Roddy Radiation
Encyclopedia
Roddy Radiation is an English
musician
who played lead guitar
for The Specials
, as well as many rockabilly
bands
such as the Bonediggers and the Tearjerkers. Currently Radiation leads The Skabilly Rebels
, a band that mixes ska
rhythm
s with rockabilly.
in 1975 and were called The Wild Boys. It was in The Wild Boys that he started songwriting
. His first was "1980's Teddy Boy", and later came "Concrete Jungle" which was recorded
by The Specials for their debut album
, Specials
(1979). The Specials version of "Concrete Jungle" was eventually released as a single
by Chrysalis Records
.
Byers joined The Specials when the band was called The Coventry Automatics and wrote several songs for the band. The most successful was "Rat Race", which peaked at number five in the UK Singles Chart
in May 1980. Byers also wrote "Hey Little Rich Girl", which appeared on The Specials second album, More Specials
(1980). "Hey Little Rich Girl" was released as a single in Japan
by Chrysalis in 1980, and covered by Amy Winehouse
on her successful album Back To Black
. Byers sang the lead vocal on "Concrete Jungle" and the track "Bragging and Trying Not to Lie" which was released as a free single with initial copies of More Specials. "Bragging and Trying Not to Lie" was credited as Roddy Radiation & The Specials.
After The Specials split in 1981, Byers was dropped by Chrysalis before he re-emerged with The Tearjerkers, a band that he had begun in the last months of The Specials. The band played numerous gigs and a cult following. The band originally were Roddy Byers (vocals/guitar), Mark Byers (vocals/guitar), Joe Hughes (vocals/bass), Pete Davies (drums) and Slim Tearjerker aka Clive Pain (vocals/keys/accordion). The later version was comprised Roddy Byers (vocals/guitar) Mark Byers (vocals/guitar) Badger (bass) and Tony Lynch (drums). The Tearjerkers were signed up by Chiswick Records
in 1982, and released their debut single "Desire" b/w "Western Song". The band finally split in 1987 because, as Roddy commented, "after seven years there was no major recording success".
The Bonediggers were formed shortly after the Tearjerkers. The band released a self titled album on Rimshot Records the following year. The band consisted of David West (vocals/guitar), Roddy Radiation (vocals/guitar), Sam Smith (bass), Gary Muldoon (drums), later replaced by Jim Pryall. Byers still plays alongside Smith in his current band, The Skabilly Rebels.
Byers was an essential part of 'The Specials 2', who formed in the early 1990s after teaming up with Desmond Dekker
for the King Of Kings album. The group toured for a couple of years throughout the UK, America and Japan. They released two singles "Hypocrite" and a cover of Toots & the Maytals
"Pressure Drop
". The band recorded two albums 1996 Today's Specials
, a compilation
of covers
and 1998 Guilty 'til Proved Innocent!
which were made up of original material. Byers contributed songs for latter's "Tears in My Beer," "Bonediggin'," "Keep on Learning" and "The Man With No Name".
After The Specials 2, Byers worked with the acoustic project, Three Men & Black, which consisted of Jean Jacques Burnel (The Stranglers
), Jake Burns
(Stiff Little Fingers
), Pauline Black (The Selecter
), Bruce Foxton
(The Jam
) and Dave Wakeling
(The Beat
, General Public
) and Nick Welsh (Skaville UK).
Byers' current band, The Skabilly Rebels, are based in Coventry. They are Byers (lead guitar and vocals), Sam Smith (The Bonediggers) on rhythm guitar, Paul Ayriss (The Tone/Ex-Cathedra/The Spitters) on drums, Mac (Travis Cut /The Pharaohs) on bass, Jay Jones (Lee Perry) on keyboards and Drew Stansall (Laurel Aitken
/Prince Buster
/Rico Rodriguez
) on saxophone. They released their debut album 'Blues Attack' at the end of 2009.
