Mods 19:64 Photographic Exhibition

Introduction

1964 was the year when Mods and Rockers fought on the beaches of southern England and Mod philosophy exploded unapologetically into UK mainstream culture. For many, life would never be the same again. Mods 19:64 is a black and white photographic exploration that captures Leicester and Nottingham Mods from that remarkable year as they are in 2019 – 19:64.

Most of the images were taken outside iconic Mod related buildings in both cities, such as the Dungeon nightclub in Nottingham and the Il Rondo in Leicester.

The perception is the Mod scene was all about London, but that wasn’t the case. Provincial cities throughout the UK played pivotal roles with their own vibrant scenes, and the East Midlands was no exception.

Originally featured in The Independent newspaper and exhibited in the Lightbox Gallery at the LCB Depot, Leicester, the photographs have been taken by Joe Nixon, co-founder of design agency Arch Creative. The images are accompanied by quotations curated by author Shaun Knapp and taken from his book, Mods: Two City Connection.

In the early 1960s I, like others in this book, was fortunate enough to hang out with a group of progressive teenagers who were being turned on to a new sound finding its way across the Atlantic via Radio Luxembourg and the American Forces Network in Germany.

Before long specialist record shops opened up selling the latest soul, r&b, jazz and blues records imported from the States, and some kids were so passionate about the music they became DJ’s, spreading the sound through youth clubs, dance halls, clubs and cafes across the country. By 1963 we were all religiously watching Ready Steady Go on the TV, and in awe of the artists and groups from Detroit that were performing these sounds, who looked sensational in their mohair suits, and unlike anything we had seen before.

At the weekend we couldn’t wait to get out to a club following soul DJs and bands wherever they were playing just to get another fix of this amazing music, and dance the night away, with the aid of a few illicit pep pills.

At the same time boutiques began to pop up in back streets of Leicester and Nottingham selling young hip clothes that fit the music. We called ourselves stylists, the tabloid press labelled us Mods, and we were the new in crowd.

To the outsider we probably appeared quite narcissistic, conceited and threatening to their straight conformity, perhaps because we dressed in an individually styled way that was intriguing to straight kids, with subtleties only recognizable to others on our scene.

And no one, least of all your parents, understood why you would want to spend all your hard-earned money on expensive clothes, records and drugs and dance all night.

Mod captured the heart and soul of my generation and for a few short intoxicating years it became a way of life.

The most heart-warming things that have come out of the Mods: Shaping a Generation project is the incredibly successful exhibition, Shaun Knapp’s excellent Two City Connection and indeed this book, are the wonderful memories that people have shared, and the fabulous rare photos that have been unearthed, as I don’t remember many people taking photos back in the day, or perhaps we were just too busy living the life to have time to stop and record it.

Roger K. Burton

The Mod scene was all about image, and looking seriously cool, so you won’t find many smiles going on here, but I hope I’ve managed to capture the essence of the original Mods as they are now.

The juxtaposition of the then and now portraits isn’t as stark as it might be. The Mods I photographed hold the same obsession to stand out from the crowd as they did almost 55 years ago. The accompanying quotations from Shaun’s book compounds this sensibility.

By 1964, the Mod movement was in full swing; swinging with hedonistic exuberance. In 2019, the faces are no longer youthful, but the expression of identity remains.

Sadly we don’t have original photos of all the Mods featured in the book (not many people carried cameras back then), but the sense of Mod individuality, self-creation and style is still evident. There’s no mistaking that they are still the same person, both then and now.

‘Once a Mod, always a Mod’ is a mantra which is followed rigorously by many. For some, this manifests in their appearance today, but for others this isn’t so important. What is paramount is their outlook and way of life which holds values set over half a century ago.

The project has blossomed into something more special than we could have imagined, culminating in Mods 19:64. We’ve been privileged to document these personalities through their images – faces which reflect some fascinating life stories.

One of the most rewarding aspects of working on the High Flying Around / Two City Connection books was meeting the people that were actually part of that incredible decade and listening to their stories and reminiscences.

After all, for me, that was the overall aim of both projects – to record these fascinating and unique stories for future generations to read, learn and enjoy. Seeing it all come together in both sound and vision at the amazingly popular ‘Mods: Shaping a Generation’ exhibition at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery was just an incredible bonus, none of us who worked on it expected such an emotional response from those that visited it and I don’t think we’ll ever forget it.

The exhibition was brimming with images of Leicester and Nottingham Mods from the 1960s. After collating those images, one angle that both Joe and I knew we wanted to explore was to photograph those very same people as they were today, hopefully outside some of those iconic buildings and venues that had become part of their story. And we did exactly that – over the course of a year, we took those original 1960’s Mods back to some of those key locations and recorded them in situ.

I’m so glad that we undertook this part of the project – for me, Mods 19:64 feels like a fitting ‘full stop’ to both the books and exhibition and I hope you enjoy it.