Right, the Gents and the Mods, big and important subject this one, so let's make sure we get it right.

     Okay, let's examine the case for the prosecution, which is that the Gents were bandwagon jumpers and not really mods at all. To be or not to be, that is the question. Discuss…

     Now me okay, I personally have always been from the mod side of things.  That really, should be a pretty obvious statement, because how else would I have originally developed an interest in the Gents? Stands to reason really.  So of course it also stands to reason that you can probably work out in advance that I'm about to argue that the Gents were without doubt a mod band, because if they were mod enough for a dyed-in-the-wool mod like me, then shouldn't that be good enough for everybody?

 

Anyway, as background, let's start with some history…

 

     When I personally came onto the Gents' scene in February '83, , it has to be said that there wasn't a great deal moddy going on.  It seems on reflection that that period from around early '83 to about the middle of 84' was pretty much a distinctly clubland phase of the band's existence, said clubland being, as mentioned elsewhere, mainly South Yorkshire and the North-East of England, the two biggest clubland areas in the UK.  There were of course plenty of mods and others of that vague persuasion who came to see the band, because that was their reputation, solidly built on the achievements of a couple of years previously, ie Battle of the Bands and the like, but it's just that at that time, '83 to '84, the only place really to see the band was clubland, which as later experience was to teach me, isn't the best environment to see anything, let alone a band and one that plays originals at that.

     The band had had some involvement with dedicated mod events some time before, playing some gigs in the south which were patronised by some of the scooter clubs around at the time, notably the Midhurst Detours, who were big fans of the band, especially the eponymous hero Dizzy Detour, whose affection for the band remains of course to this day.  Also of course there was the "interesting" er…standoff with the Knife Edge contingent at the final of the EMI Supergroup competition in 1981, described elsewhere on this site.  Add to this the fact that I myself had originally had the Gents brought to my own notice by virtue of they being a mod band by reputation ("Come and see this band, they play lots of Jam!") and you can plainly see that it wasn't simply when the next modwise development happened that as some theories go, the Gents just stumbled across a careering bandwagon and willingly hitched a ride on it.

     However, the modish lull of 83/84 all changed when something happened that was to bring the band that bit closer back to modworld and that was when a particular London mod (well as I understand it he was actually American, or Canadian – he certainly spoke like that!) came to see the band, at a gig at Doncaster Rugby Union Club if I remember rightly, having heard good reports.  That person was Mark Johnson.

     Now Mark Johnson was a "controversial" character at best.  It was always relatively well-known and accepted that he was extremely gay, but it has to be said that just how controversial/gay he was to turn out to be, was something that we certainly didn't know at the time and has only really come to the notice of us in the ex-Gents camp in the last couple of years or so, ie 2005/2006-ish.  That being the case, I feel that I can only really analyse things on the basis of what we knew at that time, ie twenty years ago.  All I can really tell you about recent additions to our knowledge is that Mark Johnson it turns out, was quite involved with what I can only call underage boys, and furthermore he is currently dead, having died of what they euphemistically call "an AIDS-related illness".  When that happened I have no idea, but back in the '80s, when HIV was relatively new on the scene, I can recall quite clearly that we used say about Mark Johnson "He'll die of AIDS he will", and hey, it appears that he did.

     Anyway, Mark Johnson was like I say, a controversial geezer.  Whether or not at that time it was because of his sometimes abrasive style, or his favourtism for some bands, or just his gayness or whether his preference for young boys was common knowledge then etc, I don't really know, but what is certain is that he was one of those people who inspired extreme opinion on both sides, ie the fors and againsts.  Many people disliked him intensely at that time and many others would point out quite correctly that he was an organiser, who set his mind to a task, decided what he wanted to happen and he made it so as they say on Star Trek.

     Mark Johnson ran an organisation in London called the Phoenix Society, a collective of mods who published a magazine known as the Phoenix List, a monthly or so newsletter advertising events, gigs, mod rallies etc around the country and especially in London.  It was a monthly newsletter, which in the days before yer tinternet was the only way to belong to things, and it did a very good job in keeping the mods updated about what was going on in modworld.  Once the Gents became signed up as it were, the Phoenix List started to feature them quite a lot, especially as Johnson set about putting in a large number of gigs for the band.  We did quite a number of very rewarding, if occasionally sparsely attended gigs, the all-dayer at Hammersmith Town Hall, mod rallies at Scarborough, Clacton-on-Sea, the New Direction National Tour, which started of course with the magnificent gig on Shanklin Pier on the Isle of Wight, many others, all of which the mods seemed to appreciate and for which the band appreciated the support.

