The Jam

(c’72-’82) Paul Weller (vocals/bass), Steve Brookes (lead guitar), Rick Buckler (drums), and Bruce Foxton (guitar).

In late 1970 Buckler had formed Impulse with his twin brother Pete on Bass. Also in 1970, Bruce Foxton played a Woking gig with early Jam drummer Neil Harris. 14 year old Weller and Brookes had played a short gig at The Albion, Woking (opposite Woking Station) on 26 Feb ’72. The Jam forming the next month in Woking with Weller on bass, Brookes, Dave Waller (guitar) and Buckler; all friends from Sheerwater Secondary School. The ‘Lunchtime Jam’ took over Mr. Avery’s music room at lunchtimes. Initially they were a covers band, winning the ‘best group’ category of the Community Centre’s talent contest, on 12 May ’73, with Chuck Berry’s “Reelin’ & Rockin'”. They also won a battle of the bands at the Wilfrid Noyce Centre, Godalming in ’73.

The first gigs were at the youth club on the Sheerwater Estate, in April ’73, and at Michael’s nightclub, a ‘seedy’ local club above a burger bar on Goldsworth Road. They band auditioned for the weekend gig slot on 22 Jan ’74, and went on to hold the residency there from 26 Jan ’74 to Sept ’75. Other venues followed such as a high-profile gig at the high security HMP Coldingly, Bisley, on 17 Nov ’74 where they shared a dressing room with the drag act; a Boxing Day gig at the Hare & Hill Club in Ottershaw and their regular slot at Woking Liberal Club in Walton Road, starting 31 Dec ’74. On 10 Jan ’75 the band auditioned for EMI in the Woking Working Men’s Club and were rejected.

In August ’73 the four members (Weller, Brookes, Buckler and Waller) recorded “Blueberry Rock” and “Takin’ My Love” at Eden Studios, Kingston-Upon-Thames; as recommended by Vic Black. They left with a master tape and had a literal handful of Emidisc acetates cut on a Neumann lathe at Len Farley’s one man Fanfare Studios, Guildford. These were sent to a number of record companies to no avail. One of these acetates sold at Christie’s for £4,320 in 2007; the label for which listed “Takin’ My Love” as a joint Weller-Brookes composition. Weller gave “Blueberry Rock” to Squire.

3 Oct ’73 they entered studios on Finchley Road to record an early demo of “Some Kinda Loving” and “Making My Way Back Home”. On 10 Dec ’75 the band went into Bob Potter’s (he owned the Atalanta Ballroom, Woking) studio in Mychett and self-funded the recording of “Again” and re-recording of “Takin’ My Love”. They returned on 28 May ’76 to lay down “Left, Right and Centre” and “Non-Stop Dancing”. This last session was engineered by John Franklin on Joe Meeks equipment. They also recorded “Soul Dance”, “Back In My Arms Again” and “I Got By in Time” in ’76 on 8-track with Bob Gray on keyboard. These tracks can be found on some bootlegs, but were part of the many demos the developing band touted around the majors.

During this time the band lineup had a few changes: June ’73 sees Paul Buckler joining, who starts being called Rick (his middle name) to avoid confusion with Weller (who prefers Paul over John, his given name). In early ’74 Waller left and on 8 May 1974 auditions were held for a second guitarist in a Woking Pub. Bruce Foxton is asked to join the band with the line-up solidify sometime in ’75 with Weller, Brookes, Foxton and Buckler. Brookes left the band in July ’75 after injuring his thumb carrying an amp out of The Greyhound, Croydon. Hasty auditions for a new guitarist and keyboardist (including Brian Viner a guitarist from Lightwater) a few days later are held in The Red House, Woking, but Brookes was not replaced. Weller took lead guitar and Foxton switched to the bass. In ’76 – when Weller was reportedly using an Amp ‘borrowed’ from Rick Parfitt – they add Bob Gray, who’d played in a few bands with Foxton, on keyboard, he leaves in November that year after only a few months and once again The Jam are a three piece. Originally covering Little Richard, Chuck Berry and other American Rock ‘n Roll bands, The Who’s “My Generation” is credited with changing the bands direction. Just before the New Year, on 28 December ’76, the trio supported Roogalator at The 100 Club, London, which was reviewed by John Tobler for NME, at which they covered The Who’s “Heat Wave”, “Much Too Much”, and “So Sad About Us”; as well as their first performance of “Sounds of the Streets”.

