We are the Mods

WE ARE THE MODS

WRITTEN AND DESIGNED BY JOE LEWIS-COLLINS

CONTENTS 06-07

1950s

BRITAIN

14-17

19FASH60IONs

22-23

08-09 TEDDY BOYS

HAIR

CUTS

18-19

TERITTO

28-29

BEN

SHERMAN

TAILORING

34-35

SKA MUSIC 36-41

JAZZ BLUES

46-47

DANCE MOVES

48-49

R&B

MUSIC

54-55

50-53 DRUG CULTURE

66-79

HIGH NUMBERS

DES COLES INTERVIEW

56-57

THE WHO

64-65 SCOOTER BOYS

82-89 BRIGHTON RIOTS

90-91 1970s

BRITAIN

97-111 MODERN

MODS

94-95

THE

JAM

92-93

QUADRO-

PHINA

“WE ARE THE MODS, WE ARE THE MODS, WE ARE, WE ARE, WE ARE THE MODS!”

06 1950s Britain

50

s

In the early fifties teenagers didn’t exist as a separate consumer group.

They were either a child or an adult and there appeared to be no middle grounding. The post war depression in England must have been a difficult time for everyone and would have been a strange time period to grow up in. Modernisation would have been slow, the music was bad, everyone watched the same things and dressed the same. If you were a girl you dressed like your grandma, mum and sisters, if you were a boy you dressed like your granddad, dad and brothers. There was no sense of individuality or change between the younger generation and older generation.

A revolt from the matching identities was bound to happen, and the young would soon want to make some sort of stand. Like minded young people started to latch onto other types of music and adopt it as there

own, such a American rock and roll which became extremely popular.

The craze grew largely in England amongst the younger generation.

The new themes started to become a great trend and businesses began to start making money from it, firms realised that this new fashion of music and clothes was what teenagers wanted to spend their money on and quickly became a booming market. The subculture that had spread across the UK was known as the British Teddy Boys who were known as young men who wore clothes worn by ‘dandies’ inspired from the Edwardian period.

afford to buy cars and TVs and adopted the ‘live now, pay later’ way of life. This meant that they were no longer as concerned about saving and followed the idea that it was important to live life to the full.

A lot Changed in the fifties, after the war Britain was thought to be an increasingly powerful nation.

Although the USA and USSR remained the strongest, Britain had grown as a country and started to make economic movements. Many of the working class could now

1950s Britain 07

TEDDY BOYS

The Teddy Boys started in London and were quick to spread across Britain and create an impact. They were the first young group to differentiate themselves as teenagers and became a new youth market. They were known for there slicked back greasy hair and were clearly influenced by American rock and roll stars who they looked up to.

Teddy Boys 09

MOD

60

s

ernist

FASHION

their Mods were obsessed with e cam stly appearance. They mo ds oun kgr from working class bac ny but chose to spend every pen e Th s. the they owned on clo of us scio group were highly con wn their fashion and were kno . ths you n to be incredibly vai ch mu y ver The individuals were hed forward thinking and latc ol’ ‘co n, der on to anything mo ies. fift late or well design in the

MODS WERE OBSESSED WITH WHAT THEY LOOKED LIKE

By this time there where still only a hand full but were noticed by the older generation and gathered together in coffee shops in the West End and talked about their latest clothes and trends. The Mods took influence from the French and Italian film stars. They where even known to watch the waiters after they had finished there shift to see how there suits were fitted or how many buttons it had down the front. The mods noticed these small changes in details and took these ideas to local tailors to slightly alter their suits.

The suits were still made to measure so each one had to be made slightly differently to cater for each mod. The front was made rounded, it may include two, three or four buttons and it could have small vents in the side.

The cuff could be open, with or without a linked button or a butterfly cuff.

16 Fashtion 1960s

Whats you name?

Gioacchino Territo When did you start tailoring?

I started in sixty-seven back in Italy. This is my third place, I been here thirty years on Park Street.

Do you do many mod suits?