     So, whatever the rights and wrongs of it at the time, the Gents, having impressed Mark Johnson in 1984, became pretty much signed on to Mark Johnson's roadshow and became it has to be said, one of his favourite bands, probably the one act that he pushed the most, getting signed onto most of his "projects", things like the Mod-Aid single, the Mod-Aid All-Dayer at Walthamstow Town Hall in December 1985 and many other support and headline gigs with other bands, some of whom really didn't do a great deal on some occasions to disguise firstly their southern snobbery, secondly a rather unedifying brand of modish snobbery and thirdly a horrible musical snobbery about the Gents, a band who they clearly recognised as musically superior in all departments to themselves, ie both playing and writing, and thus, an easy target because of their northernness, easy to characterise as not very modish and of course their assocation with Johnson. The musical thing to me is somewhat of a compliment, because in the end what they were saying was that they didn't like professional musicians and what that translates as is "You're good, and Johnson likes you, so we're going to resent you".  I have to say that even the most far gone Gents-disliking purist mods were usually heard to be having to concede that even though they doubted our mod credentials, the band were well, quality musically, in writing and in performing.  That to me tells its own story.

     I'm not in the business of naming names here, because that wouldn't be fair and it was all a long long time ago, and also I should mention that there were a lot of mod bands at that time who certainly did get on with the Gents, were appreciative of their ability and very complimentary and friendly about it. Some of those were among those who did on occasion warn of the association with Johnson, but at that time it didn't seem to matter that much.

     This to me is possibly what lies at the crux of why certain schools of thought to this day persist in advancing the argument that the Gents weren't a mod band, because all that went hand-in-hand in knocking the band from as many angles as possible at one time.  In other words it was mainly contrived criticism, founded on a starting position of "Let's bash the Gents, it don't matter how…"

     It's true to say that the Johnson connection was unhelpful at times, both then and now in many ways, as ideas and attitudes do tend to entrench in one's mind over passage of years, but at that time Mark Johnson was, regardless of who might want to place themselves in denial about it, one of the top organisers on the London and national mod scene, one who got things done and as such was a pretty useful ally at that time  However unfortunate that association might have turned out to be all these years later, with the benefit of the greatest gift, hindsight, is not really significant.

     Under the umbrella of the Johnson "organisation", his Phoenix Mod Society as they were styled, the Gents got to take part in some extremely good events, top gigs as you might say, where they got to pursue a career in playing original songs, to an audience, mods, who appreciated what they were trying to do, bought their records and generally liked the band all-round.

     I did say there were one or two top geezers around at that who could appreciate the Gents and their abilities, and one of those I include in that for special mention has to be Brett "Buddy" Ascott of the Rage.  Now you may know Buddy as having his own personal fifteen minutes as drummer for that top nationally known and renowned mod outfit the Chords, but by the time 1985 came along he was part of an outfit called the Rage, featuring himself and Jeff Shadbolt of the Purple Hearts among others.  I only mention Buddy as he is worthy of being the illustration of that top geezer thing I mentioned.  Brett was the one who was always willing to talk to anybody, whether northern, southern, top musician or amateur alike.  At the famous 100 Club gig with the Gents and the Rage in 1985 he was the one who found the time to talk to me about the venue and its history when I was well, shocked to discover that down the stairs it's just a shoddy little basement.  I couldn't believe it when I saw the stage made of beer crates with carpet on the top.  This was one of the places that had been made world famous by bands like the Who, the Sex Pistols and the Jam and it was just a bloody scruffy cellar!  "You think this is bad Simon..." said Brett, "...the Marquee's ten times worse!".  Nice bloke Brett Ascott, I had a lot of time for him and he seemed to have time for us.

     I'm sort of getting near to the end of this anti Gents-hating rant (would that be anti-anti Gents?), but I just want to point out one or two other things about the supposed dodgy mod credentials of the band.  The members of this fine band were Steve Kendell, a northern soul-loving piano player who had spent many years collecting those 7" pieces of black plastic from the northern scene so beloved of a large portion of mod culturists, there was Martin John Burton, a fanatical Beatles fan whose best trick was writing sharp observational pop songs in a style that appealed to mods and pop fans alike, then there was Glyn Davies a drummer who has long impressed on me that his favourite album is All Mod Cons and finally Steve Chambers, the only member of the band who might possibly be argued to be a little more rock-loving than the mods might be able to stomach, but in the end I would point to the fact that in 2002 he started a hobby band project away from the Men's Club, King Cinder, who specialised in the coolest new wave covers you can think of, sandwiched between original songs of the same genetic sort of composition.  Also, take into consideration that his all-time guitar hero is Pete Townshend.  I would finally mention that unlike most of the bands of the Class of '85 if you want to call it that, the Gents had been doing it since 1979/80, which is hardly third-wave bandwagon-jumping.

     So to me, the argument about the Gents and mods etc is simply spurious.  They liked playing to the mods, they liked playing to fans full stop.  A majority of mods appreciated the band, their music and their image, appreciating all the time just what it was that they were trying to achieve with only the narrow-minded morons thnking differently.  The only detractors were in the end people of lesser musical ability, lesser songwriting ability, from a different part of the country which they believed made it acceptable to slight the Gents for the same reason.  Add to that the Mark Johnson connection and to be honest if made the Gents easy targets.  Snobbery in the end, pure narrow-minded snobbery.

     As somebody I once knew said, I rest my case...