Well the rumor is true! The Specials (billed as Terry Hall & Friends and minus Jerry Dammers) were the surprise act today at Bestival on the Isle of Wight.
According to a post made by Roddy Radiation on his Web site, it's looking like six of the original members will be reforming and they will be touring using their own names because Dammers owns The Specials name. Jerry may take part at the last minute and apparently the door is still open but it appears doubtful he will join given Roddy's post below.
Here is Roddy's post: Even tho me and Brad + Nevelle wanted Jerry on board i dont think we would of got passed the third rehearsal somehow.. Jerry cleverman tho he is ,has always had some strange idears. At the last rehearsal that only 4 of us turned up at he said he wanted to play the old stuff half the tempo of the original recordings and proceeded to programe his very old battered drum machine.. We played "Stereotype" and by the end of the song my head was almost touching my guitar (i was playing sitting down) i felt like all the pain and bad memorys had come back to haunt me once again.. I dont think the Specials would be even considering giging if we had the seven together, it would of dragged on until next year with fewer and fewer members turning up.. Sad but im affraid very true*
GUGUG is a Scottish fellow named Gus who has become a YouTube sensation. With just his ukulele, a plastic melodica and other instruments (kick drum, bass) he is a one man, overdub machine who has recorded some brilliant versions of ska classics by The Skatalites as well as covers of 60' pop, country and Ramones songs.
One of my bandmates has suggested that we cover this ska song "Jesus Is A Friend Of Mine" by Sonseed that he found on YouTube. I don't know that we will but I felt compelled to share it here. While cloying, cliched and annoying its also very catchy and finds a way to worm inside your brain. I can't stop humming the melody and singing the chorus.
I found a bit more information about Sonseed here if you are interested.
Watch/listen at your own risk. I dare you to watch it only once:
Clubs define a scene and they can take on mythic status. Here in New York, CBGB's (RIP) was host to thousands and thousands of bands but will forever be known as the place that launched The Ramones, The New York Dolls and Talking Heads. Personally, my youth is forever linked with City Gardens in Trenton, NJ. Its where I saw my first ska and punk shows and where my band made its first mark 20 years ago (here is a punk card promoting a show we played with Bad Manners in 1989).
The 2-Tone and reggae scene of the late 70's was also defined by clubs where important shows took place, The place to see The Specials and The Selecter in Coventry was Tiffany's (which is now the Public Library) and TiC ToC. The West Indian community in London had The Four Aces Club. I've just learned about a documentary screening of "Legacy In The Dust: The Four Aces Story" scheduled for Friday September 19, 2008 at Cafe OTO in Dalston, London. The documentary traces the history of the East London club famous for over 30 years as the home for black music and reggae music in particular.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with the club founder and owner Newton Dunbar and filmmaker Winstan Whitter and live music from UK reggae legends Winston Reedy, Princess Lin, Delroy Pinnnock and Freetown.
According to the Cafe OTO web site: Legacy in the Dust will take you on a sensational journey from the 1960’s when Newton Dunbar first arrived in the UK from Jamaica and founded one of the first Reggae-oriented music venue’s called ‘The Four Aces Club’, which for some 33 years was home to the most influential black music and musicians to date. It showcased new music genre’s like; Bluebeat, Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae, Jazz and Soul performed at the time by artists like Alton Ellis, Desmond Decker, Jimmy Cliff, Count Shelly, Ann Peebles, Percy Sledge, Ben E King Billy Ocean, Cimarons, Aswad, Black Slate, Matumbi and many others. This gave the club authenticity to attract artists like The Clash, Chrissie Hynde, Bob Marley, The Slits, Sex Pistols, Marc Bolan and Bob Dylan who were heavily influenced by the infectious pulsating rhythms!
The clubs success led to regular raids from the local Police, which gave it a bad reputation, the press targeted the venue as ‘A Yardie Drug Club’. Despite the negativity that clouded the club it went on to pioneer the early indoor Rave scene’s called ‘Labyrinth’ in the late 80’s during the days of Acid House, Happy Hardcore, Drum & Bass and Jungle music. It launched artists like; The Prodigy, Ratpack, Ragga Twins, DJ Slipmatt, Billy Bunter, Vinyl Matt and Kenny Ken. It came under fire from the landlord and was forced to close its doors in the late 90’s due to a compulsory re- possession ordered by the local Authorities, to make way for the regeneration in Hackney for the forth coming London Olympics in 2012.
Here is a 6 minute promo from the documentary:
Below are the event details. If you happen to attend please let me know.
Friday September 19, 2008 Cafe OTO 18-22 Ashwin St Dalston London E8 3DL info@cafeoto.co.uk
Doors open 7:30pm Film starts 8pm Discussion 9:45pm Live Music 10:30pm till late!
