the staying power of style and etiquette: the islington twins were mods but were never rude boys ...

THE TW↑NS: Env↑ronMENTAL Training™

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C. Okonkwo & D. Okonkwo 2



A Ten Year Anniversary Special

The Staying Power of Style And Etiquette

The Islington Twins were Mods but were never Rude Boys

Compiled & Edited by Chuka Okonkwo & Dubem Okonkwo




Part Two

‘In Their Own Words’




Picture 1




“We never start, we never run, but we always finish.” Motto of The North London Shades

The Islington Tw↑ns Chuka Okonkwo & Dubem Okonkwo (aka Chet and Joe) as photographed in Brick Lane by Robin Emilien in 1980

What was supposed to be a few lines explaining how the photograph came to be taken has transformed into a recollection of an earlier event that led to being attired as we appeared that day. So we thought it was better to give you an overview of our lives during our late teens.

The picture

This picture was taken on a Sunday (Chet thinks) near Brick Lane, a notorious area in the late 70s and early 80s for anyone with brown skin or those who chose to dress as Mods instead of Skinheads. You risked being attacked and beaten up unless you were able to defend yourself. That said, it was a time when parts of London tingled with the sound of Two Tone, Ska, and 60s music. For us it was a very exciting time. We were unperturbed by the thought of being attacked - which happened on many occasions- but we were more than skilled enough to handle ourselves. Since we didn’t accept the concept of fear, there was nothing to worry about. That was our view.




Tw↑n Mod 1 and Tw↑n Mod 2

We started a Mod club called The North London Shades. Two guesses why? This is where the arrow that is often seen with our names first started to be used. Chet was Tw↑n Mod 1 and Joe was Tw↑n Mod 2. We were all on foot because either members were too young to hold a driving licence or not rich enough to afford a Lambretta or Vespa scooter.

Swings and roundabouts

A scooter was the dream of many Mods at the time, even if it meant buying one on hire purchase. The hire purchase scheme allowed you to pay for goods in installments. This method of payment suited those on low incomes. One drawback with hire purchase was that failure to keep up with payments would result in goods being confiscated and loss of your deposit. An item was officially never yours until you had paid the full amount. But the full amount often exceeded the actual price by 20%, if not more, due to the interest added. The mortgage problems that many of today’s property owners find themselves in are due to this system of taking years to pay for something you think you own. That is, till you default on your payments and wake up to the reality that you have lost years of your investment, and that you owned not a single brick of the property you believed was yours. Alas, mortgage companies won’t return your payments if ‘your property’ is repossessed. The English have an expression, 'What




you gain on the swings, you lose on the roundabouts.’

Fashion, music, dancing

We loved the fashion, the music, the dancing and the opportunity to meet like-minded teenagers. Mods! by Richard Barnes was our Bible. Anyone who really wants to understand us, and what drove our passion to dress smartly, should get a copy of the book and study it. We read it every week, searching for tips to bring into our lives, and didn’t care to wear what other Mods saw as staple Mod attire. Yes, we wore a parka, sta-press trousers, pork pie hat (hence people mistaking us for Rudeboys), Frank Wright loafers (a handsome pair of loafers in our opinion), but for us being a Mod was more than just the clothes. It was the way you conducted yourself and behaved towards others, irrespective of what 'tribe’ they belonged to.

Schooldays

Before we became Mods we were keen on Rock 'n’ Roll. At school we were loved Rockabilly music, and did our best - very poorly- to dress like rockabillies. We listened to Elvis Presley and a string of talented singers from the 50s, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochrane, Gene Vincent and many others - we’ve never stopped adoring that genre of music - having grown up with eclectic taste. So our




record collection back then brimmed with classical music (thanks to our mother’s cultured influence), musicals, traditional jazz, film and TV theme tunes. We did not allow the fact that we became Mods to limit our musical taste.

