ska
News: Prince Buster, An Obituary 1938 – 2016
Ska and Rocksteady pioneer Prince Buster died on the 8th of September, at his home in Miami at the age of 78. Cited as creating the ska sound when he told his band to play on the off-beat, his influence on Jamaican music was vast. Buster (real name Cecil Campbell), a street boxer, teamed up …
News: RIP John Bradbury – The Specials
I was 11 when I first really got in to music. As a young impressionable kid, I not only wanted to make an impression I was looking for an identity. They were difficult times for me. My parents had just divorced – which, at that time, was a rarity where I came from – I’d …
Live: THE SELECTER – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds 8-3-15
“Are you ready to have a good time?” It’s a question that Pauline Black knows the answer to before it’s left her lips. The Selecter are in town and it’s a full house. Before taking to the stage, Pauline and Gaps were working their own merch stall. Both of them more than happy to chat, …
News: The Selecter announce tour dates and details of new album.
1980 was the year I first properly got into music. Not quite in my teens I’d received a stereo radio cassette player for my birthday and a wedge of Boots vouchers, (sounds shit today, but at the time most Boots had a semi-decent music department; as well as a chemist???). With those vouchers and a …
Live: The Specials – O2 Leeds Academy 10.11.14
It’s not been heard for a while, but it’s familiar all the same; the chant is ‘Rude boys! Rude boys! Rude boys!’, what with that and the chequered drum kit,it can mean only one thing… The Specials are in town and they’re ready to wind back the clock and have us skanking like its 1979. …
Meet: Ranking Roger interview and The Beat’s ‘Wha’ppen reissue’
Following on from the critically acclaimed ‘I Just Can’t Stop It’ released via Demon Records in April earlier this year, Demon Records have released The Beat’s ‘Wha’ppen?’. Recorded from the original cassette tapes, it will be strictly limited to 500 copies and comes with the download card that includes bonus tracks. The Beat’s second album …