Calling All Mods! Calling All Mods!

[Senator Jack]

What? I'm the only one around here with mod rigouts?

Are you involved with Subway Soul Jack? I'm a member of the Lost Soul Yahoo group, and it used to be quite busy, but the only messages that appear now are promotions for Subway Soul. My family want a trip to NY next year so I'll have to make sure I plan it to coincide with a Subway Soul night.

From what I learned from the promoter, the fellow who started the Yahoo group either closed it up at some point or bailed on it. I recall some mention of all the names or posts being lost, and it never recovered since then.

If you're coming to NY, you should try to make it over during one of the dances. The soul scene here is small - there are about a dozen of us who actually dress for the evening - but the dance floor does get crowded with bar-hoppers, and the djs have the required collection of 45s. It runs from 10 - 4am, and again, third Saturday of every month.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Salv]

From what I learned from the promoter, the fellow who started the Yahoo group either closed it up at some point or bailed on it. I recall some mention of all the names or posts being lost, and it never recovered since then.

Lost Soul is owned by a DJ named Dean Farrell, who has a show called Soul Express on WHUS from the University of Connecticut at Storrs. A lot of the members joined the Southern Soul group which started as an offshoot of Lost Soul, and SS kind of took over. That's still a fairly busy group, and there are several singers and producers on the list now, including Bettye LaVette, Betty Harris, George Soule (about to release a brand new album on a British label owned by another SS list member), Swamp Dogg/Jerry Williams Jr., Rodney Hall (son of Rick Hall of the Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals), and a bunch of '60s southern session musicians. The amount of knowledge on that list is staggering.

If you're coming to NY, you should try to make it over during one of the dances. The soul scene here is small - there are about a dozen of us who actually dress for the evening - but the dance floor does get crowded with bar-hoppers, and the djs have the required collection of 45s. It runs from 10 - 4am, and again, third Saturday of every month.

Regards,

Senator Jack

I've just checked the calendar and I don't think the timing will work. Damn! We're planning on coming over during the school Easter holidays next year which run from 30 March to 13 April - 3rd Saturday in April will be the 21st.

Did you get along to Soultrip USA in late April-early May this year?

 

[Senator Jack]

Lost Soul is owned by a DJ named Dean Farrell, who has a show called Soul Express on WHUS from the University of Connecticut at Storrs.

That's some coincidence - I attended UConn and was a dj at WHUS myself, but that was a lifetime ago.

Didn't make it to Soultrip. Unfortunately, I don't get out of NY as much as I should.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Benny Holiday]

I was never into the Mod style myself but always admired it and its adherents, always thought it was a great look. In the late 80's, in the midst of my Teddy Boy phase, I went to a tailor in Newtown for a fitting for a drape coat he was making for me, and ran into a Mod customer getting fitted for an Italian-cut suit. We had a great conversation about our respective subcultures and how it was us, the Punks and the Gothics versus the 'squares': all the conformist kids who thought Wham and Madonna were the whole universe and tried to put us down for being alternative to the mainstream pop culture. Mods, Rockers, Punks and Rudeboys often mixed a lot back then, playing pool at the Petersham Inn in Sydney and swapping tips about how to stop oil leaks in vintage motors! lol

That's a great look, Senator, it's rare to see a DB jacket like that in these parts nowadays.

 

[carebear]

...and how it was us, the Punks and the Gothics versus the 'squares': all the conformist kids who thought Wham and Madonna were the whole universe...

The battle of those who religiously conformed to the self-described "alternative" subcultures vs. those who religiously conformed to the "mainstream" you mean.

 

[Senator Jack]

We weren't conforming to the subcultures - we were creating them. This was all long before Corporate America took it all and turned it into a safe rebellion to be sold through Wal-Mart.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[carebear]

We weren't conforming to the subcultures - we were creating them. This was all long before Corporate America took it all and turned it into a safe rebellion to be sold through Wal-Mart.

Regards,

Senator Jack

You are right, I keep forgetting a lot of you have tenure.

