Pauline Black interviewed by Faye Claridge, BBC Coventry and Warwickshire website.
Pauline performed in Coventry for BBC Music Live in 2002 with her new band, the Ska Divas.
Pauline Black said of the forming of Ska Divas:
| |  | Pauline Black at the BBC Music Live launch in Coventry City Centre
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"I thought it would be great to get the women of the ska movement together - myself, Jennie Bellestar and Roda Dakar.
"We got together a month later and have now done a few gigs. It's gone really well."
Of course, the other two women involved are also well loved in Coventry.
 I like playing in Coventry because people here either remember or have grown up with the idea of the 2-Tone movement. It definitely feels special to play here.
 | | Pauline Black
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Jennie is well know from Bellestars and Big 5 and Roda has legendary fame from The Bodysnatchers and Special AKA.
In addition to playing with Ska Divas, Pauline has recently returned from touring with No Doubt in America, where The Selecter are in high demand.
Pauline also performs in an acoustic band called the Three Men and Black, which features Jean-Jacques Burnell of The Stranglers.
| |  | Some of the fans at the Music Live launch
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All these projects show ska is still alive and well, but Pauline rejects the theory there is a revival happening:
"People always say that it's a revival when something starts to get more attention. I don't really think it's a revival, though.
"I don't think it ever really went away. There has always been a healthy hardcore audience for this music."
I saw Pauline play last year with my son who loved it. She looked brilliant and sounded brilliant. And it's great that she still lives in Coventry.
| | A dedicated fan talking at the launch
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She explained this doesn't mean the audience is getting older, though:
"Fortunately new people keep coming to the gigs all the time. ska has really increased in popularity in the States over the past 10 years and its influence can now be heard in a lot of new music like punk ska.
"It's nice to think that young people are interested in what you do and that they want to pick up the music and take it on somewhere else."
Pauline talked to me about the many ska tribute bands, and said although it's flattering, she'd encourage people to use the music as an influence, rather than copying and reproducing their sound and style.
There has always been a healthy hardcore audience for this music.
| | Pauline Black
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It's a style that has taken Pauline and her different bands all over the world. Despite that, Pauline admitted that gigging in Coventry is unique:
"I like playing in Coventry because people here either remember or have grown up with the idea of the 2-Tone movement. It definitely feels special to play here."
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