Club Ska news - The Rayners Hotel, Harrow has been saved!!! It
was due to be demolished after being bought by a building company but is now categorised as a listed building. This means
Club Ska nights will continue after all! Many thanks to Dave & Mark for their efforts in saving one of our favourite venues.
http://www.clubska.com
Rough Kutz the long awaited and excellent 3rd album by the
Stoke skinhead ska band is due to be released this month! With guest guitarist Roddy 'Radiation' Byers bringing
his own unique sound to some of the tracks, this promises to be a belter!
New Book out now.. The 2Tone Trail
by Pete Chambers. This is a new book that looks at the places and the faces that helped to shape the genre
that emerged as 2-Tone. Full of rare and rarely seen photographs, the book features a 20 location tour around the city of
Coventry, and each one is brought to life by new and up to date quotes from the people who made the difference. Including
Jerry Dammers, Horace Panter, Roddy Byers, Lynval Golding, Neville Staple, Pauline Black, Roger Lomas, Neol Davies (who also
wrote the foreword) and many others; here's what's been said about it so far..
· Just got
a copy!! Nice one Pete! A fine job!!
· Got my
copy today, just finished reading it, very good, well impressed with it
· Nice one
Pete got my copy today and have read most of it now. Good work sir.
· Great book and an interesting take on the 2 Tone story
- A fantastic insight into the places that shaped
2-Tone
-
- This book is fantastic. As a fan of 2 tone and Coventry music, or simply as a visitor
to Coventry, you cant go wrong. There is a huge amount of detail about so many places that were instrumental in shaping the
whole scene in the late 70's.The author has really looked under every stone in his quest to detail as much information about
the places and the people that were involved in this maverick label. I can’t wait to get out onto the streets of Coventry
with the map and visit all of the places featured. A truly great idea that has been well written and well presented.
It's available on e-bay at just £5.00 (so you can
see it's a labour of love not a money-making scheme).
The Splitters - Leicester's very own Sub Ska Rockers
are in the process of recording another studio album.. this will be the band's fourth album to date. You just can't go
wrong with the Splitters, their sound is an upbeat and very danceable ska infused with a roots reggae vibe which gets you
hooked immediately, and if the last three albums are anything to go by the new release will definitely be worth
getting!
New website (artwork/illustration) from Scootering magazine's
illustrator Lee Daniels. Lee is a freelance artist available for design & illustration for club logos,
album covers, tattoos, posters & adverts. Contact him through www.leandiesel.co.uk don't forget to mention you got the link from BigBeat site.
Laurel Aitken 'Godfather of Ska' sadly passed away on 17th July 2005
from a heart attack. I'm sure all our thoughts are with his family at this time, and this great man will definitely be
missed by us all. Respect to Laurel for his contribution to the music, rest in peace.
http://www.trojanrecords.net/NewsArticle.php?id=315
The Dave Goodman Memorial gig
Quoted from Gary O'Dea:
The 100 Club, Oxford Street, London
on Wed 23rd March was a fitting tribute to the man daubed 'the Phil Spector of the British Underground music scene.'
A very respectable turn out
from Dave's lifetime of musical associations over the past 30 -40 years were in attendance. Dave's own standing
as a musician in his early years was well documented, with photo's of him as a member of the Jackson 5 backing band
with a teenage Michael Jackson. He also toured as bass player with The Drifters and Ben E King, but of course
it was his visionary days as a sound engineer/producer in the 70's and the exploding Punk scene in London that Dave
really came to prominence. His recording work with The Sex Pistols and the Anarchy In The UK Tour paved the way for him to
be sought after by other Punk bands for recording duties that include - The Members, Chelsea, Poly Styrene & X - Ray Spex, Adam &
The Ants, UK Subs, Splodgenessabounds etc, etc.
He was also a pioneer of the Eco / Green movements channel of thought and he continually supported the Glastonbury
Festivals - Green Fields area of the festival and his work with New Age Radio and Mandela Studios reflected this.
I took to the stage of The 100 Club (an honour in itself) to accompany Gary Lammin on harmonica in an extended
version of the song 'Oh Yeah' that featured on the Zen Buddah' Boot Boys album Icons (recorded with Dave in 2000) - it bought
the house down (if I do say so myself). Lammin's mean grizzly electric slide guitar version of the song and its
rousing chorus really stirred the audience. It was pretty surreal to look out on the audience at the end
of the song and see the likes of Glen Matlock, Captain Sensible, Knox (The Vibrators), Max Splodge, Mat Sargent (Sham
69, Splodgenessabounds) etc, etc, standing cheering us - but I think the smile on the face of Dave's wife Kathy was the
biggest thrill of all, as Lammin's t-shirts state ' Enough Said.'
Other's attending throughout the day included Martin Stacey (ex Chelsea) and reported sightings included
Steve Diggle (Buzzcocks), Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream), Nicky Tesco and various ex Members and satirist Will Self.
Dave would have loved it - he'd have probably bootlegged it (ha ha) bless him.
Anyway, as Malcolm McLarens message of condolence said 'Long Live Dave Goodman.'
RESPECT.
Gary O'Dea
El Pussycat new line up
- There has been a couple of changes to the band
- Lee Allatson (drums/vocals) has left to pursue his misterlee career, so the Pussycats have recruited Laurel Aitken's
ska drummer Dave Anderson, with Pussycat guitar man Daryl Kirkland taking over the vocals. There will be some new tunes
in the set, but it's still business as usual - old skool ska!
