Spitfires… give them their due
I’m now in my 50s, started the scene like many back in late 70s as a young Mod, got into it and grew with it, expanding my musical likes along the way. Among all the chaos of the 80s rallies I watched many brilliant artists from Edwin Starr and Bad Manners to the lesser known Snake Davis and The Suspicions. Not forgetting the atmospheric DJing of Tony Class. As I got older, did family, divorce and another family, my love of live music has always been fed by attending gigs, even if the scooter became shed bound (restoration slowly under way).
So… to the point: I’ve just returned from watching The brilliant young Spitfires at Bristol, I think it is important to support your local music venues, they’re disappearing, much like our traditional British youth cults, and this is one of the reasons, I believe, for the decline in youthful interest in our scene. That and our continued allegiances putting our kids off, because who wants to be like dad and also this would mean they had to leave their rooms, possibly losing the wi-fi connection... God forbid! Nonetheless, once in a while, this dirty little Britain manages to produce a band that strikes all the right chords with plenty of power, spitting all the words with enough soul, anger and passion to bring back all the emotion of those teenage kicks.
Sullivan and the boys are brilliant, young, talented and wasted on the old, especially when faced with chants of “We are the Mods” and requests for Jam covers. They don’t need reminding of their influences, as proud as I am for them having them. I love the Jam, but the Spitfires have many well written songs of their own, which is why we were there after all.
Give them a chance, they are not a pantomime act... and though like skinheads and the far right imagery we may never reclaim Mod from the merchanshizers, we can support with a subtle collective knowledge of what is raw and cool, maybe bring back that underground feel from back when it all started. Keep on keepin’ on. Bad Toad, Forest of Dean.