswad, Janet Kay, Maxi Priest … and so many more.
The traffic’s slow on Willesden High Road as we leave the studios and T- Jae waves us into the evening gridlock and shuts the gates. Back-in-the-day, Theorem would be filling up with dreadlocked musicians and their natty entourage, ready for another all night session. Sometimes it still does, but with the proliferation of cheap home studios and a music industry in crisis, it’s a whole lot quieter now. No sessions tonight. Just the rattling pipes, the whispering corridors, the vacant studio and the ghosts of British reggae history.
Plan B Photographed In Skrewdriver T Shirt The Quietus , July 22nd, 2012 05:18
Has Ill Manors rapper had an attack of the Morrisseys?
As reported on Brian Whelan’s excellent blog recently, UK rapper/neo-soul star Plan B was photographed last week wearing a T shirt bearing the band name Skrewdriver.
The picture was taken from the front cover of popular free title, Shortlist which has a circulation of over half a million copies a week. The The Defamation Of Strickland Banks star was giving an interview to promote his new album and film (both called Ill Manors). The photoshoot took place immediately on his arrival at the studio, but it isn’t made clear if the clothes belong to the rapper or were given to him by a stylist.
The T shirt appears to bear a picture of Nicky Crane, a violent Nazi skin who provided security for Skrewdriver and served several jail terms for racist assaults. Donaldson and Crane both fell out when the latter came out as gay towards the end of his life. For many, the white power, bonehead band Skrewdriver represented the absolute nadir of popular music’s interaction with the Fascist movement, given that their message was evangelical, unironic, violent, radical and, to a certain degree, popular. That singer Ian Stuart Donaldson died in a car crash in 1992, did nothing to hurt their standing worldwide among neo-Nazis. The band however started as a non-politically aligned punk group in 1976 signed to Chiswick, and this incarnation of the group still has many fans internationally including J Mascis and Pink Eyes from Fucked Up. (Pink Eyes, aka Damian from Fucked Up, delivered a righteous screed on the subject of being a fan of the band’s early recordings on the Guardian which is worth checking out.) The interview with Benjamin Paul Ballance-Drew aka Plan B is still viewable on the Shortlist website where you can clearly see he is wearing the neo-Nazi band top. It seems highly unlikely that Plan B has accidentally revealed himself to be – or indeed is – a Nazi especially given his recent, left leaning and nuanced ‘Ill Manors’ single but it is ironic and doesn’t help him any that during the interview he praises Tim Roth’s acting in Made In Britain, Alan Clarke’s 1982 film about racist skinheads. He was asked: “Do you look at actors such as Winstone, Gary Oldman and Tim Roth and think, ‘I’d like to be at that level in 20 years’?” And replied: “Oh mate, Tim Roth in Made In Britain – f*cking amazing. In 20 years, I’d love to be at the level they’re at, but it depends how I look. Some people don’t age well for films. They lose that spark. Oldman’s still got it, Ray’s still got it. It all depends on what fate’s got in store for me.”Yet another example of a complete lack of knowledge or investigation by the media, but printed as fact.Well here’s the real story of the ‘T shirt’ the facts are Gavin Watson has done a bit of work with Plan B, and he loved Gavins skinhead photographs, he asked Gav could he use some, and Gavin gave him a whole box of images to choose from, which he then printed a few to t shirts, as a way of using genuine British street images, and also supporting Gavins photography.
But the picture in question, printed on the T shirt is one that Gavin Watson took of his younger brother Neville, who at the time was about 14 years old. Taken in the mid 1980’s on a council estate in High Wycombe at the height of the Skinhead Subculture. Posing against a garage, which has the word Skrewdriver graffitied on it. At that time it was very common for punk bands names to be graffitied all over the country.Gavins photographs have been printed worldwide and have come to represent Margaret Thatchers Britain. Gavin was given a camera as a kid and went about photographing his environment, family and friends, in a complete innocent love of photography. It just so happens that the time was when the British youth culture of Skinheads was at its height, of which Gavin was an active part. Films like ‘ This is England’ and many fashion designers and marketting people have used Gavins images as inspiration, but due to 21st Century political correctness, the actual era that the photos represent is something the British establishment would rather bury under a carpet. and even today, 30 years later the media are still spewing out their lies about the time and the young people involved.This obsession withbelittling council estate kids, and anyone that tries to inspire them. i think its extremely brave and sincere of Plan B to take genuine images of real kids from the council estates that he now represents with his music. In the USA people like Biggy Smalls did that, with his own environment, to huge worldwide success. Yesterdays Skinheads who listened to Oi music, are no different than todays youth, listening to Grime . The more young people feel attacked and written off, outcast, the more chance they will take to the streets, as was seen last year in British cities and in 1981, with the previous generation. July 22, 2012 13:34
Plan B responds to NME ‘neo-Nazi’ t-shirt criticism
Rapper apologises, says he was unaware of the existence of Skrewdriver
Plan B has responded to criticism for a photograph which shows him wearing what appears to be a Skrewdriver t-shirt. The most recent issue of Shortlist shows the rapper sporting a top with the band’s name written on it. This prompted some commentators to question his motive. The New Statesman asked why the rapper had worn the T-shirt and quoted journalist Brian Whelan, who wrote on his blog: ” It is very unusual that Plan B would knowingly wear this t-shirt and that Shortlist would stick it on the front of their publication. Make no mistake about it Skrewdriver were a nasty bunch, [founding member] Ian Stuart became a martyr for the far-right when he died in a car crash almost 20 years ago.” The rapper has now released a statement, which has been posted on The Quietus, explaining that the garment was not an official Skrewdriver t-shirt. He also apologised for not knowing who the band were, or what they represented. He said: “I was ignorant to the existence of the band Skrewdriver. I don’t listen to music like that so I wouldn’t know the names of bands that make that music. I was wearing a T-shirt I created using a photograph from the photographer Gavin Watson’s book Skins. “I asked him if I could print shots from his book on to T-shirts. I made a number of these T-shirts. Gavin’s photos are relevant to me because they represent the demonised youth of the past. Just like my generation of young people are demonised in the media to all be hoodie wearing thugs and chavs so were the skinheads in the 80’s.” Speaking about the person on the T-shirt, who some thought to be former Skrewdriver associate Nicky Crane, Plan B explained: “Most of the T-shirts I had made were of his brother. The boy on the image is Neville Watson. Neville is Gavin Watson’s brother. The graffiti behind him is graffiti. Neither Gavin or Neville put it there; it was already there when Gavin took the photo. Gavin did not know I had printed that image on a T-shirt and I was not aware of the significance of it.” He concluded: “The minute I found out what the words on the T-shirt meant I was angry with myself for not questioning them. The T-shirt is not official nor is it on sale anywhere. It was of my own doing and therefore it is my mistake, but that is all it is.” Skrewdriver were a notorious neo-Nazi “white power” group with links to the National Front. Founding member Ian Stuart Donaldson died in a car crash in 1993 and his death is celebrated every year by the far-right movement. Shortlist’s interview with Plan B can still be viewed on their website, where he talks about his favourite actors and movies as well as his own film, and accompanying album, Ill Manors.
