The Beat's third album 'Special Beat Service' remains the most ambitious and diverse of the three records they released between 1980 and 1982. While both 'I Just Can't Stop It' and 'Whappen' stayed true to the band's manifesto of mixing politics with punky reggae and world beat sounds, by early 1982 things were changing and they were moving into the realm of personal politics with their third record.
While their 2-Tone brethren were quickly falling by the wayside and imploding, The Beat (and to a certain extent Madness), seemed prepared for the change in listeners tastes. While there were certainly internal issues within The Beat and some resistance from certain band members about their new direction, the band embarked on a musical journey that left their frenetic punky reggae and tropical sounds behind to embrace guitar driven pop music. While there were still flourishes of ska, reggae and Caribbean sounds, they now added touches of color rather than dominating the sound.
While the band was struggling to gain traction with their new sound in the UK, it was a very different story in the U.S. where the singles from 'Special Beat Service' slotted in nicely between Joe Jackson's 'Night & Day' album and the upbeat, horn driven pop of Haircut 100's 'Pelican West'. The Beat were part of the UK 'new wave' invasion and they suddenly had songs in the Top 40 of the U.S. charts. Two songs in particular resonated with American audiences -- 'Save It For Later' and 'I Confess' -- though they could not have been farther afield from what audiences and critics had come to expect from them.
These were not ska songs by any stretch of the imagination, but they were brilliant pop songs and soon took on a life of their own that established the band in the U.S. The videos for both songs were played widely on MTV and they soon entered the American music consciousness. In particular the song 'Save It For Later' sounded unlike anything else on American radio or on MTV. It seemed to connect with listeners in a way that earlier songs by the band had not. The song sounded like the love child of The Byrds and The Velvet Underground and included double entendre and innuendo that was novel for a song on the pop charts.
Dave Wakeling was once asked about the meaning of the song 'Save It For Later'. He replied, "I wrote it when I was a teenager. I wrote it before The Beat started. And it was about turning from a teenager to someone in their 20s, and realizing that the effortless promise for your teenage years was not necessarily going to show that life was so simple as you started to grow up. So it was about being lost, about not really knowing your role in the world, trying to find your place in the world. So, you couldn't find your own way in the world, and you'd have all sorts of people telling you this, that, and the other, and advising you, and it didn't actually seem like they knew any better. So it was like keep your advice to yourself. Save it - for later."
Despite the critical acclaim, it was too little, too late for The Beat, who broke up in July 1983 following a successful appearance at that summer's US Festival and right before an invitation to support David Bowie on the second leg of his 'Serious Moonlight' tour. However, like any great song, 'Save It For Later' soon took on a life of its own separate from the band. It was in the hands of Pete Townshend, that the song seemed to meet its destiny. Indeed, Townshend seemed to be the right artist at the right time in his career to sing the song as it was written to be sung.
According to the blog Locust Street, Townshend's decision to pull the plug on the Who in 1982 seemed to liberate him for a time. His solo records already had been stronger than Who LPs for at least a decade, and right before releasing the damp squib which was the 'Who's It's Hard', Townshend put out the weirdest thing he'd ever done, an album called 'All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes', filled with desultory songs about failure and age, all with rambling, sometimes unmoored lyrics. The finest track was "Slit Skirts," about how the singer and his woman no longer felt they could go out in their leather. "Can't pretend that growing old never hurts."
A few years later, Townshend was on stage at a charity gig in Brixton, and performed "Save it For Later," a recent hit from The Beat. Townshend sheared the song down to its skeleton, hanging the lyric on one repeated guitar figure. Singing in a harrowed but calm voice, Townshend lingers on the lyric's odd phrases infusing the line "your legs give way/you hit the ground" with weary resignation, and taking the lyric's silly sex joke and turning it into a vulnerable plea.
The song soon became a regular staple of Townshend's live set and he later released both studio and live versions of his rendition (the song has also been covered by Pearl Jam and 90's alt-rockers Harvey Danger). Below are the studio and live versions of Townshend's version of the song:
Amazingly, Townshend had trouble learning the odd guitar tuning for the song and unexpectedly called Wakeling up on the phone to have him walk him through it. The story of that call and the songs odd tuning are related below by Dave Wakeling during a radio interview a few years ago:
Below is a link to amazon.com where you can listen to and purchase a copy of Pete Townshend's 'White City' album which contains his amazing version of 'Save It For Later':
This week's podcast follows in the footsteps of last week's podcast. I've gathered together songs from 10 more bands from the 1980's who were responsible for establishing and helping to build the foundation for both the American and Canadian ska scenes that exploded in the late 80's and early 90's. I'm highligting bands that were playing ska and reggae either right before the advent of 2-Tone in the UK or at roughly the same time.