Originally covering Little Richard, Chuck Berry and other American Rock ‘n Roll bands, The Who’s “My Generation” is credited with changing the bands direction. Foxton had an apprenticeship (which ended about the time at the band’s initial record deal) at The Unwin Brothers Printing works in Old Woking and until it was demolished for upscale “apartments” Jam stickers could be found plastered all over the building. On 5 February ’77 the band supported Little Bob Story at Crawley College. Ten days later they were signed to Polydor Records for 6,000 pound by Chris Parry. On seeing the cheque, John Weller informed Parry that the band didn’t have a bank account. A quick trip to the Polydor’s bank and the funds were handed over in ten pounds notes. Now on Polydor the band were billed as London’s hottest new band on the handbill for their appearance at The Hunt Hotel, Leighton Buzzard on 19 February ’77, that also included a reprint of John Tobler’s NME review of their recent performance at The 100 Club, London. On 23 April ’77, The Jam performed, with The Stukas as opening act, at Marquee Club. They were, however, still not full-on headliners as their 21 May ’77 gig supporting The Clash, along with The Buzzcocks and Slits, at City Hall, St. Albans illustrated. On 17 June ’77, The Jam played Seaburn Hall, Sunderland. Attended by a group of skinheads, who were looking for trouble, several scuffles kicked off, and the band dodged a hail of glasses and spit. On 12 July ’77 the band visited Shrewsbury and played at Tiffany’s. That same month there was a, now rare, home turf gig on 22 July in Guildford to raise funds for the Sheerwater Youth Club. On 10 September ’77, a 15-year-old, Gary Crowley got to The Nashville, West Kensington early and The Jam allowed him and photographer Chris Clunn to stay around them all day. He’d interviewed Weller previously, but now he spent the whole day leading up to The Jam headline slot with The Jolt in support getting the ‘dirt’ for his new wave fanzine The Modern World.

On 2 March ’78, supported by Black Slate and Can’t Be Bad, they were at Music Machine, Camden. On 13 June the Nikkers Club, Keighley rented the bigger Victoria Hall in town to host The Jam. Six weeks later, on 30 July ’78, they were back at the Civic Hall, Guildford, a gig reviewed by Adrian Thrills for NME and where “The Place I Love” and their cover of The Kinks “David Watts” were given their live debut. The Guildford gig, with Squire in support, was the first date of the mini ‘The Seaside Tour’ to coincide with the release of the “David Watts” / “A Bomb” single; going for four more dates in Torquay, Plymouth, Bournemouth, and Swindon. This was all leading up to the 25 August ’78 and The Jam’s headlining the first day of Reading Rock Festival. Later that year the band ran the university circuit again, including an appearance at Sheffield City Polytechnic on 10 November ’78 with Patrick Fitzgerald and The Dickies in support. In April ’79, the band toured Germany and France with photographs from the tour bus featuring in Smash Hits printing of the lyrics to ‘Strange Town’. On 4 & 5 May ’79, The Jam played Sheffield University and were supposed to be supported by Secret Affair – The Records stepped in to support instead. As the bands fame grew, they didn’t turn their back on the fanzines that had contributed to the groundswell experienced by The Jam and in ’79, Weller was interviewed for Tony Fletcher’s Jamming, which appeared in issue No.5.

On the 12 February ’80 the three were performing at the University of Kent, Canterbury. Three days later they played a free gig at the Woking YMCA Centre on 15 Feb 1980 supported by The Purple Hearts and Department S ([The Jam were] “the only headliners to give us a decent sound check” said Department S). This was followed the next day with an appearance at Sheerwater Youth Club with Dolly Mixture and The Questions doing the warm up. This was filmed for the BBC 2’s “Something Else” arts series. The band appeared at the Rainbow Theatre, London on 8 April 1980, an additional second date after the first sold out. Ex-Soundscene columnist Julia Courtney recalls “being poised for possible extra gigs when I bought an NME. Bingo! New date announced! Only fair, as ‘Going Underground‘ had hit No.1.” She, and three friends, went to the theatre box office for 10am the next morning. No websites, agents or dynamic prices back then, and got their tickets for “a great gig”.

