Band Of The Month

The boys supported The Specials on their Midlands tour dates this month, which rounded off at the Jaguar Exhibition Hall at the Ricoh Arena in their hometown of Coventry. You can check out the band playing live earlier in 2009...

Pass on the baton of 2-Tone

We asked guitarist/singer Patch Lagunas how the fantastic opportunity to play with The Specials came about:

“We really can't wait. We've been massive fans of The Specials all our lives so it's a dream come true.

"The opportunity came through Lynval. He'd seen us a few times, as had Horace, and they both thought we were great. It was an honour when they said that they thought we were the band to pass on the baton of 2-Tone.

Patch at the 2008 Covstock festival

“Our producer Roger Lomas probably had something to do with it too. He's good friends with Lynval and had played him some material from the next album."

And many of the songs, produced by Roger, have been heard at concerts and on their MySpace page for sometime – but have yet to be officially released on an album or EP.

Now with a brass section backing them up, The Ripps’ music has moved to another level, which is really exciting.

The first time their loyal fan base got to hear their new brassy sound was at the 2008 Covstock festival in the ruins of the old Coventry Cathedral.

Two of the songs that immediately stand out are The People Have Spoken and Daddy Was a Hero. They really take you back to the music coming out of Coventry 30-years ago, giving a nod to the 2-Tone era.

Change of line-up

They have not ripped (if you excuse the pun) any songs or riffs from that era, but the sound and arrangements could be mistaken for being original 2-Tone tunes – whereas in fact, they are modern day take on that era and completely original band songs.

“Me (Patch), Raul and Alan have known each other for a few years from socialising (drinking!) in town. I met Phil at Cov uni and always thought he was a good drummer.”

We asked Patch how he would describe the band’s style:

“I hate these type of questions. I would not categorise us as strictly a ska band, as some people have said. If anything I can see some similarities with The Clash, Specials, Police, early UB40, but some of the songs are quite aggressive. We're not bothered by any of that anyway. We don't consciously try to sound like anyone. We just get on with making music we would buy.”

New 2009 line-up for The Ripps

And if you’ve seen any of The Ripps’ loyal fans, you may have seen them wearing I *heart* Cov t-shirts. They are quite a common site in Coventry now, but where did the idea come from?

I love Cov

Patch told us: “It was an idea me and Raul came up with. It was ironic when we did it. We love Cov and hate it at the same time - as do most people from here. I remember the first time we sold the t-shirts at a gig at the Kasbah; We thought the design was quite funny and cool. Luckily other people did too. Soon we started selling quite a few of them.

"The design is 4-5 years old. It was weird when loads of random places started selling them after Becky from Big Brother wore one.

“I have to admit, it was a bit annoying seeing something you'd come up with start to become really naff, but everything has its shelf life. At least some people will have the now rare original t-shirts. I reckon they could sell them at the Cov market for a few quid!"

2009 marks the dawning of a new era for The Specials, but we predict that it’s also the start of a new chapter for The Ripps.

They are already big in Coventry and Warwickshire, but with music as strong and as powerful as they are currently producing, it can’t be long before the rest of the country catches on.

To find out more about The Ripps, visit their MySpace page by clicking on the link below:

How to get featured?

BBC Coventry & Warwickshire's Band of the Month feature aims to showcase the best local musical talent.

If you think you and/or your band are worthy enough of a feature then get in contact with us.

Email the details to us here at BBC Coventry & Warwickshire - coventry@bbc.co.uk

Or use the postal address:

Martin Winch, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire, Priory Place, CV1 5SQ.

All we require is a short biography, a couple of decent quality colour images (in jpeg format) and a copy of your music.