Tag Archives: Coventry

Far more than mere nostalgia: stepping forward with The Selecter – back in touch with Pauline Black

I was briefly reminded of 1969 European sightseeing comedy If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium when I spoke to Pauline Black, OBE, this week. On this occasion, en route to a date at Het Depot, Leuven after a big … Continue reading

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Missing You – a tribute to Terry Hall and Iain ‘Tempo’ Templeton

“Love, there was so much love, enough to last a hundred years. Laughs, we had so many laughs, how come they turned into tears?” I wasn’t sure it was common knowledge when I got the sad message from Iain ‘Tempo’ … Continue reading

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Searching for a love supreme – in conversation with Stone Foundation’s Neil Jones

It’s landing a fair few months later than planned, but Midlands-based soul collective Stone Foundation are finally set to release their latest studio album. And for these ears it’s possibly their best yet. Is Love Enough? is now due out … Continue reading

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The Selecter – Guildford G Live

As regular readers of this website know, Guildford and I go way back, and it was as a 13-year-old that I saw my first band at the Civic Hall, catching The Undertones on the Positive Touch tour, a mile and … Continue reading

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Four decades of Daylight with The Selecter – back in touch with Pauline Black

Celebrated 2 Tone legends The Selecter, up there at the forefront of the late ‘70s UK ska revival, are going down a storm in Europe right now, their 40th anniversary tour drawing closer to home. Led by Pauline Black and … Continue reading

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A Message from our Rude Boy – the Neville Staple interview

It will be 40 years in May since debut Special AKA single ‘Gangsters’ thrilled a nation, the first single on 2 Tone Records a fine example of all that followed from that ground-breaking independent label. Before 1979 was out, a … Continue reading

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Behold what she has done – back in touch with Hazel O’Connor

Hazel O’Connor was at home in County Wicklow when I caught up with her, after a long haul from a gig in Taunton, Somerset, including a late-night Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire ferry. “My boat got me in about half past midnight. It’s … Continue reading

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Skankin’ and rockin’ to a Skabilly beat – the Roddy ‘Radiation’ Byers interview

While no one could reasonably argue against the notion that Jerry Dammers was the architect and conceptual mastermind behind The Specials and the 2 Tone movement, his bandmates Roddy ‘Radiation’ Byers and Lynval Golding played a big part in establishing … Continue reading

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Stepping back into Daylight – the Pauline Black interview

You need only take a couple of listens to the new album by influential ska favourites The Selecter to be convinced this is not a band content to sit back on past endeavours. What’s more, vocalist Pauline Black doesn’t do … Continue reading

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Never Gonna Say Goodbye – the Pete Waterman interview

Perhaps you know him best these days for the countless TV appearances as presenter, judge or pundit, from his shows on regional radio in the Midlands, or – going back a bit further – as a club DJ. Alternatively, you … Continue reading

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