I remember first seeing the band The Mods on the gig list for The Rayners in about 2001 and thinking "No, don't like the sound of that" associating, stupidly, the band getting an audience of scooter riders in Parka coats all looking for a fight, thinking that Brighton has come to West London. So what was I to do that weekend?
Two days later and the same list manifested itself on the pub table again. "Shall we go or not?" "Oh, to hell with it, it is a night out, so lets go...."
In October 2004 I went again, this was about the sixth time in three years they had played down The Rayners and I think I missed only one. It seems they play there twice a year, I urge you to make the effort to go.
The Mods on the face of it are a pub band, playing mid to late sixties covers. That is where any resemblance to a "pub band" stops, hell no, it does not just stop it slams, very hard in to the buffers. The Mods are a million miles of track away from any pub band...
Johnny Warman on lead vocals is no young man learning the ropes, he is a seasoned performer with a voice that delivers the lyrics in such a fashion you cannot fail to sit, or stand, up and take notice. Banging his chest so hard with either his fists of his tambourine this guy could have a heart attack and think the pain was just part of his day to day activity. Never have vocals been delivered with such aggressive passion. When he says "we are going to rip it up" trust me, he means it. Ironic therefore that the set I saw opened with an instrumental, Green Onions (Booker T and the MG's).
Normal service was however resumed when the second number was performed, Friday on my Mind (Easybeats). Next we belted in to Can't Explain (The Who) and the set just get stronger and stronger.....
This set of classics is done so faithfully that although no real attempt was made to sing each in the "Stars in their Eye's" way it did not matter, each, somehow, sounded totally faithful to the original. That is all except one, I'm a Man (Spencer Davies Group). This featured, quite the most stunning drum solo ever witnessed in The Rayners which then was blended in with some jazz on the keyboards before thundering back in to I'm a Man. That track should be released as an E.P.
Every time I have seen The Mods the audience has grown, many I am sure like me coming back for more. I have dragged friends down there and all have left very impressed and looking forward to the next visit. I would guess that of the audience of around 100 almost half were up on their feet by the end of the set, and the audience in The Rayners are not easy to get going, as a number of other bands have found out. This alone is praise indeed
Philip Duerden
Ruislip On Line