The Broadwater Farm riot in Tottenham, in North London, a week later, was dominated by two deaths. A well-known musician, Jerry Dammers, is a founder and keyboardist who has been active in the musical world for over four decades. 'Ghost Town' wasn't a free-for-all jam session. I could see them then trying to form the words that would make me understand what they had just asked me. Cars blazing, people running everywhere, while another said it was like Beirut, not London. There was fighting at our gigs; there were lots of National Front people around. RIP https://t.co/05ULhUjqS9, Billy Bragg (@billybragg) December 29, 2015. Oct 18 2019. The first major Brixton riot, on 11 April, resulted in 450 injuries, the destruction or burning of more than 200 vehicles and 150 damaged buildings. Jerry Dammers has paid tribute to John Bradbury, the drummer with The Specials, who has died aged 62. They originally met when she directed the video for his 1997 single Ballad Of A Landlord, but. He also founded 2 Tone Records. In the days after the first riot, Brixton was a binary postcode: furious and violent at night and completely empty and silent during the day. Yes, there was a royal wedding, in sharp juxtaposition to inner-city decay, a wedding that would produce a genuine royal superstar, yet the riots the worst for a century would resonate throughout the country for years. I said free Nelson Mandela. From 2001 to 2012, the Afro-Caribbean population of Lambeth, the borough that houses Brixton, fell by eight per cent. Jerry Dammers has been out of the musical limelight since the mid-1980s Of all the band feuds in all the world, the fall-out between Dammers and his ex-cohorts has to be one of the worst. We were 1970s bands in a time of two-man synth bands. I felt as though Id stepped out of one of those British TV science fiction programmes they made in the 1960s back in a land of bowler hats, umbrellas and red phone boxes those austere black and white ones when London had been the target of a neutron bomb, the ones that killed all the people but left the buildings intact. His initial music influences were 60's . The Guardian cites a statement released by the bands spokesperson praised the musicians influence on the 2 Tone scene. They were approved. Is it just me or is there a bit of distortion on the vocals on the "Too much pressure" side? Television coverage of the riots painted them clearly as battles between residents and the police force, although what they really did was create even more racial tension between blacks and whites on the street, between neighbours of different ethnic backgrounds, between people who knew each other and of course those who didnt. He also founded 2 Tone Records. On Tuesdays doing the door at a West End nightclub (where essentially you let in your friends for free and drank the profits) and on Wednesdays waking up with enough time to sign on. He is a composer and writer, known for Mystery Men (1999), Natural Born Killers (1994) and Sixteen Candles (1984). Seventeen months separate The Specials' two No1 singles and a million musical miles, wrote Simon Price of the Independent On Sunday. The same applied to the brass: John [Rivers] put one mic in the middle of the room, placed Dick [Cuthell] and Rico [Rodriguez] in diagonal corners, and when we listened in the control room it sounded great. Racial tension was high, as the Afro-Caribbean community felt victimised. Jerry Dammers will be given the Order of the Companions of OR Tambo, at a ceremony in Pretoria on Sunday. Who died out of The Specials? An indispensable tool in the arsenal of any would be singer-songwriter. Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 65 years old? 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. With all the original members, too, strangely apart from the drummer, who had no doubt died in a bizarre gardening accident in what the rest of the band at the time thought was a misguided, if not completely unfunny, homage to Spinal Tap. I saw it develop from a boom town, my family doing very well, through to the collapse of the industry and the bottom falling out of family life. We had almost been written off and then Ghost Town came out of the blue.. "It was inspired by what we saw touring," recalls The Specials' founder and song writer Jerry Dammers . What had the rioters got against carpet shops? After a brief trip to the Pret at the top of our square (egg sandwich on white bread, a Diet Coke and a banana, eaten in that order), I finished up and started to walk home. Dammers record was an apocalyptic portrait of inner-city oppression set to a loping beat offset by an unsettling and vaguely Middle Eastern motif: Government leaving the youth on the shelf No job to be found in this country The single sounded like the fairground ride from hell, a snake charmer of a song, complete with strident brass, madhouse wailing and dub-style breaks. Ghost Town, though, felt properly revolutionary, the kind of record that no one had the right to expect anymore. [2] Jerry Dammers attended King Henry VIII School, Coventry. Compared to the two-speed society of the tweenies (as economists are still trying to describe the second