Most of the mods I do now are guys that were mods as a young teenager and they want to get married with there old mod suits. I do a lot of wedding suits; I get a lot of recommendation from ‘Mod Culture’ web site. The last suit I did was from Worcester and it was a wedding suit.

How much are your suits?

Its quite expensive for some people my, suits we are talking about six to seven fifty.

What details do they Mod specifically ask for?

Well they have little pleats, very narrow lapel, show jacket or show vent or covered buttons. It was a very traditional Italian style. In fact I was training as a tailor when this fashion used to be very fashionable in the 50s. They saw the suits in films and to them they were beautiful. What I like about mods is they where very small people, very slim build and petite.

With the mods you had to have a nice physique, if you were big it looked horrible haha.

Would you say the scene had died down quite a lot?

No I don’t think so the scene for mod is still going very strong. I don’t get to see as many as I used to.

I think now mods just cant afford the suits like they used to.

Have you ever worked in London?

I have tried three times, once for three weeks, once for a month I couldn’t take it, I wish stayed because I have lots of friends there, but I could take it, its too hectic. I have family here and friends in London, so I chose family. But not only family Bristol is… I don’t think I could live anywhere else.

18 Territo Tailoring

HAIR CUTS 22 Hair Cuts

Italian hair cuts came in about 1960. The mods wanted something different from the oiled up Teddy Boy style, so they stated to get ‘dry’ cuts and told the barbers not to put wax in when they were done. Most Barber’s in that period simply cut hair and styling it became new to them. But if you found the right one you could come out with a ‘Party Camo’ and be the coolest kid on the block.

After this came the ‘College Boy’ look which was shorter than the ‘party Camo’ with a higher parting. Then came the ‘French Crew’ which was like a crew cut but longer and about 2 inches all round.

Another new style was the French Crop which was like a grown out college boy with a higher parting. Although new styles were brought into fashion, all of them were short, clean and smart.

Fred Perry was designed originally for tennis players but was also adopted by the Mods. The three button polo top was more casual than a shirt and tie, but still smart when worn under a suit jacket. It was also durable enough to ware all night and still look good in the morning.

I WOULDN’T CALL MYSELF A MOD, JUST HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY THE CULTURE.

“

“

Richard Denton

Manager of Fred Perry, Bristol.

BEN SHER MAN

The Ben Sherman shirt was a must have item for the mods. Its slim fit and the bright colours appealed to them. Their designs sometimes feature the Royal Air Force target, which was adopted by the mods and now heavily associated with the mod culture. The band ‘The Who’ also took this logo and used it on some of their album covers and merchandise.

“In the 60s I used to go down Carnaby street for my shirts and my first favourite Ben Sherman was a bright orange button down. In fact I’ve still got a ben Sherman collection from my mod days, never been worn and still in their packaging, fantastic wild colours, yellows and purples. Beautiful.”

Ben Sherman 29

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MUSIC

SKA Ska become big in the London Mods sound track. The black African singers easily found work by collaborating with the capitals jazz and R&B bands. Although it wasn’t strictly mod there was always a degree of mod interest, as the clubs that put on R&B would also promote Jamaican artist. This wasn’t that surprising as white and black working class had been rubbing shoulders with each other at work, at school and on the council estates more than the middle class. The sharp dressing working class had been meeting the sharp dressing working class at dances on Saturday nights, so of course they would check out each others music. When the clubs started mostly playing ska there were large mod crowds.

2

TONE

Ska Music 35

The Flamingo was one of the main hot spots in the London clubbin g scene.

Georgie Flame would perform every Saturday night to a crowd man ly made up of Black American service men. The service men would bring the exclusive imported records making Georgie Flame one of the biggest DJs in Lon don. One night a service man was involved brutal in a stabbing which led to them bein g bared, the next week the mods too ove r. In 1961 Flame released a classic mod albu m called Live at the Flamingo, even the mo d purest liked the album.

Zoot Money and his band outside the Flamingo, Wardour Street, London, 1964

Other than looking good music was the second passion in any mods life.

The early mods were unimpressed by 50s pop and Skiffle crazes and listened to modern jazz music, for example the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Groups of art students in Soho gathered in warm, smoke filled coffee shops and listened to the sounds of American jazz and blues artist. These black musicians where worshiped by a predominantly white crowd in Britain.

