| Mod Stories All the Mod-memories you'll ever need: the mod rallies, the fights with the casuals/dressers and the skinheads, the mod bands, the clothes and the fun! |
 |
| 1979 It was 1979, I was 10 years old and on the way to Scarborough in my parents car, (the usual bank holiday thing, when in Leeds). "Time For Action" came on the radio and my dad was explaining to me what mods were. When out of the blue, what seemed like hundreds of parka-clad mods on scooters swarmed all around us, weaving in and out of the jammed cars on the A64. That was my first introduction to mod and I loved it. |
| 1983 The Jam had split up and all the mods seemed to have disappeared. I was 14 years old and scared to death, as there were skinheads everywhere. I "turned" trendy and grew a "flickhead" haircut and disolved into the background. Six months later I met a couple of mods who lived quite near and found sanctuary in their gang. Luckily I could now cut my hair and get out my Harrington again! There was one of them called "big Kev", he was 16 and explained where to buy the real US army parkas, not the "plastic" ones. He introduced me to Quadrophenia and that was it..I was well and truly hooked on the mod religion. From then on I was like a mod-preacher, trying to convert everyone I met, (which, with very few exceptions I did!) Watching Quadrophenia for the first time, was my defining mod moment. 1984 1984 was a very strange year. I was 15 now, school wasn't bad because there were a handful of mods left, and everyone knew we had always been that way, so we were left alone. Outside school was a different matter; everywhere I went, I was stared at, chased, hit and hassled, all because I was wearing a parka! It wasn't just the skinheads either, a new group had emerged calling themselves "dressers". They were everywhere we went, it didn't matter how many times we fought them, more appeared and it started again. Then the scooterboys chased us, and the punks and the skinheads again... bloody hell, this was getting ridiculous! Everybody hated us, but this just gave us more resolve, as we knew we were better and smarter than them. Somehow we kept our gang together and gradually more joined us, we had all the stragglers from a 5 mile radius. (Even girls were turning mod, just to hang with us!) We used to meet at the local shops, and there would be at least 30 of us there every night, sometimes loads more. One great moment was just after going to see the Truth at the Bierkeller in Leeds. My friend and I had just left and were chased half way round Leeds by a big bunch of skinheads, and my dad came to the rescue just in time. He had been driving round looking for us because we were late, and turned up 30 seconds before we were caught by the skins, excellent! 1985 How long had I waited for April 23rd 1985! I had been saving all my pocket money, doing odd jobs, two paper rounds and a Saturday car wash round for over 2 years now. It was my 16th birthday and my parents had offered to go halves with me on a Vespa PK50S...fantastic!! There I was, aged 16 with a job as an office junior, wearing my 3 button suit and riding my mirror laden scooter to work, all just like my idol, Jimmy! I was the first of our gang to actually get a scooter, and didn't I love it! There were around 40 of us in our own little 60's-mod world. Those of us with scooters, rode to the Phoenix mod run in Scarborough, the rest of our clan went on the bus. It was out of this world, with mods everywhere, just like us! We hardly ever saw skinheads anymore by now, but the dressers had become more than a nuisance. I got so sick of it, that I asked for the help of another big group of mods on the other side of the city, (we knew them all because we went to their mod nights at their local youth club), and they were happy to help. For the first time ever, we outnumbered the dressers, and did they run!! 1986 What a year! We had mod parties, Phoenix runs, mod nights organised by a group of elitist mods that had suddenly appeared, and more of us had scooters by now. (I had a PK125 engine put in my 50..at last!) I started an all mod scooter club and we had meetings every Thursday, that got bigger every week, and rode together to see various mod bands, including The Moment, The Truth, The Direct Hits, The Prisoners and The Gents. What we didn't know, is the dressers were actually spying on us somehow and we were ambushed weekly. I had my nose broken and my scooter smashed up nearly every time. It was my own fault though, because I wouldn't run from them, in my mind they didn't deserve the satisfaction. 1987 The elitist mods were still putting on the mod nights, by this time I had a PX125, and our mod scooter club looked fantastic. We had 20 scooter riding members, all wearing suits with parkas, and we looked cool! Something strange seemed to be going on behind the scenes though, I couldn't put my finger on it, but It seemed as if we were being shunned by the, so called "elitist" mods, (I wouldn't have minded, but we always helped them when trouble came along, why were they being like this?). I was right, they actually told us it wasn't cool anymore to ride scooters, wear parkas, we definitely shouldn't associate with revival music, and all we should listen and dance to was Jazz. Even Tamla Motown was too "common" for them. 1988 Oh well, there ended the last of the revivalists. We had stood proud as mods, in the face of every conceivable enemy, except the one we never expected, our "own kind" It was just too much, we couldn't understand, we were devastated, disillusioned and felt betrayed. Some of us went on scooter runs instead, some of us just kept scootering, a couple ditched their parkas and joined the elitists for a few months, but left as they couldn't cope with the negative attitudes. One guy, Jonny, one of the coolest, smartest mods I ever met, turned to house music, and is now a top DJ. Hundreds of mods disappeared within 6 months, all because of a dozen narrow minded individuals......Little did we know that this had gone on all over the UK. We all still keep in touch, and most of us still have scooters, some of us still call ourselves mods, some are scooterists, but all of us still love the music! |
| First hearing & getting into the Jam, Secret Affair & Madness on Radio one (Medium Wave!!) at the tender age of 12 - early '80. Mod and Two Tone features in "Look-In" and "Smash Hits" - thinking how cool the bands looked. Wearing a Pork Pie hat all summer. "Going underground" in at No1 - Weller wearing an apron back to front on TOTP. Rushing out to buy My World - from Woolworth's!!. Secret Affair, The Lambrettas, The Jags, Madness, The Specials, The Selector, and The Beat on TOTP (Not all at once). Watching (in awe) as you pass all the Mod Scooters on the way back from Bank Holiday. Collecting the back catalogue of The Jam & Secret Affair. Starting on the magical journey into MOD. 'Round a mates house to watch a pirate copy of Quadrophenia - buying the Quadrophenia album - great pictures but didn't get the music! "Start" in at No.1 Weller wearing Lennon Glasses in video. Parkas banned at school. Signing your name with an Arrow in it. Cutting out the Ads for The Chords "One More Minute" from sounds. Singing along to That's Entertainment on the School Bus. Sunday markets to buy Mod button badges & Patches, Harrington jackets and Sta press in Light blue and burgundy. Black Silk Mod ties with logos on (yuk!!). 14" bottom Levis sta-press & Fred Perry's from Shepard & Woodward. Playing "Glory Boys" & "Beat Boys in the Jet Age" to death. Trying to track down other New Mod records. Thinking "Behind Closed Doors" is the best LP ever. Going to see "Dance Craze", my mate walking 'round all night with his back to the wall so the Local Punks & Skins wouldn't see his Lambretta Patch. Friendly rivalry with School Rude Boys. Buying my first Parka, Union Jack on the back & painting Secret Affair keyhole on the Front. The Jam & Secret Affair on Saturday Morning TV. Going to Town every weekend - Looking for records - Getting chased by Skins & Punks. Finding The Mods book & reading it over & over. Getting into The Who, Small Faces, The Kinks, The Action & Motown (Via 20 Mod Classics LP's). Dreaming all day long about Scooters. Covering all your school text books with Mod band names - even ones you had never heard!!. Being blown away by the Mods Mayday LP. First trip to Carnaby Street - Thinking the Clothes were fantastic (!!?) Gibson & Badger Black & White shoes, Bloating Blazers, Bowling & cycling Shoes. First Scooter - Vespa 50N - trying to get it to go faster!!. Dancing to Time for Action at school disco's. Buy Bowling shoes a size too big so they would curl up at the Toe!. Going to my first Local Scooter club Do, Falling in Love with the Mod girls & hearing Northern Soul & other fantastic sounds for the first time. Cycling tops & shades. Meeting the Older Oxford Mods at their flat on Divinity Road, amazed by all their records and clothes. Going on "March of the Mods" down the town centre & getting chased (Once again!!) by Punks & Skins. 