Welcome to the new Squire Fan Club newsletter. The above photo of Anthony's Rickenbacker guitars and Vox amp is taken from the 2016 Mods Mayday at the 100 Club, London, and the one below is from the 2017 Mods Mayday, also at the 100 Club!
Squire have played at every UK Mods Mayday event held since 1979, and last weeks reflection on the 1979 Bridge House Mods Mayday concert and live album reminds us how Squire's appearance at a Mods Mayday all dayer has become a bit of an institution, since along with Secret Affair, we personify that inaugural event as the two remaining active bands that appeared on the original day.
May 1979 is also significant as the month when the band's presence on the live scene in London crystallised, as we suddenly became omnipresent on the London mod scene! May 1979 was the month everything came together for Squire as the band suddenly exploded with gigs galore!
Two days later on 9th May we were playing beside The Purple Hearts at The Dublin Castle in Camden Town!
A weekend date on the 13th in our home town of Guildford, was followed by rehearsals to prepare for the next Sunday 20th May Mod festival in Bishops Stortford with The Purple Hearts, The Mods, Back To Zero and The Crooks.
That concert was supposed to have been filmed, although we are not aware of any filming done, but the concert start was delayed so we could all watch The London Weekend Show presented by Janet Street Porter who’s weekly Sunday lunchtime TV style show presented an expose on the emerging Mod scene, which included film of The Chords and Purple Hearts performing live at the Wellington Waterloo the previous month.
Three days later on 23rd May we were back at the Dublin Castle with the Sta Prest, and then the next day Thursday 24th May we played at The Wellingon, Waterloo, London for the first time.
We would soon be offered the weekly residency at The Wellington, taking over from The Chords and Merton Parkas. The following day Friday 25th May we played the Red Lion in Leytonstone with Back To Zero and Sta Prest again, and then Saturday 26th May was The Old Hat in Ealing with The Mods! It didn’t end there since we played yet again on Monday 28th May at Notre Dame in Leicester Square with The Purple Hearts, The Mods and Back To Zero!! Another Bank Holiday Monday event!
We closed the month with another hometown gig at Scratchers in Farncombe, just outside Guildford on Friday 1st June.
So the dates were:
5th May Green Man with the Mods
7th May Bridge House Mods Mayday
9th Dublin Castle with Purple Hearts
13th Wooden Bridge Guildford
20th Bishop Stortford Triad - Purple Hearts The Mods, Back To Zero, The Crooks
23rd Dublin Castle with Sta Prest
24th Wellington Waterloo
25th Red Lion Leytonstone with Back To Zero and Sta Prest
26th Old Hat Ealing with The Mods
28th Notre Dame Leicester Square with Purple Hearts The Mods, Back To Zero
1 June ‘Scratchers’ at 3 Lions, Farncombe
May 1979 had seen the emerging ‘mod revival’ turn from being an underground scene to to capturing media and record company interest and all the groups would be releasing records over the next few months. Being a Mod in London in May 1979 was an exciting time and Squire were finally being recognised and written about. We had been featured in the Mod fanzine Maximum Speed Issue 2, had live agencies and record companies showing interest, and had been the first band of the Mod Revival to release a single 'Get Ready To Go' a few weeks earlier in March.
June 1979 would turn out to be even busier for Squire, with dates at the Marquee in Wardour Street, and tour dates outside of London with power pop pioneers The Records.
Talking of single releases, in case you haven’t seen them yet, we have some copies of the latest three 45rpm limited edition coloured vinyl singles in stock! No Time Tomorrow, Girl On A Train and Every Trick (In The Book Of Love) are available from the catalogue page and link by clicking here, or clicking on the picture below.
We have now sold out of Get Ready To Go, Eight Miles High and My Mind Goes Round In Circles 45s, and only have a handful of No Time Tomorrow left.
Finally, we have a very exclusive offer for you! You can get a special ‘Its A Mod Mod World’ Tee shirt and any CD together and enjoy £5 discount! The discount is applied automatically on the check out page, no code required! So now is the time to grab that shirt for the summer that will surely come soon, and enjoy something by Squire you may have been putting off!
With all this reflection on live gigs, and not being able to play live or attend gigs for some time, we sometimes forget the excitement of live music - and especially Squire! So we will leave you with a remarkable video clip filmed in Madrid, Spain from the audience ‘mosh pit’! We have Squire and the audience in full flow and as one voice singing
- Its A Mod Mod World!!!
See you next week for some more delves into the archives and a new competition announcement!
All the best from Squire