On a sunny afternoon in Perth’s Scone Palace grounds at Rewind Festival, I sat down with Buster Bloodvessel. As frontman of a seven-piece Bad Manners, Buster and the group helped push a ska revival movement in the late 1970s and early 80s. 1980 saw new genres coming to the forefront of music and many new records were released. Included in this vast array of new music were three albums from Bad Manners in that one year alone. Their debut was named “Gosh It’s…” with “Loonee Tunes!” and “Ska ‘N’ B” following in quick succession. The latter of these albums is home to some Bad Manners’ biggest hits like ‘Lip Up Fatty‘ and ‘Special Brew‘.
This ska revival lasted until the mid 1980s and after their 1985 record “Mental Notes“, Bad Manners took a temporary hiatus. Accompanying Buster Bloodvessel as founding members were saxophonists Andrew Marson and Chris Kane, Gus Herman on trumpet and drummer Brian Tuitt. Completing the original lineup were Martin Stewart on keyboard, bassist David Farren and guitarist Louis Cook. In 1989, Bad Manners returned to music with sixth studio album “Return of the Sky“.
What keeps Bad Manners so prevalent is their live performances. I’ve never seen Bad Manners live, so watching the atmosphere from the crowd alongside Buster Bloodvessel’s stage presence was intriguing. When I sat down with Buster after his performance, I asked how the set went for him and how it felt to watch so many people singing and dancing along. “How did it feel?” he started, “it was great!”. He went on to say, “the crowd were great, the band played well,” before concluding, “I’m happy, it was a good performance!“.
I then asked Buster what he loves most about playing festivals like Rewind Scotland. He began by saying it’s, “the fact that you get across to so many people, it’s really good.” Buster also mentioned that, “it makes life a bit easier than just playing small clubs, which we love doing as well. It just makes it a bit bigger“. I was intrigued to know what his favourite songs were to play live, and which ones got the best reactions. “Well obviously ‘Special Brew‘, ‘Lip up Fatty‘,” he listed before saying that, “you’re too good to be true [Can’t Take My Eyes Off You] gets everyone going.“
“I’m quite frustrated that we haven’t spent more time doing that.“
As Bad Manners work primarily within the boundaries of the ska and reggae genres, I asked Buster if there were any styles of music that he’d like to try and master. He said, “we have done, in recordings.” However Buster did note that, “we’ve tried to stick to, maybe, Bad Manners, sort of, styles. So ska, reggae.” Concluding, Buster did say, “listen, you can never be silly enough not to try everything.“
Staying with the topic of ska, I asked Buster who his favourite artists and bands are from that style. “The Skatalites, I always listen to,” he started off before also stating, “Prince Buster, I’ll always love.” He further added that, “I like, just bands from that era. Anything from the 60s, ska or reggae, I’m into it“. When asked if they were his biggest musical inspirations, Buster said, “I’ve got lots of inspirations!“. He mentioned that a lot of, “people don’t realise, Louis Prima and Louis Jordan are two of my favourite artists“.
I later asked Buster what piece of advice he would give to his younger self. “Don’t do it,” he replied before laughing, “no, it depends on the question doesn’t it?“. I narrowed it down to music specifically, “it’s a very hard thing to write a good song“. Buster added that regarding writing a good song, “we haven’t done it for a while. And I’m quite frustrated that we haven’t spent more time doing that. We’ve, sort of, relied on touring“. On a more positive note, though, he concluded, “next year is 50 years of our band [Bad Manners]. So we intend to release an album.“
As my final question, I asked Buster which artist, band or album he could listen to on repeat forever. “That’s a question and a half isn’t it,” he joked before saying he’d like to, “take a second to think about that one“. I nodded and he pondered for a moment, “let’s be sensible,” he started, “it’ll be Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, “Gorilla“.“
Bad Manners, fronted by Buster Bloodvessel will perform at both Rewind North and South. Be sure to catch their set if you can. Their energy was unmatched and you’ll definitely know their tracks.