9 Below Zero on the Young Ones. First Gig - The Jam with 007 supporting at Alexandra Pavilion, going through the door into a sea of Green (Parkas) - being amazed at how many Mods there were! Taking a whole packet of Pro-Plus with Coffee/Tea (For the Maximum Speed effect) Ending up fighting with best mate - just like Quadrophenia. The Great '82 Mod/Scooter boy split - seemed like everybody went Scooterboy over night. Secret Affair & Purple Hearts split & a few months later the Jam - seemed like Mod was dead. Jam farewell gig at Wembley - not wanting them to leave the stage. The Truth on TOTP, great records - Even better Live. Tuning into the Tube every Friday night - Features on The Jam (Live), Modzines, The Truth (live) and the Prisoners dressed as Star Trekkers!! Joining the Small World fan club & getting into The Times. Formation of Mod Societies - Mark Johnson & The Phoenix Mod Society!! Meeting up with all the Local Mods at the Queens Arms every Weekend, - always something going on. White Slip on Shoes. Eddie Pillars - Extraordinary Sensations.Seeing Re-formed Purple Hearts. Organising our own do's. Watching the Re-runs of RSG before going out every Friday night - The Weekend Starts Here. Mod Rallies - Tony Class CCI do's. Untouchables on TOTP - & live at Hammersmith Palais. Whole swell of new mod bands. The Countdown Album - Making Time, The Prisoners, The Scene & The Moment. Music Press coverage & talk of a Mod revival - Revival!! Coffee shop meets on Saturdays. Picking up a 150 super for peanuts (!!) Respraying scooter with Spray cans. Spending hours in Charity shops looking for Clothes.Corduroy shoes & original 6T's shirts with massive button down collars. Mod Aid (?) Concert!! Rain Macs, cravats & Bass Weejun Loafers. Lusting after Fay Hallum & her FAB organ playing!!. Minty's Mob getting a name check on the Makin Time LP. Saturday shopping trips to London -Textile Kings for material & Queuing up stairs of Charlie's waiting to pick up your first pair of Tailor mades!. Meeting Proper (Trojan/Sharp) Skinheads. Camden market on Sundays. The Camden Stylists. SteveMarriot Live - tiny Geezer - Massive Voice. Antique-ing your brogues with black & Brown polish. Golfing Jackets & Suede shoes. Swindon (In Crowd) Mods with Massive back combs & 2 or 3 clothes changes a night!. Getting hassle from The Casuals. Rupert the Bear Trousers! Authentic Ska from Desmond Dekker, Laurel Akin & Potato 5. Chequered Shirts. The Oxford Fellowship of Style Great R&B shows!!. Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band Live & Loud. Row of Scooters outside The Queens Arms. Mental nights with the Bournemouth lot (The Inset - I think?). Making Time & The Prisoners at KlubFoot & the Cricketers Arms. Bumping into the Banbury & Gloucester mods where ever we went!! Mod Girls with knee length socks?!" Tailored trousers with slits & steps & covered buttons. 3, 4 & 5 button suits - Double breasted suits & multiple ticket pockets. Mod Super Group The Rage - should have been massive. Girls sharpening their steel handled combs. Carrying umbrellas even when its not raining!. Striped T Shirts, chains & blazers (The Style Council influence) - thinking you looked really "Continental" -??. Shanklin Pier shaking (& Shouting) under the weight of 1000 shuffling shiny shoes. Striped Hipsters & Psychedelic Shirts. Meeting & becoming friends with mods from all over the country - comradeship. The James Taylor Quartet Live at Lowestoft (I Think). Smart Dress only & certain people looking down their nose at you if you liked Live music!! Fights between rival gangs of '79 mods & 6T's purists mods?? - Thinking - what's it all about! Becoming disillusioned with the excessive Elitism. Getting more into Northern Soul. 100 club, Leighton Buzzard & Peterborough All-nighters. - blowing out towards the end of the 8T's. 10 years later - gone full circle Via Acid Jazz, rare groove, Madchester, Solo Weller, Brit Pop, Northern Soul (again). New Scooter & Now SECRET AFFAIR Live! - "Once touched by the hand of Mod" & all that or as Weller once said - "Its a bit Like being a Catholic"!! |
 |
 |
| "By the time the band come on stage the crowd has increased a little, and although not as manic as normal for a Chords gig there is still a great atmosphere. We all surge towards the stage, as the first chords of Now It’s Gone echoes around the hall. All four members look sharp, with singer Billy Hassett standing out in a black roll neck and white Sta-Prest. The energy and pent up aggression of the crowd is being released as The Chords rattle through one teenage anthem after another at 100 mph. There are a few other faces in the crowd that I recognise. The North London mob are here in numbers pushing their fanzine, Maximum Speed. Summed up The Chords performance tonight really. I buy a copy which is first class as usual, spotlighting groups that I’ve never heard of before. Bands like The Circles from Wolverhampton, and The Killermeters from Huddersfield. Bushell has done stuff on them as well in Sounds, but Maximum Speed have covered them first. Reading the fanzine it seems as if scenes are starting everywhere..all over Britain. The March of the Mods! Some of the Shepherds Bush boys are here as well, although with them and the LGS both being QPR I’m not convinced that we can rely on them in a ruck tonight. Normally they are solid, but there is a definite conflict of interests tonight. Only Neil from the Bush mob, who is a Chelsea Boy is 100%. There are a few of the Glory Boys present that I exchange nods with, but our mates, Eddie and his mob aren’t here. Probably still recovering from last Saturday, I smile to myself, remembering the mayhem of Earls Court station after the match. A few of the lads had tried phoning Eddie since then but funnily enough he never seemed to be in. The band’s set is coming to an end now. The closing feedback and chaos of Maybe Tomorrow signalling the end of another immense performance from, in my view, the best Mod band outside The Jam on the circuit. Sweat dripped everywhere, from bodies, the ceiling, walls as the band leave the stage. The adrenaline about what would happen outside has ensured an electric atmosphere that the band had fed off. I grab Sharon, and pull her through the crowds towards where Terry and his firm are gathering. Terry nods over at me, and turns to his mob. -Everyone ready then? It is met with a few nods and murmurs. No-one is really in the mood for talking, they are all too busy hyping themselves up. -Okay, lets f****n’ go!! Terry shouts as he moves towards the door. My stomach is turning somersaults, and my heart is pounding as I walk into the cool night air. To be honest I feel like I’m going to be sick. Light headed and legs like jelly. Sharon squeezes my hand tightly, as I smile down at her,. She looks as scared as me, as we start to walk along the side of the arches towards the station. It’s only a few minutes away, but it feels like miles. We are hemmed in, with the railway arches on one side of us and a high wall taking you into the estates on the other side. An ideal place for an ambush. There are about 80 of us who have left together, straight after the band. South East London, The Glory Boys, and the North London crew. The rest have stayed behind for the disco and a few drinks after the band, but we all have to get our last tube. As I thought, the boys from the Bush have stayed back, except for Neil and a couple of his close mates. I can understand why they done it. The LGS are the main firm in The Loft at Rangers, and a lot of the Bush Mods go over Loftus Road regularly. As a result they know the LGS lads quite well, and it would’ve been difficult for them tonight..still no excuse though. We got to the junction with Portobello Road when it eventually happens. It comes as a relief, all the waiting was doing my head in. Once it starts you don’t think or worry anymore, you just go onto automatic pilot. A bottle hits the head of one of Terry’s boys who falls to the deck. We can see them in Portobello Road coming towards us. F***in’ hundreds of them, whilst some others are lobbing missiles at us from the estate on the other side. -Come on lets do it!! Terry screams as we start to charge down the road towards them. