Coventry Automatics / The Specials 1978

 Coventry Automatics / The Specials 1978

by Pete Clemons

Coventry band, The Specials, began around the same time as the Rock Against Racism movement which began to organise itself during 1978. And, according to Jerry Dammers, anti racism was intrinsic to the formation of the band.

One of the earliest gigs by the newly named Specials was at an Anti Nazi League gig held at Warwick University. It is interesting to read feedback from that gig. Reports within the appraisal appears to be conflicting as to how it was all viewed. Which I guess was typical of the time as universities were still coming to terms with the punk rock movement and its spin off's:...........

At Westwood on Saturday you had the opportunity to view the most promising talent that the city of Coventry has produced over the last year or so. The charge was a modest 50p and the band described were The Specials, only recently and, formerly the Coventry Automatics.

Events at Monday night's Anti Nazi League concert highlighted some of the difficulties Warwick University Student's Union is now facing over the question of open gigs.

Three bands took part; God's Toys, Squad and The Specials. Scuffles began during Squad's performance, but did not escalate until their last number, when a minor disturbance broke out among thirty or so fans.

This continued for some time until stewards formed a wall in front of the audience to prevent them from leaping onto the stage. An eye witness remarked 'The stewards showed remarkable restraint under extreme provocation'.

Arts Federation stewards calmed things down before the arrival of the main group, The Specials, a New Wave/Reggae band. However there were numerous surges towards the stage as well as repeated attempts by members of the crowd to entice individual stewards into acts of violence. The Specials contributed to the uneasy atmosphere by singing 'You're gonna get your f... ing heads kicked in', which brought immediate verbal retaliation.

One of the group shouted 'Why don't you continue throwing paper planes at us, you know they split our heads open?'. The band returned for an encore which added to growing antagonism as some of the crowd began to threaten stewards. The lead singer of The Specials then challenged the audience 'Come and kick the seven bells of shit out of the bouncers'.

When the band finally left the stage the audience quietened down and began to drift away. The entertainments steward was instrumental in keeping order. He made clear his disgust with the situation. He criticised the choice of band and 'the type of music which encourages these people'. He added 'I detest trying to control these little kids who should still be at school'. However he praised the ANL stewards who were doing a good job.

Entertainments officials at the concert estimated about 620 people were present, of which about fifty per cent of whom were non-students.

Conflicting opinions exist as to the nature of the night's proceedings. A spokesman for Warwick University Against the Nazis, stressed that there was really no trouble at all, it had been a good evening, and everyone had enjoyed themselves.

The porter for the night concurred that it was 'One of the quietest nights we've ever known, crowd and incident wise'. He continued 'I saw no trouble at all'.

However the Arts Federation house manager, claimed another side to the evenings entertainment. 'Two of our stewards refused to wear Anti-Nazi League tee-shirts. They were worried'. He added that 'After a gig by The Dependants and Hardtop 22 gig I was forced to take out life insurance for my lads, because they refused to work otherwise. He also accused a former Warwick student, and general secretary as being responsible for some of the charges towards the stage.