We are the mods!

                                    We Are The Mods!



     

Mod culture was born from London's west end underground jazz clubs in the late 1950s.
The name "mod" came as a result from their taste in modernist jazz, this early incarnation of mods had very little impact outside of London.
This somewhat group of so called intellectual and elitist mods gave way to the next incarnation of mods, and it's in this second incarnation that the scooter boys on Brighton's beaches can be found! Mod culture, with it's symbols,fashion and music was very much a working class movement. It influenced the masses and infiltrated the high street at every level.
It was all encompassing, and it was very much a product of it's time!
In one of The Daily Mail editions of 1963 it was reported 'to be a mod... is more than a fashion. It is almost a way of life!

Looking at the mod culture for anyone who likes pop music and pop culture of yesteryear, is a great way to examine the British pop music and youth fashion explosion of the 1960s in general.

Partly as a result of no more military conscription and partly as a result of teenagers having jobs and a little more money to spend!

Popular pop television show, Ready, steady, go! that was televised every friday night was clearly aimed at the the "mod" market!

Fashion boutiques across the country benefitted enormously from this with the programs bands, singers, male and female dancers alike wearing mod fashions and the latest styles and look being

freely advertised. Mod culture was changing the face of british life and challenging  politicians who were struggling with the horror of losing cultural control over the youth media with the `onslaught of pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline and Radio London! Teenagers wanted more air time for their favourite pop groups! The Beatles, The Who, The small faces, The Kinks, The rolling stones ect

And back in the day The BBC only had 1 to 2 hours a day for this massive market! 

The British government of the day fought hard and aggressively to close those stations down.

Mod culture brightened up dreary and finically crushed post war Briton and also with the international success of bands like The Beatles opening the flood gates for other Brit pop outfits sending mod culture all over the world!

The British Taxman had a huge mod smile on His or Her face!

Piagio whom make vespa scooters and lambretta scooters the two most popular brands of motor scooters amongst mods also did very nicely out of the mod explosion! 

My 1996 PX 200 Vespa is a pleasure to ride! Motor bike riders just don't get it! They still feel the need to ride up along side me and the drag me off! As if i don't know a motor 10 times the size of mine has more power...

But hey.... They can't understand can they? It's a way of life!

 

Bruce Foxton.

                                                                     Bruce Foxton.

Bruce Foxton, bass player, song writer, singer! was born in working, Surrey England 1 september 1955.

He, Rick Buckler and Paul Weller made up that iconic band from the late 1970s early 1980s The Jam.

Unfortunately The Jam split in 1982! leaving millions of fans, me included! Disappointed!

Bruce went on with a short solo career releasing the album "Touch sensitive" (#68 uk) and had minor

uk hits in 1983-84 with "Freak" and "This is the way" "Makes me wonder" . He later joined "Stiff little fingers" and was in that band for 15 years! Stiff little fingers released 5 albums.

In 1995 he and Jam drummer Rick Buckler collaborated on "our story" a biogrophy on their years in The Jam.

And then in Febuary 2007 Bruce and Rick did what Jam fans around the world could only dream about! They announced that the 2 of them would be reforming along with members from 

"The Gift" a Jam Tribute band and go on tour! In march 2008 they toured Australia and New Zealand! I caught the Perth show ( Western Australia ) And although Paul Weller wasnt in the band they still sounded great and true! My older brother was with me, He being the one to turn me onto The Jam!

Knowing how i was feeling about seeing 2 of my 7 hero's, The others being, John ,Paul, George, Ringo, and Paul Weller, and seeing his face light up made my day! Bruce released a solo album in 2012 called "Back in the room". 

This link is to Bruce Foxton's official web site.

http://www.brucefoxton.com/

http://www.theoompahroundabout.com/

I love Vespa's.

                                                                  I love Vespa's.

Vespa (Italian pronunciation: [ˈvɛspa]) is an Italian brand of scooter manufactured byPiaggio. The name means wasp in Italian.

The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of Pontedera, Italy—to a full line of scooters and one of seven companies today owned by Piaggio.

From their inception, Vespa scooters have been known for their painted, pressed steel unibody which combines a complete cowling for the engine (enclosing the engine mechanism and concealing dirt or grease), a flat floorboard (providing foot protection), and a prominent front fairing (providing wind protection) into a structural unit.

Post World War II Italy, in light of its agreement to cessation of war activities with the Allies, had its aircraft industry severely restricted in both capability and capacity.

Piaggio emerged from the conflict with its Pontedera fighter plane plant demolished by bombing. Italy's crippled economy and the disastrous state of the roads did not assist in the re-development of the automobile markets. Enrico Piaggio, the son of Piaggio's founder Rinaldo Piaggio, decided to leave the aeronautical field in order to address Italy's urgent need for a modern and affordable mode of transportation for the masses.