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38 Jazz and Blues Music

Interests in early blues music grew, soul and rhythm and blues music was discovered. Record collecting became very popular.

Mods always had to hear the tracks first, the more obscure the better because mods hated commercialism.

The R&B music scene in London was massive in the mid 60s. Jazz and blues clubs where forced to play the music to continue running there business.

Youngsters would stay up all weekend and became known a ‘weekenders’. These drug filled party weekends consisted of going out all night on Friday, looking around the shops on Saturday then going out again on Saturday night after having no sleep. They would take amphetamines or ‘blueys’ along with other drugs to keep them going all weekend.

MUDDY WATERS LONDON 1964

1.

2.

3.

4..

5.

DANCES

1. The Block Crouch down, arms slightly bent, palms facing floor. Place one foot very quickly in fount of the other, twisting heel as it lands.

Spin round on back of heels, improvising intricate footwork.

2. The Hitch Hike Place feet firmly, knees bent, shake hips. Place hands at the side, thumbs pointing up. Alternatively jerk arms over shoulders, then both arms over one shoulder, and occasionally jump to either side.

3. The Shake Stand firmly with one foot forward, arms stretched out, swing from side to side , nod the head. Shake the body from the hips and occasionally jump to the left or right.

4. The dog Crouch down with feel slightly apart, arms slightly bent. Jerk body and arms backwards and forwards to the rhythm. Then jerk clenched hands over alternate shoulders.

Jump to the left and right.

5. The Ska Crouch down swaying the hips from side to side while ‘milking a cow’ with the hands. At the same time move slowly up and down, occasionally lifting one leg up high.

Dance Moves 47

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48 R&B

B

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The R&B music scene in London was massive in the mid 60s. It fused together gospel and blues and created a fast paced, infectious music that captured the listener’s heats and feet. It was smoother than blues and slicker than jazz.

‘BLUEYS’ Amphetamine pills, or ‘Blueys’, were taken by the Mods so they could stay up all weekend partying.

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54 The Hight Numbers

When the Beatles arrived the mods became nationally publicised. Businesses clocked onto the massive teenage market and became more mainstream. There market was exploited and in 1963 the new music show Ready Steady Go! Was aired for any youngster to see the fashions and styles out of London. This made the crazes easily copied. This led to national rioting and the loss of traditional views and ideas.

The High numbers were deemed to be the first authentic mod band. Later to become the who, the highs numbers were the instigators of the casually clothed mod, which was highly criticised by some. There whore a mix of cycling jackets, turned up Levis, t-shits, jeans, long white jackets, boxing boots and back or white brogues. They were the quintessential new mod.

Their first record grew and grew with popularity, clubs like the Scene Club in London would play the disk mad crowd of fans. Originally the single Zoot Suit was ment to be a side A only changed at the last minute. The guitarist Peter Townsend originally wanted to be a Graphic Designer and studied at the Ealing Art School. The drummer Keith Moon was the youngest member of the band only 17 when they started in 64. He was obsessed with music spending all of his free time in various West End clubs.

F 56 The Who

F F F

FA D A

E

Y A W The High Numbers changed their name to the Who. They where a rebellious group of lads who became known for there energy on stage by smashing up of there instruments after there gigs. This mirrored their music; it was fast, defiant and viousas music, putting emphasis on and off beat.

Keith moon become one of the greatest drummers of all time. His style was like no other. The speed of loudness of his fills became his trademark along with his unorthodox stick holding style. He would improvise a lot due to the massive inspiration taken from blues and jazz.

The who became the favourite for the mods. They identified themselves with the band because the who identified themselves with the mods.

SCOOTER BOYS

associated

The m

ost we

ll know

n imag e ods must b e the Lambretta or Vespa scooter.

