Skabilly rebel Roddy Byers ready to rock in Tramore

In advance of his trip to Ireland, Roddy ‘Radiation’ Byers looks back on his early days with The Specials, and tells Ellie O’Byrne about the musical subgenre he invented

HE WAS a punk rocker in a world of mods, skinheads and rude boys. The original guitarist with iconic ska revival band The Specials, Roddy ‘Radiation’ Byers was quite literally instrumental in forming the sound of the band that spearheaded the 2 Tone movement, but in hindsight, he says, he was always an outlier.