3 posts tagged “coventry”

The Writers Cafe and Hobo have been supporting the creation of the Gnome Label - a new concept - an open source label based on co-operative ideals and networks. origianally concieved in 1970 alongside one of the first music collectives. The idea now upgrade via modern technology and the internet.

One of the first podcasts and later CD's will be Retro Coventry with music from Cov bands who never got to make an record in the 60's 70's and 80's but have decent audio alongside some more recent work by some of them and work by more contemporary Cov artists. Anyone can be on the label provided they have original material and all proceeds go to the artist who retains artistic control over their work. The concept is being offered to other towns - just needs a compiler and the Gnome Label will help - so if you want to a similar album or series of albums for your town and include those bands and artists that should have been heard on disc but never were - here's your opportunity.

Trevor meanwhile is mapping out a possible compilation of unsigned female singer songwriters after reading a post about the lack of female singer songwriters on the Columbia rosta on Susie Wilkin's Vox.

Here the post from the Gnome label site -

Two Tone legend Horace Panter releases his new autobiography Ska'd For Life soon. It promises to be a best

seller. As the blurb on Amazon says -

Synopsis
"By the time he was fifteen, Horace was the proud owner of a Rosetti Bass 8 guitar. He couldn't play it, or even tune it, but he could stand in front of his bedroom mirror in sleepy Kettering and imagine himself on stage, a denim-clad long-haired rock god playing to an adoring crowd. Ten years later and the dream came true - kind of. As bass player with the Specials, in his second-hand suit and pork pie hat, Horace was a member of one of the most innovative and exciting bands to come snarling out of the punk era. Founded by Jerry Damners, their fusion of punk, reggae and ska created a new musical fashion, spearheaded by their own record label "Two Tone". They stood for unity and racial harmony in a polarised society. They even got British men dancing again for the first time in fifteen years. In "Ska'd for Life", Horace takes the reader on a musical odyssey with the Specials from their early days on Coventry's punk circuit to chart storming success with singles like "Too Much Too Young" and the eerily prescient "Ghost Town", released as the race riots of 1982 saw Toxteth and Brixton go up in flames. Horace had achieved his childhood dream, and seen it disintegrate along with the band. Written with wry humour, taking an affectionate look at a band whose sublime music remains influential today, this is a must for all Specials fans and for anyone who's ever dreamed of being a rock star."

In 1973 while running a Coventry music, I got a letter from Horace wishing to advertise in Hobo for a 'Happy band'.

Hobo was run on a shoestring budget and raising the money to print it was always a problem. Instead of it coming out monthly as originally planned, it came out when ever there was sufficient funds to pay someone to print it. By the time the next Hobo came out with Horace's ad in - he'd already found a band at the Lanchester Polytech (now Coventry University) where he was studying. His new band (not yet the Specials) were in need of gigs to get started. By 1975 we were running The Hobo Workshop (a regular Monday gigs for new bands at the Holyhead Youth Centre and the Golden Cross in Coventry). Horace played the Workshop with a jazz funk outfit with Andy Cairns on led guitar and Ricky on Vocals and rhythm guitar. (Can't remember who was drummer). Neol Davis was in the audience and he helped organise a jam session after the main act had been on. It would be another 4 years before the Specials broke in 1979. Meanwhile Horace played in a group called Breaker - again I think a Jazz funk band. I'm not clear on the subsequent events leading up to Horace joining the Specials but hopefully the book will give a good insight into the later developments.

The book is soon to be released and can be ordered from Amazon by clicking on the book cover. Certainly it promises to be a fascinating and honest account and I for one look forward to reading  it.