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to let my mates down but I’ve got Sharon to look after as well. There are bottles and bricks raining down on us and with it being dark it is hard to avoid them. Neil runs over and makes up my mind for me. -F**ks sake Tom..get Sharon out of here! We aint gonna be able to hold them for long. I didn’t need telling again. I grab Sharon’s hand and the two of us sprint along the lane towards Ladbroke Grove. We can hear a train on the tracks above us going towards Hammersmith...That’ll do, I thought as I increase my speed. I can hear the others behind me now, also getting run. They are shouting for us to hold the tube for them. We run across Ladbroke Grove as the train is crossing the bridge, and up the stairs of the station, shoving the departing passengers to the side. They look terrified as a gang of Mods charge towards them. We hardly even notice them, only concentrating on reaching the train in time. The doors are beginning to close, but I manage to get in between them in time to hold them open as Sharon also jumps on. I can hear shouting downstairs as the Mods rush into the station and up the stairs. The guard is going mental at me for holding the doors...F**k him..I’m probably saving someone’s life here, I thought. The first of the Mods are now running into the carriage as Sharon and I hold the doors. Quite a few of them are covered in claret, and have obviously had a bad kicking. Terry and a few stragglers appear. The Skinheads are right in amongst them, and the fists are flying. Terry is lashing out with a bit of metal piping which is managing to keep the Skinheads at bay as the rest of the lads jump on the train. One of the Skinheads takes the full force of the piping across the face and we can hear the crack of his cheekbone as he crumples onto the platform, blood spurting everywhere, his screams rising above the noise of the mob. This gives Terry enough time to jump on the train as we let go of the doors. Almost immediately the train begins to move, the driver is obviously aware of what is going on. A few missiles hit off the windows as the train speeds up, but luckily the glass doesn’t smash, and we leave Ladbroke Grove behind. I look around the carriage. It looks like something out of a medical post in a war zone. There are a few other passengers on the train who look terrified whilst the rest of us just look shattered. I glance across at Sharon and smile weakly at her as she cuddles into me. I feel totally exhausted now as the adrenaline leaves my body. We’ve had it on their manor. We’ve went down The Grove and fronted the LGS. Yeah fair enough we got done, but only due to numbers. Our pride is still intact. A calm descends over the carriage as the train continues towards Hammersmith. " |
| Revival Mods in Leeds: |
| Revival mods in Oxford: |
| Revival mods in London: |
| The author of "Revival Mods In Leeds", on his sixteenth birthday, 1985. |
| The infamous Cavern, "mod clothes" shop, Carnaby Street, London, 1985. |
| I still consider myself a mod person in the respect that i still have a crush for the Hammond organ, soulful vocals, the 60's, scooters and much, much more. I don’t think something like the lifestyle of mod ever leaves you. I may be banging out house tunes these days but I still find time to listen to some old mod tunes, and after all these years I still get goose bumps! I got into house music as an extension of the whole black music thing, I like to think of it as the modern day all-nighter but know both nights are a million miles apart. To be a mod in the days of the '79-early 80's revival was something that can only be described as madness or maybe an addiction to the smartest and coolest lifestyle ever. I say madness coz times really were tough, we were hated by EVERYBODY, had our scooters smashed when parked up, had to fight for our lives 7 days a week due to endless attacks from whoever fancied having a go and had to put up with never ending abuse from the un educated. Don’t let anybody say that we were a bunch of aggressive nutters coz it’s just not true, we had the world against us and still kept the faith. Mod changed with the emergence of a new breed of 'Designer Mods', mods that were more interested in looking cool than scooters, dancing and just enjoying themselves. The 24th hour mod society came along and as far as I'm concerned killed mod in the north. Mod became a bitchy and cut throat business to be into, for example; Northern Soul was considered very uncool, as was all revival music. New rules were being invented by people who had never been there from the start, and people with a narrow view on how to be a mod, it was awful. The 24th hour had its 24 hours of fame you could say that with the fascist/narrow minded way they tried to dictate mod they will not be forgotten. Mod looks good these days and it’s nice to see so many scooters on the roads (scooters! yes scooters 24th hr) but I'm not convinced about some of the newer styles but then again the T5 Vespa was weird at first! Thanks for reading this and thanks to everybody who made it all so amazing,. especially Adam Coombes and Mark Leaf (RIP both of you are still in our thoughts) and of course your good selves. Keep the faith Jonny. |
| Jonny's Leeds story: |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| In '79 my first introduction to Mod was an article in the Sun featuring the Purple Hearts though I do not know why it appealed to me. I ignored it, then a poor pop song called "You need wheels" was released I found myself really enjoying watching the Merton Parkas on Top Of The Pops but I still prefered Blondie and Elvis Costello and the Attractions, finally "Time For Action" was hitting the airways and I was finally pulled into the dark and mysterious world of underground youth culture, I became a Mod. My first clothes made me look a right state, Fred Perry polo shirt, Levi jeans with inch turn up, a small sixties jacket which at the time thought was shit but when I got sharper in later years I realised it was a cool jacket, I just did not know how to dress. I was one of the first Mods in my school so I had noone to compare clothing with. Of course I had my Desert Boots,yes I was made, I was a Mod. I even listened to my parents shock! I had my hair cut short and off my ears. The one thing I really remember was the atmosphere, the feeling of being a Mod. In Oxford the violence had not really begun so walking out of the house was such a buzz. The first time I went up Town to meet other Mods I was given the nickname MINTY because my christian name is Murray (think about it). I went and had my first ever alcholic drink, a half pint of Skol, I was too scared to order a pint. I was a 15 year old who looked 12 but managed to blag drinks through bullshit. I remember pointing out a parked mini to the bar staff and stating it was mine so I had to be over 17 at least. One place we could get beer was in college disco's. These places played good music for the time, a lot of Motown, sixties pop with a bit of Jam, Two-Tone thrown in. Oxford even had it's own Mod band The Six-More-Prophets. Saturdays would be spent trawling the second hand shop's for clothing, shirts,ties and from Oxfam my first suit for I think £8.00. Yes I was getting there. By the end of '79 I had my suit, Parka, my first pair of Loafers, I was feeling the business but in early '80 everything would change. By the end of '79 there were around 20 Mod's in my school, in early '80 this turned to around 5 and the violence on the streets was unbelievable, unless you were there in any town/city in the country it is almost impossible to describe the levels of hatred and violence aimed at Mod's. My 'mates' who I went to youth club with thought it was fun every week to give me a kicking. I was thinking of giving it all up when I went into Oxford city centre one day and I bumped into some ex-Mod's who had all turned Bonehead/Rudie who after saying hello kicked the shit out