THE SPECIALS

The Specials release a new album?! Sir Horace tells us all about it, plus Neville Staple gives the other faction’s perspective.

On the verge of the 2-Tone legends’ new album release Encore, we report from behind the lines. Plus! Ex-member Neville Staple shares his thoughts.

THIS DECEMBER 5, London’s 100 Club hosts Soul Grooves with Horace Panter, where The Specials’ bassman and band will play R&B, funk and jazz. “It’s a fundraiser for an organisation called Tonic Music For Mental Health,” says Horace, “There’s a Specials connection there, as [Specials vocalist] Terry Hall is one of the patrons. It’s a condition that he’s aware of. I’ll be very happy to play.” The Specials will connect again next year, marking 40 years since their first album and 10 years since they reformed, minus founding mastermind/keyboardist Jerry Dammers. On February 1 the band – now centred around Hall, Panter and guitarist Lynval Golding – release Encore, the first Specials album to feature Hall since More Specials in 1981. Encore’s sleeve is entirely grey. “We talked a lot about grey areas,” says Horace. “Things you read about that aren’t, fake news. Things used to be black and white, but [now] I don’t think they are.” New music was discussed in 2012 and 2014, a process ended by the death of drummer John Bradbury in December 2015. After convening in early ’18, Encore was recorded and mixed at Eastcote studios in eight weeks. “We thought, what would we do after More Specials?” says Horace. “We’re not distancing ourselves from 1979, it’s got the off-beat, but it’s acknowledging the last 40 years.” Songs include a cover of The Equals’ Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys, a rearrangement of Hall’s 1981 Fun Boy Three hit The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum, and reggae commentary Vote For Me. “We seem to be shedding members at a prodigious rate but we still sound like The Specials,” says Horace, who adds the band will tour next year. “Terry’s lyrics are really good. In a way it’s quite a depressing record but that was the thing about The Specials – here are songs about quite urgent social issues, but you can dance to them.” It’s not the only Specials-related activity afoot. Vocalist/vibesman Neville Staple, who left the group in 2013, recently released the LP Rude Rebels with his wife Sugary. It featured ex-Specials guitarist Roddy Radiation, who departed in 2014, on three tracks. “Should I let this out of the bag?” Neville asks MOJO. “Sugary’s speaking to Dandy Livingstone, the writer of [’79 Specials hit] A Message To You, Rudy. We’re gonna try and do something. Plus, The Neville Staple Band is doing a 40th anniversary tour with Roddy and Everett Morton from The Beat, and Roddy’s asked myself and Sugary to be on one of his songs.” He adds that Dammers, who they called The General, will also mark four decades since 2-Tone. “Jerry’s planning something, but he won’t say what yet. He’s very secretive,” he says. “I dunno if I’d be involved, he might just call me at the last minute. Jerry gets on-stage with me, Roddy gets on-stage with me, there’s three of us… the only three I haven’t worked with are the other three, who told me, ‘The door is open.’ It’s still closed, but hey. We’re not gonna beg. All I can say is, Good luck to them.” Just as Horace is doing his bit for mental health, Neville’s fighting his own tragedies. His grandson Fidel was stabbed to death in Coventry in September, and he has suffered two strokes. “I can’t jump about like a lunatic like I used to,” he says, “but when I’m on-stage I’m full of life. I ain’t gonna stop.”

“Jerry’s planning something, but he won’t say what yet…” NEVILLE STAPLE