New material on The Specials in Neville Staple biography

The paperback of Original Rude Boy is out in May and Neville Staple is promising a whole load of new material on the Specials tour - with photos never seen before from the UK, Japan and Australia.  Some behind the scenes gossip.  And a new intro from Amy Winehouse.

Paperback of Original Rude Boy out soon

The paperback of Original Rude Boy will be published in the spring of 2010.  My mole tells me that there will be plenty of tales from the recent Specials tour while Jerry Dammers will be faded out earlier in the story. 

When the hardback came out in March 2009, it seemed that Dammers' row with the band might overshadow the tour.  The air was thick with talk of legal action and so on.  But with the huge success of the tour, it seems we can all now move on from that episode.

The front cover of the paperback will be white in contrast to the black cover of the hardback.  And rumour has it....Amy Winehouse will be writing a new intro. 

Notting Hill Waterstone's - books run out at signing

Neville signed so many books at the Notting Hill Waterstone's - they ran out.  I was there to see shop staff phoning the Piccadilly store to see if they could get some more copies sent over.  In the end, Neville got in a cab, went down to Piccadilly and signed some more copies there.  There was a huge turnout for a Nottingham signing with fans queueing round the block.  The original rude boy has never been so popular!

Notting Hill book signing this week - Wednesday 25th November

Neville Staple Original Rude Boy: From Borstal to the "Specials"- A Life in Crime and Music
WATERSTONE'S NOTTING HILL GATE Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 1:00PM - 2:00PM
Come and meet 2-tone legend and singer with the band, The Specials as he signs copies of his book, 'Original Rude Boy' at the store.
Further details: 0207 229 9444

Book signings bring in huge crowds

Neville has been doing book signings at HMV stores and Waterstone's stores the length and breadth of Britain.  Notting Hill gets the treatment this week.  The time for the signings was moved forward from 1pm as Nev's been gigging most nights with The Specials or his own band and getting up at the crack of dawn to get to a bookstore was wearing him out.  So he's shipped up at 3pm to write his name in fans' copies of 'Original Rude Boy' - which has, according to my mole, made a tidy profit in hardback.  Unusual in publishing these days. 

Look out for book signings during Specials tour...

The Original Rude Boy is likely to be at your local HMV or Waterstone's over the next few weeks - especially if the Specials are gigging nearby.  Check out your local store.  He's already been doing a few signings and queues have gone round the block.  Make sure you don't miss out on a chance to get your hardback copy signed.

Neville in The Sun today - with Amy Winehouse

Neville Staple has picked up a gong from Q magazine presented by Amy Winehouse who was sporting a fine pair of Q stickers in an appropriate place.  Rumour has it, he's recording with her in the near future.  And she may write the intro to the paperback version of his biography 'Original Rude Boy'. 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/2702480/Special-of-the-day-for-Neville-Staples-after-winning-The-Q-Inspiration-Award.html

Interview in Primrose Hill Park

Neville Staple and Trevor Evans were interviewed in Primrose Hill Park, Coventry this weekend just gone about the big fight they had with local skinheads there back in the early 1970s. 

Coventry skinhead reunion

Down at the London Road social club, a load of former skinheads from the 1970s got together this weekend just gone.  They included a lot of blokes Neville knew back in the day like Bri Falconer and Nasty Norman - both mentioned in his biography 'Original Rude Boy'.  Back in the early 70s, Neville and his mates ambushed some of these skinheads in a huge fight that's referred to in ska lore as the 'Battle of Primrose Hill Park'.  Unfortunately, Falconer was stabbed and badly injured.  But these days, strange to say, they're all best of buddies - rude boys and boot boys.  Though Nev and his rude boy friends were not at the reunion.  However, one famous black face from Coventry in the 70s was there - none other than Dancing Danny.  The man who was DJ at the Locarno before Pete Waterman took over the turntables.  A good time was had by all we here.

Calling all Japanese publishers....!

We hear that Neville is dying to get his book translated in to Japanese and on the bookshelves in Tokyo and Osaka.  He's got quite a fan base in Japan where his Special Beat combo has toured over and over again.  They're very keen on ska in Japan.  The Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra has something like 600,000 views for its songs on YouTube.  And when they dress the part of rude boys and rude girls, they really go for it.  Even some of the old Jamaican ska bands tour in Japan, guaranteed a good audience.  It's not just a kitschy thing - they really know their ska over there.  So, here's hoping that 'Original Rude Boy' gets translated and flogged in the land of the rising sun.

Little bit of trouble at Luton gig...

Neville Staple, Pauline Black and The Beat were playing in Luton last Saturday at an open air gig which was very well attended.  But things got a big out of hand when security guards started throwing members of the audience around like they were rag dolls.  Staple stood with the audience and using his mike urged the security guards to calm down.  It did look for a while like a good old fashioned ruck - 80s style - was about to break out.  But the whole thing calmed down.  Still, there's a lot of youth unrest out there at the moment - is this a sign of things to come?  Our mole tells us that Coventry boxer Errol Christie was in the audience - he's about to bring out his biography hot on the heels of Neville's "Original Rude Boy".  Let's how that reads.  There may be some overlap as the guys hung around in some of the same places though Christie is a decade younger. 