My true apologies for tarring you with the same brush as many of the kids today.

 

[WEEGEE]

A question and B question, Senator

Would you say...60's alt jazz...Soul,R&B,
Ska and then British bands who played a Rhythm & Blues style of music, such as The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things, The Kinks, The Cyril Davis All-Stars, The Downliners, and The Small Faces were the music
choice of the Mods? If yes... I see Elvis Costello as a grand
extention and evolving continuation of Mod culture ?

cheers,

michael

 

[Barry]

Mod R&B

A few of my favorites are the Steampacket (iTunes gave them a harsh review) and Chris Farlowe. Chris Farlowe was great! Check out the Chris Farlowe 60's R&B Years CD. I also like the Action and the Creation.

Voodoo!

A somewhat recent Mod band? The Loved Ones, no doubt.

Barry

 

[WEEGEE]

Thanks Barry

I'll get back on the sound opinion...new sound always cool.

 

[Salv]

Would you say...60's alt jazz...Soul,R&B,
Ska and then British bands who played a Rhythm & Blues style of music, such as The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things, The Kinks, The Cyril Davis All-Stars, The Downliners, and The Small Faces were the music
choice of the Mods? If yes... I see Elvis Costello as a grand
extention and evolving continuation of Mod culture ?

cheers,

michael

In general the British R&B bands were scorned by many original Mods, but until the original artists started coming over to the UK the Brit bands were all there was in the way of live music. There's a page on the BBC site that collects together remeniscences from various original Mods and Rockers, and The Who, for the most part, don't come out of it very well. There are some people who liked them, but mostly the comments are fairly negative. Obviously this is only a small sample, but original Mods that I've spoken to tend to agree that The Who weren't important to the Mod scene.

But this is where I totally and categorically disagree with the myth that The Who were in any way involved or influential in the Mod culture. True Mods wouldn't have been caught dead listening to The Who - for them, it was a strict diet of Tamla Motown, Ska and Detroit Soul with a little bit of Latin (Cal Tjader, Ray Barretta, Mongo Santamaria etc) thrown in! -- Paul Smith, Hong Kong

Although a great fan of the Who I seem to remember Tamla Motown was the music of the Mods -- David Denton, England

Manic times that ended really quick, the whole sound was Soul for us anyway. The Who were dressed up by their manager. The Small Faces were good and real Mods, but a bit late for the scene. I'd been into Soul and Blues since 1960, and had to import records through a catalogue I found -- Jerry, UK

As for The Who being a 'mod' band... No self respecting mod would have given them the time of day; they were phoneys -- Vincent, USA

Another myth regards the music. REAL mods weren't into the Who - who looked like mods but played beat music. No, REAL mods were into the original R&B standards which had been copied copiously by all British groups. A real mod, as opposed to a poseur, would never have been seen carrying an ordinary beat record (although we did allow ourselves to enjoy groups such as the Yardbirds, who had a certain cred-value at the time) -- Kristan Deconinck, UK

 

[Barry]

Wow Salv.

I'll have a tell my friends here in the US. My US "mod" friends made me a bunch of tapes feature the bands I listed. Now, not the Who or anything like that, but certainly the others.

Was my friend's statement that there were bands the Mods listened to and then bands featuring Mods true? Maybe so.

Here are some revivalist groups. I was into those for a while. One is from the UK. The other was from New Jersey, USA Most have heard of one of these bands. My buddy always called them "'The Jam' ripoff bands."

Barry

 

[Salv]

Wow Salv.

I'll have a tell my friends here in the US. My US "mod" friends made me a bunch of tapes feature the bands I listed. Now, not the Who or anything like that, but certainly the others.

Was my friend's statement that there were bands the Mods listened to and then bands featuring Mods true? Maybe so.