decade of the 21st century) 1985 seemed almost quaint. Dammers, who is not touring as part of the band's 30th anniversary shows, has issued . I was thinking about Ghost Town the other day as I walked home, lost in reverie, but oh-so-aware of everything around me. The gentrification of London was continuing at an unusually fast pace, one that reflected the new money swirling around and rushing into the city and the way in which it was being used as an architectural hothouse; but what was rarely discussed was the divisive way in which we were all now being forced to live, the rich rubbing up against the poor and neither of them appreciating it very much. Now Dammers is being honoured in South Africa, a country that he has never visited before. We were watching a live TV broadcast of the Brixton riots and saw this bloke smash a camera shop window and grab the biggest camera he could find, which looked like a Nikon with a motor drive, says my friend Chris Sullivan, the former owner of the Wag Club. Jerry Dammers has launched a blistering attack on the Specials reunion and planned gigs, called them "a takeover, rather than a proper reunion" on the part of Terry Hall and his manager, Lynval Golding. Hall has now reacted to Dammers claims, saying he was involved in initial plans for the reunion and said he has no idea why he didnt want to be part of the band. and The Spatial AKA Orchestra. They felt they had been absolved in advance. She was criticised for this outburst, but she wasnt entirely wrong. From 2001 to 2012, the Afro-Caribbean population of Lambeth, the borough that houses Brixton, fell by eight per cent, even though the boroughs overall population rose by nine per cent. Cryptic, droll, a heart of gold, and he could tackle like a donkey! The record does not so much end as lose the will to go on, sinking back into the fog. 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. 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. The aural landscape is so vast that each member sounds disconnected from the next, says Dorian Lynskey, in his history of protest songs, 33 Revolutions Per Minute. Dammers was born in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, South India, the son of Horace Dammers who was later Dean of Bristol Cathedral from 1973 to 1987. [12][13] Following further conversations with Dammers, Collins travelled up from his home in London to meet the Specials at their rehearsal studio and agreed to produce their new single. Well, I had to put a piece of tissue under my chin because sweat was dripping off my face due to it being so scary one mistake and that would have been it! It was sparked by the shooting of Dorothy Cherry Groce by the police, while they were looking for her son Michael Croce in relation to a suspected firearms offence. Especially as she was the one who had withdrawn them. The fact that it became popular when it did was just a weird coincidence. In some respects 1981 was defined by the riots as much as by the music they inadvertently inspired. Wicked meaning evil, bruv. Jerry Dammers does not have a wife or a son. The family moved to England, and Jerry was raised and schooled in Coventry. I dont think he likes the idea of touring, to be honest. 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. Brixton would change over the next 30 years or so, especially after the millennium. There was also a growing sense that the Tories had no understanding of, and no pastoral interest in, the have-nots under their care, those who hadnt wouldnt benefit from financial deregulation, privatisation or Thatchers changes to the welfare state. They streamed into the four ground-floor flats and took anything they wanted that they could carry (again, audio equipment, vinyl, TVs). It was this tense environment that produced the extraordinary sound of Ghost Town. By the end of the 1980s, those pockets of gentrification that had started to pop up around Central London would become so oversubscribed that those on the bottom rungs were pushed farther and farther out, so those previously out-of-bound areas east of the city villages that promised the sort of luxurious loft-living the young bankers in Docklands had been promised a decade before. We went clubbing together, spent a few memorable New Years Eves in Bristol (where his parents were from), spent birthdays together and once DJd together at a miners benefit at the Wag Club in 1983 (he played politically correct funk while I played right-of-centre disco). We had both lived in Brixton for some time and had become almost immune to the attritional nature of the place. That weird little band from 1983 whose only hit you once devoured as though it were the essence of life itself? Hes fucking missing out. Even though the polices stop and search powers were about to be curtailed by a government who could see that they werent working, many in the force had become almost institutionalised, especially in their attitudes towards black youth. 