Neville makes waves down under in NZ

Neville has done some TV and press interviews around his new biography in New Zealand.  But I understand the great man has his sights fixed on Japan where he'd like his book to be translated, sooner rather than later.  Anyway - here's a review from NZ:  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=102002829286

Mojo review of Original Rude Boy

Mojo has given Original Rude Boy a big thumbs up calling the book "fascinating but harrowing". It praises the author for giving an honest insight in to a life that was tough, uncompromsing and including a spell behind bars. Let's hope that bumps up the sales further. My mole in publishing tells me the hardbacks have outsold another ska tome I won't mention here.

Movie on Neville Staple

News on the grapevine that a movie which includes Neville Staple's character is in development. It also includes Errol Christie - the Coventry boxer. "Ghost Town" is being produced by EMU Films and I'm told that the budget will be around four million quid. Not bad for a British flick - chicken feed for Hollywood of course. My industry sources tell me that it will be set to a ska soundtrack and be set in the Coventry of the 1980s. I'll keep you posted.

Neville back in the UK!

After his little brush with the forces of law and order in Jamaica - Neville returned to the UK on Monday, 22nd June. To clarify - he was "detained" and not arrested in Jamaica. No charges have been pressed. Interestingly, USA Today ran the story as did a few online blogs and of course, the mighty Coventry Evening Telegraph.

Jah Baddis comeback?

Ex-Specials roadie Trevor Evans and Neville Staple have been doing DJ sets together after recent gigs giving rise to speculation that their old sound system - Jah Baddis - might re-surface. Readers of the holy book - I refer to Original Rude Boy of course - will know that Jah Baddis was the sound system set up by Nev and Trev back in the 1970s. They had a residency - well, that's a rather grand way of putting it - at the Holyhead youth club....where Nev later bumped in to the Coventry Automatics (who subsequently became The Specials). Anyway - Nev the toaster and Trev the selecter seem to be itching to re-live old times and why not? Nev's done a cracking job with The Specials gigs so now let's salute the genius of Jah Baddis.

Update on Neville's arrest

The Coventry Evening Telegraph ran a piece today - http://tinyurl.com/ng5yn6 By all accounts, Neville wasn't too bothered with the press coverage though my Fleet Street mole tells me that The Times pulled a piece that was going to be in their "People" column. I don't know why. Meanwhile in Montego Bay, Neville is waiting to be let out of the country - Saturday is the predicated departure day - and he's missed a couple of Neville Staple Band gigs as a result of this episode. Next week, the great man will be treading the boards at the 100 Club on Oxford Street with The Specials. A kind of pre-Glastonbury warm up act. I'm told you can't get tickets for love or money and don't even think of a guest list.

Are American 'Third Wave' bands really ska?

Chapter ten in Neville Staple's book 'Original Rude Boy' talks about the so-called Third Wave of ska - bands like Rancid and No Doubt that came out of the United States in the 1980s and 1990s. But I've heard plenty of 2Tone purists say to me that...well...are these bands REALLY ska outfits? They don't look like it. They don't sound like it. So they can't be ska bands at all.

But then you can say - well, The Specials and The Beat developed the sound of earlier Jamaican ska combos - and music should never fossilize. All musical genres need to develop and grow. The US Third Wave bands are just as ska as the 2Tone groups that influenced them a quarter of a century ago.

On balance - I think the 'Third Wave' is a legitimate extension of ska. That many of those who sneer at it are stuck in a nostalgic time warp. And it alienates many American ska fans to discover that fans in the UK look down their noses at them. After all, Neville produced and played with Rancid, No Doubt and Unwritten Law - was he mistaken to do so?

The Death of 2 Tone

Why did 2 Tone die?

In Neville's book "Original Rude Boy", the blame is put on bubblegum pop. Pauline Black, lead singer of the Selecter recalls going to the Chrysalis record company headquarters in 1981 only to find they had turned their back on 2 Tone.

Everybody was dressed as New Romantics - Spandau Ballet was now the record bosses' favourite band. She says in the book that 2 Tone had fallen off the ionosphere. And she alleges that this was the end of political pop. Maybe it was the riots that saw cities burn in the summer of 1981 that put the British pop industry off 2 Tone. They wanted something safer - less contentious. There's no doubt that twenty five years later, we have pop that is so bland - it says nothing to anybody.

So are we really dooomed to Pop Idol pap for ever or can something like 2 Tone emerge?

Neville Staple in the Metro

In case you missed Neville Staple featured in London's Metro newspaper - click or copy the link and read: http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/interviews/article.html?Rude_Boy_Neville_still_in_with_the_ladies&in_article_id=628418&in_page_id=11

Nev was also featured in a great article in the Daily Star written by Oi music expert Garry Bushell - all about Nev's ongoing womanizing. Very funny and I understand Mr Staple found it amusing.