On 21 June, they headlined the first night of the Loch Lomond Rock Festival at Cameron Bear Park, with Stiff Little Fingers, The Tourists, Third World, The Only Ones, Bad Manners, The Chords, Punilux, Cuban Heels, Ra Bears, and The Regent in support. On 29 October ’80,The Playhouse Theatre, Edinburgh hosted the band, followed by the Apollo Thearte, Manchester on 31 October. And a few weeks later, Woking band Panther supported the band at their next Guildford Civic Hall appearance on the 11 December ’80. The next night they hit The Music Machine, Camden, then The Greyhound, Fulham.

In early ’81, the promo video for “Funeral Pyre was shot at Horsell Common, near Woking, with the sandpit – which had earlier featured in H.G. Wells ‘The War of the Worlds’ – used for the location of the bonfire featured on the official music video.

On Valentines Day ’81 The Jam played The Cricketers, Westfield (A gig this writer witnessed from afar), supported by The Jam Road Crew. “Every mod who could get on a scooter was there,” said Steve Carver. “It was a disaster – just mud, blood and beer at the end. It was terrible and there were massive fights”. Ann Weller had a pint poured over her head; it was rumoured that Weller’s girlfriend Gill Price was thumped; Foxton was pulled over the bar by a barman who reportedly said, “You wouldn’t look very good on TOTPs with a black eye, would yer?”. A phone was ripped off the wall and crates of glasses broken under foot and the police were called – all in all a quiet night at The Cricketers. Two more secret Woking gigs followed quickly after the riotous Cricketers event. Woking’s YMCA on 16 February ’81 to a crowd of about 200 fans and 17 February ’81 at the Youth Club, Sheerwater to an even smaller audience.

Berlin, one of the cities on The Jam’s European tour, saw them interviewed by British Forces Radio on 8 March ’81 right before they went on stage at the Metropol, Nollendorfplatz. Six Brits were in the audience that night, including Courtney, who was there for an academic year, and got to meet the band afterwards. The Civic Hall, Guildford hosted The Jam once more, this time supported by Guildford band The Sleep, on 7 July ’81. Towards the end of the year, on 12 December ’81, Dept. S, Bananarama, and The Questions fired up the crowd at Michael Sobell Sports Centre, London, before The Jam took the stage.

On 25 March ’82, The Jam took to the stage at Apollo Theatre, Manchester; then there were back-to-back gigs at Top Rank, Sheffield on 30 and 31 march ’82, both opened by Rudi. The Civic Hall, Guildford hosted The Jam once more, this time supported by Guildford band The Sleep, on 7 July ’81. The Weller, Foxton, and Buckler line-up lasted until The Jam’s demise in December ’82. The Jam’s farewell included five nights at Wembley Arena from 1 to 5 December ’82. The very last date on the original itinerary had been scheduled for 9 December ’82 at the Civic Hall, Guildford, where they were supported by Pushmepullyou. However, due to ticket demand, an additional date was added at the Brighton Conference Centre on 11 December for their last performance.

Throughout, the band were managed by Weller’s father, John.

Weller went on to form The Style Council (c’83–’89) and then after a break embarked on a successful solo career in 1990. In ’96, he bought Black Barn Studios, Ripley. Foxton pursued a solo career after The Jam split, after which he played in several bands, including Sharp with Buckler, before joining Stiff Little Fingers, where he stayed for 15 years. In 2012, Foxton released “Back in the Room“, his first album in 30 years. In ’83, Buckler set up a new band: Time UK and reconnected with Foxton in the mid-80’s in the band Sharp. When Time UK split, he ran a studio in Islington and by the mid-90s he was back in Woking and in business as a carpenter. He returned to music in 2005 with new band The Gift playing The Jam’s back catalogue. Foxton joined this outfit in 2007 and it was renamed From the Jam, which Buckler quit in 2009. Two years later Buckler joined If, but the band was short-lived. Music management consultancy was Buckler’s next gig which was utilized by the likes of Sarah Jane and The Brompton Mix. He has written several books about The Jam over the years. One of Buckler’s old drum kits ended up in service with Greg Turner in Five O’Clock High. Buckler passed away on 18 February 2025 after a short illness.

Video:

Gallery: