WHEN The Specials hired their roadie Neville Staple as a vocalist, they completed a line-up that would take the music industry by storm.
In the melting pot of a late 70s music scene which had been shaken to the core by punk music the band's mix of Jamaican sounds and a very British streetwise sensibility made them overnight heroes.
The emergence of Two-Tone which also included bands like Madness, Bad Manners, The Beat and The Selecter helped Neville and the other band members escape the confines of their hometown Coventry and travel the world.
When they split, Neville - who appears at the Junction next Thursday - and bandmates Lynval Golding and Terry Hall went on to form ska trio Fun Boy Three.
But later on, the popularity of the music began to wane and Neville moved to America.
"I couldn't get work in England," says Neville.
"There's a label of 'has-been' that people can put on you, but I needed to work so I went to America.
"I had already toured over there and I loved it.
But when we got back I couldn't make ends meet in Coventry so I went over there to live and I was working all the time.
"I could sell out the House of Blues. I remember thinking, 'Bloody hell, it's only me'. But they appreciated it.
The Specials only toured America once and I guess they were always gagging for more.
"I used to get all these punk bands like Unwritten Law and Rancid asked me to work with them. That's the difference out there, I would get these bands, even little local bands, asking me to do stuff on their albums and I always said yes.
I never got the same thing here."
But in recent years the scene has enjoyed a resurgence in the UK with tribute ska and Two- Tone acts springing up across the country, Bad Manners launching the annual festival BadFest and the music inspiring a new generation. When Lily Allen's ska pop ditty Smile reached number one it was a sure sign that the winds had changed.
"I heard the ska thing was really big again in England so I came back over," says Neville. "I really struggled at first because people didn't know what I would be like on my own. But now a few people have seen my show it's coming on in leaps and bounds.
"The Specials were all musicians, they knew their Gs from their Cs, but I'm an entertainer. I'll do stuff from The Specials, and Fun Boy Three and also my own stuff. People always want to hear The Specials songs but sometimes I have to say to the crowd, 'Right, that's enough Specials stuff I'm going to play my songs and if you don't like it you can stick it'.
I like to joke around with them."
The energy Neville created on stage with The Specials was partly inspired by watching one of the bands biggest influences, The Clash.
Over the years, he has regularly cited the band as important figures in the gestation of his career and the Two-Tone scene.
"It was their attitude and their live shows," he recalls. "The first time I saw them was when we went on tour with them.
"I'd seen punk bands in Coventry - XTC and The Damned and people like that - but when I saw The Clash it was different.
People went wild and I watched them every night. We were on tour with The Police at the same time and they were good but it wasn't the same. That energy was amazing.
"
Neville Staple and The Beat play the Junction next Thursday, April 12. Tickets are £15. To book call (01223) 511511.
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