April 1980

We first saw Mods on the streets of London in the autumn of 1979 and craved to dress like them. We had no money so had to pretend to ourselves that we were dressed smartly and that everyone was photographing us. This wasn’t true. Until we became Mods, the fact that we were a pair of identical twins was of no interest to members of the public. We have always worn the same clothes and been seen together, but we don’t recall anyone asking to take our picture prior to that period. That all changed around late April 1979 after we used our grant money (college funds meant to assist students with books and materials for their course) to purchase an army parka, pork pie hat, narrow knitted tie, wraparound shades, Frank Wright loafers and other accessories captured in Janette Beckman’s photograph of us. We had spent about three to four months, dreaming and imagining ourselves as Mods, visualising our picture being taken by the public. This wasn’t done from an ego point of view, but to try to convince ourselves that we really were Mods. Innocent youth fumbling blindly with the Law of Attraction some might say. Well, it worked and from the moment we stepped out of our front door attired as Mods the cameras started clicking. Every teenager - at




least the ones into clothes - loves being photographed. It’s part of establishing your identity on the world around you. It’s a way of saying that you are independent and your own man or woman. It isn’t an ego thing. Ego has nothing to do with it. You wear the clothes you’ve chosen to wear, whether you’re a Skinhead, Teddy boy or Emo with pride, not to be photographed. However, having your picture taken is a pleasure, and seeing yourself in a fashion magazine is a bonus that you proudly share with your peers.

Richard Barnes - MODS!

What the Mod Revival did for us was to allow us to express our interest in wearing stylish clothes. As a revival it was a poor imitation of the original 60s Mods. There is no way - and we were conscious of this at the time having studied the book, Mods! by Richard Barnes - that we could claim to be as stylish as the original 60s Mods with their bespoke tailored suits. Anyone late 70s/early 80s making such a claim is deluding themselves. Teenagers at the time copied whatever their favourite bands were wearing. They were your role models. The book Mods! gave anyone who could be bothered to study it great insights. We learnt to dance by imitating Johnny Moke; he is featured in the book performing dances like the Dog, The Hitchhike, The Shake and others. Music-wise, bands like The Specials and Madness didn’t just copy or imitate, they created something new. The same can be said of UB40. Listen to their first album, 'Signing Off’, and the second, 'Present Arms’, and you’ll hear timeless




tunes and lyrics that are as poignant today as they were then. To our knowledge UB40 weren’t a Mod band, and neither were The Specials or Madness, but they wrote music - great music- that echoed the feelings of the time. All youth movements are best served when musicians who can pen songs that allow you to dance, or simply tap your foot or just nod your head in delight are in large supply. Short lived as the period was we were well and truly blessed to have grown up back then. We shan’t dwell on the 'hardships’ of the time, we’ll leave that to sociologists. We’re only into positive reminiscing, and this is our way of celebrating what was a very happy period in our lives.

Richard Barnes - Mods! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mods-Richard-Barnes/dp/0859651738

The North London Shades

We disliked the fighting that took place between Rockers and Mods, or their main predators, Skinheads; who saw Mods as easy prey, which in many cases they were. But not all Mods were pushovers, we met some tough Mods like the members of The Viceroys when we travelled round London to venues like The Hercules Tavern in Lambeth, though we had to return in time for our mother’s 9 p.m. curfew. There were Mods who practised martial arts and feared none. They never went looking for trouble. Why would they, after spending so much money on suits and scooters, waste precious time when there were better things to do like dressing, posing and dancing? We never owned a suit - that’s just another myth that has done the rounds. “These myths about us, we’ll become legends in our own lifetime.” When we set up The North London Shades we encouraged every member to


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mods-Richard-Barnes/dp/0859651738



take up a martial art. Self defence was important if you were going to be able to walk around fearlessly. It wasn’t so that you could gang up on a solitary Rocker or Skinhead and beat the living daylights out of him - another English expression.

Quitting the Mod scene

As more and more Mods started looking for trouble (sadly this included members of The North London Shades), we could sense the energy of the movement was changing. We were well aware that some of our generation were trying to copy the seaside fights at Brighton and Clacton-on-Sea that had taken place in the mid 60s. but that was not what we were interested in or even cared about. Since it had nothing whatsoever to do with dressing and dancing. So we closed the club and quit the Mod scene. Flashing fists and street brawls was not the reason why we became Mods in the first place. Happily to say, after departing from the Mod scene, we started The Bar in September 1981.

Paul 'Smiler’ Anderson - Mods The New Religion

For anyone interested in learning more about the original Mod movement, we recommend Mods: The New Religion by Paul Anderson. The book was published this year (April 2014), and if you love books, as we do, we encourage you to get a copy. The book is written from the heart, but with the head in complete harmony with the emotions they evoke through words and




images. Not since Richard Barnes’ Mods have we seen a book that explores the best youth movement to emerge from this island. Paul Anderson’s Mod: The New Religion would definitely have been our Bible had it been published in 1979.