I think that statement is pretty much true, yes. The Small Faces always seem to get a lot of respect from the original Mods - they were there at the start - but they didn't really play the music the mods listened to. I mentioned this on another thread, but Paolo Hewitt's The Soul Stylists has lots of interviews with first-generation Mods who almost all, when they talk about music, make it clear that it was jazz, soul and R&B that was the soundtrack to their lives. A friend of mine, David Cole, who edits soul fanzine In the Basement, is in there, and he used to subscribe to Billboard, then get his local record shop to import whatever new releases showed up in the R&B chart. He's still buying every new soul release he can find, over 40 years later.

Here are some revivalist groups. I was into those for a while. One is from the UK. The other was from New Jersey, USA Most have heard of one of these bands. My buddy always called them "'The Jam' ripoff bands."

Barry

Secret Affair had some success over here, and I liked Time For Action. Their original drummer had been in a band called The Young Bucks who were a fine tough R&B band in the late 70s, and he later joined Dexy's Midnight Runners; but Secret Affair's roots were in power-pop. I think their first gig was as support for The Jam, and Ian Paige's first band (The New Hearts) also supported The Jam a couple of times.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Waiting for someone with a camera to come over

Obviously no one else with a camera has any turnouts to post for us to see.

 

[Benny Holiday]

You cheeky fellow, Mr Carberry!

The battle of those who religiously conformed to the self-described "alternative" subcultures vs. those who religiously conformed to the "mainstream" you mean.

I had no one to conform to; where I lived, an hour form the City, there were no Rockers, or Mods, Punks or anything other than 'Westies', what I guess you'd call 'rednecks' in America. Plaid wool shirts hanging out over a black Megadeth T-shirt, mullet hair, tight stonewash jeans. I had to fight my way through high school, literally, in order to enjoy the music I wanted to listen to and wear the clothes I wanted to wear. I got into old 50's rock'n'roll records and the Stray Cats Rockabilly thing at 15, simply because I heard the music, saw the look and fell in love with it. No conformity to anyone else's agenda here, my good man!

 

[carebear]

I had no one to conform to; where I lived, an hour form the City, there were no Rockers, or Mods, Punks or anything other than 'Westies', what I guess you'd call 'rednecks' in America. Plaid wool shirts hanging out over a black Megadeth T-shirt, mullet hair, tight stonewash jeans. I had to fight my way through high school, literally, in order to enjoy the music I wanted to listen to and wear the clothes I wanted to wear. I got into old 50's rock'n'roll records and the Stray Cats Rockabilly thing at 15, simply because I heard the music, saw the look and fell in love with it. No conformity to anyone else's agenda here, my good man!

Consider me properly chastised for my generalizations and please accept my not-quite-so-cheeky apology...

 

[Senator Jack]

Salv, that's a lot of great info. Thanks for posting. I had always wondered about the tenuous Who/Mod connection - how it came to pass that a rock band without much soul influence were considered to be the icons of Mod.

And sorry I haven't kept up with this thread as I should have. Went out on an all day vintage run yesterday (but unfortunately came back empty handed) and I've been catching up with work all day today.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Benny Holiday]

Consider me properly chastised for my generalizations and please accept my not-quite-so-cheeky apology...

No apology needed bud, just setting the record straight in case you thought I might be one of those 'scene-Nazis!'lol Yeah, they're out there, causing strife in every social circuit!

 

[carebear]

I was poking around on the book review site I found.

www.bookslut.com

Found a review of this graphic novel

The Originals

http://www.amazon.com/Originals-Dav...66/ref=pd_sxp_f_r/102-3688622-7852919?ie=UTF8

It is apparently a near future updating of the mod/rocker scene.

If you read that sort of thing.

 

[Barry]

I was poking around on the book review site I found.

The Originals

http://www.amazon.com/Originals-Dav...66/ref=pd_sxp_f_r/102-3688622-7852919?ie=UTF8

It is apparently a near future updating of the mod/rocker scene.

If you read that sort of thing.

There's also Deadenders...another Mod themed graphic novel. Haven't read it yet. Maybe I'll give it a shot. I typically stick to other genres within "sequential art" (comics ).