The inspiration for the design of the Vespa dates back to Pre-World War II Cushmanscooters made in Nebraska, USA. These olive green scooters were in Italy in large numbers, ordered originally by Washington as field transport for the Paratroops andMarines. The US military had used them to get around Nazi defense tactics of destroying roads and bridges in the Dolomites (a section of the Alps) and the Austrian border areas.

In 1944, Piaggio engineers Renzo Spolti and Vittorio Casini designed a motorcycle with bodywork fully enclosing the drivetrain and forming a tall splash guard at the front. In addition to the bodywork, the design included handlebar-mounted controls, forced air cooling, wheels of small diameter, and a tall central section that had to be straddled. Officially known as the MP5 ("Moto Piaggio no. 5"), the prototype was nicknamed "Paperino" (either 'duckling' or Donald Duck in Italian).

Enrico Piaggio was displeased with the MP5, especially the tall central section. He contracted aeronautical engineer Corradino D'Ascanio, to redesign the scooter.D'Ascanio, who had earlier been consulted by Ferdinando Innocenti about scooter design and manufacture, made it immediately known that he hated motorcycles, believing them to be bulky, dirty, and unreliable.

D'Ascanio's MP6 prototype had its engine mounted beside the rear wheel. The wheel was driven directly from the transmission, eliminating the drive chain and the oil and dirt associated with it. The prototype had a unit spar frame with stress-bearing steel outer panels. These changes allowed the MP6 to have a step-through design without a centre section like that of the MP5 Paperino. The MP6 design also included a single sided front suspension, interchangeable front and rear wheels mounted on stub axles, and a spare wheel. Other features of the MP6 were similar to those on the Paperino, including the handlebar-mounted controls and the enclosed bodywork with the tall front splash guard.

Upon seeing the MP6 for the first time Enrico Piaggio exclaimed: "Sembra una vespa!" ("It resembles a wasp!") Piaggio effectively named his new scooter on the spot.Vespa is both Latin and Italian for wasp—derived from the vehicle's body shape: the thicker rear part connected to the front part by a narrow waist, and the steering rod resembled antennae.

On 23 April 1946, at 12 o'clock in the central office for inventions, models and makes of theMinistry of Industry and Commerce in Florence, Piaggio e C. S.p.A. took out a patent for a "motorcycle of a rational complexity of organs and elements combined with a frame with mudguards and a casing covering the whole mechanical part". The basic patented design allowed a series of features to be deployed on the spar-frame which would later allow quick development of new models. The original Vespa featured a rear pillion seat for a passenger, or optionally a storage compartment. The original front protection "shield" was a flat piece of aero metal; later this developed into a twin skin to allow additional storage behind the front shield, similar to the glove compartment in a car. The fuel cap was located underneath the (hinged) seat, which saved the cost of an additional lock on the fuel cap or need for additional metal work on the smooth skin.

The Who !!! PT 1!!!

                                                The Who PT 1 !!!

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964. The best known line-up consisted of singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle, and drummerKeith Moon. For much of their career they have been regarded as one of the three most important British rock acts along with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.^[1]

The band developed from an earlier group, The Detours, before stabilizing around a line-up of Daltrey, Townshend, Entwistle and Moon. After releasing a single (billed as The High Numbers), the group established themselves as part of the mod movement, specialising in auto-destructive art by destroying guitars and drums onstage. The group achieved national attention in Britain after support by pirate radio and television, with their first single (as The Who), "I Can't Explain" reaching the top ten, and achieved a number of further hit singles including "My Generation", "Substitute" and "Happy Jack". Although initially regarded as a singles act, they also found success with the albums My Generation and A Quick One. The group achieved success in the US after performing at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and the top ten single "I Can See for Miles". They released The Who Sell Out at the end of the year, and spent much of the following one touring the US.

The release of their fourth album, Tommy, in 1969 was a major commercial and critical achievement, and subsequent live appearances at Woodstock and the Isle of Wight Festival, along with the live album Live At Leeds transformed The Who's reputation from a hit-singles band into a critically acclaimed rock act. The success brought pressure on lead songwriter Townshend, and the follow-up to Tommy, Lifehouse was abandoned in favour of 1971's Who's Next. The group subsequently released Quadrophenia (1973) and The Who by Numbers (1975), oversaw a film of Tommy and toured to large audiences before retiring from most live performances in 1977. The release of Who Are You in 1978 was overshadowed a few weeks later by the death of Moon on 7 September, at the age of 32.

