MODS may have had their memories pricked by the picture and piece in this column last week about Huddersfield band the Killer Meters.
The Meters were one of the north’s best known mod revival bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Steve Dorril, now Huddersfield University lecturer Dr Stephen Dorril, was their manager for a time. He is an author and expert on covert intelligence, a music fan and one of the leading organisers of the Holmfirth Film Festival.
And he says that at this year’s festival in May they will be having a mod night to celebrate 50 years of the music that spawned a generation of sharp suited scooter riders and bands such as The Who and The Jam.
The mods – or modernists – actually started in the 1950s. They enjoyed modern jazz (as opposed to trad), soul music, blue beat and ska and were influenced by French and Italian fashion magazines and films. The first clubs were The Scene in London, the Twisted Wheel in Manchester and, believe it or not, Peter Stringfellow’s in Sheffield.
Steve says: “He was a very credible figure back then during the original mod scene. People would travel from London to his club.”
Twisted Wheel DJ Roger Eagle later started that well known venue of Eric’s in Liverpool.
The original mod music scene lasted between 1962 and maybe 1968. In 1962, Town magazine featured an unknown 15-year-old Marc Bolan as a typical mod in a photo-spread. He was so unknown he went by his real name of Marc Feld.
That early period produced great bands like The Who and The Small Faces. The revival in the late 1970s that produced The Jam and many others was partly prompted by the film Quadrophenia.
The Holmfirth Festival mod night will feature Joe’s Allison who appeared at last year’s Marsden Jazz festival. They are a tribute band that plays the music of Mose Allison, American jazz and blues pianist and singer whose work influenced the mod movement as well as the Stones, The Who, Elvis Costello and Van Morrison among many.
