Buster Bloodvessel: 'Gay Byrne loved us, loved the wildness of us'
Buster Bloodvessel of Bad Manners in Cork. Picture: Michael MacSweeney, Provision
Gay Byrne didn’t know how to begin.
“Ladies and gentleman, we have a most unusual band from London tonight… Whether you like it or not, this is what your kids are dancing to”.
It was April 1981 and Byrne was introducing ska outlaws Bad Manners, led by the charismatic Douglas Trendle, aka Buster Bloodvessel.
In a white suit with laced-up Doc Martins, as he performed the band’s top 20 hit, 'Just a Feeling', he was like nothing the Late Late Show audience had ever seen before.
“He was a very nice man. We got on so well, that he invited me back time and time again. I was on there three times, maybe even four.,” recalls Buster today of his interactions with Gay Byrne. “He loved us. Loved the music, loved the wildness of us. The wildness of me as a character. I’ve fond memories of it.”
Gay Byrne’s Late Late is long gone. Bad Manners remain very much in business and are en route to Ireland for two gigs in late November. It’s been a busy time for the ensemble, whose pioneering ska sound is winning a new audience of Gen Zers.
“It’s quite amazing. In South America, our career has almost started again,” says Buster.
“We’ve just come back from Brazil, which was a screaming success. In Mexico, they love us. The last time we played there it was to 15,000 people. Chile is very big for us. Argentina is very big for us. America is still quite popular.”
With the imposing Buster leading the group, Bad Manners blazed their own path between punk and reggae. They were contemporaries of outfits such as The Beat and The Specials (and were seen as having common ground with The Specials’ record company 2 Tone, despite never signing with the label).
Yet where those artists held up a mirror to the grimy reality of pre-Thatcher Britain, Bad Manners took a more upbeat approach. Songs such as Lip Up Fatty, Walking in the Sunshine and Special Brew encouraged audiences to forget their woes rather than to wallow in misery. Whatever wintry energy The Specials conjured with their classic single Ghost Town – Bad Manners were the precise opposite.
“Our band is quite unique,” says Buster. “In as much as we are a fun band. And we give a lot of energy on stage. I believe that is something that audiences don't see every every week.
"They see a lot of bands that just stand there, play their great songs. Go down very well. But they don’t have the same energy that we have.”
If Bad Manners know how to throw a party, they also understand the importance of being outrageous. Which Buster was from the very beginning.
In an era when rock stars were either pompadours such as Mick Jagger or outlaws in the vein of Johnny Rotten, he invented an entirely different identity. One both charismatic and subversive.
“Punk had just had success. We based ourselves on the punk image in lots of ways,” he says. “The fact I’m called Buster Bloodvessel – and here’s Bad Manners. It was all part of having to stand out with people called Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious. We had to compete with those guys. The norm was Mick Jagger. I look nothing like him – although I’ve got a long tongue!”
Bad Manners formed in 1976. Buster – then plain old Douglas – and his future bandmates were studying at Woodberry Down Comprehensive, near Finsbury Park in north London (John Lydon’s stomping ground).
That they went down well with Gay Byrne is no coincidence. Buster’s over-the-top persona made the small screen a natural home for Bad Manners.
They became regulars on kids' show Tiswas, as well as on Cheggers Plays Pop and Noel Edmonds' The Time Of Your Life. However, his irascibility was too much for some, especially at the BBC. In the early 1980s, Bad Manners were banned from Top of the Pops after one-antics laden turn too many.
Speaking from Bulgaria, where he has lived for over a decade, Buster is thoughtful and quietly spoken. He obviously cuts an altogether different figure on stage. In the minutes before he steps out under the spotlight, he says, he can sense a change coming on.
“There's a natural build-up in my brain before we go on. Some people call it adrenaline. I call it, ‘I’m getting ready to go on stage’.
"It makes very happy when I go on and start to get the crowd going. That’s basically because I go bit wild on there. If it’s not working, I go even wilder. Eventually they have to dance.”
The ska wars were intense. From the English midlands came the aforementioned Specials and The Beat. London produced Madness, with whom Bad Manners felt a particular sense of competitiveness. Nobody took it personally. But the rivalry was real, he says. Especially with Madness, led by an equally big personality in Graham 'Suggs' McPherson.
“We were playing ska before any of them. The likes of Madness and The Specials then came about. We’ve always had a rivalry with Madness, them being probably the most popular of the bands on 2 Tone. We love the competition. It’s not like we hate each other. We actually get on – in a competitive way.”
Crowds back then could be a challenge, too, though Bad Manners always stressed empathy over aggression.
“In the 2 Tone era there was a lot of violence,” he says. “A lot throwing glasses. If you upset someone then they will throw glasses. We tried never to go into politics or football or anything like that. Because you know it means trouble.”
Despite recently turning 64, Buster is still full of energy. In fact, touring helps keep him young, he suspects. It certainly helps with his waistline.
“As you get older, the aches and pains get more noticeable,” he says. “But I still enjoy it. It keeps me fit. I’ve lost a lot of weight – and now I’m gaining it again since coming off tour. I have to watch myself. Doing a long tour…by the end, I feel great.”
- Bad Manners play Opium in Dublin on Fri, Nov 25; and the Oliver Plunkett, Cork, Sun, Nov 27
