Jet black

Brian John Duffy was born on August 26, 1938 in Ilford , Essex , where he spent his childhood. Being a native of the teaching community, he hated school more than anything, so at the first opportunity he dropped out of school and began working as a carpenter and a construction worker, playing drums in jazz orchestras in Soho in the evenings (where he acquired the nickname Jet Black). ^[1] In Guildford (by this time having managed to marry twice and get a divorce) Black organized his own business. He founded one of the first British private breweries (until the beginning of the 70s they were illegal), which soon turned into a large enterprise working both on the domestic and foreign markets. The offices of the brewery were located on the upper floors of his Jackpot store, and the ice cream workshop, which had an extensive transport department, was located in the basement.

By early 1974, Black decided to organize a professional rock band. After unsuccessfully listening to about 25 guitarists and 40 bassists, he then responded to an ad in Melody Maker . So he met with Hugh Cornwell and Johnny Sox - in Camden , a district of North London. Despite the fact that many sources claim that Jet allegedly “joined” Johnny Sox , he himself emphasizes that this is not entirely true. He played for half an hour with the group (the session was held in an empty abandoned apartment in the north of London , where Hugh lived as a squatter) ^[1] , found it “interesting” and invited musicians who were not penniless at that time to move to him in Guildford - it would be more convenient for everyone, but the main thing, as he himself understood, was that the group had to do serious preparatory work. Johnny Sox members did not agree to relocate until Jet mentioned the possibility of resettling them on the top floor of a liquor store. After several days of continuous rehearsals, Jet came to the conclusion that no one except Hugh was serious about music and fired the rest. So Johnny Sox ceased to exist and the core of The Stranglers arose. ^[2]

Shortly after Jean-Jacques Burnell joined the squad, Jet Black handed over the management of his entire business to the manager and moved the trio to Chiddingford (ten miles from Guildford), where he rented the house in which the group was located. Taking on the duties of a manager, he chose a winning tactic: he called the club, asked what kind of music was playing there, and immediately announced: “We play exactly what you need!” Finally, full of confidence that the group has a great future , he sold all his enterprises: with the proceeds, the group existed comfortably until the receipt of the first large contract. Jet left with him only one wagon in which ice cream had previously been transported: for many months he served the group as the only means of transportation. ^[one]

Jet Black did not formally participate in songwriting, but was an active generator of ideas. Black, the only member of the group who was interested in parapsychology , supernatural phenomena and UFOs (once with his wife he saw an unidentified flying object), is considered the author of the idea that formed the basis of The Gospel According to The Meninblack album.

Jet Black was a model of restraint in the team, but he also had breakdowns. Here's how Burnel described drummer behavior after a violent street clash with a raggere gang:

... We returned to the hotel, and they refused to serve us in the restaurant, although there was an hour before closing. Jeta has finished it. He grabbed the table — he’s a tough guy with us, you know — and dropped a glass display case for them. When it became clear that after that they didn’t want to serve us - but we first asked them politely! - He carried the bar with chairs. But even after that they did not want to serve us. Then he left the hall, removed the gaming machine from the platform, returned with him to the restaurant and defeated them everything ... That evening we were expelled from Aldeburg, we had to leave for Stockholm. Jet continued on the way to bully the Swedes: he approached them and said: “You have a boring country! ..”

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Original text

... We went back to the hotel and they wouldn't serve us food although it was an hour before closing. And Jet just totally flipped. He picked up a table - he's a strong big boy y'know - and he threw it through a plate-glass window. And they still refused to serve him - we did ask nicely at

first - so then he smashed up the bar with a few chairs. And they still didn't wanna serve us, so then he went out and came back with one of those video type games - a whole thing standing about this high from the ground - brought it into the restaurant and smashed the whole thing. We were forced out of Aldeburgh that night and had to drive to Stockholm - by which time Jet had tried beating up a few people on the way, aggravating a few Swedes, going up to their faces and saying, "Your country boring" .. .

So in the repertoire of The Stranglers there appeared the song Sweden (included in the third album) - an ironic memory of “boring” Sweden, with a clip where Jet Black, the strangler played by Swedish boredom, “played it out completely”.

Before starting work on Feline, Black decided to no longer record in the studio live: instead, he began to program electronic drum parts ^[4] using the Simmons kit, returning for a drum set only on tour.

Jet Black is the author of the brochure Much Ado About Nothing (1981), which describes the details of the riots in Nice, which, according to the French police, were provoked by participants in The Stranglers in 1980 .

Black always played simply, but at times on stage (especially when “Duchess” and “Down in the Sewer” were performed) he started into powerful and inventive improvisations. Like many drummers, he was dissatisfied with the capabilities of a standard drum kit and was constantly working on improving it. Among the innovations for which Jet Black has a patent, ^[5] - Jet Black Power Bass Drum Pedal , which greatly simplified the work of the drummer and allowed to freely vary the location of the bass drum. ^[four]

www.punk77.co.uk Jet Black