of me in front of all the shoppers. When I was finally able to get off the floor I decided I would give up Mod because I wanted too not because some pillock was trying to force me. The rest is history, I bought scooters when Lambrettas were cheap (and why I will not buy one today), my Starstream cost £55,then a LI series 3 for £150, a G.P 200 for £300, S.X 150 for £110,a Vespa P200E was £759 on the road. You try telling that to the kids of today, they wont believe you. I got to see most of my favourite bands, Secret Affair,Lambrettas, Small World and the Purple Hearts,my big regret was not seeing The Chords. I saw The Jam but regarded them as commercial and only got into them when the other bands seemed to be gigging less. I had tailor made suits but now you can get good suits off the peg at half the price. I did scooter rallies all over the country and I even met my wife through the Scene. I even got even with some of the Twats who had given me a kicking in my early days but that is another story. I have met some great people from all over the country over the last couple of decades (now that makes me feel old) and I have more good memories than bad. So here's to the Mod Scene the best thing that has ever happened to youth culture and it's fucking brilliant that some of the bands and people are back,CHEER'S! MINTY. |
| "Minty's" story: |
 |
| Sleddy, Colin, Lee, Andy, Naify and Woco. |
| Some of the Cookridge mods in Scarborough. |
| Sleddy and Woco. |
| Chappy from Seacroft. |
| Some of the Leeds mods in disguise at the Knaresborough scooter run. |
| Lee putting a clutch cable in Andy's scoot. |
| Some more Cookridge mods hanging out. |
| At the tender age of thirteen I had been a mod (thanks to my older brother and cousin) since the age of 9. Listening to Back to Zero as I peddled over a canal bridge in Worcester. My parents (being the stick in the mods that came from having Victorian Style parents themselves) went against the grain and let me travel on the train with my cousin to Hastings for the August Bank holiday Rally. (I still have the train ticket!!) Having alighted at the station we proceeded to walk out of town and up the biggest sun of a bitch hill I'd ever seen. As we crossed the road a gang of skinheads began throwing stones, bottles and abuse at us which we ignored although we did walk a bit quicker. At the campsite I marvelled at all the scooters (my favourite being a red/white Lambretta with 'the jynx' stylishly written on the side.) bombing it around the bumpy grass field. In those days the rallies were held under a marquee not in a posh venue where the right haircut mattered. I must have shaken hands with every single mod on the campsite that weekend. I had worked all summer with my dad to earn enough money to enjoy myself and spent most of my hard earned cash buying tinnies and some French leapers off a small bloke with a spiders web tattooed across his face. I didn't smoke in those days and made up for it in other ways. During the first night as more and more mods arrived and I became totally pissed and stoned (yes I'd seen Quadrophenia) it was decided to walk into town to give a little payback to the skinheads. My memories are quite hazy but I do remember the chant we sang at the top of our voices as we trampled over gardens, stole bottles of milk off doorsteps and generally fucked about. 'we are the mods; we are the mods; we are; we are; we are the mods....' Making it to the bottom of the hill we saw what we were after and thus began a rendition of that scene in Quadrophenia where the police arrived in vans with sirens blaring trying to block everyone's exit. I managed to roll under a park bench, my parka hiding my tiny frame really well as I escaped capture by the police and the skinheads. Walking back up the hill I was offered a ride by a mod but he dumped me in favour of a modgirl. Typical eh? The rest of the weekend I spent buying more and more French leapers and plenty of tinnies. I danced my tiny little legs off and was pulled and punched by the mods as I rucked with the best of them. I ended up being given the nickname by Mark Johnson (or was it Tony Class?) Little Jimmy. I was sad beyond all reason when the rally finally ended. The journey home was real depressing. Mind you I had Clacton 85 to look forward to. Not bad for a 14 year old.... |
| Craig's story: |
 |
| My first intro into the mod scene was about 1982. It was the time off the revival my brother had just got his first scoot a vespa 90. The village I was staying in at the time was Eastcalder a small but happening place just outside Edinburgh. The village was full of mods if you weren't a mod you weren't anything.We used to have about 30 scooters and called our self THE REACTION ALL MOD CLUB.There were regular nights held in the village hall with mods from all over Scotland and parts off England turning up . Our biggest pain at the time was a scooter club called the Inferno from Livingston.We could never seem to sort our diferences out.There was always fighting going on and people getting hurt even to this day there is still a bit of friction and we are in our 30's and 40's though thankfully none physical. The scene died out in 1986 and with it a time that I will never forget. I've still got my scooter and ride it most weekends, my brother has still got his too. Being a mod in the 80's has made me into the person I iam today and would never change a thing except make it last longer. IT'S A MOD MOD WORLD CALUM MCLACHLAN, NOV 2003 |
| Calum's Story: |
| Tim from Lincolnshire: |
| I couldn’t give you an exact date, but I can put a year to it and I can definitely tell you the experience. It was the one that would really shape my life for ever, it chose my friends for me, how I would spend my weekends, the clothes I wore and the music I listened to. That’s it, the day (or night) I turned Mod. The year was 1982 and I was 14. My Auntie had bought one of those new inventions called a VCR. She said I could use it any time I liked and so, my best mate Steve and me, set off round her house one Friday night. The film – Quadrophenia. At the time, Steve and me were a couple of trying to be punk rockers. Not easy for me, attending a local Grammar school, with parents who wouldn’t let me shave my hair, let alone dye it pink! To them, safety pins were for holding up nappies not sticking through noses. We watched Quadrophenia and were totally blown away. Steve’s words to me (which in themselves were fairly life changing) ‘I’m more into this than I am Punk’. That was it; but the hardest part was yet to come, school. If you sifted out the general geeks in my form, which was a good 15 out of 36, the rest were Greebos (or grebs or rockers) and the rest were Skinheads. We had classes with other forms then and they had their fair share of Rockers and Skinheads as well. In fact, if you took the whole of my year (which was around 90 lads) the percentage of Mods was .5. Yep a grand total of 5 of us and I was the only one in my form. Things were a bit dodgy for a while. I had to keep my parka in my locker and sneak it out at night. I survived my school years and by the time I reached the age of 16, I had added a boating blazer, a red white and blue jumper, bowling shoes, sta-pressed trousers, Levi Red Tabs, Ben Sherman shirts, loafers, moccasins and a variety of different coloured Fred Perry’s to my wardrobe. The Who, The Jam, The Kinks, Ska and Northern Soul had replaced the punk sounds in my record cases. Nights out were a bit of a problem. I’m from a small village in South Lincolnshire. Two miles down the road is a market town (Spalding) where the action was, well as much action as you can expect from a small market town. Most of the population listened to Heavy Metal and drove Vauxhall Vivas. You know the sort, think they are a Biker because they have a cut off denim jacket with an Iron Maiden sticker on it. Friday nights, there was a ‘coke and crisps’ disco at our village hall. I would get myself fired up on my Dad’s home brew bitter and head off. All night was spent waiting for the DJ to play about three tracks (always the same three, Town Called Malice, Eton Rifles and Green Onions). It was always a case of ‘practising the steps and keeping out of the fights’. Every now and then, the disco would have a bar. Local bikers always ran the door – great! At the age of 14 one of them asked me if I had any Valium with me. I asked if he wanted to buy