One of many highlights for me from the third annual Here Comes the Weekend celebration of all things Paul Weller and The Jam at Woking FC (with my review of the event linked here), was the sight of close to a hundred scooters briefly interrupting Tufty’s Tour of local landmarks, just as we stood outside Paul’s former home in Maybury, enraptured by our guide’s memories of days gone by on the outskirts of this Surrey town.

We’d spotted the riders – assembled for Rick’s Rideout, in tribute to Jam drummer Rick Buckler, who passed away in mid-February – as our coach passed the Lion Retail Park, the shopping outlet on the site of the former James Walker factory works which employed my Grandad Wyatt and many more Woking townsfolk down the years, Paul’s dad and Jam manager John Weller among them. And soon they were upon us, taking a slight detour to ride past 44 Balmoral Drive, my video of that touching moment running to nearly three minutes. And that was just one of many emotional happening on a weekend full of them, just three months after news initially reached us of Rick’s departure.

With that in mind, it seemed rather apt that there was a copy of All Mod Icon waiting for me on my return, Glaswegian writer and designer Drew Hipson having pulled together a heartfelt tribute to Rick in his long-established fanzine. And a few days later there was another delivery at WriteWyattUK‘s West Cornwall HQ, the good folk at Detail, ‘the magazine for modernists’, sending a copy of their Spring 2025 edition (issue 16), including a 10-page tribute ‘through the words of friends, fans and industry colleagues to the man and the musician who was the heartbeat of the best band in the f^&*ing world.’

When Solid Bond In Your Heart: A People’s History of The Jam went to print, I was unaware – as I think I’m right in saying was everyone outside the circles of his closest friends and family – of Rick’s illness. So after the shock of that sunk in, I was at least relieved that what we had on our hands was a fitting tribute to his memory. Accordingly, we took a backseat for a couple of weeks – it wasn’t the time to try and publicise our labour of love, it was a time for reflection and many emotions, a public outpouring of love following. But in time we carried on, and I’m pleased to say now that there are a couple of more specific print tributes out there to his memory, celebrating that wonderful legacy.

I’ll start with All Mod Icon‘s The Beat Has Not Surrendered special edition, a 48-page glossy A5 publication chock-full of poignant reminders as to why Rick was held in such high esteem by us all, more than 40 years after Paul Weller called time on The Jam. From the Gered Mankowitz image adorning its cover, part of the iconic photo session (I hesitate to type that over-used word, but it was iconic to so many of us) from which the cover image of The Jam’s difficult second album, This Is The Modern World was chosen, onwards, we get a classy tribute compiled with much thought and affection, a series of print testimonials led by Drew’s own eloquent take on the subject, including a description summing up what many of us took from our personal encounters with Rick, talk of a fella who was ‘warm and engaging with absolutely no hint of ego.’

It was in 2001 – a year into his All Mod Icon adventure – that Drew had his first audience with Rick, and he stresses how supportive the Jam drummer was from the start, describing a personal tour back then of Jam-related landmarks, the legendary drummer driving him around Woking ‘in his vintage Merc’, en route to his home nearby, where ‘he proudly showed me his Jam archive.’ Drew, a ‘one-time drummer’, also writes with some awe about Rick’s technique and ability behind the kit, adding, ‘Whenever I conjure an image of Rick in my mind, he is always smiling. Indeed, his sense of humour is mentioned many times in tributes.’ True, and as I’ve mentioned in conversation recently, I always felt that mischievous humour had a knock-on ability to upset some of those around him. I’ve found myself censoring my interviews as some of the words uttered in our chats, while said with a smile and often a huge dose of humour, were likely to ignite fresh wars of words… and I never wanted to be part of that whole tabloid/popular music press tit-for-tat slagging machine. It possibly never bothered Rick though.

For All Mod Icon‘s tribute, Drew enlisted journalists and authors Pat Gilbert, Dylan Jones, Daryl Easlea, Alan Butcher and Barry Cain. There are also fitting words from Chords drummer Brett ‘Buddy’ Ascott, DJ and broadcaster Gary Crowley, friend of the band/Jam insider Steve ‘Tufty’ Carver, Polydor’s Jam PR man Dennis Munday, and Derek D’Souza, whose talent with a camera led to an opportunity of a lifetime with the band he loved (and along with fellow celebrated photographer Lawrence Watson was photographing the riders from Rick’s Rideout on Sunday at Here Comes the Weekend). There are also quotes from Steve Nichol, who recorded and toured with the band, and Buzzcocks guitarist/Jam contemporary Steve Diggle, plus various fan tributes, and an amalgam of Q&As with the man himself. All in all, a lovely read, truly worthy of its subject.

Dennis Munday also pops up in Detail‘s tribute, which includes further poignant pieces from fellow drummer Andy Orr, authors (and friends) Eddie Piller, Ian Snowball (who helped with Rick’s autobiography) and Jason Brummell, in an issue that also carries a lovely piece on fellow Jam legend Bruce Foxton, marking his retirement from the live scene due to recent health struggles, that feature kind of overtaken by events regarding the news about Rick’s passing but perhaps all the more poignant as a result, not least thanks to a postscript in which Andy, formerly part of Paul Weller’s band, adds his tribute to Bruce’s ex-bandmate.

And that takes us back to where we started, Claire Mahoney in Detail’s editorial expressing the sense of shock so many of us felt around that departure, adding, ‘Rick Buckler’s untimely exit was a sharp reminder that youth is far too fleeting,’ going on to convey how that news prompted her return to the Woking trio’s back catalogue, ‘consumed again by The Jam’, as was the case with so many of us, the resultant contrasting emotions felt – shock, grief, anger – followed by a realisation that ‘despite the sadness, how lucky I was and how lucky all Jam fans are. We have a solid bond and it’s as solid as that eternal back- beat.’

Well said, Claire, and thank you, Rick. You remain sorely missed, but that catalogue of wonderful songs remains with us, and you were key to all that. 

• Issue 16 of Detail magazine also includes Claudia Elliott on Shel Talmy’s influential production and her interview with The Creation guitarist Eddie Phillips about a new Demon/Edsel boxset celebrating the band; editor Claire Mahoney’s chat with PP Arnold based around a boxset of her back catalogue; a profile of illustrator and graphic designer Matt Grainger; Patrick Uden on the story of lesser-feted scooter manufacturer Moto Rumi; Tim Vickery talking Thunderbirds and jazz pianist/ composer/ producer, Leonard Feather; and Mark Baxter on Decca’s Tubby Hayes compilation and talking to the aforementioned Gered Mankowitz about some of his most (that word again) iconic photography.

To purchase Detail magazine, head here, and for All Mod Icon magazine, head here. Meanwhile, there are lots of great tributes to Rick Buckler and his part in The Jam in Solid Bond In Your Heart: A People’s History of The Jam, which you can purchase direct from the publisher, Spenwood Books, via this link, or track down via your favourite bookshop or online.