Thursday, July 21
The Selecter set the '2 Tone' at at The Stables Spiegeltent with all of the anarchic passion that fuelled them when they toured with The Specials and Madness.
The songs you want to hear - Three Minute Hero, Missing Words and On My Radio - will play out alongside more recent cuts lifted from last year's long-player Subculture. It'll be a lively night , for sure!
Formidable frontlady Pauline Black will be joined by original member Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson, Spear of Destiny player Neil Pyzer, and Will Crewdon, who some of you will remember from colourful dates here in MK in the distant past with Rachel Stamp.
Ahead of the show, Pauline went On Track with Total MK...
The song that first awakened your musical senses
Desmond Dekker: Israelites
Physical or digital - how do you take your music?
Any which way it comes. It's the music that counts, not the way it is delivered. A desperately thirsty person in a desert doesn't care if the water is in a bottle or a puddle, just so long as it quenches their thirst and saves their life.
The first time you thought 'Music - this is the job for me'
1977 when i first picked up a guitar and accompanied myself singing down the pub in front of about 20 people.
Your best on stage memory...
Singing "Madness" with ska legend Prince Buster in 1991 in Nagoya, Japan
And the worst gig you've ever done
Somewhere in Buffalo NYNY in 1992. The audience were expecting a 'wet T-shirt' competition.
Needless to say the promoter was nowhere to be found.
What made you take up singing
It never occurred to me to let anybody else sing the songs I wrote.
Which one song by another artist do you wish you'd have written
Wicked Games by Chris Isaak
And one - by yourself - which holds special significance
Black & Blue which I wrote for The Selecter's 'Too Much Pressure' album. It was how I felt at the time in 1980
If you could step into the shoes of another musician, living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?
James Brown: Say it Loud, I'm Black & I'm Proud
Are there any current musical influences that you might look to
I like what FKA Twigs, Corinne Bailey Rae & Laura Mvula do.
And any genre of music that you simply can't stand?
Prog Rock.
Finally, plug your show at IF:Fest in Milton Keynes on Thursday - what can we expect?
2-tone music to re-invigorate the mind and tickle the soles of the dancing feet.
Tickets are £18, and show time is 7.45pm. To book visit www.ifmiltonkeynes.org
>Also recommended: Rimini Protokoll: Remote Milton Keynes, ay All Saints Church, Loughton and City Centre
