Everything was based on cash, as there was no other currency. and The Spatial AKA Orchestra. Using just eight tracks limited Collins' recording possibilities, but as a reggae producer he decided to use the common reggae method of recording everything in mono: "As we were recording eight-track, I did go with a track plan. Ghost Town. As the streets of London go into lockdown, The Specials Ghost Town and the feverish social background against which the song was written feels more resonant than ever. "What made 2-Tone different to everything else at that time was that Jerry directed all the visuals," confirms Storey. Speaking ahead of the newly . According to a man watching from his second-floor flat, the mob was relentless, like vultures tearing at his body. Seventeen months separate The Specials' two No1 singles and a million musical miles, wrote Simon Price of the Independent On Sunday. Terrys voice was the perfect instrument for the true and necessary songs on 'The Specials.' Real name Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers Born May 22, 1955 Country United Kingdom IPI . Police aggression made everyone paranoid, and made people who had previously lived quite happily side by side turn against each other because it seemed like the safest thing to do. The mixed racial make-up of The Specials - and most of the other bands on the 2 Tone label - was a deliberate and provocative . But apart from that, I have no idea why Jerry isnt doing it. [12] The studio, which consisted of a recording space in the cellar and a control room in the living room, was too small to accommodate all the members of the band, so rather than their normal recording method of playing all together, Collins recorded each band member playing one at a time and built up the songs track by track. Coventry, The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. [4] In response to the linking of the song to these events, singer Terry Hall said, "When we recorded 'Ghost Town', we were talking about [1980]'s riots in Bristol and Brixton. And the faster I started to walk, the slower I became. He is a composer and writer, known for Mystery Men (1999), Natural Born Killers (1994) and Sixteen Candles (1984). Fascinated by the record's sound, Dammers telephoned the song's co-writer and producer John Collins a few days later, although as Dammers first phone call was in the middle of the . I assumed that my dyed hair, red bandana and Chinese slippers had probably caused my shorn-haired friends to think I was a lily-livered liberal with a penchant for Afro-Caribbean culture, so as soon as I saw one of them reach into his pocket for his knife as he mentioned something I was meant to have said to his sister, I turned on my slippered heels and ran. [9] Jo-Ann Greene of Allmusic notes the lyric "only brush[es] on the causes for this apocalyptic vision the closed down clubs, the numerous fights on the dancefloor, the spiraling unemployment, the anger building to explosive levels. Now I was attuned to everything, including the sound of looters breaking in through the front door of our building. But, compelled by the inactivity around me, I took the long way, turning right instead of left, striding along Regent Street on my way down to Piccadilly Circus, where I was going to dart right, along Piccadilly itself, and stroll home via Hyde Park Corner. He ran off with it, but then as soon as he passed an off licence, he stopped, turned around and then threw it through the window. His contribution to the world of music can not be understated and he will much missed by family, friends and fans alike.. Wrong! He then ran away, leaving the camera behind. However, the song was hailed by the contemporary UK music press as a major piece of popular social commentary,[3][4] and all three of the major UK music magazines of the time awarded "Ghost Town" the accolade of "Single of the Year" for 1981. Yes, I know Lennon wrote it, but its a brilliant live version and one of the real treats the bonus tracks add to this CD. You couldn't quite believe that things would ever return to normal, what with the broken glass, the boarded-up windows, the dozens of overturned cars, the smoke billowing from the shops in the market like some trashy post-apocalyptic movie. In South London, conflict gave an edge to every transaction in a corner shop, every late-night walk home. Brads drumming was the powerhouse behind the Specials, and it was seen as a key part to the 2 Tone sound. They turned up with supermarket trolleys, safe in the knowledge they would never be caught. Coldharbour Lane always looked like a fairly unforgiving place at the best of times, but for weeks after the riots it felt as though it has been transported directly from some post-apoc wasteland, a tunnel of terror. Jerry Dammers has paid tribute to John Bradbury, the drummer with The Specials, who has died aged 62. The looters concentrated on the electrical shops, on the ghetto blasters, television sets and radios. The record does not so much end as lose the will to go on, sinking back into the fog. Jerry Dammers, founder of The Specials and 2 Tone Records A special 40th anniversary Two Tone Records seven-inch box set that features 12 iconic singles released on the label and an art card signed by Jerry Dammers. It's hard to explain how powerful it sounded. They're the backbone of a reggae song. Jerry David Hounsell Dammers was born in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, India in May 1955. Photograph: David Corio/Redferns The lead singer, Stan Campbell, was very young. He left India at the age of 2, first living in Coventry, then moving to Sheffield at the age of 10. RIP https://t.co/05ULhUjqS9, Billy