THE SPECIALS
When the death of drummer John Bradbury was announced, it seemed the story of the reformed 2-Tone titans had reached its end. Not so, says Terry Hall.
Despite drummer Brad’s death, The Specials will go on. Frontman Terry Hall explains why.
“We’re still in that stage of coming to terms with everything,” says Specials voice Terry Hall this late January afternoon. “I was at the football the day Brad died. I texted him saying, ‘What a shit game, I’ll call you tomorrow.’ And then I got the call when I got home. I couldn’t put two and two together.” When Specials drummer John Bradbury died suddenly on December 28, it seemed likely the group, who reformed in 2008, would cease. But as Hall makes clear, the three remaining members of the original line-up – Terry, guitarist Lynval Golding and bass player Horace Panter – will honour dates in October and November that were booked before Bradbury’s passing. “We thought long and hard about it, and honestly, beyond these dates we haven’t got a clue,” says Hall. “But when Lynval, who lives in Seattle, came over, as soon as I saw him, we just knew we wanted to do it. And we know that Brad would want us to do it. For us, it’ll help us celebrate him, to take him with us in a funny way, and it’ll help the people who come to see us, I hope. Some people get that and some people don’t. I don’t care really. We know where we are with it all.” A new drummer is already in place, he says, barring final confirmation (“we’re not looking to make a replacement, because you can’t do that really”) and Hall is unconcerned that only three original Specials remain. “It doesn’t affect it, really,” he says. “The three of us still believe in that name, or we wouldn’t do it. People come and go, right? Compare it to bands like The Who, who are now a two-piece. Basically, it’s what you do – I get on a stage and sing. The thing is, we know that we want to do this, and it’s making us feel good about it, it’s keeping us strong. It’s still a celebration of this thing. You can gauge things from audience reaction if you’re doing something good or valid, and we still are.” Poignantly, Terry reveals that after a relatively fallow 2015 the group had reconvened before Christmas in London to discuss new music. “Everybody had started to write stuff, and the idea was to get together and swap ideas,” he says. “Brad had his home studio set up and he’d been writing some new material. Obviously, now, I’ve no idea what’s gonna happen with that stuff. We didn’t make any commitment to make a record or anything, it was just what we wanted to do.” Would he, MOJO wonders, like to do something with Brad’s songs? “Yeah, obviously. ’Cos it’s like, people who you trust isn’t it? But again,” he adds, “it’s still too raw. I haven’t been able to listen to the stuff he sent over since he died.” He recalls Bradbury’s funeral in Coventry on January 11. “It wasn’t a closed shop – there were a lot of fans, and Lynval sang Redemption Song with a string quartet. Really lovely. I saw Jerry [Dammers, estranged Specials founder] – it was our eight-and-a half-year meeting. Everybody, obviously, was civil, yeah. That’s the weird thing, we were so close as young men, that doesn’t really leave you, does it? There is a bond whether you like it or not. “I had a speech prepared, but when it came to it, it was hard. Me and Brad, we grew up two streets from each other, and he really was like family, especially in the last nine years when we’ve acted as grown-ups. He felt like a bit of an older brother. I can be a right whingeing twat, but he listened and understood it, and accepted me for what I was.”