#PAUL WELLER THE ETON RIFLES MOD#
#PAUL WELLER THE ETON RIFLES TV#

We all developed - the musicians developed, the songwriting developed, the technology developed, and we kind of moved with that, introducing harmony guitars and harmony vocals.

#PAUL WELLER THE ETON RIFLES TV#

'I used to mix their college gigs, as well as at one of their most popular venues, the Red Cow in Hammersmith, and I also took care of many of their radio and TV mixes around Europe, so I kind of grew up with the band and progressed along with them. 'I mixed the Jam's live gigs right up until they got to 10,000 watts at the Rainbow ,' Vic explains.

Photo: RedfernsInspired by a news article that Weller read about unemployed demonstrators on a socialist 'Right to Work' march being heckled by what he later described as 'a bunch of tossers' from the prestigious Eton College, 'The Eton Rifles' encapsulated all that was best about the Jam: Foxton's pumping bass, Buckler's powerful drumming, a catchy refrain and Weller's hard-edged vocal delivery of sardonic lyrics - in this case, dealing with class war and opening with the typically colloquial 'Sup up your beer and collect your fags, There's a row going on down near Slough.'Д¬ompared to its predecessors, Setting Sons melded Weller's harmonised guitar parts with more complex arrangements, and this was thanks in large part to the contribution of Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, who was involved in the production and engineering of all the trio's albums, save for 1982's swansong The Gift.

While this often-outstanding record peaked at number four in the UK, and even made a dent on the US charts - reaching a high of 137 in spring, 1980 - the dynamic 'Eton Rifles', taken from it, became the band's first Top 10 British single, hitting number three in November 1979. Originally conceived as a concept album about three childhood friends growing apart, Setting Sons was an acerbic slice-of-life snapshot of young British men during the late '70s.

#PAUL WELLER THE ETON RIFLES MOD#

Start!ДЄfter 1977's In the City and This is the Modern World albums established the Jam on the musical map, Weller rapidly expanded his compositional vocabulary, infusing his songs with social commentary, left-wing political observations, British references and home-grown slang, as displayed on 1978's All Mod Cons and the following year's Setting Sons. While this was largely due to the uncompromising Britishness of singer, songwriter and guitarist Paul Weller's lyrics, the band that he fronted alongside bassist Bruce Foxton and drummer Rick Buckler did make an indelible impression on the next generation of Brit rockers, as well as on American outfits such as Green Day. The band never attained much Stateside recognition, beyond a sizeable cult following, but in the UK a string of 18 Top 40 singles helped define the socio-musical period in which the band existed. 'The Eton Rifles' captured both Paul Weller's growing talent as a songwriter and the raw power of his band the Jam, and gave the group their first top 10 hit.ДЄt the vanguard of the 1977 British punk movement, before leading the late-'70s/early-'80s mod revival, the Jam enjoyed massive success in the UK, courtesy of loud, hard-edged, no-nonsense rock that paid homage to the Who, the Beatles and American R&B.

Paul weller the eton rifles