This podcast includes ska and reggae bands that you may or may not have heard of before. This time around I've expanded it to include bands from the Great White North who sowed the seeds for the vibrant Canadian ska scene that has given birth to The Kingpins, Planet Smashers and Bedouin Soundclash. This podcast focuses on 3 specific regions of North America that seemed to serve as the cradle of American and Canadian ska - namely California, Western Canada and The Northeastern US. They include rarities from bands you have heard of before (Fishbone, The Donkey Show, The Villains) and hard-to-find gems from bands you may have never heard of before (The Fabulous Titans, The Targets, The B-Sides). While 2-Tone often gets the lion share of the attention for combining the energy and anger of punk with the rhythms of reggae, there were American and Canadian bands who were playing their own variation of 2-Tone styled ska and reggae years before their British brethren.
Here are highlights about several of the bands in this week's podcast:
The Fabulous Titans - A ska and reggae band based in the Bay Area of California that had its roots in The Shakers who were the first American reggae signed to a major label (Warner-Elektra in 1976). The FT's signed and recorded 'Rico's Lament' for the Chiswick record label in the UK and later were the first U.S, band ever invited to tour Cuba.
The Offs -Completely overlooked and unique San Francisco based ska/punk band whose first single 'My World' came out the same week as The Specials first single. The Offs kept innovating, and produced some of the most original hybrid music to come out of the American music scene of the late '70's mixing funk, soul, R&B, ska, and reggae, and making it all their own.
The Targets - Another diamond in the rough from the verdant Southern California mod/ska scene of the early 80's . Little is know about the band which shone brightly for just a two short years. The instrumental track 'Unity Beat' pays respects to the unique side stick offbeat drum and twist and crawl bass sound created by The Beat.
The Donkey Show - LA's premiere mid and late 80's ska band who took the torch from The Untouchables and helped make Southern California the epicenter of American ska. Known for their male and female lead vocalists and for their legendary sax played Dave Hillyard who now plays with The Slackers. The song 'Ease Down' comes from their live album recorded at Berkeley CA's famous Gilman Street Club.
Fishbone - A rare cover of 60's ska track that LA's finest recorded with 1950's Mickey Mouse Show star Annette Funicello for the soundtrack to the movie 'Back To The Beach'. Enough said.
The Villians - Ska band folk heroes in Vancouver and throughout Canada for their crazy live shows and ability to publicize their antics. The band's first single 'Life Of Crime' chronicles their run-in with Canadian immigration upon their arrival from London.
The B-Sides - Little is know about this early 80's Canadian 2-Tone style power pop ska from Vancouver. Their one and only LP 'Red To Black' is long out of print and a collectors item.
The Erector Set - Boston-based ska/reggae band who recorded one 7" single in 1981 whose A side was included on the American Skathic compilation from 1995. The song 'No Room For Comfort' is the hard to find B side of the single.
Mephiskapheles - New York City-based ska band that lead a late 80's revival and a band that my band Bigger Thomas played with fairly regularly. The song 'Doomsday' comes from a cassette tape recording the band sold at shows in 1989.
Shot Black & White - New York City-based reggae/rock band that bridged the gap between the late 80's NYC SKA scene and the alternative rock club scene. Another band that my band played with a few times and who beat us out in a battle of the band's competition in 1988 which provided them the money to record the album that 'Understand' is on.
Below is the track listing for the podcast mix. Enjoy!
Marco On The Bass Mix
The Fabulous Titans - Rico's Lament [San Francisco 1982] The Offs- My World [San Francisco 1980] The Targets - Unity Beat [Torrance, CA 1983] The Donkey Show- Ease Down (Live) [San Diego 1989] Fishbone - Jamaica Ska (with Annette Funicello) [Los Angeles 1987] The Villians - Life Of Crime [Vancouver, BC 1980] The B-Sides - Late At Night [Vancouver, BC 1981] The Erector Set - No Room For Comfort [Boston 1981] Mephiskapheles- Doomsday [New York 1989] Shot Black & White- Understand [New York 1989]
The birth of 2-Tone ska was based on a failed attempt to marry punk and reggae. If you listen to early recordings of The Coventry Automatics or The Beat, their songs were either distinctly punk or distinctly reggae/rock, but not a combination of the two. In fact, it wasn't until Jerry Dammers had the idea to use 60's ska as the foundation for the band's songs as a solution to the punk/reggae dilemma that the band's look and sound finally gelled. While The Specials and 2-Tone bands embraced ska, other bands and musicians continued exploring ways to combine the energy and look of punk with bass heavy reggae. However, it wasn't until the Basement 5 that this true marriage of punk and reggae was finally realized.
Basement 5 were arguably the first black punk reggae band and are described by many artists who followed them as "hugely influential" and "groundbreaking". Mixing punk rock elements with reggae and dub, they broke down barriers and paved the way for other black bands to play rock music (see Fishbone, Asian Dub Foundation, Living Color). Starting out in London in 1978, Basement 5 created a politically charged, futurist, punk-fuelled dub. Picking up where The Sex Pistols and P.I.L. left off, the band's lyrics were an attempt to reflect the situation of young black and white people in Britain in the era of Thatcherism, high unemployment, strikes, racism, and working class poverty.
Originally assembled by former Roxy DJ and punk legend Don Letts with money from Island Records' chief Chris Blackwell, the band's lineup which also included future Big Audio Dynamite bassist Leo Williams, solidified when Sex Pistols/Bob Marley photographer Dennis Morris joined as the vocalist.
According to his bio: Dennis Morris started his career at an early age. He was 11years old when one of his photographs was printed on the front page of the Daily Mirror. A camera fanatic since the age of eight, Dennis was known around his East End neighbourhood as "Mad Dennis," due to his preference for photography over football. After inadvertently stumbling across a particularly feisty demonstration by the PLO one Sunday, the sharp young Dennis took his film to a photo agency on Fleet Street, who promptly sold it to the Daily Mirror for £16. Accustomed to raising money for films and camera parts by taking photos of christenings and birthday parties, Dennis was suddenly on to something; his hobby and all-consuming passion could be done for a living.
It was whilst bunking off school to wait for Bob Marley to arrive for soundcheck at the Speak Easy Club on Margaret Street, that Dennis's music photography career really began. Marley, quite taken with the young teenager who was waiting for him, invited Dennis to come along and take pictures on the remainder of the tour. Running home to Dalston, Dennis packed his bag and jumped on the bus. His photographs of Marley and The Wailers became famous the world over, appearing on the cover of Time Out and Melody Maker before Dennis had even turned 17.
It was Dennis's photos of Marley that caught the eye of the young Johnny Rotten. Rotten, a massive reggae fan, had long admired Dennis's work and requested that he take the first official shots of the Sex Pistols upon signing to Virgin Records. Still in his teens, Dennis was the same age as the Pistols and they soon learned to trust him completely, allowing him unrestricted access to their strange and chaotic existence. For a year, Dennis trailed the band, taking hundreds of undisputed classic shots of the band. The only photographer to put the Sex Pistols fully at ease in front of the lens, Dennis's work with the band established, not only their public image, but also Dennis's position as one of the most exciting and striking music photographers in the country.
When the Pistols split it was Dennis who accompanied John Lydon and Richard Branson on holiday to Jamaica. Now a close friend of Lydon's, the pair set about finding young reggae artists for Branson's record label. Enthused by the A&R bug, Dennis took a job as Art Director at Island Records and signed The Slits and L.K.J to the label. Still working with John Lydon, Dennis was instrumental in creating the seminal P.i.L sleeves, logo, and metal box. His passion for music led him to form his own pioneering black punk band, Basement Five.
In their short life, the band supported John Lydon's Public Image Limited (PIL) debut at London's Rainbow Theatre, performed a number of shows in Portugal and signed to Island Records. The result was the album "1965-1980" co-produced by the legendary Martin Hannet (Joy Division. Magazine). It became the first and only Basement 5 LP. Long out of print, it was eventually reissued as a partial album along with selected tracks from its original dub mini-LP partner 'Basement 5 In Dub'.
Morris was kind enough to take out of his busy schedule to conduct an interview with me:
What was it like growing up in London in the 70's? Growing up in the seventies looking back was a very inspirational time due to the lack of money and opportunities we had to create our own identity (ie: clothes, find ways to make money..,), we had to be inventive; opportunities were never given, we had to take them! There were very few jobs.
Are there any similarities between taking photographs and writing/performing music? For me photography / music are all the same. When I write songs/music, I write visually (ie: I picture the song in my head); I am a visual person. When I read, I read visually, the words become images; that’s why I am a very slow reader.
As an A&R rep for Virgin Records you signed The Slits and LKJ who are among the most iconic bands to come out of the UK in the 1980's. On the surface they are quite different. What did they have in common in your eyes? I was in fact working with Island Records and my official position was head of Art with A&R capacity. This position came about through Chris Blackwell owner and founder of Island Records who approached me about joining the label. I was reluctant because Island had no one on the label I found interesting. After many meetings, I said I would only join if he let me sign and art directed LKJ and the Slits. He agreed. LKJ for me was the voice of the Youths of Black Britain. His poetry fused with Dennis Bowell’s Reggae beats captures the feelings of Black Britain of the time. The Slits were off the wall. I felt they would inspire other female artists to take up arms (ie instruments).
During the late 70's punk and reggae came together in a way that was unprecedented. There was an openness about exploring and creating new sounds and mixing cultures. How much of that informed the Basement 5 look and sound? Basement 5 came through boredom. Bob Marley had died, the Pistols had split, P.I.L was losing direction and for me there was nothing around musically that interested me. So I did what was for me a natural progression, having worked in both music genre and creating images& identities for other musicians. In the case of Basement 5, the look (logo, image…) came before the music. The music was a collage of many influences not just reggae or punk. Not coming from a music background helped to create a unique sound.
Here is a video of the Basement 5 song 'No Ball Games':
As the first black punk rock band you helped break down barriers and influenced later black rock bands like Fishbone and Living Color. As a trailblazer what kind of reception did Basement 5 get from audiences? The receptions we received were varied…white rock audiences loved us, but black audiences thought we were weird. I remember once playing a gig in Hamburg in a club. The owner booked us having heard about us and assumed that because we were black we must be a reggae band. On the night of the gig, all the local black reggae fans turned up, as soon as we hit the stage and started playing, the place emptied. The owner refused to pay us saying that he booked a reggae band!
Can you share any unusual stories about any Basement 5 shows that were particularly memorable? Germany was always a great place to play. One particular gig, a riot broke out. Basically I walked on stage with the band, walked up to the mike and this guy spat in my face. I grabbed the mike smashed him across the head, he started bleeding. His friends tried to get on stage, I kicked them off, a huge fight started in the crowd. The gig was canceled and we had to get the police to escort us from the venue.
The Basement 5 LP '1965-1980' was produced by Martin Hannett (noted Joy Division producer) who had a very unorthodox reputation for recording songs in the studio. What was it like to work with him? Any unusual stories you can share about recording the album? Working with Martin Hannett was a joy, he was truly a genius, rock’s equivalent of Lee Perry. Completely off the wall. We used everything available to get the sounds we wanted. I even did the vocals for Heavy Traffic outside the studio in the street. Anything was possible, he had an open mind, we truly connected. Incidentally the title 1965-1980 was a diary of my life growing up in Britain from 1965-1980.
Is it true that Charlie Charles from The Blockheads played drums in the recording studio and laid down his tracks in one day! Charlie Charles from the Blockheads did play drums on all the tracks on the album. We had just finished touring with the Blockheads and had become great friends with Charles and Ian Durry. What basically happened was on the first day of recording, our drummer at the time (we had a lots of problems with drummers) completely flipped out. He had a nervous breakdown and walked out of the studio and to this day was never seen again. We were all in shock. Martin came up with the idea about Charlie Charles, I agreed, we made a call and within hours he was in the studio. He not only saved the day but also played some memorable beats. Sadly Charlie Charles is not with us any longer, like Ian Durry truly a great man.
After Basement 5 split up, you went onto form Urban Shakedown. Tell me about that band? Paul Weller signed you to his Respect Records label right? Paul Weller did sign us to his Respect Label, in fact it was the first release on the label. After Basement 5 split, I worked to create a new sound. I was never truly happy with the bass sound on the album. So I decided to play bass myself with a young drummer named Michael Smith, stage name T. To get my sound, I basically split the sound on stage (ie: two rigs, one giving out bass end, the other top treble).
Your single 'The Big Bad Wolf' in 1984 with Urban Shakedown may have been the very first drum and bass song ever! What was the decision to just record bass and drums with horns playing a melody over the track to complement your vocals? Big Bad Wolf was possibly the first Drum & Bass song, as I said earlier it was my desire to create something new. It was in my head I could hear it and see it.
Do you think the U2 borrowed elements of the Basement 5 look and sound? U2 took everything from us. We played a few gigs together and we always blew them away. Our guitarist JR always wore a cowboy hat and played a flying V guitar; think of the Edge. Also he had a unique style of playing (rhythm and lead combine); think of the Edge. Bono’s stage antics were a complete copy of me, climbing on the PA, flag waving….There is a saying in Rock: “Beware of the support band!”.
The Basement 5 album captures the dismal years of Thatcher's reign in the UK and yet the songs have a timeless quality. What's you take on the current state of affairs around the world? Bob Marley said “time will tell”. Look at the Basement 5 song “Last White Christmas” change is coming…”. Listen to "No Ball Games” Youth frustration, “Too soon” man’s fascination with space while the earth is dying, “Immigration”. I feel I got it right and it gives me great pleasure to know that there are people like yourself worldwide who feel the same. Thank you for your support. I will continue to create new images and sounds.
Here is a recent interview with Morris about his days in Basement 5 and his new musical project Stanley Kubrik Goes Shopping:
Below is the track listing and download from a Peel Session that the band recorded for the BBC in 1980:
Last White Christmas No Ball Games Silicon Chip Immigration
Morris continues to work as a photographer and to write and record music. His latest project with Youth (formerly of Killing Joke) is a band called Stanely Kubrik Goes Shopping. You can read more about them and hear their songs at the Stanley Kubrik Goes Shopping MySpace site
This week's podcast is a joint effort with my fellow ska blogger Tone and Wave. Together we've put together a podcast that celebrates and pays respects to a variety of bands and artists from the 1980's who were responsible for establishing and helping to build the foundation for the American ska scene that exploded in the late 80's and early 90's. We've focused on bands that were playing ska and reggae either right before the advent of 2-Tone in the UK or at roughly the same time.
I've focused my podcast on ska and reggae bands that you may or may not have heard of before. What's striking is how many bands started popping up in so many different places around the U.S.. They include rarities from more popular bands (The Untouchables, Bim Skala Bim) and hard-to-find gems from bands you may have never heard of before (The Boilers, The Nails, Blue Riddim Band). While 2-Tone often gets the lion share of the attention for combining the energy and anger of punk with the rhythms of reggae, there were American bands who were playing their own variation of 2-Tone styled ska and reggae years before their British brethren.
Here are highlights about several of the bands in this week's podcast:
Heavy Manners - Caught the attention of Peter Tosh of The Wailers when they opened a show for him in Chicago. Impressed with their live show and musicianship he ends up taking them into the studio to produce their first album which includes the song 'Taking The Queen To Tea'.
The Boilers - One of the best live bands from the large and diverse NYC SKA scene of the mid and late 1980's. The band features a young Jeff Baker (AKA King Django) on trombone and vocals. He would go on to form Skinnerbox and lead the well-known Stubborn All-Stars. He is also a respected ska and reggae producer and solo artist.
The Nails - Boulder, Colorado-based band that moved to New York in the late 70's and recorded one ska single 'Transcontinental Ska'. The band morphed into a well-known alternative rock band and had an underground college rock hit with '88 Lines About 44 Women'.
The Terrorists - New York City's premiere reggae band. The band sold out shows all over New York in the late 70's and early 80's with their faithful reggae rhythms. The band were so good they attracted the attention of Jamaican producer extraordinaire Lee 'Scratch' Perry who joined them for a short time and produced the 12' track 'Love Is Better Now'. They also claimed Roland Alphonso of The Skatalites as a featured member for a few years.
Blue Riddim Band - Can undoubtedly claim the title of America's first reggae band. The truth is it's hard to describe Blue Riddim because they were so unbelievably good. Seven white guys from Kansas City who laid down reggae grooves so massive that the speakers shook on their bases. The first American band to be invited to play Reggae Sunsplash. I've included their rockin' live version of the satirical 'Nancy Reagan' from the 1982 Reggae Sunsplash.
Tone and Wave has included bands that were not traditionally defined as ska bands, but who included ska influences in their sounds or recorded ska songs that added to the growing canon on American ska. Have a listen to The Plugz and Crazy 8's for a great example. For more detailed information on the Tone and Wave play list go to the Tone and Wave blog.
Below is the track listing for both mixes. Enjoy!
Marco On The Bass Mix
Heavy Manners - Taking The Queen To Tea [Chicago 1982] The X-Streams - Rhythm Of Life 7" [Arizona 1980] The Boilers - Coeur A Voil [New York 1988] Bim Skala Bim - Jah Laundromat [Boston 1985] The Nails - Transcontinental Ska [New York 1980] The Terrorists - Love Is Better Now 12" [New York 1981] The Untouchables - Tropical Bird (b-side to The General 7" single) [Los Angeles 1983] The Hoovers - I Got You Babe [San Francisco 1980] The Uptones - Outback Master [San Francisco 1983] Blue Riddim Band - Nancy Reagan (live at 1982 Reggae Sunsplash)[Kansas City 1982]
Tone and Wave Mix
The Plugz - Touch for Cash [Los Angeles 1981] The Donkey Show - Insomnia [Los Angeles 1989] Camper Van Beethoven - Skinhead Stomp [Redlands, CA 1985] Talk Back - Rudy [Los Angeles 1984] Kill Me - Mr. Potato Head [New York 1985] The Young Executives - Original Sin [Bellvue, Washington 1982] Cryin' Out Loud - Live it Up [Hoboken, NJ 1985] Crazy 8s - Find Myself a Sunny Spot (live) [Oregon 1988] Eddie Vedder - Reggae Woman [Los Angeles, 1988]
In my continuing quest to document and chronicle the thriving ska bands and ska scenes that existed in the U.S. during the late 70's and early 80, my journey has taken me someplace completely unexpected: Arizona.
