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The Lambrettas
 In the spring of 1979, the Mod revival was gathering momentum.
In Brighton, Quadrophenia was being filmed, and in the East
End of London the Bridge House had been holding regular Mods
Monday nights which culminated in a Mods Mayday '79 event
and live album. In June that year, The Lambrettas made their live
début on Hastings Pier.
"We weren't even advertised to
appear. They just stuck us on the bill and we went down so
well," recalled Jez Bird, the lead singer of the Brighton
group that was named after the iconic Italian scooter. "This
guy said: 'I'll be your manager'. He got us some gigs in London
and within about a month we had a singles deal. It was very quick
from nowhere to getting somewhere."
Nine months later, The Lambrettas scored the biggest hit of all
the Mod revival bands when their ska-infused cover of Poison
Ivy sold 250,000 copies and reached Number 7 in the charts. Signed
to Elton John's Rocket Records, the Lambrettas appeared on Top
of the Pops and had further hits with Da-a-a-ance, Another
Day (Another Girl), and their 1980 album Beat Boys in the
Jet Age.
 However, when the Mod revival bubble burst and Ambience,
their proto-Britpop second album, flopped, they broke up, in April
1982. Bird remained a popular face around his home town of Lewes
in East Sussex, still performing in pubs.
Jeremy Bird was born in 1957. He sang and played guitar in an
R&B band called Shakedown with the guitarist Doug Sanders,
before they formed The Lambrettas with bassist Mark Ellis and
drummer Paul Wincer. Their début hit was issued on 2-Stroke, in a
sleeve which pastiched the 2-Tone singles, replacing the pork-pie-hatted
silhouette with a parka-wearing Mod. (The band later toured Europe
with Madness, proving there were no hard feelings.)
The Lambrettas' first single, Go Steady, which
originally appeared on the 499 2139 compilation issued by
Rocket Records in 1979, had been produced by Pete Waterman, who
also suggested they cover Poison Ivy, but the eclectic
all-rounder Peter Collins oversaw the group's first album.
 In
August 1980, Bird had a pop at The Sun's Page Three glamour
models with The Lambrettas' fourth single, originally called Page
3, but the band had to ditch the sleeve and change the song
title to Another Day (Another Girl) after the tabloid
threatened legal action.
In 1982, for their 8th and final single, an ill-advised cover
of Jefferson Airplane's Somebody to Love, they ditched the
Mod look for more casual clothes. "In those days, the image
was gone so quickly. It was always on to the next thing. Fashion
seemed to be much more associated with movements then,"
recalled Bird, who stayed in music, formed Rave On Jack with
Sanders, and later led his own band.
Reflecting on his brief flirtation with the charts in 1980,
Bird was philosophical. "There was a vacuum at that time in
the music business. You had the big bands, the punk thing had shot
its bolt and there was this gap, and it was the Moddy, power-poppy
type bands that filled it up. We were just lucky really, because
we just got The Lambrettas name to get people to our gigs in
Brighton," he said.
"I'm still a Mod at heart. I've still got the suits, the
Harringtons, the DM shoes. In a way it spoils you for real life
having so much success so young, but I wouldn't change it."
Jeremy Bird, singer, songwriter and guitarist: born Lewes, East
Sussex October 1957; married (two children); died Lewes 27 August
2008.
TRIVIA NOTE
Doug Sanders used to wear a piece of clothing with a pedigree
during his time in The Lambrettas - A stage suit once owned by
Charlie Watts (a friend of his dads) and worn at early Rolling
Stones gigs.
Elements of this
article by Pierre Perrone
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Jez Bird
Vocals, guitar, keyboards
Doug Saunders
Guitar
Mark Ellis
Bass
Paul Wincer
Drums
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