1980 was the year I first properly got into music. Not quite in my teens I’d received a stereo radio cassette player for my birthday and a wedge of Boots vouchers, (sounds shit today, but at the time most Boots had a semi-decent music department; as well as a chemist???). With those vouchers and a couple of quid my Granddad gave me, I bought my first three cassette albums – Pretenders, the first Specials album and the recently released debut album from their 2-Tone stable mates ‘Too Much Pressure’ by The Selecter.
I’m not sure how long it lasted, but I literally played that cassette to death, to the point where it stretched, snapped and wound itself around the internal workings of the tape machine. I loved it; so much so, I even copied the album artwork for a project at school.
Since then the cassette player has long been consigned to the skip and, sadly, ska music is no longer a feature of mainstream music. But, for an all too brief period of time, 2 Tone ruled the airwaves, and in my own little world I felt very much a part of it, which is why I’m more than a bit excited at the prospect of a new album and really excited at the possibility of seeing The Selecter live.
February and March sees Pauline Black and co. embark on a 22 date tour of the UK. The tour celebrates 5 years since their reunion & to support the release of their brand new album ‘Subculture’, which will be released in Spring 2015. Here’s Pauline to tell you all about it…
Catch The Selecter live at the following:
Tickets available via www.theselecter.net