During the Fall of 1980, the UK pop charts were about as diverse as they have ever been. The Top 25 alone included the likes of The Police, Madness, Bad Manners, Bob Marley & The Wailers and a little known UK reggae band called Black Slate who had caught the ear of the nation with their hyper catchy one hit wonder song "Amigo". The song cracked the Top 10 and reached its peak at Number 9. The band hit the charts again a few months later with the follow-up "Boom Boom" which reached Number 51.
The legacy of punk has been widely recognized, we can see a direct link between the late seventies anarchic punk music and the more politically based new wave groups and indie guitar groups that followed in the 80’s. Another rather more unusual spin off of the punk era was a popularization and eventual emergence into the charts of Ska/Reggae. In the early days when live punk bands were playing small venues, DJ were filling in the time in between acts not with punk records as none of these new acts had been recorded yet but with reggae and Ska records. This led to an awareness of reggae to a young white audience and it wasn’t long before home-grown reggae group were springing up alongside the punk influenced new wave bands. These new British reggae groups tended to be based in parts of the country where there was a large black population and thus London and Birmingham were natural breeding ground for this music. London gave us the short-lived Black Slate and the longer lasting Misty In Roots and Aswad. Birmingham gave us notable acts such Steel Pulse and UB40.
Black Slate formed in 1974, and included musicians from England, Jamaica, and Anguilla. They backed Delroy Wilson and Ken Boothe on their UK appearances, and had their first reggae-chart hit themselves in 1976, with the anti-mugging song "Sticks Man". They toured the UK for the first time in 1978, and formed their own TCD label, having a minor hit with "Mind Your Motion". They also backed Dennis Brown when he toured the UK, and in 1980 their Rastafarian rallying call, "Amigo", was picked up by Ensign Records, and broke into the UK Singles Chart. An album, "Sirens In The City", followed on Ensign the following year. The band released two further albums "Six Plus One" in 1982 and "Black Slate" in 1985.
Here is the promo video for "Amigo":
Here is the track listing for 1982's "Six Plus One":
Headline were a 2-Tone era, 6-piece ska band signed to Virgin Records who released one single "Don't Knock The Baldhead/Highway Hassle" and an album in 1980. The band were a UK media darling for a very short time and were known for their wild stage entrances. Here is a description of the band from a support slot they played with The Stranglers in July of 1980:
Suited and booted, Headline come on from the left side of the stage, strutting linear, like a black version of Madness in Nutty Boy fashion. Headline march, march, march, chanting a deep baritone mantra: ‘Don’t knock the baldhead - Don’t knock the baldhead! Boongy boong boongy woongy! Don’t knock the baldhead!’ It’s an unforgettable entrance. They hit centre stage, and suddenly scram in all directions to grab guitars, microphones and drumsticks. Acappella out, in comes their schizoid mesh of pop-tinged Ska. Black suits, black ties, white shirts, skanking natty dread – five black baldheads and one white guy. Lean lead singer Michael holds onto the mic stand as bassist Winston bobs about, tugging at his black Music Man bass, with Kevin skanking on guitar and synth-player Richard leering at the mob, playing bubblegum synth riffs, with knees-ups and Ska ‘chikka-chiks’ a-plenty. The crowd’s earlier coolness thoroughly thaws as "Rudi Don’t Fear" and "Highway Hassle" fill the theatre with infectious, insistent Ska - followed by "Bald Head Revolution", and a return to their single, "Don’t Knock The Bald Head".
Below is a re-posting of an article from a Stranglers web site that includes an interview with Headline's bass player Winston Blissett that was conducted in 2006. These days he plays bass for ambient trip-hoppers, Massive Attack.
“I can’t believe anyone can remember Headline – I really cant! Incredulity continues as Winston admits to being part of a great outfit that never got to crack the big time. “We were great, weren’t we? I loved Headline. We actually started out as a funk band called Raw Funk – massive around southeast London - unknown everywhere else! But we’d all had enough after two years of it. Then one day, we’re in the car - 2-Tone was out - all our parents were Jamaican-born - so we said: we’ve all grown up on Ska - why don’t we just form a Ska band? Within the space of just two hours, we were Ska - we shaved off our big Afros and Headline was born.”
The band soon found some luck with the help of promoter Keith Altham’s publicist, Claudine. Her husband, musician Michael Riley, was eager to help. “Mike was helping out on the management side, but he must have been getting itchy feet after Steel Pulse. He had to leave, though…. Anyway, he asked us if he could join the band. We said yes. Our first gig was at the Nashville.”At first, summer support slots bring some positive vibes from the music press, and Headline’s profile was on the ascent, with gigs with Bad Manners. Some of them are still fresh with Winston: "Some of the Bad Manners gigs got a bit racial, I suppose. The crowd could get a bit… boisterous, but we just laughed it off at the time.”