In 2009 Byers is touring with the reformed Specials.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
who played lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
for The Specials
The Specials
The Specials are an English 2 Tone ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry, England. Their music combines a "danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude", and had a "more focused and informed political and social stance" than other ska groups...
, as well as many rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
bands
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
such as the Bonediggers and the Tearjerkers. Currently Radiation leads The Skabilly Rebels
The Skabilly Rebels
The Skabilly Rebels are an English band formed in 2003 by Roddy "Radiation" Byers, formerly of The Specials and Sam Smith, who had previously worked together in rockabilly band The Bonediggers. The band is based in Coventry, England...
, a band that mixes ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
s with rockabilly.
Biography
Byers' first real band was formed in CoventryCoventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
in 1975 and were called The Wild Boys. It was in The Wild Boys that he started songwriting
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
. His first was "1980's Teddy Boy", and later came "Concrete Jungle" which was recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
by The Specials for their debut album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Specials
Specials (album)
Specials is the debut album by British ska revival band The Specials.Released in 1979 on Jerry Dammers' 2Tone label, the album is seen by some as the defining moment in the UK ska scene...
(1979). The Specials version of "Concrete Jungle" was eventually released as a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
by Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...
.
Byers joined The Specials when the band was called The Coventry Automatics and wrote several songs for the band. The most successful was "Rat Race", which peaked at number five in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in May 1980. Byers also wrote "Hey Little Rich Girl", which appeared on The Specials second album, More Specials
More Specials
More Specials is an October 1980 album from the ska band The Specials. The album was the band's second, after their self-titled debut, and expanded the group's 2 tone sound to include lounge music and other influences. It includes collaborations with The Go-Go's, Rhoda Dakar from The...
(1980). "Hey Little Rich Girl" was released as a single in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
by Chrysalis in 1980, and covered by Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...
on her successful album Back To Black
Back to Black
Back to Black is the second studio album by English recording artist Amy Winehouse, released on 27 October 2006 by Island Records. It is the last album released in her lifetime. The album incorporates 1960s soul music styles and modern R&B production, with subjective lyrics that concern...
. Byers sang the lead vocal on "Concrete Jungle" and the track "Bragging and Trying Not to Lie" which was released as a free single with initial copies of More Specials. "Bragging and Trying Not to Lie" was credited as Roddy Radiation & The Specials.
After The Specials split in 1981, Byers was dropped by Chrysalis before he re-emerged with The Tearjerkers, a band that he had begun in the last months of The Specials. The band played numerous gigs and a cult following. The band originally were Roddy Byers (vocals/guitar), Mark Byers (vocals/guitar), Joe Hughes (vocals/bass), Pete Davies (drums) and Slim Tearjerker aka Clive Pain (vocals/keys/accordion). The later version was comprised Roddy Byers (vocals/guitar) Mark Byers (vocals/guitar) Badger (bass) and Tony Lynch (drums). The Tearjerkers were signed up by Chiswick Records
Chiswick Records
Chiswick Records was a British record company. Chiswick was the "first true 'indie' label" to be established in Britain for nearly a decade". The label has been described as "significant" in the "punk era"...
in 1982, and released their debut single "Desire" b/w "Western Song". The band finally split in 1987 because, as Roddy commented, "after seven years there was no major recording success".
The Bonediggers were formed shortly after the Tearjerkers. The band released a self titled album on Rimshot Records the following year. The band consisted of David West (vocals/guitar), Roddy Radiation (vocals/guitar), Sam Smith (bass), Gary Muldoon (drums), later replaced by Jim Pryall. Byers still plays alongside Smith in his current band, The Skabilly Rebels.
Byers was an essential part of 'The Specials 2', who formed in the early 1990s after teaming up with Desmond Dekker
Desmond Dekker
Desmond Dekker was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group, The Aces , he had one of the first international Jamaican hits with "Israelites". Other hits include "007 " and "It Miek"...
for the King Of Kings album. The group toured for a couple of years throughout the UK, America and Japan. They released two singles "Hypocrite" and a cover of Toots & the Maytals
Toots & the Maytals
Toots and the Maytals, originally called simply The Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group and one of the best known ska and reggae vocal groups. According to Sandra Brennan at Allmusic, "The Maytals were key figures in reggae music...
