Friday 1st December 06 - Neville Staple with The Talks at The Welly Club (2/3) By Michelle Dee Photographs by Kate Langan www.katelanganphotography.co.uk

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3).

Photograph Gallery   The Talks Gallery,   Neville Staple Gallery,

The country is ripe for a ska revival with more and more bands flirting with different instrumentation and feeling a need to break out of the foot stamping guitar led sound of the last two years. The Talks have wide appeal; the youngsters looking for something different to the usual indie sounds and the older lot on a nostalgia trip. My only gripe would be that the set felt too short but for a band that only came about July 2006 they have certainly proved the kick in the rear that the Hull scene needed.

So to the main attraction, and the reason why people paid a tenner to get in tonight.

Neville Staples slides on to the stage and the hands go up in the air. Two straight men guitar and bass cool cats heads cocked sporting shades join him down the front and Pat from The Talks takes his place behind the drum kit. I can't list all the songs but I can tell you that the place was kicking. Neville skanking to the rolling keys of Monkey Man set the audience of again jumping singing along, punk kids, skinheads, boys, girls, singles and couples side by side; united. The powerful ska based music that came out of Coventry, brought the blacks and whites together during the dark days of the late seventies. The multiracial ethos was reflected in the 2-Tone movement and by the label 2 Tone Records the brainchild of keys man Jerry Dammers.

The Specials and The Selecter pushed the 2-Tone sound and created a short lived phenomenon that reverberated throughout he country. After 1980 the ska explosion began to waver and The Specials split. Dammers started using the name Specials A.K.A with an ever shifting band line up. Neville, a roadie at the time, joined the group as vocalist after the band had heard him toasting (a fast patois rap prevalent in dub reggae) over the songs during sound check. Back to the Ballroom: A bright brilliant burst of horn heralds the song Simmer Down and lights the fire in the hearts of the people. Neville comes right to the front of the stage and hands reach out to the electrifying ska man. You're gonna make me work tonight he calls out, removing his shirt.

Feverish bass and brass combos play out and the temperature rises. Ringing dangerous guitar sounds evoke the gangs of the early eighties. Fight talk and gun talk as Pat on drums turns up the tempo once more and the crowd respond by having right old knees up with Nev. Tension mounts as Neville screams out for the sound guy to get more out of his mic monitors. He starts a well rehearsed verbal assault on the sound engineer explaining he can't move about and sing if he can't hear himself. This announcement stirs the crowd further and they sing all the more loudly to Rat Race and Too Much Too Young.

Continued .... Next Page (3/3)

Photographs courtesy and Copyright ©  Kate Langan 2006

Photograph Gallery   The Talks Gallery,   Neville Staple Gallery,

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