On the bill for The Stranglers tour, Winston’s tells me about a raucous night at Birmingham Odeon: “We did our set, and then watched The Stranglers do theirs. They came onstage – and the whole place erupted. It was during their set one guy in the audience heckled throughout - then he started spitting – right after Hugh told the crowd not to. So Jean Jacques karate-kicked this guy, who went flying back into the crowd. But the thing was - Jean Jacques just carried on playing, and then he turned to me, shaking his head as if it to say - “God…” Anyway, this guy who got kicked was there after the gig bragging about being kicked in the guts by Jean Jacques! I couldn't’ believe it!” “The place was jumping throughout The Stranglers set. It was crazy. The vibe was terrific. But then the PA started rocking side to side – and we all held on to it to stop it from falling on top of the audience. Health and Safety was out of the window that night! Meanwhile, there was this Stranglers bouncer, a big guy…who was pulling bodies out from the front row. They’d resuscitate them, and as soon as they’d come to, jump back into the crowd again! It was manic!”
A record deal with Virgin finally came through, and in the company of the illustrious owner of the record company himself.“It was amazing. We went along to Richard Branson’s barge in Little Venice to sign this contract. There was a buffet laid on and everything. Branson was really into what we were doing. I was really surprised. We had a good laugh with him and his MD, Simon Draper, and afterwards we got a lift home in his Roller. I remember it must have been Valentine’s Day because he had to deliver some roses at a doorstep – but he wouldn’t do it himself: he made Simon do it. It was all very cloak and dagger, in a very posh, trendy part of London. I’d love to know who it was. Anyway, that’s how I know we got signed on February 14th to Virgin Records – signed by the man himself.”
The band recorded their debut album at Roundhouse Studios in Camden. Along with the magnificent Bald Head, they covered the Folke’s Brothers’ classic, Oh Carolina, a song Shaggy took to the top of the charts in the early 1990’s. Like a few of the other tracks, it suffered from attempting to cover all bases, to be Ska, pop, and bordering pap. This was a far cry from their spirited performances on the stages of the capital. Soon after the album hit the shops, internal squabbles fractured the friendship of the south London posse:“Headline was never about money, just the excitement. We had an excellent buzz. It was a fantastic band, even if I say it myself. But then it went down the path seen so many times, the usual rock ‘n’ roll story, where the big time just goes to some people’s heads. The band thought there was a conspiracy… it was stupid, and neither Mike, myself or Claudine liked that. In August 1980, me and Mike left. It was very sad because the talent in the band was phenomena. When we split, I felt so bad for Richard Branson because I felt we’d let him down in some way. It was upsetting.”
A slimmer Headline hobbled on, and released their second single without Winston and Michael who formed Bumble and the Beez. Then Siouxsie picked up on the band. “We were recording with a couple of guitarists and a violinist. We were actually in between drummers, and our demo didn’t have a drum track. One day, Michael’s wife, Claudine was in her office and Siouxsie Sioux walked in. She could head the tape playing in the background and asked who it was. From there, she invited us to support the Banshees at the Hammersmith Odeon – but on one condition: that we don’t bring in a drummer: she wanted it the way she first heard us.. So that’s what we did, just with Mike standing at the front singing, with a bass drum at his feet, holding a cowbell, and me on the bass.”
Still resident in Lewisham, I wondered what happened to the others. “I occasionally bump into the others, but we don’t keep in touch. We have a bit of a laugh about the old days. Although I do keep in touch with Michael. He’s Senior lecturer in music production at Westminster University.”But did you know Bad Manners covered Bald Head not too long ago? “Never! I didn’t know that!”
Headline's 1980 LP is nearly impossible to find. Instead, here is video of Bad Manners performing a cover of "Don't Knock The Baldhead" which has become a mainstay of their live set.
Rumors are circulating that The Specials may perform at this year's Bestival. According to information posted on the VentnorBlog, the band are favorites to fill the 'Surprise Act' slot on the main stage on Saturday September 6th. Terry Hall, who appeared at last year's Bestival alongside Lynval Golding, told BBC Radio earlier this year that the band would be reforming for a festival in September.
Hall is already likely to perform with the Dub Pistols on Friday night, so an appearance with The Specials the following day could be in the works. Last year Madness took the same surprise slot on the main stage.
If you live in the UK and plan to attend Bestival let me know.
Headline were a 2-Tone era, 6-piece ska band signed to Virgin Records who released one single "Don't Knock The Baldhead/Highway Hassle" and an album in 1980. The band were a UK media darling for a very short time and were known for their wild stage entrances. Here is a description of the band from a support slot they played with The Stranglers in July of 1980:
