MODS AND MOD REVIVAL

MODS AND MOD REVIVAL

"My first parker..."

Whereas the original mods looked forward (although maintaining nostalgia for British cultural icons), the mod revival was a conscious effort to harken back to an earlier generation in terms of style. Like their 1960s mod predecessors, revival bands were often self-consciously British (i.e. displaying Union Jack flags and the Royal Air Force roundel). Mod revivalists were usually from working class backgrounds, or aimed to appear so. The mod revival contained a wide range of individuals; from those who were peacockish, colourful, and dandified — wearing suits and styles of the 1960s — to others who took a more minimalist approach; wearing basic casual items such as fitted jeans, Fred Perry tennis shirts and fishtail parkas.

Many revival mods in the UK joined the scooterist and scooter rally scene, which led to the development of the scooterboy subculture of the 1980s.

     "The pride and joy of any MOD .. their VESPA"

Before exploring MOD revival I wanted to conduct an interview with Susan Sharples an original MOD from the 1960’s to gain a grasp of the origins of MOD ….

My first recollection of being a 'Mod': 

It was 1963-4, I was 14 years old and the only options available for clothes was the Beatles' style, Rockers leather gear or a conservative dress the same as my parents.

I lived in a small rural village, 6 miles from the city of Liverpool where the main scene was 'Beatles' style, an offshoot from rocker/beatniks. As a teenager i wanted to be different and rebel along with my group of friends. We would not follow the obvious so decided to look to the high street main stream and adapt. We took the ordinary, the mundane elements from the brands our parents wore but added subtle nuiances in order to create a 'Too Cool for School' look.A big inspiration of mine was Twiggy

Shoes had to be Hush Puppies, brown suede lace ups, stocking the palest available (tights ahd not been invented yet).
Clothing began as a basic wardrobe of: A-Line grey or beige knee length skirt, crew neck plain fine wool sweaters, I had a plain bottle green one and a neat/cool two tone grey and black with a diamond jacquard pattern towards the bottom - similar to golfing sweaters today. Coats were either: navy blue or bottle green gaberdine macs (standard school iniform) worn without the belt, buttoned up to the neck but leaving the bottom 2 buttons open, second option was a navy blue nylon mac with eppallettes again no belt, or if you were lucky as I was you could swagger in a calf length suede coat. They had to be long, straight with a stitching line running horizontally around the hip which housed 2 horizontal pockets to teh front with flaps. Mine was dark brown with dark green collar and pocket flaps. They must have 5-6 buttons and were worn in a distinct way, buttoned from the lapel down to the waist but teh bottom buttons were left open to enable the swagger. This meant that you put your hands in your pockets, this pulled the coat open towards the bottom, tucked your small bag under your arm and swung your shoulders to co-ordinate with your feet as you walked. We called it 'The Mod Swagger'.

As the style progressed I wore a dark green mens tribly hat to match the trim on my coat.

Hairstyle was a crop, my aunt was a hairdresser at the time and I remember asking her to cut all my hair of short to follow my hair line. She gave me a trim! I asked to go shorter but still not short enough, finally 3rd time lucky, it was approximately 3-5cm all over with a side parting. She was appalled as was everyone else at the time but people got used to it eventually. Living in a small village where women were expected to be feminine, I and other girl Mods were called names and ridiculed, in fact I was nicknamed 'Spikey' because of my hairstyle being so short. This made it all the more appealing as it reinforced the fact that we were different.

Unfortunately, I do not have any photographs of this stage in my life but I do have vivid memories of the times.
 

After interviewing Susan Sharples and gaining a grasp of what it was like to be an “original MOD”

I was looking and flicking through old photo albums and came across pictures of my Uncle,  Brain Duncan , and found pictures of the MOD revival …

Brian in the late 1970's at the start of the Revival

I’m a Mod!

The first time I heard mention of ‘Mods’ was in September 1979. It didn’t mean anything to me at the time, but a few months later I went to the cinema to see ’Quadrophenia’ with some of my schoolmates. Parkas, scooters and 60s music, it all seemed very exotic and of course, it wasn’t long before we all became Mods as well!

Up until then I had no real interest in fashion but clothes were now to become an important part of my life. The look was sharp and neat and there had to be conformity. If you got it wrong your mates gave you stick. I got my hair cut. I was already into music but now it had to be the right kind of music. There were loads of new Mod Revival bands led by The Jam catering for our wants and a seemingly endless supply of 60s music to discover.

I remember the excitement of getting kitted-out. My first ensemble was a Brutus parka, a pair of Levis, suede Hush Puppies with Fred Perry V-Necks and t-shirts. As 1980 progressed the style became a bit more sophisticated with Ben Sherman button-down shirts, white Levis, black leather loafers and an off the peg, electric blue 3 button suit. Tin badges and patches of groups, Union Jacks and RAF roundel targets were popular items for accessorising our parkas.

I started to experiment, some things worked – painting ‘The Chords’ logo (my favourite group at the time) on the back of my parka and wearing skinny ties with my button down shirts for example, but some things didn’t – my baggy green/gold two-tone tonic trousers met with general derision.

I was still at school then and unemployed after I left, so buying a scooter was out of the question but I did ride pillion on my mate’s big brother’s Vespa once and it felt so exhilarating!

My social life took off. There were loads of house parties with dancing in the living rooms and far too much cider. We would meet up in Belfast city centre with Mods from other areas and arrange meet-ups and visits to various discos around town.

The major downside however was the violence. When we were around Punks, Teddy Boys and especially Skinheads, it was always a threat that hung in the air, but more occasionally it was random and unpredictable. It seemed that being different was enough to make me fair game for any group of lads who felt like giving someone a hard time.

I was particularly vulnerable because I lived over a mile away from my Mod mates and I had to regularly walk this stretch alone. There was a joke going round at the time that wearing targets in Belfast at the height of the troubles was just asking for it! It wasn’t so funny for me however, it reached the stage that there was barely a night I wasn’t being spat on, punched, kicked or beaten up. If I was only verbally insulted I felt like I’d got off lightly!

I couldn’t take it any more and packed it in. My Mod mates called to the door a few times but I got the impression they were more interested in whether I wanted to part with any of my records rather than enquiring about me as a person. When they saw I wasn’t dressing Mod any more they stopped calling altogether. I developed other interests and found a job, but the surprising thing was… I actually missed being a Mod!

Over the next few years I gradually got back into it again, not as before when I was just blindly copying my mates, but as something I really loved. I had acquired a taste for the clothes and the music and now that I had a job I could afford my first 50cc Vespa scooter, which sadly only lasted a few months before it was written off in an argument with a lorry, but it wasn’t long before I fell in with another group of local Mods and bought myself a Vespa 125cc.

I really enjoyed this time. Once again my friends were all Mods, my girlfriend was a Mod, they were a good bunch and a laugh to be around and, apart from a run-in with some skinheads that was no more than an initiation ceremony to the local disco, there was little of the previous violence I'd encountered. I personalised my scooter and could afford to get a proper tailor-made clothes such as a mohair suit and checked trousers. I had a genuine M51 American Army parka, something that would now set you back about £600 new - if you can find one! I was old enough to go to clubs now and discovered Soul music was great to dance to! My favourite group were 'The Prisoners' who played an aggressive but melodic brand of psychedelic garage rock. I saw them live in 1984 and it is still by far the best gig I've ever been to! We had our own little scene going for a couple of years and I have never known a sense of belonging like it before or since!

Around the middle of 1985 at 21 years of age, I started questioning whether I wasn’t getting a bit too old for all this Mod nonsense, so I made the decision to give it up for good. I had already sold my scooter in the hope of saving for car, and gradually I started dressing more casually and selling off my record collection. I went ‘mainstream’ or ‘Trendy’ as the Mods used to call it but I never felt comfortable with it. Over the years I have tried to replace Modism with various interests and hobbies of one kind or another but I’ve always felt that something was missing. The Mod way of life gave me a total identity that nothing else has ever been able to adequately replace.

I made the mistake of believing Modism to be a ‘youth cult’. This engendered a cringing feeling that ‘I shouldn’t be doing this at my age’ and despite being indirectly drawn back to it time and time again, whether through Madchester, Britpop, the Garage Rock revival or by keeping in touch with my Mod cousin from Merseyside, I deliberately kept it at arm’s length. Lately though I have realised that it is a bone fide cultural movement, a unique and fascinating 50 year old tradition and I have started unashamedly embracing it again.

I see no contradiction in being a Mod and middle-aged. There is just so much to know – and I’m still learning! There has been a resurgence of interest in all things Mod thanks to the Internet and social websites such as Facebook, where it is easy to keep in touch with like-minded individuals and find out what’s happening. It’s also possible to source most of those hard to find records, scooter parts and clothes on-line as well!

Modism isn’t a particularly deep philosophy and is difficult to define as it has no written code. Neither is it aligned to any particular religious or political outlook. It takes individuals as it finds them however and abhors racism or any other kind of bigotry. It can make demands and sacrifices on your time and bank balance and can be a right royal pain in the arse at times, but… I love it! It’s more about having a good time, keeping a scene going and trying to achieve a personal aesthetic than about trying to change the world. It is nothing without the people who are part of it... sure what would life be worth without a wee bit of music, dressing to impress and having fun with your mates now and again, eh? 

Brian Duncan

The late 1970s mod revival combined musical and cultural elements of the 1970s pub rock, punk rock and New Wave music genres with influences from 1960s mod and beat music bands such as The Who, Small Faces and The Kinks. The revival was largely spurred on by the band The Jam, who had adopted a stark mod look and mixed the energy of punk with the sound of 1960s mod bands.

"This was the scene"

THE JAM

In 1979, the film Quadrophenia, which romanticised the original 1960s mod subculture, widened the impact and popularity of the mod revival across the UK.

 "Music was very important"

 "as were the clothes..."

 "Smart suits"

 "The hair..."

"My first MOD suit"