Bragg (@billybragg) December 29, 2015. Dammers, who is not touring as part of the band's 30th anniversary shows, has issued . No, really. Jerry Dammers is a singer and pioneer songwriter of the Coventry, England based ska revival band The Specials or The Spatial AKA Orchestra. Theme From "The Boiler". However, I also thought he might turn out to be our generations John Barry, scoring important movies with solemn yet iconic orchestral themes, balancing Jacques Derrida with Francis Lai, Scott Walker with Dr John. Founder of 2 Tone Records. Its only the most extreme people who appear to still be out there. Not only that, but they came from Coventry, Britains very own answer to Detroit, the epitome of the post-war urban wasteland, the quintessential concrete jungle, and felt they had a right to bleat about anything they wanted to, especially the determined onslaught of Thatcherism. Jerry Dammers was born on 22 May 1955 in Ootacamund, India. Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez had already gone back to London, and I had to record that flute by actually dropping in. Please enjoy your records. Terry Hall of The Specials and Fun Boy Three died on Sunday, December 18 but the news didn't break till late Monday afternoon. That summed it up for me. Affiliation PRS Comments Keyboardist. [18][19] Although initial reviews of the single in the UK music press were lukewarm, by the end of the year the song had won over the critics to be named "Single of the Year" in Melody Maker, NME and Sounds, the UK's top three weekly music magazines at the time. Refrigerators, dryers, you name it, said one observer. I even saw one lady hold up a piece of carpet and ask if anyone knew whether it was 6ft by 4ft.. Amongthe others who have shared kind words and remembrances: Belinda Carlisle,Boy George, Rage Against the Machine,Dexy's Midnight Runners, Billy Bragg,Squeeze's Chris Difford, The Sleaford Mods, Ted Leo, Rancid, The Interrupters, Lush's Miki Berenyi, Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley, Everything But the Girl'sTracey Thorn, Less Than Jake,The Brian Jonestown Massacre's Anton Newcombe,Matt Sharp (Weezer, The Rentals), Geoff Barrow (Portishead, Beak>),The Charlatans' Tim Burgess, former Cure member Lol Tolhurst, The Mountain Goats, Michael McKean, Jon Cryer, Sparks, Mark McGrath, Frank Turner, Catbite, Shepard Fairey, director Tim Pope,and more. 00073107204 15 works 00073107302 17 works. Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers (born 22 May 1955) is a British musician who is a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry, England, based ska revival band The Specials, The Special A.K.A. In 2002 Dammers told The Guardian, "You travelled from town to town and what was happening was terrible. Thatcher had a habit of invoking the pernicious legacy of the so-called permissive society whenever she was confronted with something she didnt understand. Jerry Dammers also brought along several items as a gift to the 2-Tone museum. Then, a few weeks later, in Toxteth, came the predictable sequel, followed by copycat riots in Southall, Moss Side, St Pauls, Handsworth and Chapeltown, in Leeds. I was thinking about Jerry Dammers recently. The recording of Ghost Town, which was the last time the original band were in a studio together, was so fraught and so obviously frustrating, that the guitarist Roddy Byers tried to kick a hole in the wall. The riots would eventually end, although not before The Specials themselves collapsed. The shots of the band in the car were achieved by attaching a camera to the bonnet using a rubber sucker: Panter recalled that at one point the camera fell off (briefly seen in the finished video at 1:18) and scratched the car's paintwork, to the displeasure of the car's owner. Jerry Dammers is the son of Horace Dammers, who becomes the Dean of Bristol Cathedral (1973-1987). However, there was a tense moment towards the end of recording when Dammers decided at the last minute that he wanted to add a flute to the song, and with no free tracks available Collins was forced to record the flute directly onto the track containing the previously recorded brass section, with the possibility that any error would have rendered the entire track unusable: The guy who played the flute was a member of the band King and we recorded him in the hallway with a microphone at the top of the stairs to get the natural reverb from the stairwell. "[10] The club referred to in the song was the Locarno (run by the Mecca Leisure Group and later renamed Tiffanys), a regular haunt of Neville Staple and Lynval Golding,[3] and which is also named as the club in "Friday Night, Saturday Morning", one of the songs on the B-side. At the time, as far as music was concerned, there was nothing quite so au courant as nostalgia. In the space of just two years, from 1979 to 1981, the original Specials managed to embody the new decades violent energies, morals and conflicts though always with an ironic and often sardonic detachment that kept the band cool as the 1980s grew increasingly hot. Fascinated by the record's sound, Dammers telephoned the song's co-writer and producer John Collins a few days later, although as Dammers first phone call was in the middle of the night, Collins initially took it to be a joke. Gentrification continued apace, as Lambeth Council spruced up the area, preventing the conversion of houses into flats to attract middle-class house buyers and transforming the old covered market into a shopping mall with upmarket cafes and restaurants. The Special AKA perform Racist Friend. The next morning, Brixton looked as though it had been turned inside out, as everything