{"id":30440,"date":"2017-09-29T13:07:36","date_gmt":"2017-09-29T12:07:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=30440"},"modified":"2017-09-29T13:07:36","modified_gmt":"2017-09-29T12:07:36","slug":"original-rude-boy-toast-master-neville-staple-on-the-specials-fun-boy-three-and-his-new-solo-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2017\/09\/original-rude-boy-toast-master-neville-staple-on-the-specials-fun-boy-three-and-his-new-solo-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"ORIGINAL RUDE BOY – Toast Master Neville Staple On The Specials, Fun Boy Three And His New Solo Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Picture: John Coles<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Judge Roughneck\u00a0<\/strong>is back and about to lay down the law at a venue near you.<\/h4>\n

Ska great\u00a0Neville Staple<\/strong> revived the character, first heard on\u00a0The Specials<\/strong>‘\u00a0Stupid Marriage,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>for his latest double album\u00a0The Return of Judge Roughneck<\/strong><\/em>.<\/h4>\n

Now the Jamaican-born vocalist is heading out on the road to promote the record with a backing band featuring his wife\u00a0Christine \u2018Sugary\u2019 Staple<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Arriving in England as a five-year-old, Neville Eugenton Staple, made his name on Coventry’s music scene in the 1970s\u00a0with his Jah Baddis<\/strong> Sound System<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Starting out as a roadie, the formal Borstal Boy joined The Specials after being invited up on stage by keyboardist and\u00a02Tone Records<\/strong> founder\u00a0Jerry Dammers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He would go on to form\u00a0Fun Boy Three<\/strong> with\u00a0Terry Hall\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Lynval\u00a0<\/strong>Golding,<\/strong> and later\u00a0The Special Beat<\/strong> with\u00a0Ranking Roger <\/strong>from fellow 2Tone band\u00a0The Beat<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He released an autobiography\u00a0Original Rude Boy<\/strong><\/em> in 2009 and has continued to work tirelessly ever since, working on numerous collaborations and solo albums with The<\/strong>\u00a0Neville Staple Band<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Matt Catchpole\u00a0<\/strong>finds the master toaster in ebullient form as he shares his thoughts on life, politics and his extraordinary career.<\/p>\n

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You\u2019re just about go on tour again \u2013 do you enjoy life on the road? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I love it. Touring is the best part of my musical life. I get to perform to the fans who put me where I am and meet many of them too. It\u2019s also great to see the new younger fans who have taken up the ska scene. Life on the road is much easier with my wife Christine there with me. She performs with me, manages me and the band, plus ensures things run smooth. We also have a silly sense of humour and have a lot of fun with the band, who are a great bunch.<\/p>\n

Does playing live give you the same thrill as it did in the early days?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even more so. Back then it was fantastic and so new to me. A Jamaican kid who came to the UK\u2019s Midlands as a little boy, got in trouble as a teen, then turned my life around with my Sound System and then becoming a front man to The Specials and 2Tone music. However, now that I have been in the business for almost 40 years, with an international career in various collaborations and reinventions, I get an even better thrill knowing that I can still make the audiences, jump, stomp, sing along and party with me, all these years on. It\u2019s brilliant!<\/p>\n

Do you only play your solo stuff live, or do you play some of your earlier hits with The Specials and Fun Boy Three?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I would get screamed at by the fans if I only did my solo stuff! I love it all, so perform it all. They love it all, so get it all! I do a mixture of songs that I performed with The Specials, as well as some of my own stuff, plus some super ska classics that I grew up with. We change the set two or three times a year but always keep some key Specials songs in there, plus I have some ska versions of the Fun Boy Three hits in the set too.<\/p>\n

How do you think your new music differs from your earlier work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My most recent album Return of Judge Roughneck<\/em> is more original ska, Bluebeat and reggae based, as opposed to just being 2Tone-style ska, but there are still elements of 2Tone in there too. It\u2019s very different to a lot of The Rude Boy Returns<\/strong><\/em> album, but has some similarities to\u00a0Ska Crazy<\/strong><\/em>. There is also another joint album being prepared now for release, with my wife, which is a mix of punk, ska, bluebeat and reggae. This has a lot of 2Tone style songs and we even have a lot of Roddy ‘Radiation’ Byers<\/strong> (ex-The Specials) performing his iconic guitar styles on there, as well as other up and coming Coventry musicians. We\u2019re getting ready to talk to labels now.<\/p>\n