Kenney Jones, formerly of The Small Faces and The Faces, replaced Moon and the group resumed touring. A film of Quadrophenia was released in 1979 along with the retrospective documentary The Kids Are Alright. The group continued recording, releasing Face Dances in 1981 and It's Hard the following year, before breaking up. They occasionally re-formed for live appearances such as Live Aid in 1985, a 25th anniversary tour in 1989 that drew mixed reviews, and for a tour of Quadrophenia in 1996. The Who resumed regular touring in 1999, with drummer Zak Starkey, to a positive response, and were considering the possibility of a new album, but these plans were stalled by Entwistle's death in June 2002 at the age of 57. Townshend and Daltrey elected to continue as The Who, releasing Endless Wire (2006), which reached the top ten in the UK and US. The group continue to play live on a regular basis, and in 2012 they began a further tour of Quadrophenia. 

The small faces!!! PT1!!!

                                                     The small faces PT1!!!

Small Faces were an English rock and roll band from London. The group was founded in 1965 by members Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, and Jimmy Winston, although by 1966 Winston was replaced by Ian McLagan as the band's keyboardist.

The band is remembered as one of the most acclaimed and influential mod groups of the 1960s. With memorable hit songs such as "Itchycoo Park", "Lazy Sunday", "All or Nothing", "Tin Soldier", and their concept album Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, they later evolved into one of the UK's most successful psychedelic acts before disbanding in 1969.After the Small Faces disbanded, three of the members were joined by Ronnie Wood as guitarist, and Rod Stewart as their lead vocalist, both from The Jeff Beck Group, and the new line-up was renamed Faces.^[5][6] A revived version of the original Small Faces existed from 1975 to 1978.

Small Faces are also acknowledged as being one of the biggest original influences on theBritpop movement of the 1990s. Despite the fact the band were together just four years in their original incarnation, the Small Faces' music output from the mid to late sixties remains among the most acclaimed British mod and psychedelic music of that era. What a great band.

http://www.theoompahroundabout.com/

                                    

The Jam! PT 1.

                                                             The Jam!!! PT 1.

The Jam were an English punk rock/new wave/mod revival band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were formed in Woking, Surrey. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries, The Jam wore smartly tailored suits rather than ripped clothes, and they incorporated a number of mainstream 1960s rock and R&B influences rather than rejecting them, placing The Jam at the forefront of the mod revival movement.

They had 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 1982, including four number one hits. As of 2007, "That's Entertainment" and "Just Who Is the 5 O'Clock Hero?" remained the best-selling import singles of all time in the UK.^[5] They released one live album and six studio albums, the last of which, The Gift, hit number one on the UK album charts. When the group split up, their first 15 singles were re-released and all placed within the top 100.

The band drew upon a variety of stylistic influences over the course of their career, including 1960s beat music, soul, rhythm and blues and psychedelic rock, as well as 1970s punk andnew wave. The trio was known for its melodic pop songs, its distinctly English flavour and itsmod image. The band launched the career of Paul Weller, who went on to form The Style Council and later had a successful solo career. Weller wrote and sang most of The Jam’s original compositions, and he played lead guitar, using a Rickenbacker. Bruce Foxtonprovided backing vocals and prominent basslines, which were the foundation of many of the band’s songs, including the hits "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight", "The Eton Rifles", "Going Underground" and "Town Called Malice"    

                   http://www.theoompahroundabout.com/                _______________________________________________

The Wibble Wobble!! by The Oompah Roundabout!!

Windy and Hormone!! 

The Wibble Wobble,the first song released by The oompah Roundabout is out and available for download at cdbaby.com, itunes, and  Amazon mp3 ! Its also available on spotify, jango, and Shazam,for streaming. The video clip is on utube! This is the clip down below. 

                      

                                               http://youtu.be/2M_Vwx-G7MA  

Recorded in our home studio, Gap Central Recording Studio,{Kwinana Western Australia} we had it remixed and mastered in the USA at the Waveshop! we are 100% indi ! The clip was shot under my back patio and edited and compiled using imovie! we used Logic Pro 9 for the tracking.

                                               http://www.theoompahroundabout.com/

                                               http://youtu.be/2M_Vwx-G7MA

                                                 

Windy and Hormone at the vid shoot

                                          

Windy Craigmile!!! Drums, Backup vocals!

Windy and Hormone!!!

Hormone Howe!! vocals and guitar! 

Windy and Hormone at the vid shoot

Windy and Hormone at the vid shoot

                            

                                                      http://youtu.be/2M_Vwx-G7MA

Work has begun on their second song!! it should be ready for release in about a months time! The Boys website is currently under construction! Keep an eye out here for it's launch here... They are working on their Debut album (cd) and are hoping to have that ready for release by christmas this year.