IT'S A MOD MOD WORLD...

Several years ago when i began my discovery of Mod culture, i mistakenly believed that i needed to listen to "mod" bands. But what constitutes such a thing? Obviously certain acts either identified as Mods or were tagged with the label, but what did it mean musically? In the early days of the movement, they listened to Modern Jazz, then Rhythm & Blues became part of it, joined later by early Soul and Ska. But these were records played at the clubs, coffee bars, and house parties that Mods frequented, and danced to all night long. Soon, homegrown bands started forming, influenced by the imported sounds from the USA, and playing their own version of them. Surprisingly, British Mod bands were a bit thin on the ground in the sixties, or at least ones who defined themselves as Mods. Obviously there was The Who, The Small Faces, The Action, and The Creation, and several less well known and short lived acts who imploded after a couple of singles or even after a few months of gigging. But the majority of what was listened to was not by actual Mod artists: read the tracklisting of any decent Mod compilation (of which there are many), and you'll find the likes of The Animals, Spencer Davis Group, The Kinks, early Manfred Mann, The Yardbirds, all playing R'n'b and Blues-inspired music and creating British Rock music in the process. The idea of Mod bands doesn't seem to have hit its stride until the Mod Revival, spurred on by The Jam and their leader Paul Weller,  ho took The Who's mantra of Maximum R'n'b, and ramped it up through the energy of the Punk explosion. Weller was a proud Mod who didn't deny his musical influences, inspiring their legion of fans to discover Mod for themselves. By 1979 they were one of the biggest bands in the country, and this coincided with the release of the film Quadrophenia, a tale of a young Mod in the sixties based on The Who album of the same name. So, running alongside the Ska revival of 2-Tone was a sea of young Mods, and many of them formed bands, largely influenced by The Jam and the more power pop/new wave end of Punk. Few of them had any real success or longevity: Secret Affair, who dubbed themselves "glory boys", were the most successful out of them, "Time For Action" and "My World" both going Top 20, followed by The Lambrettas,  with a few minor hits by The Chords, The Purple Hearts, and The Merton Parkas. But most of the bands from that time remained largely obscure outside the scene, and by the time the revival had petered out in 1982 most of them had split up. Mod returned to its underground roots, with of host of more sixties influenced cult bands such as The Prisoners and Makin' Time; Weller split The Jam at the height of their success and formed the more soul, jazz, and r'n'b influenced The Style Council; and as the decade wore on, some Mods took their jazz, rare groove and soul influences to another level with what became known as Acid Jazz, a response to the repetitive beats of house music. Mod's influence surfaced during  Madchester and Britpop, but beyond a few musical references, Fred Perry's and the resurgent Paul Weller being dubbed "the Modfather", visible Mod bands were scarce (i'm not sure if Ocean Colour Scene count?). In the noughties there were a couple of identifiable bands - The Ordinary Boys and The Enemy - but if there were any others then they were firmly underground. Nonetheless, some of this music was popular with older Mods, and probably gave a few young people a signpost to the subculture beyond the fashions.

Today there are myriad Mod acts, taking their influences from across the rich history of the subculture, signed to small independent labels, popular within the scene but unlikely to take it overground. Thanks to the internet i've been able to discover their music, ranging from local lads SubCulture to the sixties influenced Brummie quartet The Deep Six, with the garage/freakbeat of Paul Orwell and the more ska-influenced Spitfires inbetween. I'm continually coming across sounds that enrich and expand my knowledge of all that is Mod related. I've even subscribed to several fanzines and joined a couple of groups on social media as i begin to talk to other Mods and find my way. Today i received a cd of a recent band called Block 33, a four piece band from the south of England who are very much  punk/mod revival influenced but somehow still sound fresh.