This is costly for our community reputation. It would have been difficult to imagine the residents displaying the same sentiments in 1981 or indeed in 1985. The video was just as bleak, featuring a road trip through some of the least salubrious streets of Central London. Operation Ivy tribute LP on the way; Catbites cover of Healthy Body streaming now, Type O Negative and Crowbar members form new band Eye Am, Elvis Costello played 10 show at Gramercy Theatre (setlists & video for whole residency), Elvis Costello wrapped his NYC residency with The Imposters (pics, setlist, video), The National share New Order T-Shirt from new LP, selling an actual New Order t-shirt, When We Were Young 2023 adds second day with same lineup. [2] The song spent three weeks at number one and 11 weeks in total in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. Theme From "The Boiler". The first I knew something was up was around five oclock in the afternoon, when I started to hear screaming, windows being smashed and the sound of accelerated running past the window. Bradbury joined The Specials in 1979, and continued with The Special AKA. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. For a short while, I felt as though I could have been the last person in the capital, the last person alive, last man standing. Having no safety net meant we encouraged each other to be more entrepreneurial than perhaps we would have been otherwise, although none of us were the kind of people who would have pursued jobs for life. In South London, conflict gave an edge to every transaction in a corner shop, every late-night walk home. A notable recording artist, Jerry Dammers is a pioneer and keyboardist who has been dynamic in the melodic world for over forty years. Realism? There was also a growing sense that the Tories had no understanding of, and no pastoral interest in, the have-nots under their care, those who hadnt wouldnt benefit from financial deregulation, privatisation or Thatchers changes to the welfare state. What many forgot about the peace process in Northern Ireland was that it was as much to do with prosperity as political and sectarian will. / Friday Night, Saturday Morning. Youth unemployment was rife as the country felt the bite of Thatchers cuts and riots were erupting all over the country, riots that appeared, with eerie synchronicity, at the same time as Ghost Town. Terry Hall and Jerry Dammers, musicians with the New Wave/Ska band The Specials, are shown seated behind a microphone, wearing suits. Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez had already gone back to London, and I had to record that flute by actually dropping in. As I walked south, I may as well have been self-isolating, because I was completely, completely alone. The look, which Dammers described as "defiant, Jamaican and hard", infiltrated all 2-Tone artwork, from sleeves to posters, T-shirts to badges. [5][6][7] It was the 12th-best-selling single in the UK in 1981. I laughed out loud when he spat the line, but youre still fucking peasants as far as I can see, from Working Class Hero. "He'd say, run the checkerboard pattern right across, move this figure . It even felt like a riot, or rather how a riot felt just before it kicked off, or maybe just after it, when all the dust had settled. The worst were in Brixton, on 10-12 April. The next morning, Brixton looked as though it had been turned inside out, as everything that was usually inside someones house appeared to be outside, all the household detritus that looks so pathetic and parochial when removed from its natural habitat. Hearing of Brads death has been a great shock to me and it is a very sad day indeed, said Dammers in a statement. It felt as though everyone had been shipped out to the country, as the city shimmered with silence. Speaking ahead of the newly . The late summer of 1981 was a wake-up call for so many people I knew, as we had all finished college and were experiencing the inevitability of life on the dole, looking for work while juggling the day-to-day existence of a life without structure or a support network. His father (Horace) became Dean of Bristol Cathedral. The kaleidoscopic Ghost Town didnt offer balm for a world-weary pop-culture; rather it was a political exhortation. "It's a fantastic honour and it's amazing that it's remembered in South Africa. The invective, the flash of the eyes and yes, I have been on the wrong end of that once or twice. Fascinated by the record's sound, Dammers telephoned the song's co-writer and producer John Collins a few days later, although as Dammers first phone call was in the middle of the . The buyer recently posted a note on The Specials community page looking for some further proof on the authenticity of the instrument he now owns. As the streets of London go into lockdown, The Specials Ghost Town and the feverish social background against which the song was written feels more resonant than ever. Often squandered, but here it has found a very safe pair of hands. Affiliation PRS Comments Keyboardist. is a plea for racial tolerance and was written by guitarist Lynval Golding in response to a violent racist attack he had suffered in July 1980 outside the Moonlight Club in West Hampstead in London, which had left him hospitalised with broken ribs. The riots would eventually end, although not before The Specials themselves collapsed. The gangs were bigger, more organised, more vicious, more resigned to living outside of society; no explanations or excuses were needed nor offered. You've got to, you've got to. I had already barricaded our own front door with various pieces of random furniture, although this was largely to try to appease my girlfriend, as I knew that any concerted push from the other side would have caused them to come tumbling down the corridor as the door flew open. Our extremely brief romance resulted in the song Our Lips Are Sealed, which will forever tie us together in music history. Born on May 22, 1955, Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, India, Dammers had been in The Cissy Stone Soul Band, and later graduated from Coventry University. Recording simply in mono really helped the instruments balance themselves." That year, 28 September was a Saturday and having just come back from a trip abroad, I had spent the whole day indoors, transcribing tapes, writing, listening to music and cleaning the flat, not bothering to go outside for a paper or turn on the radio or TV. For me and for so many others at the time, my support network was the black economy, acting as a cocktail barman at Brixtons chi-chi nightclub The Fridge one minute and bunking the tube the next. . It was unbelievable. Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers (born 22 May 1955) is a British musician who is a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry, England, based ska revival band The Specials, The Special A.K.A. Their first, a live recording of Too Much Too Young, was essentially The Sex Pistols Bodies gone ska, but the intervening year saw The Specials ditch that punky-reggae template. He also founded 2 Tone Records. Bradbury was also a member of soul group JBs Allstars and ska band, Selecter. [12], As it had not been decided where exactly the backing vocals would be used, Terry Hall, Staple, Golding and Dammers sang a full backing vocal track throughout the song, which Collins used to his advantage as the lyric "this town is coming like a ghost town" had become like a "hypnotic chant" by the end of the song. Now I was attuned to everything, including the sound of looters breaking in through the front door of our building. The looters concentrated on the electrical shops, on the ghetto blasters, television sets and radios. Apart from penning the song, Dammers also stopped seeing this "friend" - an approach echoed in the song's chorus: "If you have a racist friend/ Now is the time, now is the time/ For your friendship to end." But for Dammers, who confesses he is "not a confrontational person", the song was substitute for a . Dammers recalls: "Terry was given to performing with his back to the audience. Dammers said: "I was watching the news one day and they showed a football match in South Africa where the song was being played on the loudspeakers. It was a boys jolly., In Toxteth, eye-witnesses recalled the brazen calmness of the looters, In Toxteth, eye-witnesses recalled the brazen calmness of the looters, who were almost using the rioters as a human shield. Dammers record was an apocalyptic portrait of inner-city oppression set to a loping beat offset by an unsettling and vaguely Middle Eastern motif: Government leaving the youth on the shelf No job to be found in this country The single sounded like the fairground ride from hell, a snake charmer of a song, complete with strident brass, madhouse wailing and dub-style breaks. He also founded 2 Tone Records. Glastonbury, Worthy Farm. 2018 Aug 31 Sep 02 2018. When Mrs Thatcher first arrived in Downing Street in 1979, there were many who thought she would become as much a prisoner of the Whitehall machine as her predecessor, Edward Heath, yet she quickly used abrasiveness to slap down the mandarins. It is with deep regret that we say goodbye to our great friend, the world's greatest drummer, our beloved Brad. Whatcha Talking 'Bout by Musical Youth (1983) Fine Style by Dr. Echo and DJ Reverend (1994) was covered in. Jerry Dammers will be given the Order of the Companions of OR Tambo, at a ceremony in Pretoria on Sunday. He nicked as many bottles of booze as he could carry. Winston Silcott, Engin Raghip and Mark Braithwaite were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, although all three were cleared by the court of appeal in 1991 after it emerged evidence had been tampered with (Silcott remained in prison for the separate murder of another man, Tony Smith, finally being released in 2003). Fascinated by the record's sound, Dammers telephoned the song's co-writer and producer John Collins a few days later, although as Dammers first phone call was in the middle of the night, Collins initially took it to be a joke. In our world, the economy was driven by nightclubs, as this was a completely cash economy. This was urban decay writ large, accompanied by a kick drum and a muted horn. We went clubbing together, spent a few memorable New Years Eves in Bristol (where his parents were from), spent birthdays together and once DJd together at a miners benefit at the Wag Club in 1983 (he played politically correct funk while I played right-of-centre disco). We had both lived in Brixton for some time and had become almost immune to the attritional nature of the place. The riots themselves felt contemporary and weirdly particular. At the time he was also working in a stamp shop. In an interview in 2011, Dammers explained how witnessing this event inspired his composition: The overall sense I wanted to convey was impending doom. Back in 1981, walking around Electric Avenue and Atlantic Road after the first nights disturbance was nothing if not surreal. "Why?" Ghost Town was obviously referencing the situation. I told him, philately will get you nowhere!" The writer: Ghost Town was written by Jerry Dammers. He sought refuge in a (black) neighbours house, who promptly called out to the gang chasing him, who ran in and kicked the living daylights out of him. Thank you very much for buying this selection of represses from some of the original seven inch singles released on the 2 Tone label between 1979 and 1984. I said free Nelson Mandela. Rest in power Terry Hall.". London, Clapham Common. Musician and arranger Delia Derbyshire, who died in 2001 and musician Ray King were also honoured with plaques. Jeremy David Hounsell "Jerry" Dammers, (born 22 May 1955) is a British musician who is a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry, England based ska revival band The Specials, The Special A.K.A. He also founded 2 Tone Records. Madness also paid tribute to Prince Buster by using the title of his single "Madness" for their name and on their first . ", Fellow 2 Tone band Madness wrote, "A terrible loss to all of us, way too young," while The English Beat's Dave Wakeling wrote, "Sad to hear that Terry will not be joining us for another season. However, there was a tense moment towards the end of recording when Dammers decided at the last minute that he wanted to add a flute to the song, and with no free tracks available Collins was forced to record the flute directly onto the track containing the previously recorded brass section, with the possibility that any error would have rendered the entire track unusable: The guy who played the flute was a member of the band King and we recorded him in the hallway with a microphone at the top of the stairs to get the natural reverb from the stairwell. Dammers was born in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, South India, the son of a clergyman who went on to become Dean of Bristol . Free Nelson Mandela. Jerry Dammers was born on 22 May 1955 in Ootacamund, India. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. At the time, as far as music was concerned, there was nothing quite so au courant as nostalgia. These were domestic experiences, the kind that visitors to the UK just wouldnt understand. Intelligent, observant and with a deadpan delivery second to none. With its melancholic wailing, its hypnotic lope, its ominous organs and The people getting angry chant, there is no better mirror to the societal privations of 1981, a year that often felt on the brink of collapse. Jerry Dammers has come out swinging with scathing allegations that the Specials reunion is "a takeover, rather than a proper reunion," claiming he's been kicked out of the . Jerry Dammers attended Coventry's King Henry VIII School. For most of the 1970s, St Pauls a predominantly black and white working-class area had been the victim of deteriorating housing, poor education services and an increasingly strong police presence. Enigmatic, certainly. The car industry was closing down in Coventry. The first major Brixton riot, on 11 April, resulted in 450 injuries, the destruction or burning of more than 200 vehicles and 150 damaged buildings. While she would always say that she was empowering those who had previously been beholden to the state, Thatcher was criticised most often for having no idea what to do with communities when the safety net had been withdrawn. The Special AKA perform Racist Friend. All along Hall has claimed that the door remained open to his former bandmate. Begging you, begging you please. We had almost been written off and then Ghost Town came out of the blue.. Elected against a background of rotting refuse and unburied bodies following the Winter Of Discontent, she took her mandate for governing as a mandate for change. Hes missing out on being in this incredible band. Originally, the lead part was done on Jerry's guide organ before the flute was dropped in on the brass track. Deliaphonic x Boudica presents Stealing Sheep's Wow Machine Jerry Dammers. Compared to the two-speed society of the tweenies (as economists are still trying to describe the second decade of the 21st century) 1985 seemed almost quaint. He. Jerry Dammers Spatial AKA Orchestra. Subscribe to our mag by Mojo Staff | Posted on 20 12 2022 (Photo by Getty Images) Album. Jerry Dammers is born Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers on 22 May 1955 in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, South India. They didnt play Ghost Town, but then how could they? . The video's locations include driving through the Rotherhithe Tunnel and around semi-derelict areas of the East End as well as in Lothbury and Throgmorton Street in the financial district of the City of London in the early hours of daylight on Sunday morning, where the streets were deserted as it was the weekend. By the end of the 1980s, those pockets of gentrification that had started to pop up around Central London would become so oversubscribed that those on the bottom rungs were pushed farther and farther out, so those previously out-of-bound areas east of the city villages that promised the sort of luxurious loft-living the young bankers in Docklands had been promised a decade before. Their records defined a slice of a generation who werent sure they wanted to be defined in the first place. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Some thought this was progress, although what was rarely advertised in the Sunday Times Home section was the fact that most of these new developments were nothing less than gated communities. Ive read Jerrys statement and I just dont get it, he told The Guardian. Founding Specials member Jerry Dammers has hit out at his bandmates' reunion next year. I think it is good, but I want to give it my best shot. The single had two B-sides, each written by a different member of the Specials. Collins wanted the song to sound more like a Sly and Robbie roots reggae track, so he brought a copy of a Sly and Robbie-produced single, "What a Feeling" by Gregory Isaacs, to the studio so that drummer John Bradbury could mimic the drum sound. However, it was to come sooner than anyone thought, as Tesco bought a site on Acre Lane the day after the 1985 riots. Everywhere there was tension. Is it just me or is there a bit of distortion on the vocals on the "Too much pressure" side? The building which housed the club is now Coventry Central Library.[11]. Yup, well they were probably back too, playing the Shepherds Bush Empire the night after Joe Jackson and probably supporting Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark or The Happy Mondays. 00073107204 15 works 00073107302 17 works. From 2001 to 2012, the Afro-Caribbean population of Lambeth, the borough that houses Brixton, fell by eight per cent. The fact that it became popular when it did was just a weird coincidence. The January 2016 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK featuring Paul Weller, David Bowie, Best Of 2015, Roger Waters, Father John Misty, Pere Ubu, Robert Forster, Natalie Prass, James Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Sunn O))), Jonny Greenwood, Arthur Lee & Love, Neil Young, Janis Joplin and more. Dud Thud. The mixed racial make-up of The Specials - and most of the other bands on the 2 Tone label - was a deliberate and provocative . are touring this year to celebrate their 30th anniversary. My condolences to his family and friends. Sure, the band were earnest, but they were studiedly sarcastic, too, which endeared them to everyone from ageing punks to their younger siblings. All my condolences and sympathies go out to his wife and family., Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go's, who co-wrote "Our Lips Are Sealed" with Hall, wrote, "Gutted to hear of the passing of #terryhall. The morning after the first 1981 riot was almost as bad as the riot itself, as the mess and the devastation made you feel as though you were living in a place that was never going to improve, that was only ever going to get worse. The aural landscape is so vast that each member sounds disconnected from the next, says Dorian Lynskey, in his history of protest songs, 33 Revolutions Per Minute. He then ran away, leaving the camera behind. Now Dammers is being honoured in South Africa, a country that he has never visited before. In the end I spent most of the day there, doing emails, making more video calls and mostly cancelling things. Once and for all. I spoke to him for this article a few days ago and he is as disconcerted by the current crisis as all of us. [20], The summer of 1981 saw riots in over 35 locations around the UK. There is a suggestion that his real name was Gerald Danki but this seems unsubstantiated. 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