I've been to Phoenix, Arizona once before. What I remember was the searing desert heat and suburban sprawl. The only other thing I know about Arizona was its ongoing reluctance to ratify Martin Luther King Jr's birthday as a U.S. national holiday throughout the 1980's and 1990's. Its a fairly conservative place and home to Senator John McCain. Truth be told, Arizona was the last place I expected to discover a very talented and popular multi-racial ska band who were central to an early 80's Arizona-based ska scene. The X-Streams played 2-Tone era tinged reggae and ska. Sadly, the band's moniker said more about them than they might have intended.
The story of The X-Streams is a difficult one to tell. The band never achieved the kind of broad popularity or success that they deserved. Sadly, the band was plagued by infighting, drug addiction, a nasty love triangle involving the singer and the band's two guitarists and a penchant for self-destruction that seemed to keep them from ever reaching their full musical potential. Nevertheless, they made a mark for themselves in Arizona and L.A. and are best remembered for their raw and edgy take on new wave styled ska that was very reminiscent of The Selecter.
In the early 80's there were four local reggae/ska bands in the Phoenix area: Driftwood (strictly reggae), The Effects (reggae/ska), Tropic Shock (mostly ska)and The X-Streams (mostly ska). Bob Steinhilber (drums) co-founded the X-Streams with Peter Tessensohn (guitar), Steve Kriol (bass) and Lorraine Springer, a young black woman from Trinidad on lead vocals. Springer had met Kriol in California and travelled with him to Arizona to start the band. The addition of local guitarist Kurt Mayberry was the final ingredient that made things take off for the band, but also complicated its future. According to a 1995 interview that Steinhilber did with The Phoenix New Times, "We had Kurt come along, and from the git-go, it was just great. I've played in a lot of bands, and for some reason, this just clicked right away. . . . I didn't know him to be a heavy drug user; all of that was hidden from me. I guess he had a side of him that he was loath to reveal. He was so talented, he had a style, he played guitar like nobody ever did."
According to Greg Noiz, a Phoenix-based musician I contacted who played in Tropic Shock, The X-Streams were among the best bands he ever saw. "I saw the X-Streams in their original incarnation at a club in nearby Scottsdale called the Razberry Rhinoceros. These folks had a somewhat sinister reputation for drug use and onstage quarrelling. What I experienced that night was some really raw, edgy, rockin' ska and reggae. Lorraine had a great voice and incredible stage presence. I still remember her flashing eyes. Kurt Mayberry could just shred, he had a very unique and distinctive style of guitar playing. Peter seemed to be a most solid and pro player. If I remember correctly, Steve, the bass player was a bit patched up from a previous run in with Lorraine. He later came to one of our own gigs at the Razberry Rhinoceros to fill in on bass but never made it inside, spending the night nodded out in his car in the parking lot. Bob, the drummer, was playing a minimal and mismatched set, a bit on the nod, but never missing the beat. He was up there with snot running out of his nose but just chugging through. I once met him at a percussionist friend's house where he showed me this great gold plated snare he had. A nice guy and a very good drummer."
Yet for all the band's immediate success--the X-Streams were a huge draw in Phoenix and Los Angeles (see the picture of an LA show flyer from the top of this post) --its story is wracked by misfortune. From The Phoenix New Times: "I hesitate to use the word 'curse,' but it's like that," offers Steinhilber. "It just broke my heart over and over again." On the group's first trip to perform in L.A., rock luminaries like Tom Waits, Rickie Lee Jones and members of the Jackson family turned out to catch the set. The show was great, says Steinhilber, but things got ugly later. "We had just finished the gig, and Kurt and Steve were fighting over Lorraine," says Steinhilber. "It was just a jealousy thing, but they went behind the car, and when they got back in, Steve's head was kinda crushed in. It was pretty bad. The next day, I was at someone's house and our manager called up and said, 'Hey, Bob, Steve's in the hospital, he's not going to live. Kurt's in jail and he's charged with second-degree murder. And I quit as your manager.' Click." The gods were smiling this time; charges were dropped. "It turned out that Steve lived and he started playing with us again," Steinhilber says. "Here was this guy in a wheelchair onstage with his head all bandaged up, looking like he just got out of Auschwitz or something. But it was just one thing after another. As soon as things started going good--we'd be looking at a record contract or whatever--something terrible would happen."
But the problem didn't always involve Mayberry. From an early 80's Phoenix New Times column describing a Tucson performance by the band: "All went swell until the second set, when guitarist Steve Kriol started playing like he never had a guitar in his hands before. Not that that stopped him, but it did stop the rest of the band, who were so embarrassed they unplugged their instruments, left the stage and watched as he continued to bang away for another half-hour. . . . Kriol later chalked up his erratic behavior to an old cow-milking injury. Sources close to the band provide a more pharmaceutical explanation. Later that night at a post-show party in a record store, Kriol and Springer got into a bloody melee with a broken perfume bottle in a locked rest room." Steinhilber recalls, "We broke down the door, and there was blood all over the place; it was a big mess. It was always just stuff like that. We recorded an album in '85; I jumped ship then."