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. As they travelled around the country the band witnessed sights that summed up the depressed mood of a country gripped by recession. Jerry Dammers Spatial AKA Orchestra. Join Facebook to connect with Jerry Dammers and others you may know. Et alors que les 95 annes vcues par Nelson Mandela ont inspir de nombreux scnaristes et fait l'objet. It was last seen in British general . This was urban decay writ large, accompanied by a kick drum and a muted horn. 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. [2] The song spent three weeks at number one and 11 weeks in total in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. 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. Dammers was born in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, South India, as the son of Horace Dammers, the Dean of Bristol Cathedral from 1973 to 1987. [23], In December 2021, a commemorative plaque was affixed to the house where the former Woodbine Street recording studio was located. He also suggested the two-handed shuffle rhythm played by Dammers on the Hammond organ throughout the song. For those of us who were not part of Thatcherisms good life, for those of us who were excluded, then Ghost Town spoke to our bruised hearts, says Tony Parsons, who was still writing for the NME at the time. Begging you, begging you please. Regstrate en Deezer y escucha Too Much Too Young (Live) de The Specials y 90 millones ms de canciones. The Mandalorian season three first look review: Baby Yodas back, Mae Stephens colourful funk-pop sound is transcending TikTok, Shania Twain: Im probably most proud of not giving up on my voice, Final Fantasy 16 is a lavish RPG twist on Bayonetta and its all the better for it. A year after Brixton Village opened in 2011, just as the 2000s ended, house prices had risen by as much as 20 per cent, in a market where residential property was largely flat. Born on May 22, 1955, Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, India, Dammers had been in The Cissy Stone Soul Band, and later graduated from Coventry University. They thought Groce was hiding in his mothers home, raided it and accidentally shot Mrs Groce, paralysing her from the waist down. [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. I think he hid that a bit in his statement. Jerry Dammers experimented with lounge-noir on their second album, causing intra-band friction. 10th December 2008. Facebook gives people the power to. Following his long music career, the artist also received Ivor Novello Inspiration Award in 2014. Musician and arranger Delia Derbyshire, who died in 2001 and musician Ray King were also honoured with plaques. His contribution to the world of music can not be understated and he will much missed by family, friends and fans alike.. After becoming overwhelmed with the multitude of choices available in the 24-track studio used during the recording of More Specials, Dammers had decided that he wanted to return a more basic set-up, and after a recommendation from bass player Horace Panter who was familiar with the place, the band chose the small 8-track studio in the house owned by John Rivers in Woodbine Street in Royal Leamington Spa. It's hard to express how sad I feel about the death of Rico Rodriguez yesterday. It was hell to be around." The riots themselves felt contemporary and weirdly particular. 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. 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. - Jerry Dammers/The Specials (1984) It was a simple song that packed a mighty punch, a masterstroke of music and politics, wrapped up in four glorious minutes of ska-infused beats from the pen of Jerry Dammers, of the UK group The Specials. [2] Jerry Dammers attended King Henry VIII School, Coventry. Ghost Town. We wanted to play 2,000 to 3,000-sized venues. The Specials ' singer Terry Hall has denied the claims of founding member Jerry Dammers that he was "kicked out" of the band ahead of their forthcoming reunion. 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. They were slightly yobby the NME called their debut album a speed and beer-crazed ska loon but they had an underlying social conscience. You got . All of a sudden the country appeared to be spiralling into an endless cycle of violence, framing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as the villain. I was aware that things were deteriorating. [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. Ive read Jerrys statement and I just dont get it, he told The Guardian. 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. Their first album of new material since 1998's Guilty 'Til Proven Innocent!, the album is also significant for marking the return of the band's original vocalist, Terry Hall, who left The Specials. He also founded 2 Tone Records. [14] Panter remembered, "Everybody was stood in different parts of this huge room with their equipment, no one talking. With all his DJing work cancelled for the time being, he is wisely using this period to try to finalise output hes been tinkering with for years. 