any, but apparently that wasn’t the correct answer to give. No sense of humour some people. I did notice one thing though; Mods could definitely pull the girls! I pulled one girl and one night I decided to go visit her at her local youth club. I asked Steve to come along and off we went. She lived about two miles away and so we travelled in style – pushbike, well, I wasn’t old enough for a scooter. It’s not easy biking when you’ve got a bloody great big parka on. Imagine my horror, when we walked in the place and every other bloke there was a Grebo!! The atmosphere got very thick, especially when one bright spark decided to play ‘Fuck a Mod’. Well, after a quick think, I decided it was better to run than get a kicking, especially when I wasn’t getting very far! So, we ran. So there we are, trying to get on to our pushbikes with these Grebs chasing after us. Then one of them decides to get on his moped and follow us down the road, he didn’t piss off until I swung my bike lock at him!! At one of these ‘Do’s’ whilst waiting for the obligatory selection of three records to be played, I noticed a few other Mods! Imagine the joy of it, like-minded people. I introduced myself and discovered that they were from Spalding. These lads were to stay my friends for years to come and were companions at scooter rallies and all nighters. Well, 16 became 17 and I got my first scooter. Then things really changed... |
 |
|
|
| My own Mods n' Rockers combat duty was on Scarborough front during the
mid-60's when 10 or 12 of us, on our scooters journeyed there, from
Middlesbrough. The altercations where not so graphic or indeed as
dramatic
as the Brighton hoo-haa but we were not exactly being egged on by
members of
the tabloid-press either. I recall we teamed up with some other 'mods' from Leeds. Chins were grazed, eyes were blacked, and a few fairings got their paintwork damaged but not much else happened! Reading further into your site Re: Tonic Mohair this too proved interesting. Now and again we'd organise a 'bus-trip' down from Middlesbrough to the Twisted Wheel in Manchester for the weekend all-nighters. If we could get their early enough some of us would take orders for Mohair suit-lengths which we'd rush off to the 'cloth' district to buy. These genial Jewish gentlemen would give us prices of around £3-£4.00 for a length and we'd pick up various colours and weights as 'requested' including Tonic and Tropical. The Tropical was 'extreme' in its lightness and i do remember a pals trousers 'splitting' right down the crease on either leg one night (just before we went out) owing to the fact that they'd been ironed so heavily so many times that they'd become like 'tissue' paper and tore just as easy. A knife like crease was absolutely essential!! So did all these suit-lengths disappear into exclusive tailors to be 'made-up'. No, not a bit of it. In those days many High St tailors (inc. Burtons,Jacksons and Hepworths) all offered a 'make-up service (with one fitting) and you could specify your own peccadillos from style-books mounted on polished stands! All for around £20.00!!!! They took about a fortnight to come-back from the factory so if you were really fashionable you'd always have another in the 'oven', so that you were probably ordering around 6-8 per year. Can you imagine what that amount of bespoke tailoring would cost you now??? And we were just around17 or 18 yrs old. Of course London was a mecca , but the selection of clothes-hops was not as wide as history would have you believe. That is the 'right' clothing shops. American shirts (tab and button down) could be bought from an American Gents Outfitters (mainly for US ex-pats) on Shaftesbury Avenue (£59/11 or £2.98p)) and Madras-striped Cotton Jackets were sourced at various out of the way shops according to 'locals' knowledge. The very rare 'white' Levi jackets were found at a ships-chandlers in the East End along with a consignment of J.C. Penneys 'harrington' jackets. Other favourites were red wool 3-button up casual shirts, continental cycling-jerseys and Italian 'driving-shoes' from Ravel (a loafer with a 'dotty' rubber heelback...legs are full length in a Ferrari!!) Of course being 17 ,rebellious and on apprentices-wages (proportionally a lot better off than todays!) the temptation for a little 'hoisting' took place. What with no security-tags, cctv or security guards it was a breeze....the 'spoils' being stashed in suitcases at the Kings Cross left-luggage desk, before the next forray into the West End!!. The cost of a 'weekender' rail tcket was thereby re-couped. Of course we'd visit the Bag o'Nails in Kingly St, and The Marquee whilst 'in Town' to meet the London lads.Then catch the train back,probably after being awake for 36 hours late on Sunday afternoon. As for Parkas....they were only worn by the 'scruffy-mods' as a sort of overall doubling as a 'uniform' identity. Frank Roddam (who hails from Stockton...nr Middlesbrough) had it right in Quadrophenia...the only outerwear for a Scooter was a full length leather coat with a long vent (so it didn't 'seat'i.e bulge out after a few trips on the Vespa) the other advantage of course was that in 1964-66 you did not have to wear a helmet....now that is very un-cool!!! |
| Chris' 1960s, Middlesborough mod story: |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Well where do I begin to tell the best years of my life! I got into Mod during the last year of my school around 1983, my mate was the first mod in the school which was a very tough comprehensive in South London. After a few weeks of my mate Steve Tume turning mod and getting his Parka there were suddenly 5 of us Mods, I remember going down to the Walworth Road near the elephant and castle to get my parka and felt really proud. Our little group met some more mods in the area when we met them in the local high street and they invited us to a school disco, needless to say it ended up into a big punch up which we came off on top against a few casuals.The next year 1984 is when I really got into mod heavily, we had met a good group of mods from Pimlico and used to hang around with them a lot and helping them when they had trouble against the locals casuals, one particular night at a mod party in Pimlico some casuals turned up and a punch up ensued which again we were well on top but my good friend Tony Quinn got nicked for hitting a casual with a baseball bat. 1984 was also the 20th anniversary of the original scooter runs and I attended most of the mod runs that year even though I had not yet got my scooter, I went to the Hastings,Margate,Brighton and Clacton runs and all were very eventfull, Clacton for the CS attack by the ICF, my mate Terry Henchy has some good photo’s of the attack, also got myself in the Face magazine that was doing an article on mods, Margate where we got chased by skinheads straight after getting out of the station! Saturday afternoons where spent in Carnaby Street, where we would meet up to chat,buy clothes or records and of course take part in the Mod march, there used to be 30 plus mods marching around the area around Carnaby street looking for a punch up and more often than not we found one! Saturday evenings were mainly spent at The Bush, a great club in Shepherds Bush where Tony Class did the dj’ing playing a good mixture from 60’s to revival, every Saturday night was spent pissed and pilled up as Blues and Dexys were always on sale there.My first scooter club was the Westminsters, they used to have a shop at the top of the flea market in Carnaby Street, we had around 40-50 members but only around 5 had scooters! When I eventually got my scooter a red px125 that went like shit off a shovel I joined the nutty bollocks scooter club, a good set of lads but always getting into a bit of bother, especially womble he was a big fella but if he did not like someone he didn’t take long in letting them know it! Being a mod meant everything at the time I was in a little time warp back to the 1960’s the clothes,scooter and way of life was what my world evolved around and I don’t regret one second of it. I’ve missed out loads of other things that happened that will take up too much time or that I can’t really put down on words . Great memories and a special mention goes to Terry Henchy,Steve Tume,Jo Finch,Dave Edwards,Womble,Tony Quinn,Tony Class,Fiona Day(great looking girl),Paula Lambe,Steve Tovey,Shirley, Dave Slawson,Colin Girdler,the Pimlico mob-(Noel,Shirley,PJ,Dom,Jez,Paul,Steve Latimer),Ellie and Sue and all the lovely mod girls from the scene around 1983-1986.Sorry if I forgot anyone there were too many to mention but thanks for making them days so memorable,deep down I’m still a mod I still love the music,scooters and clothes even though I’m now 37. I could go on for hours and as the Jam song goes I probably will but that’s enough for now. |
