The 1979 Mod revival came about through loving the The Jam and seeing the film Quadrophenia. Suddenly we started hearing about bands in England waving the Mod flag and making records. the first release was a piece of rubbish called You Need Wheels by Merton Parkas which almost scuppered the whole movement from the onset and tainted a lot of peoples ears to the sounds of new Mod. But then we started getting some great records. Time For action was a brilliant single and really captured the feel that was going on.
The second Mod movement as been much maligned but for anyone who was part of it it was incredibly exciting and a hell of a lot of fun. Using the punk ethos of DIY Mods were opening clubs and putting fanzines and records and organizing scooter runs. You couldn't get the clothes new so you scoured op shops and old shoe shops which had stock from the sixties sitting in the back room. Brilliant.
That all my mates at the time were into it at the same time was great. I was a total sixties addict so while I formed a punk band in 1977 we were already including old sixties songs from the go. Hell almost all the bands were. Including Nick cave and the Boys next Door whose first release was "These Boots are made for Walking"
I got to the UK at the end of 79 and bought a bunch of these singles for 20p at a news agency. The Mod thing was still quite big. But on Top of The Pops one night they had Madness, Specials and Selector. The ska movement drank from the same well. You could see a change already. However I was determined to take back all these Mod/sixties ideas however and use them in Little Murders.
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