Amazingly, as I was researching this post, I was able to track down Lorraine Khan (formerly Lorraine Springer), the original vocalist for the band and she shared her recollections of the early days of The X-Streams with me.
Can you tell me about your introduction to music and ska music in particular? Music is and always has been a part of my life growing up, at home in school, church and in our carnival/calypso culture in Trinidad.
What brought you to Arizona from Trinidad? I went to Arizona to be with Steve, the man that put the band together, after meeting him in Beverly Hills, California.
How did the X-Streams get started? Did you know the other members of the band beforehand? Why did you decide to call the band The X-Streams? Steve put the band together. It was him and Bob the drummer and myself. Bob brought in Kurt who came with Peter. In trying to decide on a name for the band I came up with the name The X-Streams and the guys liked it.
What was your first show at the ON Klub in LA like? How important were your early shows at the ON Klub to the success of the band? Our first show at the ON Klub was a blast we were instantly booked to play quite a few more shows so we were like regulars at the club and that did wonders for us getting great reviews and more bookings.
Would you describe The X-Streams as a ska band, a reggae band or a mix of both? We were more of a ska band.
Tell me a bit about the early song writing process. Who wrote the songs on your first two singles? Kurt and I did the bulk of the song writing. With me as the lead singer I wrote my songs, and to be truthful I can't remember the songs we had on the first single.
What was it like to be in a racially mixed band in Arizona in the early 80's? This was a state that would not make Martin Luther King's birthday a state holiday for some time. Our band in Arizona was great I don't know if anyone noticed that I was black except for Kurt's mom because I was with her son.
Why did you leave the band? It was time for me to move on. My vision of what I wanted had changed.
Are you still in touch with any of your band mates? I only recently found Peter on the net and we pow-wow a bit.
What are you doing these days? I just finished recording a calypso record to be released in August at the beginning of the calypso season and I am remixing it to be released as a R&B Rap version. I have also completed the video for the calypso record and about to begin the one for the rap.
The departure of Springer and drummer Steinhilber was not the end of The X-Streams. They continued to soldier on playing a a more rock and reggae mix of songs and bringing Mayberry's wife into the band. From the 1995 Phoenix New Times story: Mayberry and Tessensohn continued to play together over the years, most recently as Cloud 10. The duo released a self-titled CD on their own Skintone label, but, as soon as the ball once again started rolling, tragedy on an almost unbelievable level reared its head. "I hadn't seen the guys in about ten years, and then, Kurt and Peter approached me with a new CD they wanted me to do the artwork for," says Steinhilber. "Then when Kurt and Peter were flying up to San Francisco to this independent record company convention looking for a distribution deal, Peter's wife OD'd on heroin on the plane, in the rest room with her little boy on her lap [Kathy Tessensohn was declared dead of acute heroin toxicity by a Nevada medical examiner]. Then about two or three weeks ago, Peter called me and said that Kurt had flipped out and attacked him, and he had to have him put in jail. I called Kurt and he didn't want to talk about it. I'd never seen any of this crazy behavior from him; he'd always been a perfect gentleman."
GregNoiz also remembered the bands later years: Fast forward a few years and I am playing in a ska/punk band called Skaface (a band I started with Jim Sauter, original rhythm guitarist for The Effects) and also filling in on drums and percussion with reggae band The Sons Of The Captivity (a band headed up by Rudy Chavez, original guitarist for Driftwood). Kurt and Peter are still playing but with a new crew behind them. I caught them at a Tempe club called Edcel's Attic and they were great. They played a ripping version of Delroy Wilson's 'Trying to Conquer Me'. I remember talking with Kurt's wife Debbie a bit that night. A nice lady, very pretty. Somewhere around this time I met with Peter and Kurt at his home to play some drums and practice with them a bit. I was a huge fan and I was so weirded out to find myself playing with these guys I could hardly hold on to my sticks. Because of complications in my personal life I couldn't take them up on their invitation to work with them further. A huge regret now of course. My final run in with Kurt was at the Sun Club. This was a notorious dive in Tempe that for a while was the Valley hot spot for edgy music. He had recently bought the club and I asked him if my current band, ToolBox (an alt rock trio where I played live drums along with a computer drum track), could play there. He of course said yes. Kurt was just a really good guy.
Sadly Mayberry's demons caught up with him in June of 1995. According to a story that appeared in the Arizona Republic's obituaries section, "Man Collapses in Struggle With Police" The "Man" was Mayberry, who had stopped breathing at a local hospital after an apparent cocaine overdose. The article said that Mayberry had been walking down the street, naked. He followed two boys home and broke into their apartment. Inside, he found a teenager and two other children; he told them to call the police. The police arrived to find Mayberry hiding in a bedroom, "acting incoherent, delusional and paranoid," according to an officer at the scene. Mayberry attacked the officers, who--the piece notes--did not use excessive force. During the struggle, he collapsed, and was taken to the hospital where he died.