| Gavin - South London: |
| I remember being in Highbury Grove school, and a lad called Carl was a
5th Former, came to school dressed in this green coat n his school uniform was done smart looked more like a suit than a uniform. Anyway, I was hooked on the look. My aunt at the time was a punk into the sex pistols etc, n when I told her about this new mod look she pulled out a record by a group called The Jam. She told me all about them, n the mods. Well, that was it, mum I said, we off to Carnaby Street bring ur purse!!! Of course being mods themselves my parents obliged: A parka, 2suits, bowling shoes, hitch wire tie, and some Fred Perrys, were bought. On the way home my mum told me of their days as mods. That week I got my 1st scoot, a PK50. Now, I was only 13 n not old enough to have1 really. But mum didn’t care!!! Every sat i spent my day down carnaby street, n got 2 know all the mods, n regularly went on marches etc . Getting into rucks with whoever we could. Then buy cans of lager and usually 6-10 mods would end up bk at my house, drinking beer n getting wasted. Now, remember I shared a room with my brother who was a casual. He'd often wake up to mods kipping everywhere, but never really minded. I got in a few Sunday supplements standing up carnaby st. Great times, great people, great music . I remember my 1st rally to Brighton, still only 13, on my PK50. My best m8 Jimmy, from Dorking, aka Alan turner!!! got on the back, n off we set. Well, till we got 2 Westminster, where, low n behold pulled by old bill. Who told us 2 get off n take the tube home. We waited till they went, n off we went again, zooming along, at what seemed 90 mph - but was only about 25 ha-ha! We just got over the bridge, when the same cops tried pulling us again. We ditched the scoot n pegged it. Got the train 2 Brighton n can remember jimmy running of the pier on someone's scoot. Never did find out who’s though!!! Loads of mods n modettes everywhere. We kipped on the beach, but found a couple of modettes 2 keep us warm - while drinking n having a laugh, and the rest u did with modettes in our age bracket!!! Anyway I gets back 2 my scooter after an amazing weekend, goes 2 watch my friend's band, The Nightbeats, at Shepherds Bush, they dedicate a few tracks to us - fucking amazing!!!! We all had a few, so left the scoot in a local car park, chained up, n all headed towards shepherds bush tube. Was about 10 off us, we didn't get 2 far be4 getting jumped by loads of skins. I ended up in the local hospital which was right by where we got done. Had 2 spend 2 days in hospital. All the mods came 2 see me, n brought grapes etc, which they ate themselves, and spat the pips out at anyone they could. Messing round like u did when u were a young mod. They all got thrown out by security, highly amusing, as the lads tried to take on the security guys. All this happening while i'm sat there, pissing myself with laughter! I remember going to my old mod m8, Steven Smith's, on the half-moon estate, up the angel. I remember the looks I got when i took my punk aunt on the back of me scooter to carnaby street. At 1st the looks I got were evil, but when they got 2 know who she was n spoke to her, they even tried to convert her 2 the mod way. Not 2 successfully I might add! But I had good times being a mod back then; the fights, the modettes, the music, the scooters, Carnaby Street - everything mod was the nuts. Nothing else came close. Nothing does now. I’m 34, married with 4 kids, I’ve converted my wife to the mod scene, n bought her the new Vespa GT. I still ride fully modded up Vespas , wear the parkas, Fred Perrys etc etc. I'll never stop being what I am. That’s y i’m a mod, see. You might as well be someone, or u might as well jump in the sea and drown (heard that somewhere be4!) I was born a mod, u could say I’ve always been a mod, n u can bury me a fkin mod! I might be older now, but the passion's still there. Cheers for reading this. It might jog a few memories, and to all my m8s; Smithy /jimmy/ Chris, and all the rest of the Carnaby Street mob, cheers for being there! I joined the nutty bollox scooter club for a while, as I knew most of em from Carnaby n north London - they were great friends too. Cheers Clive Flynn Flynny as I was called. Now called telfordmod, as I live in the Midlands now . So if any of u Carnaby lot or nuttybollox remember me, get in touch at telfordmod@msn.com |
| Clive Flynn - north London |
| It was the first year of secondary school, Blessed Robert Johnson Catholic College, in Wellington, Telford in Shropshire, young, terrified and more than a little wet behind the ears, as they say. I was just starting to realise that there was music to listen to aimed at our young ears, and not just my parents taste in music, Bill Haley, Fats Domino and the like their era... But there was one LP in the stereogram that looked out of place and intrigued me, my dad had ridden motor-cycles, one of the ton up boys from the 50's, but this LP had a guy in an army parka and was sat upon what looked like a moped, covered in loads of chrome bars, loads of mirrors, it was a K-Tel or similar various artists job called 'I Like It', my dad said he'd brought it for one track and never played the rest of it, he also told me that the bloke on the cover was a 'MOD', and the moped was infact a Lambretta motor scooter. Me and my best friend Rodney sat and listened as my dad talked of these well dressed, scooter riding youths, who he said were his mortal enemy in his motorbike days, even had few fights with them in and around the Wolverhampton and Birmingham area.
After this I noticed a few scooters dotted around my estate, these belonged to a few old soul boys, and some lads that I guessed were mods, becuase they dressed similar to the chap on the cover of that LP. At this time alot of the older kids and a few of my mates at school were getting into Ska from the event of 2Tone Records, The Specials were in the charts, as well as Madness, but I wasn't really impressed by it, at this time Quadrophenia had been released but were too young to get in to watch it, until it played at a local cinema club, so it was in the back door, and keep your head down, I was so taken back with it and walked out a mod, infact everyone was a mod all of a sudden, parkas, Fred Perry's, and buck skin boots were common place, bands like The Purple Hearts, Merton Parkas and Secret Affair were on Top Of The Pops, The Jam went straight into No.1, mod was here!! This lasted a few years, and the hangers on, moved on found other bandwagon's to jump on, but here I am 25 years later, having spent more than half my life as a mod, I sometimes see people from school, as I ride past on my Lambretta, they say I should grow up, I just say I have grown into mod, I'm proud of my roots, oh and I still have that LP... I sometimes just get it out of my record box look at it and smile, I owe it big time!! |
| Dan Coates - Midlands |
| Matteo - London |
| The 1st Gig I ever saw was The Jam at the Hammersmith Odeon, I was very young and my brother had bought me a ticket. It was around the Sound Affects tour, it was a classical case of wanting to grow up that night. Here was a boy, not even a teenager in a Millet's parka, half-mast tonic trousers, and Burton’s own imitation Fred Perry! A scruffy snotty nose kid from the suburbs with his big brother in the old smoke. It’s one those moments that really changed my life. I was over whelmed by the smartness of the mods, the clothes, energy and the unity. Speaking to a mod at a bar made me feel like a man and I thought of my friends doing their geography homework. After John Weller’s famous intro “ Put your hands together for the best band in the world” The Jam came on, Weller had this beautiful polka dot shirt on and they launched into Dreamtime. I was mesmorised and I knew that I was leaving my ACTION MAN behind. I stood on a seat and felt this magical connection from the trio from Woking; I smoked my 1st Cigarette and wanted the evening to never end.
