Mojo - The Music Magazine

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Have people changed much in the band?
I think they're pretty much the same. Everyone has pretty much mellowed out a bit. They probably think I have.

Character-wise, though, people are pretty much the same?
Character-wise I don't know so much. It's like having kids. You know what they're like when they're young and you can still see traits of it when they're older. And I've got enough kids to tell you that.

How many kids have you got?
I've got 6 kids.

That's a lot.
Is it hell! I've got 4 grand kids. My eldest daughter is 38, 39 actually.

You're the head of the family...
Yep. I've just come back from Jamaica. I have to do stuff over there. My dad was helping to build an extension on my mum's old house. They've both died now so I'm just finishing it off.

Do you get your sleeves rolled up and get busy with the concrete mixer?
Well I'm more like the foreman - oh gosh! So everything is left up to me now, family-wise, 'cause I'm the oldest one and the only one who is earning. I'm fine. I'm used to doing that anyway - that's why I keep working all the time. I've got other dependants in Jamaica.

You go see The Specials now and you don't have to make allowances. It doesn't feel like a pale imitation...
Go on say it - a load of old men!

...a pale imitation of what came before. The music sounds great and you're all putting your backs into it. It must be exhausting.
I'm knackered after a show, but if I'm on stage that's me. We all still put it out. You see the people getting into it and that makes you go a bit more crazy. Even after my knee op, I remember sitting on this stool on stage, but then my leg kept on moving. I'd kind of try and get up and I'd have to fall back on the chair. Once I'm on stage I got to move. I don't know what it is.

Do you remember the first time you were front of stage with The Specials?
We were supporting The Clash at the Music Machine in Camden. Yeah, that was the first time I went on stage live in front of a big crowd.

You were already toasting, but suddenly it was at the front of the stage instead of the back.
I come from the DJing thing - U-Roy and I-Roy and the old type of DJing. That's what I was doing before The Specials with my Jah Baddis sound system.

After The Specials you joined Terry Hall and Lynval Golding in Fun Boy Three.
I liked it more to be honest with you. It was like having a breather, a break from The Specials - all that mayhem.

How did that end?
I was in Jamaica when I found out that we'd split up.

So, basically, Terry called it a day? How did you feel about that? Disappointed?
No, not really. In them days it was like, Well I'm young enough, I can try and do something else.

It was all about the next thing?
Yeah yeah yeah yeah, but then record companies didn't want to know. The record companies didn't want to know me and Lynval, period.

But you'd been involved in such big hits.
That doesn't matter to them. Nowadays me and Lynval would have had a chance. But them days if you were black it was difficult with record companies. That's how it was.

By the Specials Mk 2 [1996-2000] you'd noticed that America had finally embraced ska.
To be honest with you, America was always into ska but it was always on the ground. That's what a lot of English people don't know. America was always into ska. Bands like No Doubt were supporting me and [The Beat's] Ranking Roger over there even before Mk 2.

They were supporting Special Beat?
Yeah, Special Beat - them days. Ska was big in them days but on the ground, and then the record company got hold of No Doubt and they changed. They play it faster over there. It was their interpretation of ska.

Can you see the reunited Specials going to the States?
Yeah, I think next year, but we don't want to keep rushing it and rushing it. The type of show we put on, it would be easy to burn ourselves out.

Is that a danger? You've been to Japan, and Europe are clamouring to get you next.
Yeah, so there's Europe, America. There's quite a few places. If we pace it properly then the band will be fit enough to do it so everybody is getting a good show. We're not up for going somewhere and doing a mediocre show. Promoters put these shows on and all they are thinking about is money, really. They don't think, OK they're going to need a bit of a rest. They're not on stage with us, they don't know how much we can take. That's how The Specials split last time, 'cause they were pushing us and pushing us and pushing us.

What's been the best part so far of the Reunion Tour?
Halfway through. I got a bit bored of the hanging around by the end. I'm not used to that. And I think we did a week too much. Every night the knees or the feet were going. You kind of know when it's a little bit too much, man. Promoters don't know what it's like to be on stage. All they see is pound signs, mate. It's always the same: "You've got to do another show." It's bullshit!

Do you know why Jerry Dammers said it was only Neville who wanted him back in the band?
I don't know. I let bygones be bygones. So forget about the fucking crap, let's get together and do this thing. So if there's anyone don't want to talk to me then I ain't going to talk to them - it's defeating the object. I've done things in London with Jerry as a DJ and then he'll come on and do a song with me. But Jerry is the only person that you could ask why he said that. I was just being Neville Staple.

Perhaps you've been friendlier to him?
Ah, I'm friendly to everybody. If Terry or anybody had talked to me like Jerry did at one of my shows, 'course I'd want to talk to him. If Terry and the rest of the guys were wherever I was when I was doing my shows it would have been the same thing. Honestly, it's not because I'm showing more interest. He was where I was and I'll talk to him. Basically that's what it was. I want to get on with everybody.

So do you think Jerry will return one day?
If it happens it happens, you know what I mean? We're doing it this way already, and if everything keeps going on as it is then we'll be fine - keep up top, keep up top - but then if he's going to pop up and everything's going to change again? Nah!

You've found the formula to keep six out of seven Specials happy after all these years. That's hard enough.
"After all these years". Yeah you got that right

Are you happy?
Well I'm never happy - I'm never bloody happy. I'm never happy. If I was happy I'd be contented living with a family, I'd be all nice and cosy. I'd live like other people live. But I don't. I live on my own. I lived in a family unit and then when I went to America that went out the window. Now I come back and all the women have changed - you can't trust them. I'd rather be on my own. I'd see someone for two or three days, they can stay in my house, and after that, bye. That's how my life is at the minute. It might sound a bit sad to some people. That's how I enjoy myself. If I need anything I go round to my daughters'. I still talk to my daughters' mother, mothers. They still torture me, ha ha! So, you know, I'm all right.

Interview by Danny Eccleston

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