Davey Warsop (Suedehead, Beat Union, Sharp/Shock)
SPB: Noting that Terry Hall recently passed away, what is your favorite song by The Specials and what does it mean to you?
Warsop: It’s so hard to choose but currently I’d probably say “Do Nothing” … The lyrics and melody are just so haunting.
But they had so many great songs that were literally just on in the background of my entire youth and adolescence, that literally any Specials song conjures up so many feelings and memories for me. They remind me of drinking in pubs underage in ‘90s England, falling in love for the first time and putting “A Message to You Rudy” on the jukebox with my girlfriend. They remind me of being 17 at music college and learning how to play “Gangsters” with other like-minded musicians. They remind me of going to see my mates’ Specials cover band in a pub in Birmingham, getting drunk and dancing to “Do the Dog.” They remind me of my first time in America and the summer my old band Beat Union jammed “Ghost Town” every day of the Warped Tour 2008. They remind me of being on a UK tour with Snuff and them sound checking their cover of “Do Nothing.” They remind me of the Ordinary Boys’ great version of “Little Bitch.” And they remind me of seeing Terry Hall play with The Interrupters and Tim Armstrong in a back garden in LA in January 2022. In a lot of ways, The Specials have been a soundtrack to my entire life and so I’m deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Terry Hall. RIP. A true legend, putting the midlands of England on the map!