Mods: The New Religion http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1780385498/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss _1?pf_rd_p=479289247&pf_rd_s=lpo-top stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0224073915&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&p f_rd_r=0SKR1MG7W16A8K4F9R74

Mods: The New Religion - Fred Perry Blog http://www.fredperry.com/blog/post/2014/04/24/mods-the-new-religion-by-paul-smiler-anderson

The Bar

Returning briefly to the subject of The Bar, the club we started started with Francis, our amazing and dynamic older brother. (Older by 11 months,16 days!).The Bar was also a street club. It wasn’t a replacement for The North London Shades, neither did it aim to copy all of the principles of our Mod club. The only thing we kept was the rule that members didn’t fight amongst themselves or cause any trouble to the public. As long as these rules were kept members were free to gossip amongst themselves, to have fun and to enjoy themselves Joe wanted to shut it down after the end of the first year but was vetoed by the other founding members, Chet and Francis. The Bar lasted ten years longer than expected. But what an amazing it was: no arguments, no fights, no alcohol; just teenagers gathered on a corner, come rain or shine, to do what teenagers did best - and


http://www.fredperry.com/blog/post/2014/04/24/mods-the-new-religion-by-paul-smiler-anderson

http://www.fredperry.com/blog/post/2014/04/24/mods-the-new-religion-by-paul-smiler-anderson

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1780385498/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss%20%20%20%20_1?pf_rd_p=479289247&pf_rd_s=lpo-top%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0224073915&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&p%20%20%20%20f_rd_r=0SKR1MG7W16A8K4F9R74





still do, though the format has changed, i.e. Facebook, Skype, Twitter, Viber or Blackberry Messenger (BBM) - which was to talk and talk and talk and talk about nothing, anything and everything.

It’s the first time we’ve put down our thoughts and recollections of what can only be described as a period that saw a transformation to our lives. We can only look back on that short-lived period and smile that we had the wisdom to enjoy ourselves to the full. When we were visualising ourselves dressed as Mods there was nothing esoteric about this. We just did it out of a strong desire, a yearning, to see ourselves wearing the clothes and style of Mods.

Though nostalgia may often put a rosy tint on reminiscences, we can honestly say that we really did enjoy our time as Tw↑n Mod 1 and Tw↑n Mod 2 of The North London Shades, but we were never ever rude boys.




Picture 2

Further reading and viewing:

A Mod in 1979 - In His Own Wordshttp://www.marchofthemods.com/index.php/paul-smiler-anderson-mods-the-new-religion/

Mods and Rockers is an excellent documentary and for lovers of Mod culture from the early 1964.

Were they Mods or Rude boys?In Hastings in 1964, 15 years before Chet and Joe appeared on London’s street as Tw↑n Mod 1 Tw↑n Mod 2, pair of pork pie wearing black youths can be seen strolling amongst the bank holiday crowd. (See 45m 5s)

Are those Dunn & Co. bowler hats?A cocky 19-year-old Alan Duncan clad in a bowler hat (with another Mod) talks to a journalist. Did these Mods obtain theirs from Dunn & Co. like the Islington Twins? (See 40m 10s).

Mods and Rockers of the 1960'shttp://youtu.be/miiopvQDP3M


http://youtu.be/miiopvQDP3M

http://www.marchofthemods.com/index.php/paul-smiler-anderson-mods-the-new-religion/

http://www.marchofthemods.com/index.php/paul-smiler-anderson-mods-the-new-religion/



In Part Three clients and readers will get the opportunity to develop their powers of observation, visualisation and recollection. Come on now, no moaning or grumbling about having to do more of our monotonous mental drills. You know you’re addicted to them really.

So why not go for a stroll and stretch your legs. When you return, have a glass or two of Armand de Brignac, then settle down at your Clive Christian writing desk and tackle Part Three.

End of Part Two




Pictures in ‘In Their Own Words’

p.5

The Islington Tw↑ns in Dunn & Co. bowler hat, trench coat, sta press trousers and brogues. Picture by Robin Emilien - 1980

p.14

The Islington Twins aka Chet and Joe with Francis, their older brother, posing in Maida Vale en route to Henley Royal Regatta circa 1984


the staying power of style and etiquette: the islington twins were mods but were never rude boys ...

Education

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north london shades

hire purchase scheme

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