All popstars go through a re-brand at some point in their lives. I reckon not everyone knew these three were once Mods through and through!
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These guys are called the Draytones. I’ve been onto them for a while but forgot about them mainly because when I first heard them I didn’t think they were all that. I originally saw them support Paul Weller - well over five years ago now. But only this very morning, their track “Keep Loving Me” shuffled on, following the Electric Prunes’ “I Had Too Much To Dream” in a playlist. And somehow in that moment it clicked and I could hear what Weller had heard all those years ago when he had them on his tour. I can't put my finger on it, but there is a raw sixties vibe there. I hope they click for you too - three vids for their top songs below. There is a certain member of the four families of Mod (as I like to call them) that the others probably refer to as the scruff of the litter.
They've got the tunes and they've got the attitudes. They even have the style, but even you hardcore fans would have to admit it's distinctive from the other "strands" of Mod. It drops the uptight, buttoned-up neatness of, say, the Small Faces or even Paul Weller and adopts a slightly more mainstream attitude to style. The suits and chelsea boots are turned down. But the parkas and desert boots are turned WAY up. Don't get me wrong, the swagger is there and its identifiably part of the Mod family. It even attracts way more followers, inducting thousands of kids into the fold. And some of these go on to discover the Jam and the full caboodle. It's the side of Mod I show to new acquaintances so as not to scare them off. Then I gradually slide the Small Faces into the mix as time goes on. Who's in this family? Well Oasis for one, of course. Perhaps we could extend it to some others? Libertines? Kasabian? Arctic Monkeys? There is something about the way that these guys deal with style that makes you think they know something we do. If you're looking for the top tips on how to look Mod, you could do a lot worse than this video. The style IS ON POINT My mam brought these back from Naples.
Yes - Lennon style rounded shades, but in the classic Italian way, they are x10. About double the size of the usual ones and even with a kind of leopard print. Another Sunday, another glorious little blue Vespa. How many of them can still be out there? (answer: obviously a fair few).
Anyway this is a 1963 Vespa Piaggio 150 VBB which you can check out on ebay in the next 4 days right here. Short one today - couple of nice window-pane check shirts here over at Ben Sherman, who are, if I may say so, doing quite well at the moment.
As always, click on the pics if you want a closer look. Great little news article here telling all about Liam Gallagher stealing the Libertines' bassist. All's fair in love and rock. Enjoy the tune. Following on from a minor whinge I noticed on twitter the other day about a new PG shirt, I thought I'd check out their recent paisley offerings.
The whinge by the way was about the way that PG has started putting little badges on their shirts with their own logo on. I share the annoyance - it's not really necessary. If someone likes your shirt, they'll come up and ask you where you got it. You don't need a massive advertising billboard on your chest. Plus, it says Pretty Green all over the paisley anyway. This aside, I did find a nice navy paisley shirt on their website where the badge is much less in your face and, actually PG really do paisley very well. At least when they stop fucking advertising. Click pics for a closer look btw. Nice little understated number for today's sunday scoot - it's a 1960 Lambretta Series 2 Li 150 with an original registration.
£3,150 on eBay - see what you think. I thought it was about time we had a bit of Mod revival again - I did a little poll on facebook a while back and it turns out a huge number of members of those groups are mods from the revival period. Consider this a tribute!
Following on a theme from earlier this week (The Masterplan), I had another think about the potential “albums” that could be made up from the good B-sides from my fave bands. Then of course, having discovered the YouTube playlist function, I decided to create an “album” of good B-sides for the Arctic Monkeys.
Now I appreciate that purists may try to lynch me in attempting to crowbar the Arctic Monkeys into a Mod blog, so I will save my explanations for another post. If you’re already a fan however, I hope you enjoy this little playlist of a B-side album for the AMs. I have slightly cheated in including You Know I’m No Good as it’s actually an Amy WInehouse song, but they do a good version... |
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May 2018
AuthorMod blogger and style advocate. For all the latest pearls of wisdom, read this blog! |