Published: Thursday, 18th June, 2009 10:49am

The Jam founder's delight at gig in pal Stuart's home town

Comments (0) | Print | Email

AS drummer and founder member of The Jam, one of Britain"s greatest-ever bands, Rick Buckler had the music world at his feet with a string of number ones and sell-out tours in front of huge stadium crowds.

Songs like "Eton Rifles", "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight", "Going Underground", "Town Called Malice", "That"s Entertainment" and "Beat Surrender" still live on as all-time classics.

However, after five years at the top, singer Paul Weller suddenly called time on their success to do his own thing, much to the shock of the adoring fans – and of the other band members, Rick and bassist Bruce Foxton.

Rick eventually turned his back on the music business altogether and spent 12 years as a carpenter and furniture restorer.

Finally, though, the lure of the drum kit proved too much and now Rick is back on the road with Bruce, performing as From The Jam, with Russell Hastings on vocals, and have been earning glowing reviews and turning back the clock for those still-fervent fans.

They are playing at Dunfermline"s Velocity on 8th August and Rick has been talking to the Press about his re-born career, the glory days of The Jam, the chances of a re-union and of his old friend Stuart Adamson.

Asked how he was enjoying being back behind the drums, Rick said, 'It"s been really good. It was a bit weird to start with because we were discovering what the fan base was going to be.

'We expected some of the old fans but it"s been nice to see that we"ve also been attracting younger fans who"ve obviously been listening to the records.

'It"s just really good to get the chance to do it and this is probably as close to a re-union as anyone is going to see, as obviously Paul is well into his own thing.

'So, yeah, it"s just really good to be out there. The reaction"s been really good from the fans. Obviously, they want to hear the hits but there"s so much stuff within The Jam catalogue, there"s almost too much to choose from in a way. It"s a bit of a dilemma which numbers do we leave out.

'But that"s not a bad situation to be in and some songs go down better than others. We obviously play "Town Called Malice" and have "Tube Station" in there.

'The whole thing really began for me with The Gift (a Jam tribute band) when I started with Russell and had the opportunity to revisit some of these songs just for my own sake really.

'I didn"t really think of anything beyond that but it was soon realised that a lot of the original Jam fans also wanted to hear a lot of this stuff and it"s been pretty well received.

'I"m quite pleased about that. It"s still just as hard work as it used to be but at the end of the night it"s rewarding.

'It"s unbelievable in itself that it"s now 30 years on and that the songs have stood the test of time. We"re still physically capable of doing it, although I maybe feel just a little older.

'It sounds terrible when you think it"s 25, 30 years ago but we"ve really just taken that in our stride. We"re enjoying it for what it is. We don"t analyse it too much.

'I was involved in a couple of bands after The Jam and did some other projects, running a recording studio and managing. I found myself in the fortunate position of being able to choose what I wanted to do.

'I thought I"d dive out of the music business for a year or two. I went into carpentry and spent a couple of years with a fully qualified cabinet-maker and started working in that field. Before I knew it 12 years had passed by.

'It just seemed to have flown by and so when I was approached by Russ I thought, "Well this might be my last opportunity to get back into playing".

'I never really thought that I would stop playing altogether but nothing ever seemed to come along. Then Bruce was at a loose end at the same time and so to team up with him again – I never really saw that one coming but life is full of surprises.'

Looking back to The Jam"s heyday of 1977 to "82 when they had four number one hits, Rick recalled, 'It was very much a whirlwind thing. We didn"t have time to stop and reflect on it at the time.

'We were getting our first record deal, then getting our first single out, then the first album. There were a lot of firsts and we were relatively young then. It was very, very exciting and we were doing everything we had wanted.

'It was a dream come true really. We were able to fulfil that and go on to tour other countries and have that kind of success.

'It was absolutely unbelievable but at the time we just got on with it. We enjoyed it, we didn"t question it too much and I suppose to a certain degree almost took it for granted. It"s like the old saying – you never know what you"ve got until you"ve lost it.'

After the shock split, there was a court case over royalties and a major falling out between Weller and the other two, which has so far never been resolved.

Rick said, 'Bruce bumped into him at some festival. I think it was fairly serendipitous. I haven"t really had that opportunity. From what Bruce is saying, I think Paul has probably mellowed a little bit.

'I find it difficult because the only thing I see of Paul Weller is when he blows up in the press, venting spleen or moaning about this, that or the other.

'I"m not really sure where he"s at but he"s obviously still got his successful career and he will always be known as a great songwriter. For ages, he seemed to deny The Jam in a way. He wouldn"t talk about it but it"s good now that he"s going back and playing these great songs. He"s got a lot to be proud of, as we all have really.'

The fans would love to see a full re-union but Paul Weller has made it clear he"s not interested.

However, it is not unusual these days for feuding bands to get back together – Pink Floyd and The Eagles for example. Could there be even a one-off final Jam gig, to raise money for charity perhaps?

Rick replied, 'He"s having a lot of success with his own career at the moment and that"s obviously where he wants to concentrate his time. We"ll just have to see.'

As The Jam made their big breakthrough at the height of the punk era in "77, Dunfermline"s own The Skids were also arriving on the scene.

'The Skids were coming up at the same time as us. I remember particularly Stuart Adamson with them and then evolving into Big Country. The Skids were a fantastic group. I loved those sort of bands, The Skids and The Ruts, the ones who didn"t seem to be headline-grabbers but I thought they had something really fantastic with songs like "Yankee Dollar".

'I thought they were great and it was a real shame when Stuart Adamson died. He used to send me Christmas cards for a few years which I used to really like. He will really be missed.

'I did some demo work when Stuart was starting Big Country. He didn"t have a bass player or a drummer so I went into the studio with him and did some demos and they then went on and got Big Country together.

'I knew Stuart quite well and they played with us on a support slot. Mark Brzezicki is a brilliant drummer and Bruce (Foxton) subsequently ended up working with him in one of his bands. Great guys and great players.'

The Dunfermline gig is being promoted by Weekend Revolution as part of FifeFest. Tickets are £20 and available via ticketweb.co.uk and from 3rd Base Records.