If you wanted to be a mod you needed a scooter. It was clean, small and had s e the rocker gine, unlik en en d id h a ld go d cou o m d. the goo kes, i k b o y o oil ill l dirty d st n a ere wh any with the m

‘There was a correct way of riding the scooter. You stuck your feet out at a 45 degree angle and if you had a pillipon on the back, he would sit with his hands behind his back and lean back.�

Customizing their bikes was popular; it was made an easy process due to the sheer amount of accessories and add-ons available at the time. More lights were added; a fly screen, luggage racks and bumpers were also popular too. These add-ons would obviously slow the bike down a lot, but this wasn’t a concern for the mods because the slower you went the more people would see you.

Bikes would often get stolen; this comes as no surprise to us today due to the fact that the same ignition key started all Vespa’s made between 1956 and 1965.

This made it easy to steal bikes from rival gangs and use broken parts.

64 Scooters

66

INTERVIEW WITH BRISTOL MOD DES COLES

Whats your name?

Des Coles.

Where did you grow up?

I was born in Fliton, Bristol in 1950. I have lived in Bristol all my life.

How old were you when you became a mod?

I think I was about 13 or 14. My best friend at the time had a bike and I think he was the first one who introduced me to the culture. We also wanted to start a band so we looked up to musicians of the time and copied what they were wearing.

67 Des Coles Interview

was me and my “ This brother on my bike when

“

I was 16. My bike was my pride and joy; I would wash it nearly everyday.

What was the difference in the London and Bristol scene?

My friend who’s with me today used to go to Brighton but he was a Londoner. The London lads had a whole different scene. They had Carnaby Street and loads of shops on their doorstep, for us lot in Bristol, it was a lot harder to find the clothes that were fashionable at the time. It was just a thing that we did, we liked the music, we liked the bikes and the discos but that’s all gone now.

68 Des Coles Interview

“We had music and places to go you don’t see that as much nowadays.

What was the scene like in Bristol?

There was a big scene in Bristol and it got bigger I think in the late sixties. I got married at nineteen in 1968. So at nineteen I got a mini. If you had to get a car as well as a bike it had to be a mini cooper. That’s just what happened, nowadays people don’t get married young but back then we did.

Why did you become a Mod? We had one war then we had another war, then when that war finished we were growing up as young teenagers, there was always a threat of another war, and we had a job so we would just go out and enjoy ourselves because in a minute we were gonna get called up and we would all get slaughtered. You haven’t got that threat so much nowadays because the next war was gonna be a big war, a nuclear war so we thought sod it lets go and enjoy ourselves.

71 Des Coles Interview

“

What do you prefer Vespas or lanbrettas?

Well....this Lambrettas more unusual. The ‘67 vespa was the end of the old bikes and more like the ones you see in Italy, you know the ones you see whizzing around, with only 3 gears and very lightweight, brilliant for traffic. They are lovely little bikes.

Tell me about the Isle of Wight bike festival?

That is the culmination of the whole year’s events, thousands from all over the country go to the Isle of Wight. You see on my bike in front of the headlights there’s a little ‘W’ on it., that stands for the Isle of Wight. All these guys will go to the Isle of Wight, thousands of them will all go down the motorways together and onto the ferries. It’s great fun and an amazing spectical.

Was it quite a woman magnet having a scooter?

Yeah that’s what we found out. It was safer for girls to sit on the back because of the back rests.

Girls liked the mods better because they had clean fingernails, the rockers all had greasy fingernails and we looked lots smarter. Yeah the girls loved us back then, that was probably the main reason I did it haha.!

74 Des Coles Interview

I was born in 1950 so in 1966 I was 16 and thats when I had my first bike a Vespa 150cc.

“

“

Was it easy to customise your bike?

You had the things like the back rests, you would make them yourself out of bits of steal, a bit of plywood and a bit of leather.

My brother was a mechanic and he would take the side panels from a Leyland Super Comet and put them on our bikes, you would utilize what you had around. This was all part of the fun we were always tweaking and changing parts of our bikes and this also meant that no two bikes looked the same.

What look did the mods go for?

The mods started looking differently, growing hair longer or combing it differently or wearing different clothes. It started off as maybe you had 6 buttons then somebody would get 7 or 8 buttons and a narrow lapel or a velvet collar. Then you would have loads of them all looking the same. That’s why so many different scenes were spring up around in the 60s.

