ROCK’N’ROLL CONFIDENTIAL
PAULINE BLACK
The Selecter singer talks unharnessed energy, ska implosion and carrying the torch.
Chequered history: The Selecter’s Pauline Black looks back at the “real joy and camaraderie” of the 2 Tone era.
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THE SECOND 2 Tone band out of the traps when the label launched in 1979, Coventry’s Selecter burned briefly but brightly. Formed by guitarist Neol Davies and fronted by the volcanic Pauline Black, 1980 debut LP Too Much Pressure went Top 5, but the group foundered after 1981’s schizoid Celebrate The Bullet. Black and Davies reactivated the band from 1990 to 1993, but since then Black’s captained the ship for new albums and tours. Still an active unit – new LP Human Algebra will follow next year – they’re soon to reissue and tour Celebrate The Bullet, with its still-pertinent, danceable songs of gun violence, race riots, terrorism and economic decline.