Scooterboys:TheLostTribe-Martin‘Sticky’Round-Carpet BombingCulture
Part of the Carpet Bombing Culture ‘Two
finger salute’, aimed at castingaspotlight
on British youth sub-culture which, over
time, have become truly worldwide
entities. Scooterboys–The LostTribe,
joins Mods:AWay of Life, and Skins: A
WayofLife as the third part of the
publisher’strilogy (so far) of books.
Previous two titles were both by Patrick
Potter,withMartin ‘Sticky Round’, the
author of this, the third. Scooterboys, and
scootergirls, were arguably the last of the
great British youth cultures of the 20th
century.Yet, with few exceptions there is
little documentation from outside of the
close-knit scene that has been recorded
by the mainstream media during the
heyday of the Scooterboy era. This is in
part due to lazy journalists and newspaper
hacks seeingamatt black cutdown
chopper scooter and erroneously deciding
the rider wasamod. Oh, how we laughed!
The book contains 175 images in colour
and black and white, many previously
unpublished from personal collections, and
many capturing memories ofaseriously
misspent youth, which was sampled to the
full by tens of thousands of similarly
minded teens and 20-somethings from just
about all points of the United Kingdom.
Sticky himself experienced first-hand the
vast majorityof th eScooterboy years, from
within. As well as which, he was fortunate
enough to combine work with pleasure,
from the infamous Isle ofWight August
Bank Holiday weekend of 1986 (which
descended intoanear riot, resulting in a
ban on scooter rallies on the island for a
number of years after), until the present. A
freelancer to scooter specialist
publications, in more recent times he
penned several books, all of which were
best-s ellers, from Frankenstein Scooters to
Draculas Castles, plus three versions of A
Complete Spanners workshop manual and
guide to Lambrettas.
Accompanying the captivating
photographs is Sticky’snarrative in his
unique style of humorous observation and
acerbic wit, tracing the origins of the 80s
scooterboys, the DNA, the styles, fashions
and, most importantly,the scooters.
Scooterboys werearainbow alliance of
elements drawn from many other British
sub-cultures, all joined together with a
mutual appreciation, even love, of vintage
two-stroke (in the main) Italian shopping
mopeds. The predominantlyVespaand
Lambretta machines were probably never
intended to be anything other than cheap
transport, yet throughout the 80s and
beyond these two-wheeled modes of
transport clocked up countless thousands
of miles to meet and party with
compatriots who sharedasimilar
rebellious outlook. If your formative years
were spent as part of the scooterboy youth
culture, this is your story,(indeed, you or
some of your mates might actually be in
one of the images) If you weren’t, Sticky’s
latest book providesataste of what you
missed out on. For those of us, and there
were many involved with the 80s
Scooterboy culture, there is so much
contained within these pages to
empathise and identify with. For example,
the epiphany-like experience of heading
off toanational rally asamod revivalist,
partly inspired by the film Quadrophenia,
but returning from that rally asafully-
fledg ed scooterboy.Throughout the 1980s
the national scooter rallies were, for me,
the time of my life. This book captures
the very essence of those retrospectively
great times. Anabsol utely essential buy.
Sarge
Scootering
Words &Sounds
Containedin music somehow more than just sound...
DarronJConnett-Advantages ofLiving-NorradRecords
Neatly followingonfrom Loyalty Lies comes the brand new 11 track offering, Advantages Of Living, from the talented and prolific
singer/songwriter DarronJConnett. Advantages Of Living arguably,and potentially,isD arron’sbest work yet. The opening track,
Stare, isascorching indie-meets-classic-British-guitar-pop stormer.and sets thescene for what is to follow.Advantages of Living,
in its entirety,touches all bases, and embraces the many elements of musical styles in Darron’srepertoire.Title track is second
up. The slow-burning intro builds toapowerful chorus, enhanced by the glacial backing vocals of Izzy.Bycontrast, blue-eyed soul
stormer,Lose Myself, with its funky flavour,heads off intoadifferent dimension, while the semi-acoustic, shimmeringly haunting
Push Aside injects more thanadegree of raw emotion to this album. Similar in structure
to its predecessor is Forbidden Chances, albeitastripped down to the bone lament that
tugs on heartstrings. Poor Caroline sees Izzy in effect joining Darron on what is practically
aduet, with Izzy’svocals perfectly layed under Darron’slead. We then enter dark, moody
and broody territories in Lost InTransit, before Pantomime, where Darron flexes his lyrical
genius to the max... ‘I’m the jester to the King and Queen’ as he artistically paints
pictures with words and sounds. Chiming chords lead into KeenAviator,a24-carat
nugget of pure pop in the true sense of the word. Penultimate number Personal Gain
abounds with grooves, beats and vibes, aimed at destroying dance floors everywhere. The
closing number,Venus inaCaravan, seems like the very best of an impressively high-
quality album’sworth of songs. Held back till last, this simply awesome track is, in my
opinion, the prime contender ifasingle is going to be lifted from this superb new album.
CD £8, free postage via PayPal at [email protected]
Sarge
78 |SCOOTERING|AUGUST2019