"Pressure Drop
Pressure Drop (song)
"Pressure Drop" is a song recorded in 1969 by The Maytals for producer Leslie Kong. The song appears on their 1970 album Monkey Man and From the Roots...
". The band recorded two albums 1996 Today's Specials
Today's Specials
Today's Specials is a cover album by The Specials, released in 1996 . It is the first studio album by the group since 1984 although not in the full original line-up.-Track listing:#"Take Five" - 3:56...
, a compilation
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
of covers
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
and 1998 Guilty 'til Proved Innocent!
Guilty 'til Proved Innocent!
Guilty 'til Proved Innocent! is an album by The Specials, released in 1998 . It is the first studio album of new songs by the group since 1984...
which were made up of original material. Byers contributed songs for latter's "Tears in My Beer," "Bonediggin'," "Keep on Learning" and "The Man With No Name".
After The Specials 2, Byers worked with the acoustic project, Three Men & Black, which consisted of Jean Jacques Burnel (The Stranglers
The Stranglers
The Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...
), Jake Burns
Jake Burns
Jake Burns is a singer and guitarist, and is best known as the frontman of Stiff Little Fingers.-Career:...
(Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977, at the height of the Troubles. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star , doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They split up after six years and four albums, although they...
), Pauline Black (The Selecter
The Selecter
The Selecter are a 2 Tone ska revival band from Coventry, England, formed in mid 1979.Like many other bands in the ska revival movement, The Selecter featured a racially diverse line-up. Their lyrics featured themes connected to politics and marijuana, set to strong melodies and a danceable beat...
), Bruce Foxton
Bruce Foxton
Bruce Foxton is an English rock and roll musician who is best known as the bass player in punk rock bands The Jam and Stiff Little Fingers.-Biography:...
(The Jam
The Jam
The Jam were an English punk rock/New Wave/mod revival band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were formed in Woking, Surrey. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries, The Jam wore smartly tailored suits rather than ripped...
) and Dave Wakeling
Dave Wakeling
Dave Wakeling is an English rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is most famous for singing and writing songs for the 1980s 2-Tone band The Beat and also General Public.-Career:...
(The Beat
The Beat (band)
The Beat are a 2 Tone ska revival band founded in England in 1978. Their songs fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock, and their lyrics deal with themes of love, unity and sociopolitical topics....
, General Public
General Public
General Public were a band formed by The Beat vocalists, Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger, and which included former members of Dexy's Midnight Runners, The Specials and The Clash...
) and Nick Welsh (Skaville UK).
Byers' current band, The Skabilly Rebels, are based in Coventry. They are Byers (lead guitar and vocals), Sam Smith (The Bonediggers) on rhythm guitar, Paul Ayriss (The Tone/Ex-Cathedra/The Spitters) on drums, Mac (Travis Cut /The Pharaohs) on bass, Jay Jones (Lee Perry) on keyboards and Drew Stansall (Laurel Aitken
Laurel Aitken
Lorenzo Aitken , better known as Laurel Aitken, was a singer and one of the originators of Jamaican ska music. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of ska".-Career:...
/Prince Buster
Prince Buster
Cecil Bustamente Campbell, O.D. , better known as Prince Buster, and also known by his Muslim name Muhammed Yusef Ali, is a musician from Kingston, Jamaica. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of ska and rocksteady music...
/Rico Rodriguez
Rico Rodriguez
Rico Rodriguez MBE , also known as Reco or El Reco, is a ska and reggae trombonist. He has recorded with many producers, including Karl Pitterson, Prince Buster, and Lloyd 'Matador' Daley...
) on saxophone. They released their debut album 'Blues Attack' at the end of 2009.
In 2009 Byers is touring with the reformed Specials.