that was usually inside someones house appeared to be outside, all the household detritus that looks so pathetic and parochial when removed from its natural habitat. A notable recording artist, Jerry Dammers is a pioneer and keyboardist who has been dynamic in the melodic world for over forty years. Jerry Dammers Spatial AKA Orchestra. I could see them then trying to form the words that would make me understand what they had just asked me. and The Spatial AKA Orchestra. Youth unemployment was rife as the country felt the bite of Thatchers cuts and riots were erupting all over the country, riots that appeared, with eerie synchronicity, at the same time as Ghost Town. Ghost Town epitomised the two-tone idea that black and white can operate in the same unit and speak to the youth. The ska legends are touring this year to celebrate their 30th anniversary without their keyboard player and main songwriter. Free Nelson Mandela feat. They were all over the place at the time, although they tended to leave Brixton and its immediate environs alone, so whenever you saw them in the area you suspected there might be trouble. Originally, the lead part was done on Jerry's guide organ before the flute was dropped in on the brass track. Im not a perfectionist but I want this to be good. They streamed into the four ground-floor flats and took anything they wanted that they could carry (again, audio equipment, vinyl, TVs). Jerry Dammers at Rock Against Racism, Leeds, in 1981. It's hard to express how sad I feel about the death of Rico Rodriguez yesterday. Glastonbury, Worthy Farm. Id felt like this before, intermittently, in the early summer of 1981, when, after days of rising tension and years of social deprivation, relations between the Metropolitan Police and the local community resulted in the Brixton riots. In March 1981, Jerry Dammers heard the reggae song "At the Club" by actor and singer Victor Romero Evans played on Roundtable, the singles review show on BBC Radio 1. Jerry Dammers was born on 22 May, 1955 in Ooty, India, is a Keyboardist, songwriter, DJ. Dammers was born in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, South India, as the son of Horace Dammers, the Dean of Bristol Cathedral from 1973 to 1987. Britain was falling apart, said Dammers. are touring this year to celebrate their 30th anniversary. some of the tracks have been re-eq'd /tweaked, Really really nice repro collection just a few odd errors>, Two Tone Records Vinyl Treasures 7" Boxset, Ghost Town / Why? I was thinking about Ghost Town the other day as I walked home, lost in reverie, but oh-so-aware of everything around me. There is a suggestion that his real name was Gerald Danki but this seems unsubstantiated. . And if you looked carefully, you would have seen that The Specials were back too, churning out the old hits as though they were a human jukebox. That year, 28 September was a Saturday and having just come back from a trip abroad, I had spent the whole day indoors, transcribing tapes, writing, listening to music and cleaning the flat, not bothering to go outside for a paper or turn on the radio or TV. 10 of the best GQ-approved first watches money can buy, Mushroom coffee is the latest obsession in the great shroom boom, How to really get rid of those forehead wrinkles, NFL star Efe Obada's fitness diary: Your mindset is everything it's your windshield, Simone Rocha is the incumbent Cool Guy brand, The 2023 GQ Food & Drink Awards shortlist, 37 clothing essentials for every mans wardrobe, The alternative guide to travelling in Europe this year, Print copies & Digital access for only 1. It certainly didnt feel empowering, as the sensation of being alone was intensified by being in the city. There were 45 injuries to members of the public and nearly 300 to the police; more than 5,000 rioters were involved, many of who had simply come out to fight, as they had nothing better to do and nowhere better to do it. Not only was this one of the most important records of the early 1980s, it remains one of the most evocative, provocative singles of all time, a prime piece of agitprop that still has the power to shock. 20th February 2009. Their first, a live recording of Too Much Too Young, was essentially The Sex Pistols Bodies gone ska, but the intervening year saw The Specials ditch that punky-reggae template. Nineteen-eighty-one was a desperate year in the UK. Wicked meaning evil, bruv. He was a lovely, sensitive, talented and unique person. Rhoda Dakar, of 2 Tone group The Bodysnatchers who also dueted with Terry on The Specials "I Can't Stand It" andsang with offshootThe Special AKA, wrote: Terrys gone, he died just after the football on Sunday. House Of Common Festival Madness, Jimmy Cliff, Ziggy Marley, David Rodigan, The Kingdom Choir. I wanted the drums in mono on one track, the bass in mono on another and the rhythm that shuffle organ and Lynval's DI'd guitar on another. When we all woke, to survey the damage, most people quickly squirrelled back to their homes, appalled and embarrassed by the carnage they saw all around them and by lunchtime the streets were empty again. And an activist. And it wasnt quiet, so much as mute. The Specials are due to play a series of 30th anniversary gigs in the spring of 2009, with the tour being billed as a full reunion. The founder of The Specials and 2 Tone, Jerry Dammers, has moved his Spatial AKA Orchestra on some way from its beginnings as a tribute to maverick jazz musician Sun Ra. Campbell, was very young of Horace Dammers, who becomes the Dean of Bristol Cathedral ( ). Through the front door of our building how sad I feel about death! 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