On the way home there was an ambush from Skinheads, who waited at Hammersmith tube station, all part of the learning curve. I got myself a part-time job and a clothes allowance so I could smarten myself up and fell in love with The Jam. Feeling special when Going Underground went to No1, and playing A town called Malice over and over again. The words reminded you of your neighbour, and from The Jam who learnt more what it was to be a mod. I became a face at an early age, and loved being creative with clothes as a teenager. Obviously over the years, I’ve got into other music. But in solitary of merry drunkenness I am prone to play the 5 disc box set and sing a long, and hang onto my memories. I made the cross over at an early age and have never regretted the day I saw The Jam live.... |
| Dave - London |
| It seems so long ago
I got into mod when I was 13 and fell in love with it straight away. At 1st I was all very uniform I looked liked some thing of the two tone label and of Course the parka which was worn on the hottest of days. Most of the time I would hang round the estate [Lillington gardens] with my mates who were mostly skinheads. On Saturdays it was off to Carnaby street to do a bit of window shopping and a spot of hosting, I mean at 13 what money have you got?! The 1st club I went to was the Phoenix, on Thursday's my mate Paul Jones took me there [better known as Mickey mouse, he got the name after getting nicked at an infamous party in Peckham]. I looked so shabby next to every one else in the club. What sticks I my mind was the music: 1st part of the evening was mostly revival then Tony class would be on playing a bit of every thing soul, ska, motown, northern and with larger at 83p a pint, who would ask for more? I remember the door men, 2 old rockers as nice as pie they were lived up near Wembley. At 14 I left school and got some part time jobs as I was sick of not having smart suits and stuff. All my stuff I got from the Cavern when it was in Newbury St as money was still tight, and my records at the old flee market and a small shop just of Carnaby St. It was hard to get into some clubs because of my age but by 15 I looked much older than I was and was out most nights. It’s hard to recall all the pubs & clubs, but here's just some: the Warmer Castle, the White Lion, the Souls Arms, the Hope, the New Merlin's cave, the Charily Chaplin, the Market Tavern (Vauxhall), the Queen Vic (Ealing) the Castle (Tooting), the North Star Finchley road, Sunset Strip near Hammersmith, the Albany, the Ben Truman, the Royal Oak Tooley St, the George Hammersmith; a few river boat all-nighters, 12 am to 6 am (nice memories there wink wink), and of course, the top of the shop the 1 and only Bush Hotel on Saturdays! I wouldn't call the Bush flash, I don't think it had a lick of paint since the war! The dance floor was sticky, getting a drink took an age, it was cramped out to the doors, hot and sweaty, BUT I LOVED IT LOTS! As I type this I've got tears rolling down cheeks and a smile on my lips and the tune of Wade In The Water going round me head plus a few numbers from The Who.. I would always meet up with the other mods of Pimlico there: Paul K, PJ, Noel, Jez, Dom, Steve Latimer, April, Darren ,Steve B, Chad, blonde Mick, Gavin, Sue B, who lived on the Churchill estate; man I fell in love with her! Great fun top lady, miss her big time - last I heard she was in Luton, got a husband and kids! Her song was Good Morning Little Schoolgirl by The Yard. A few years later I was cleaning on her estate when her mum was moving, I saw all Sue’s music tapes go in the back of the dust cart. I tried to save them but the crusher done em’ all up. Paul key was always smartly dressed, as were Jaz and Dom, envy was my middle name. At 16 I got a better job and me 1st scooter (Vespa 50 special) GGC 264 X and started to get some tailor made whistles from cheap Charlie in Carnaby St. More of a butcher really, he made some cock ups but he's still going. I spent a lot of time with the Kilburn lot from Abbey Road, drinking and getting pilled up. I was a real dexy freak (3 some times 4 for a pound). That stuff took away a few people early, gone to god now taken so young. I took more then most and can't work out how I’m still here. 17 I got a Lambretta SX 175, RLY 52E, and did a few scooter runs. I did Margate with big Tina from Kingsbury on the BACK {my LITTLE bit of fluff!} It packed up outside Margate and it never went again R.I.P... By the mid/late 80s it was all but over, the ball was on the roof {game over} The scooterist look was about, it wasn't for me, didn’t care for it much. At 20, life and love showed up for most of us. We had jobs, homes and families to think about - all gone our own ways. I was and am now proud I was a mod, it’s the best feeling - I’d love to go dancing with the old mates 1 more time. Even if I’m 39 now so what! This is just a potted history, like Gavin said in his post I could go on and on For Chris James. R.I.P Yours Dave R. Pimlico, now Forest Hill montymodlin@hotmail.com |
| David - Los Angeles |
| 1982, Los Angeles California, a scooter rally every month, must of been two hundred of us. Our particular club was called the North Side Scooter Club. Here in Los Angeles we had many clubs from different parts of California come and share the unity so to speak in being mods.
There were always plenty of fights with the hippies who would try to run us off the roads and then there were other rival scooter clubs that would carry guns and threaten the skinheads or punks, longhairs, etc. in which the police would blame all of us, the innocent, yeah right. The police came down on the mod scene pretty heavy back then, but I can remember the club scene, music, the drinking, etc. the women, the custom scooters and the unity we all shared. What a great group of friends we were. We shared in tragedies as our fellow club members were taken down by cars and we celebrated when we all partied together. We all tried to be the FACE and the girls were loving it all. I remember a kid named British Charlie in who all the LA kids wanted to be like. As close as one was to being British in Los Angeles at that time, you were treaty like royalty. Great memories. May you all ride with the wind at your back... From one mod from the old days, to the new generation, We are the mods, we are the mods, we are, we are, we are the mods. Best, David |
| Ian Higgins - Manchester |
| 1983 The Jam...thats where it started for me had been into two tone in 79/80 but The Jam and Weller...This was the look for me! Looking back seeing a mod in Blackpool in 82 when 14 thinking cool fucker. 1984 meeting my bro Dougie. Get a pair of these holding my Black and white Jam shoes out of the window. £30 for my first Parka in 84.
1984 The birth,got a job had thecash, my first parka,myfirst suit from the cave.Bumping into martin mellors in stockport and trying to be persuaded to see The Purple Hearts in London...The who??? Jam shoes,crappy cave suits......fighting with the casuals/breakdancers in Manchester... 30 to 40 of us legging it into the arndale centre to get some revenge...getting my nos broke for the trouble. The Blackpool mods who came down most weeks... the cafe we used to meet..remeber the transvestite dougie?.....Cloud 9.....we were all plastics once! 1985 April 11th my 1st Vespa had 7 and a SX200 since 21 years on a scoot! PK50ES electric start of course didnt want to scuff the shoes on my kickstart...Dougie...Woody....Graham...Joseph....Poynton Mods..Migg...Groovy Gav 60s mod file his young bro julian and young dave! meeting mods from all round manchester...My 1st pair of tailored hipsters stepped bottoms my fav.Ben Shermans with long collars and pastal colours from burtons. The Egerton Arms Mod nights run by martin max attendance 12?????Manchesters Ed from Eccles...Neil Henderson, Mike Warburton 1986 My first rally Scarborough Mod Rally.....I was there!!!!say it in a jimmy accent! Borrowed woodys converted pk 50 to 100 while he went on the LI 150 reg 125!!! it had a sidecar but he got rid bet he wishes he hadnt now! my first suit silver like sting obviously ! Riding in to Scarborough in a pack of 30 .hearing classics like I'm a Man..SDG...We're getting Married...Bo Diddley....SWIM...Bobby Frreeman and watching all the London Mods swimming to it! Then there was Brighton the mecca getting chased all over town,staying in shitty B&B's hiding behind hgvs trying not to let your white slip ons show in the dark in case the casuals saw them! Dougie breaking into his b&b and scaring the colonial! Blackpool Winter Gardens awesome venue for a mod do. going to Exmouth on my own cos everyone had been to Yarmouth and i was skint.The Snake by Maximillion! Newcastle Allnighters at the mayfair y they called stotties again. 1987 More clothes...another suit pinstriped very John Steed,more Rallies,LLandudno, Scarborough, geting offwith Shaz! Blackpool again. And Gt Yarmouth on my own again for the last rally. Phil went home early. Dunsbys started on Oldham street in Manchester after cloud 9 finished in early 86. 