Here is audio of a live performance of The X-Streams song 'Appeared To Me' in Tempe, Arizona in July,1986
Luckily, I have been able to track down the only single that The X-Streams recorded in 1980 with Lorraine Springer on vocals. It was part of a split 7" single with a new wave band called The Nervous and each band had two songs on each side of the single. The two songs are both fantastic slices of reggaefied ska and its clear that Springer is a vocal talent. Yet again I'm amazed at how the collective unconscious provided inspiration for so many talented musicians around the UK and the US in the late 70's and early 80's to create some great music. Many thanks to Tone and Wave blog for sharing the link
This week's podcast is dedicated to members of The Beat and The Specials and their varied, colorful and creative musical endeavors. As a fan of both bands, I've always sought out their rarities and oddities. Often, its these songs, off the beaten path of what causal listeners are accustomed to hearing. that tend to be the most interesting. The impact of music by both bands is also evident in the variety of cover versions other musicians have recorded of their songs, as well as the invitations they have received from other acts to add their unique imprint.
The genesis of The Specials current reunion may have its seeds in a short, one-off show that Terry Hall and Lynval Golding performed early last year with members of The Dead 60's backing them on bass, drums and organ at the 100 Club in London. The set included an inspired version of 'Friday Night & Saturday Morning'. This is followed by a rare live version of the 'More Specials' classic track 'Stereotype' from a show in Holland in 1981 that features Neville Staple's extended chat. It is interesting to hear the live performance which is much more musical than the 'muzak' version from the album.
Following the break-up of The Specials, Terry, Lynval and Neville recorded two albums as the Fun Boy Three. I've always loved their second album and feel that many of the songs have stood the test of time. One of my favorites is 'Going Home' which documents the confusion facing immigrants caught between the pull of their old and new homes. This live version was performed on the UK TV show 'The Test'. The impact of The Specials on subsequent generations of younger bands can't be overstated. The Dead 60's proudly wore their affection for the band in their songs and I've included thier note for note cover of 'Ghost Town' as a testament.
Both Neville Staple and Ranking Roger shared similar roles as MC's and toasters in their respective bands. This has given them each a unique ability to collaborate with other artists and one another to reinterpret their own songs or to work together as they did in Special Beat. The Fun Boy Three's recording of 'The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum) is given a Latin makeover by the Mexican band Los Del Abajo featuring a guest appearance from Neville Staple. This is followed by a rare studio recording by Special Beat featuring Neville and Roger singing the 60's ska classic 'Time Longer Than Rope'.
Like Neville, Ranking Roger has been an active collaborator and contributor on a number of rare and unique tracks. His reinterpretation of The Beat classic 'Twist & Crawl' with help from the UK duo Death in Vegas rivals the original in its driving intensity. Roger also recorded a number of freestyle chats on the extended versions of a number of rare tracks by The Beat. One of the rarest is his chat 'Cool Entertainer' over the instrumental 'Which Side Of The Bed' which is a song the band rarely performed live.
One the rarest and most interesting tracks on the podcast is a version of 'Rock The Casbah' with a lively chat from Ranking Roger that was recorded by Mick Jones for inclusion on the double album version of 'Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg' (later called 'Combat Rock') that never saw the light of day. Finally, I've added a hard-to-find live version of The Beat's punky 'Two Swords' as performed by Dave Wakeling and his band Bang!, during his hiatus between the first and second incarnations of General Public in the mid-1990's.
Here is the podcast play list:
Terry Hall & Friends - Friday Night & Saturday Morning (Live at 100 Club) The Specials - Stereotype (Live 1981) Fun Boy Three - Going Home (Live on 'The Test' 1983) The Dead 60's - Ghost Town (Cover) Los Del Abajo w/Neville Staple - The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum) The Special Beat - Time Longer Than Rope Death In Vegas w/Ranking Roger - Twist & Crawl The Beat - Cool Entertainer (Rare remix of 'Which Side Of The Bed') The Clash w/Ranking Roger - Rock The Casbah (Mick Jones' Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg mix of Combat Rock LP) Dave Wakeling & Bang - Two Swords (Rare live recording of Dave Wakeling's 1990's LA-based band)
If you were unable to get tickets to The Specials UK tour this April and May, HMV is giving you a shot to win a pair to see the gig at the Brixton Academy in London on May 6, 2009. The promotion is part of marketing around Neville Staple's upcoming memoir "Original Rude Boy: From Borstal to The Specials" which is being published this May. Terms and conditions apply of course. Here is the link to the HMV online promotion.
