Housed in a decrepit former supermarket deep in the badlands of Trenton, City Gardens hosted a wildly eclectic mix of hardcore, post-punk, indie, ska, hip-hop and metal — Nirvana, R.E.M., and the Ramones are on the long list of influential bands that played there — throughout the ‘80s and early ‘90s. Steered by postal worker turned promoter Randy Now, it served as a kind of CBGB for the disaffected suburban youth around New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Randy -- a huge ska fan and host at the time of the only all-ska radio show on WTSR-FM -- would soon become instrumental to the success we would have during 1989-1991.
A trip to City Gardens was a rite of passage for anyone into alternative music in the 80s. And it was one of the very few venues outside New York City that was regularly booking ska and reggae in the 80's. Given our new mission to start the first ska band in New Jersey -- and the fact that Ranking Roger, the former singer of the English Beat and General Public, was performing at the club -- it seemed like another sign from the universe that we were on the right path. And so a pilgrimage to the iconic punk rock club was in order.
After I met Roger and we talked about our shared musical interests, I mentioned the show and that we should go. Despite his excitement about going to the show, Roger had never heard of City Gardens.
I told one of my roommates, "I'm going to Trenton to see a show at City Gardens," and he was just like "what? Why? What's down there?" "City Gardens," I said. "City Gardens, what is that?"
Originally it was just going to be me, Roger and a college friend of mine named Bennie, but when I went to pick Roger up at his apartment in my beat up 1979 Toyota Corolla, I was surprised to see that he had invited two of his friends from West Orange to join us. I was even more surprised when Bennie and I were invited inside to find lines of coke lined up on a glass coffee table! After Bennie and I declined the offer to snort a line, we piled into my car. Me and four Black men.
The coke made Roger and his friends very chatty but I later learned that they were all a bit anxious about where I was taking them. When we pulled up out outside the intimidating, low slung building to park, I could sense their growing unease. They were thinking: "what's going to happen to us inside this white punk rock shit hole." I did my best to reassure them that it was nicer on the inside than it looked on the outside. Roger later told me:
I was not impressed with the outside, you know, driving into this parking lot and I saw the structure I'm like, this looks sketchy. And I didn't really know you that well, so I was just like where the hell are we? You know, I have no idea. And even my friend Clay was like "What the fuck..."
At the time, Ranking Roger was on an ill-fated tour to promote his solo record "Radical Departure" which was his attempt to be a full-on pop star. It didn't go well. But to be honest, his record had some of the ingredients that were necessary in the 1980's for an artist to have a pop hit. Was it radio friendly? Check. Did it have a catchy MTV video? Yup! It even debuted on 120 Minutes! Did it have a marketable singer? Indeed! Did he have any hits with previous band? You bet! Add Roger's winning personality, good looks and smooth vocals and you would assume that he should have had a hit on his hands right? Nope. And its a shame. But the small audience at City Gardens that night was not only seeing a bona fide 2 Tone star but the opening band Chiefs of Relief featured ex-members of Adam and The Ants, Bow Wow and Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook!
Once we had paid our ten dollars to get in and our eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness of the front of the club, Roger and I made our way to the back lounge to get a drink. And there, to our shock and amazement was Ranking Roger playing a pin ball machine! There were two or three other people watching him and so we joined them in quiet, hushed anticipation. Roger was in a state of shock:
So we walk over, and I didn't want to be all weird. Because he was just focused on the game, I think there were a couple of people looking up at him. I was definitely like, "That is Ranking Roger and he's playing pinball." I was in awe of Ranking Roger.
When Ranking Roger finished his game, he nodded at us and said "hello." Roger was starstruck for a minute, but I put out my hand to say hello and then mentioned that Roger and I had just started a ska band inspired by him and the English Beat. Ranking Roger opened his eyes wide and said "Really! That's great." He asked us there were any other ska bands in the area and we told him we thought we would be the first and he encouraged us to stick with it. We made friendly chit chat with him and then, as the lounge became more crowded, he politely excused himself and headed off to the band's tour bus.
After he left, I scanned the low light of the lounge and I immediately recognized The Specials and General Public bassist Horace Panter sitting by himself nursing a Budweiser. I elbowed Roger and said, "I think that's Sir Horace Gentleman of The Specials over there!" After having just met Ranking Roger we were emboldened and walked over towards Horace. No one had noticed or recognized him, so he seemed pleasantly surprised when Roger said "Are you Horace?" When he nodded, he invited us to sit down and chat with him for a bit. Like Ranking Roger, he was very encouraging about us starting a ska band and wished us luck. And with that, having met two of my musical heroes, I could have happily left City Gardens and called it a night. But there was much more in store for us!
Roger and I found my friend Bennie and Roger's two friends out near the stage just as the show started. And while we were watching Ranking Roger and dancing, we saw a barefooted white guy doing a goofy hackysack skank to the music. It was our future saxophone player Steve Meicke!
So, we're dancing and my friend Clay is like, "Look at that guy." This guy, he was jumping around, barefooted, wearing a sideways baseball cap with an asymmetrical haircut and like surfer shorts, doing the skank step. We're just making fun of him. I don't know how we met. I don't know if you met him first, or I met him, or even how we got to the conversation of we're in a band. But I must have said, "I'm in a band." Or, "I'm at Rutgers." He said,"Me too. I play Sax." I said,"You play Sax?" "Yeah. I'm a Jazz student at Rutgers." He starts laughing and smiling. And then I said, I'm in a ska band, up in New Brunswick" and he stops smiling. And he starts getting real serious. He literally started stroking his chin and he said "Really? You guys are trying to start a ska band in New Brunswick?" He's like, "Yeah man, give me your number." So sure enough that's how Steve joined the band. I didn't know if he was good or not but Steve was a really handsome dude, and we were going to need to get girls at shows.
Steve called Roger the next day and we agreed to meet a local rehearsal studio we had found that was located right above the popular Cheap Thrills record store in downtown New Brunswick. And with that chance meeting at City Gardens we were now six -- me, Steve Parker, Jim (who had finally signed on to play drums), Kevin, Roger and Steve Meicke. But, there was still one more original member to join our rag tag ensemble.
As a coda to that hot summer night in 1988, just seven months later we would play our first show at City Gardens in the Spring of 1989 opening for Sister Carol. It would be the first of many shows at the club over the next 2 and a half years. And a little over three years later in September 1991, Bigger Thomas opened for Special Beat at City Gardens -- a band featuring members of The Specials and English Beat -- and both Ranking Roger and Horace remembered Roger and I and greeted us warmly. Ranking Roger said, "Congratulations on going from paying punters to musicians playing here!"
I interviewed Roger for my Ska Boom podcast in 2021 about our experience at City Gardens that night. Give a short snippet of that interview a listen.
Stay tuned for Part 5!
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