By Scott Beaty
Remember the scene in Village of the Damned where one of the adults suddenly turns around to find herself surrounded by a dozen evil white haired children bent on brutally murdering her? That happened to me a couple of weeks ago. Well, sort of.
Replace the white hair with shags that look like they just fell off an early Who album cover. Instead of children, the mob was in its 20s. And rather than harbouring an intense desire to kill me, they seemed quite content to talk amongst themselves and look hip in their undersized vintage suits. But there were thousands of them.
It seems the Mods are back. Or did they ever go away?
Mods — short for the decidedly less cool sounding modernists — first sprung up in the U.K. in the 1960s as a reaction to the stereotypical American greaser. Instead of motorcycles, they rode Italian scooters. And instead of jeans and leather jackets, the Mods embraced a sort of “new-dandyism” — preferring tight three-button suits and high fashion.
And then there was the music. Early Mod bands played covers of American Motown sped up to a frenzied pace, eventually writing their own soul-inspired songs.
But with the exception of The Who and a few others, most bands didn’t gather much attention outside Britain.
Which brings us back to the current Mod revival.
I had my Village of the Damned moment at a concert by Scottish indie-popsters Belle and Sebastian in Toronto — a city now home to a club that promises to be all Mod, all the time. The Mod Club Theatre will cater to those for whom Mod is a lifestyle rather than a musical choice, and aims to provide an atmosphere that is more Carnaby than College Street.
But why is Mod culture experiencing this revival in 2003? Are today’s youngsters just too apathetic or J-Lo crazy to come up with their own hip subculture?
Seth Glynn is a DJ who has been running “Britpop” night at Brixton’s on Sparks Street for more than a year. Although what he plays is not necessarily all Mod by definition, he says there is a definite allure to the lesser known Brit bands from yesterday and today.
“I think it’s because you can discover it on your own,” Glynn says. “It’s not on the radio so it’s up to you to find the bands. I think part of the attraction is the exploration, and part of it is that I think it’s just better music.”
Glynn can’t put his finger on the reason for the current resurgence of long hair, suits and scooters, but he’s definitely noticed it around town.
And another club in Ottawa is set to provide a home for the Mod crowd — if only for one day of the week. Helsinki, a trendy Scandinavian-inspired lounge, is kicking off a Sunday Mod night aimed at attracting the uber-cool to its market location.
Maybe the reason Mod culture has become cool again is because it’s just that — damn cool. You could do far worse than cruising around a city on a vintage scooter listening to obscure Motown, or dancing until the early hours of the morning at a club guaranteed not to play the latest pre-ordained Much Music hit.
And even if the Mods may be clinging to a piece of history that can’t exist outside the unique framework of the original time and place, at least they’re not responsible for the current, and disturbing, 1980s renaissance.