How did it all start?

It all started with the beatniks, they were university intellectuals with beards who used to wear duffle coats with leather patches on the elbows. They used to go into little clubs, but they were into jazz, it was all very underground. Then the black musicians came over, in their own country they were just normal black musicians playing their music, when they came over here they were worshiped.

Why did this happen?

We grew up quickly, we were in a scene that we thought would last a few years but that has stayed with us our whole life. And a lot of things do, you do things when you’re young and it stays with you forever. There’s been nothing to top the 60s.

Where were your favourite hang outs?

Years ago we had out meets’, in ice cream parlours or in cellar bars that was our little clubs, we would have parties at people houses and it wasn’t like drinking loads and loads of drink, we were there for the music and to go and dance in somebody’s front room.

78 Des Coles Interview

Des Coles Age 17, 1967.

BRIGHTON RIOTS

1964

As more and more people were brought into the mods the mob mentality became more apparent. Many people have been told that Mods hated the rockers more than anything else.

This is not true. The mods hated each other more than they hated the rockers. Rival mod gangs, especially in London, would fight other mod gangs from different areas. The notorious Brighton seaside battle of 1964 is so well known due to the wide media coverage.

Mods and rockers did have a mutual disliking to each other. Mods thought rockers were greasy, old, leather, Teddy Boys and rockers thought mods were effeminate nancy boys. They had lived together quite peacefully until the fights became the national talking point.

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The m o down ds would d to the rive outsid s e Lon easide tow don s ns Marg uc at Brigh e, Bournem h as to o have n. This wa uth and a rela s n ot to xing w the be ee a which ch but to s kend on ta e some scalated in rt fights, places to rio ts in , mos Brigh tf to portra n. The gro amously in up y receiv ed in a goo was not ed lot s of n d light and egativ e pres s.

70

s

The resurgence of the mod at the end of the seventies gave rise to a comply different look to the original sixties one. It was nowhere near as stylish but every bit obsessive and energetic as the original modernist had been.

It may have been hard to get hold of American or French clothing in the sixties but it was near impossible in the seventies, this provided somewhat of a challenge. Punk rock had a big impact on time and didn’t inspire people to dress smart as most people were walking around with safety pins though there ears.

still got Mods noticed. Not always for the right reasons. Wearing a jacket, tie and an army parka would get people very angry and caused lots of fights.

The culture was growing again, and strangely enough growing in the same way as it was in the sixties. Without any media or press coverage, it was reignited by like-minded individuals, stimulated by the same influences, to be different but part of the same thing.

There were still tailors around in the West End but the wages of the late seventies didn’t stretch that far, so that was never really an option.

Second hand suit where still about, they were not made to measure but they had to do and

Seventies 91

QUAD ROPH ENIA 92 Quadrophenia

Quadraphia is a film set in 1965 and follows the story of Jimmy Cooper a London mod. A bank holiday weekend provides a perfect excuse to go down to Brighton and have a bust up with some rival Rockers.

Back in London Jimmy becomes more and more depressed. He gets thrown out of his house and begins to take more and more amphetamine pills. He get a train back down to Brighton to see if he can relive some of the exciting riots he was involved with before. In his horror he sees his idol Ace Face, played by Sting. Jimmy steals Ace Faces prestine Lambretta and head to Beachy Head were he takes his life by driving over the cliff.

M A J THE

The Jam were an English mod revival band that formed 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 influences rather than rejecting them, placing The Jam at the forefront of the mod revival movement.

92 The Jam

Bruce Foxton - bass guitar From the Jam

MODERN

MODS

IMAGE REFERENCING BOOKS My Favourite Shirt - A History of Ben Sherman Page- 28 Mods! - Over 150 photographs from the early 60’s of the original Mods Page - 4, 8, 23, 36, 39, 44, 54, 59, 62-63, 64-65, 84-85, 86-87, 88-89 Mod - A Very British Phenomenon

Page - 10, 15, 16-17, 31, 90 Motorcycle - Bikes and Scooters Page - 61 All other images taken by Joe Lewis-Collins.