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. The forgotten riot is the one in Brixton that started on 28 September 1985. Jerry Dammers - Biography Biography Dammers was born in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, South India, the son of a clergyman who went on to become Dean of Bristol Cathedral, he attended King Henry VIII School, Coventry. Walk into a Brixton pub and you felt eyes upon you. He was in a little band in Coventry and I wanted to show. Jungle Music (1982) by Rico Rodriguez and The Special AKA Producer credit: Jerry Dammers. The first thing I felt was guilt, being outside when I probably should have been indoors, but as I was completely alone this was a pretty futile emotion. In Glasgow, there were these little old ladies on the streets selling all their household goods, their cups and saucers. "I never expected anything like this when I wrote the song," Dammers said. And the faster I started to walk, the slower I became. 20th February 2009. Wrong! Around the same time, if you had been reading the small ads in the arts pages of your favourite national newspaper, you would have seen that revival tours were all the rage. But a wicked sense of humour. And it's nothing compared to the sacrifices the people in South Africa made to fight apartheid.". Dammers said, "People weren't cooperating. Specials drummer John Bradbury dies. She writes these brusque, caustic notes accusing them of woolly thinking and they are absolutely terrified of her. The cabinet were terrified too, as her treatment of her colleagues was appalling. He left India at the age of 2, first living in Coventry, then moving to Sheffield at the age of 10. 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. ", Fellow 2 Tone band Madness wrote, "A terrible loss to all of us, way too young," while The English Beat's Dave Wakeling wrote, "Sad to hear that Terry will not be joining us for another season. He also founded 2 Tone Records. Winston Silcott, Engin Raghip and Mark Braithwaite were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, although all three were cleared by the court of appeal in 1991 after it emerged evidence had been tampered with (Silcott remained in prison for the separate murder of another man, Tony Smith, finally being released in 2003). We are going to get people blaming the economy and what happened last week but thats not the real reason this happened. [13], The three songs for the single were recorded over ten days in April 1981 in two separate sessions at Woodbine Street: seven days from 3 to 9 April and then a further three days from 15 to 17 April. The riots would eventually end, although not before The Specials themselves collapsed. However, it was to come sooner than anyone thought, as Tesco bought a site on Acre Lane the day after the 1985 riots. Since the song had no proper beginning or ending during recording at Woodbine Street, Collins recreated the idea of fading in over a sound effect, which he had used previously on "Lift Off", the B-side of "At the Club". We had some really great times together and it is truly tragic that he has died so young. Back in 2009 I wrote sleevenotes for the rerelease of his solo album Laugh. Jungle Music (Groove Tunnel Mix) by Urang Matang (2019) The news comes three months after the death of the bands trombonist, Rico Rodriguez. The January 2016 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK featuring Paul Weller, David Bowie, Best Of 2015, Roger Waters, Father John Misty, Pere Ubu, Robert Forster, Natalie Prass, James Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Sunn O))), Jonny Greenwood, Arthur Lee & Love, Neil Young, Janis Joplin and more. Thank you Jerry Dammers for bringing this to the world. I think it is good, but I want to give it my best shot. Terrys voice was the perfect instrument for the true and necessary songs on 'The Specials.' 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 thought that was a bit of a Take That thing. It was like another country. At one point a double decker bus found itself weaving into the rioters; its conductor was quickly assaulted, its driver dismissed and, having been commandeered, was then driven at speed right into the police line. He went on to find happiness with second wife, director Lindy Heymann, and their son Orson, eight. Dammers was born in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, South India, the son of Horace Dammers who was later Dean of Bristol Cathedral from 1973 to 1987. While she would always say that she was empowering those who had previously been beholden to the state, Thatcher was criticised most often for having no idea what to do with communities when the safety net had been withdrawn. He. Why The Specials' Jerry Dammers was the Lennon and McCartney of ska, Why Swing Out Sister's Kaleidoscope World is an overlooked classic worth revisiting in 2020, Why Miles Davis' Bitches Brew is such an extraordinary record. Simple Minds. Born in India, but raised in . An appreciation by Jerry Dammers, founder of The Specials and 2 Tone records. The worlds defining voice in music and pop culture: breaking whats new and whats next since 1952. Many consider The Specials' Ghost Town, with its depiction of poverty and injustice in Thatcher's Britain, the song of the 1980s. According to a man watching from his second-floor flat, the mob was relentless, like vultures tearing at his body. DJing, drumming in bands who were never going to get signed, running