So what is Psychocuntabilly and why should you care ? Psychocuntabilly is a word that Swifty came up with while planning a live broadcast show. This name was chosen as a way of trying to explain to the listener what sort of madness was about to ensue. Take some Psychobilly, mix in a little Country Punk and some large dollops of Hellbilly and Rockabilly and you’re starting to see what you might expect from one of our adrenaline pumping live shows. Psychocuntabilly is an umbrella name given to a combination of shows that DJs, SWIFTY, SEBSTER and ROSCO put together on a weekly basis and broadcast live via the World Wide Web. Psychocuntabilly makes only one simple promise… “Psychocuntabilly, Grabs Sub Culture by the Balls”. With Swifty & wife Sebster on the decks for “Psychocuntabilly”. You can expect to be hearing all of your favorite tracks and some from way out of leftfield from all of the following acts… KING KURT MAD SIN THE METEORS THE CRAMPS JOHNNY CASH HANK WILLIAMS 3rd SEASICK STEVE REVEREND HORTON HOUND DOG TAYLOR ZOMBIE GHOST TRAIN DEMENTED ARE GO DASH RIP ROCK HORROPOPS Plus heaps more from similar bands & artists…
“Grab Yr Boots & Harry” This is another show hosted by Swifty. A night of OI & NewWave Music from back in the day with new and upcoming bands also thrown into the mix… No self respecting Skin or Punk can afford to miss this one. 4SKINS REJECTS SPARRER CODE1 LONDON DIEHARDS SKINFUL PRESURE 28 STRANGLERS EXPLOITED GBH BLITZ THE JAM SHAM IGGY POP HAZEL
Plus loads more…
Original & Rare Ska (No 2Tone) With Swifty again in control of the decks this show is currently grabbing a massive audience from around the world. Usually held on Sunday nights and a great way to unwind and chill out before the weekend winds down. PRINCE BUSTER DESMOND DECKER LAUREL DERRICK MORGAN LEE SCRATCH PERRY TOOTS KING HAMMOND BABA BROOKS
You get the picture, loads and loads of 100% pure unspoilt ska as it was meant to be.
“Sunday Reggae Breakdown” Swifty again firing down the reggae slabs to help you unwind (not every Sunday but usually held at least twice a month).
“Soitiz” DJ Swifty again, this time blasting out Techno sessions live from the studio. These shows can tend to be a bit random with guests turning up and playing impromptu sets.
“Back2Back Battles” DJ Swifty & DJ Rosco also perform various back to back battles. For these shows two music genres are selected and then quite simply put to the test in 2 hour bouts. PUNK V MOD NORTHERN V SKA
Expect PUNK, MOD, NORTHERN, SKA, REGGAE and 2TONE. Plus crazy band battles where 3 or 4 bands from the same genre are sent in to battle it out over the airwaves.
None of these shows are your normal run of the mill broadcasts; expect banter, pisstaking and some strange requests. We always strive to dig out the lesser know songs and play lots of rarities from all bands within the various genres.
The DJs, ..SWIFTY, SEBSTER and ROSCO… Swifty over 20yrs experience DJ’ing all over the world. Sebster, the freshest of the trio, but already with a reputation for delivering the goods on every show. Rosco another professional DJ, working on the circuit for almost 10ys now.
You won’t be disappointed with our shows. Most of the shows are recorded so if you miss them you have the opportunity to listen in again later. Should you require a show to be downloaded, simply contact Swifty and it will be sorted for you.
THE BATTLE OF THE SKA KINGS COMES BACK OUR 1ST WIN PRINCE 2ND DESMOND 3RD LAUREL AND NOW WE HAVE ADDED TOOTS N THE MAYTELLS INTO THE RING KICK OF 8PM UK TIME SWIFTY
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Symond Lawes 
Isabelle Pradel Skinhead Girl, Sao Paulo Brazil banned from Facebook
Instagram is awash with people banned from Facebook
Instagram is full of people talking about losing their facebook profiles
Skinheads in Sao Paulo Brazil 
One of the biggest skinhead scenes now is in Bogota Colombia