30 people busy night! Hmmm Twisted Wheel reunion night might have had something to do with it! Scooter blowing up on the wayto Blackpool Rally lucky i was in the AA oh i worked for them at the time free breakdown cover! Lorraine and Bernie from Blackpool,Steve and is Sister,the Bury Mods,Merv,Julie,Sharron,Spud. Rally faces Damien,Rad and Lisa from Sheffield, Twiggy,Gary from Brum,Dom Bassett the Patmore twins....Justina! The Loughborough lads Latin Soul. 1988 more money meant more clothes,new scooter,Dunsby no shit crew were looking the biz, Dougie,Gaz,Ralston,Andy,Allan, Ste,Si,Woody,Jackie smart to the core.we moved tailors Dougie and the boys going to Dunsbys in Blackpool (where the club got its name from!) Getting off with Kerry from Chesterfield. Woodys 79 Ford Escort Lowestoft,Blackpool mod rallies....Pirate Rallies to Littlehampton Birth of the Rhythmn and Soul Set. London for New Years eve..venue had moved,kipping in the back of Ralstons van wrapped in velvet curtains to stay warm. N soul becoming popular on rallies again, Dunsbys moved to the Dancing Weasel! Stu from Hartlepool,Dave Snowdon and Chris Spring from Newcastle oh and Hendy are any of these people still alive? Doing loads of whizz at nighters and being dealers for Blackpool not!!!! chewing gum weekends. Ralston turning Justina down........cool as fuck!!!!! Handmade shirts from Harvey Nicholls. 1989 more clothes...Pirate rallies to Hayling Island with Mike,Will,Ed and a student mod cant remember his name ,Littlehampton again,my 21st in Morecambe on the R&S weekend,Kylie had hers in Oz born on the same day u see! Mace and Rob Messer....Brian from stoke,Jane from Runcorn,Andy Parry one of the coolest mods ever! fighting at Blackpool with the Plastic mods....yeah we became the stylists and looked down our noses at the plastics..but hey they never improved ! Mod thats what it was about a bit of one upmanshipness! The Suedehead/N Soul look no4 haircuts penny wejuns,Half mast platties, Twisted Wheel Blazers! 1990 the boys are growing to old to be moddyboddys Ste and Si going Jazz ! Southend Rhythmn and Soul set rally pissed up playing crazy golf! gettin lost on the tube eh Doug!! Mod to us was dying! Tin Soldier ,I'm a Man,Sh'mon R Dynamite...Keep an eye on love...This Diamond Ring...The Snake watching hundreds of mods handclapping to that a the Dave Brubeck five at Blackpool in 86 Riding up in front of a hundred faces. I dont suppose you would remember me but i was a mod in the mid 1980's 2005 fuck me there's me on the front cover of a book about London Mods..... A Face at Last ! Crazy Days....I wouldnt have changed them for a minute...still wearing Desert boots,still got my p200 with tributes to those days painted on. Being a Mod was fucking brilliant! Ian Higgins |
 |
| East London Mod Revival
The first I knew of any Mod revival was at my friend Tony’s house. His older brother and his friends were getting ready to go out. They were wearing suits, shirts and ties – and red socks. The only other people I could think of that wore suits then were office workers or school teachers. But these suits were different. There were no wide lapels or bell bottoms. They were “sharp” with straight lines. They were wearing shirts and ties, also “sharp” probably button downs. They looked like a cross between the Beatles and the Krays. Last week they were wearing flared jeans and listening to Status Quo! I’d never heard the word Mod, or at least never taken any notice of it but we decided Mod was for us. We started talking about it in school only to discover there were more older brothers wearing this stuff and not only that some of them were riding scooters. Before we knew it there was a small group of us all about 14 and trying to live up to the older boys, who by now were way ahead of us and travelling around Europe following the Jam. As 79 approached I acquired a pair of straight grey trousers and a white button down shirt from C&A in East Ham. I had also managed to find, what we called, a box jacket. It was navy with a Prince of Wales type check running through the fabric. 3 buttons, ticket pocket and a single vent – and it stunk of the charity shop where I had bought it for £1.50. Once the jacket had been dry cleaned I finished the look with dark brown lace up Hush Puppies and, of course those white towelling socks. I managed to add a navy blue Fred Perry to my wardrobe and then a pair of Levi Red Tags (the boy undressing in the Laundrette was some years away.) There wasn’t much in the media yet and we were scratching around for direction. We literally followed the older Mods as much as we could to pick up ideas. We knew mainly what to wear by word of mouth. Someone had seen someone else in a polo neck and heard this was “Mod” or been told by their Dad or Uncle that when they were Mods in the sixties they wore this or that. The charity shops and never had it so good but the real gems could be found in those Gentlemen’s Outfitters. These were the shops that had stock left over from the later part of the sixties. We found Harrington Jackets, Sta-Press trousers, Ben Sherman shirts, knitted polo type sweaters with long sleeves. But you didn’t share your sources with anyone else other than your immediate group, instead you longed for someone to ask where you got that top so that you could say “sorry mate, can’t tell you”. I remember once we discovered a second hand shop by accident in Leyton. It was expensive but you could kit yourself out with a suit, shirt, tie and even a pre folded pocket hankie. What we didn’t know was this was the shop of choice for the older Mods. We were warned to stay away. I would say we did a good job getting the look right, and made anyone’s life a misery who didn’t. I remember coming across other Mods in the street or on buses. We’d always end up chatting about clothes or music and we’d usually arrange to meet again somewhere, swelling our numbers. It was inevitable that we too would get into The Jam. Weller was our main source of inspiration from the hair cut to the monkey boots. The older crowd were travelling all over the country, getting back stage, being name checked on the back cover of All Mod Cons, they were even on TOTPS doing the Hello Hoorays on the Eton Rifles. The Rainbow in April 79 was my first Jam gig. I was wearing a grey 2 piece suit (Barnados of Barking), 3 buttons or course, a white button down, brown knitted tie and hush puppies. About 10 of us made the trip north. As we emerged from Seven Sisters tube I was knocked over by the sight before me. Hundreds of Mods in a sea of parkas, scooters buzzing up and down the street. The George Robey pub was bursting at the seams with Mods, drinkers spilling onto the street. We made our way into the Rainbow, which was also wall to wall Mod. It was like being at a football match, everyone was together. Everywhere we looked there was someone we recognised. There were many more Jam nights right up to the end in December 82 but none were as good. Being Mod wasn’t all plane sailing and it could be a bit hairy at times. We came up against Skinheads outside the Rainbow after a Jam gig but held our own. Then there were the numerous run ins with the second wave of punks. We were even chased by Rockers on a Bank Holiday. When they caught us they let us go – they were all in their 30s and just laughed at us. You would not believe the street cred we got for being chased by Rockers on a bank holiday. I think a lot of the other “tribes” thought we were easy prey but by the time the Skinheads had resurfaced in big numbers through Oi! with tattooed faces and bleached jeans and the Punks had a second wind through silly bands like the Exploited we were a bit older, we had a few years on the terraces to call on too and we stood our ground. A Secret Affair gig with the Glory Boys was no place for glued up skins or pink Mohicans. The other bands, as I would call them, like Secret Affair or the Purple Hearts and the Chords gave us another outlet. If Weller was the ace face, he didn’t use it, in fact I don’t even remember him ever saying the word Mod, I can appreciate that now. But the others were more than happy to wave the flags and we were happy that they were happy. It was a hot August night in 1979 at the Lyceum and the March of the Mods tour had arrived in London. Secret Affair, Back to Zero, The Purple Hearts backed up by 2-Tones Madness and The Selector – quality. But that night had some effect on me. I was more impressed by Madness and the Selector, they gave another angle and I found myself mixing up the look a bit, a pork pie hat had to be purchased. Then there was Quadrophenia. Now I am a big fan of this film and would have been even if it had not had the Mod angle, I also love the album but it used to really wind me up when the media refer to it as the start of the Mod revival. I can remember being on the top of a 62 bus in my parka and all the rest of it when some Mods got on and started telling us about this film that was being made about Mods and that they were looking for extras – so what came first. I’ve heard it said that Quadrpohenia was the first nail in the coffin but I would say 2-Tone helped end it for the “original” revival Mods. They attracted massive media attention plus The Jam were going from strength to strength. Every kid was wearing the gear they wore. Shops like Melandi in Carnaby Street and Mintz and Davies in Romford turned it into school uniform and everyone seemed to have the Jam shoes (black suede with white stripe. Every London market had a stall selling tonic suits. It wasn’t long before the casual perry boy look crept in and before we knew it was all over. In the beginning it was great. It was new. I didn’t know I was a revivalist, I was 15, when someone asked me for my favourite Who track I couldn’t understand why they thought I’d like a bunch of long haired rockers – Pinball Wizard, I don’t think so. I only knew 3 other kids that were not wearing flares in 1978 and that’s what I liked. That’s not to say I left it all behind but I knew more now about what it was to be a Mod. I had left school and had a job with money to spend. I wanted to wear clothes nobody else had, I wanted to dance all night – I wanted to be Mod. Steve Butler |