a Sunday market stall in Camden Lock having spent the early hours buying up bric-a-brac in Brick Lane. Inspired by Live Aid, this song ultimately led to the Mandela Seventieth Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in 1988 and helped add to the groundswell of support that led to Mandelas release from prison in February 1990. Rest in power Terry Hall.". More importantly, it was heard in South Africa where it was banned but became an anthem in the fight against apartheid. The invective, the flash of the eyes and yes, I have been on the wrong end of that once or twice. Realism? Pride followed prosperity and in the summer of 2011, when opportunistic revellers attending a street party used the excuse of the riot in Tottenham a few days earlier to loot and burn a string of shops in Brixton, local residents were incensed, calling the thugs pathetic Its just an excuse for the young ones to come and rob shops. Dammers said: "I was watching the news one day and they showed a football match in South Africa where the song was being played on the loudspeakers. [14] During this period Hall, Staple, Golding and Dammers all turned up at the house at various times to add further vocals. Meta. That he didnt turn into John Barry was a disappointment to me, but probably not to him. Jun 26 2010. 20 Years of Freedom - Britons receive South African . was sampled in. Jerry Dammers has paid tribute to John Bradbury, the drummer with The Specials, who has died aged 62. . Terry Hall reacts to main songwriter's statement. The building which housed the club is now Coventry Central Library.[11]. . Subscribe to Uncut today and never miss an issue. To me, Dammers was the Lennon and McCartney of ska, one of the most important voices of the postpunk movement, a man who always appeared to be carrying his generation's hopes and dreams on his. A notable recording artist, Jerry Dammers is a pioneer and keyboardist who has been dynamic in the melodic world for over forty years. and The Spatial AKA Orchestra. There is a suggestion that his real name was Gerald Danki but this seems unsubstantiated. Walking down the Lane at night you felt a little like Orpheus walking out of the underworld, too anxious to turn around and see what might be behind you. The streets werent just empty of people, they were empty of life. As they were due to appear on Top Of The Pops to promote the record, Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Neville Staples told Dammers they were going to leave, appearing a few months later as Fun Boy Three (werent they just) with their debut single, The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum, a record that owed much to the lyrics and orchestration of Ghost Town. [5][6][7] It was the 12th-best-selling single in the UK in 1981. One policeman said it looked like World War III. Although there were only 80 arrests during the first riot, more than 5,000 people were involved, a massive groundswell of anger. He is famous for founding 2 Tone Records and having his masterful skills on turntables and keyboards. and The Spatial AKA Orchestra.. Real name Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers Born May 22, 1955 Country United Kingdom IPI . Hand on my heart, this is what I feel is a bit sad for Jerry. Surrounded by a burgeoning new romantic movement, two-tone felt very council estate, very rough and very monochromatic. "Why?" 29th December 2015. It even felt like a riot, or rather how a riot felt just before it kicked off, or maybe just after it, when all the dust had settled. And who could blame them? When I rang my friend Robin, who lived up the road on Brixton Hill, and told him about the dozens and dozens of people still running by my window with enough stereo equipment to start their own branch of Currys, he laughed and rather unhelpfully suggested that I nip out and find something for myself (Dont you need a new stereo?). English Ska musician Jerry Dammers, of the group the Specials, during the Red Wedge Re-launch at Ronnie Scott's, London, 7/6/1987. Theme From "The Boiler". Jerry David Hounsell Dammers was born in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, India in May 1955. Collins wanted the song to sound more like a Sly and Robbie roots reggae track, so he brought a copy of a Sly and Robbie-produced single, "What a Feeling" by Gregory Isaacs, to the studio so that drummer John Bradbury could mimic the drum sound. Jerry Dammers is a singer and pioneer songwriter of the Coventry, England based ska revival band The Specials or The Spatial AKA Orchestra. In our world, the economy was driven by nightclubs, as this was a completely cash economy. I even sat through some of the tortuous recording of the 1985 album In The Studio by The Special AKA (as The Specials morphed into), containing Jerrys defining moment, the monumentally influential Free Nelson Mandela. RIP pic.twitter.com/yYBFyQmuLy, The Specials (@thespecials) December 29, 2015. When Mrs Thatcher first arrived in Downing Street in 1979, there were many who thought she would become as much a prisoner of the Whitehall machine as her predecessor, Edward Heath, yet she quickly used abrasiveness to slap down the mandarins.
