Marco writes " In the wake of the 2-Tone explosion, the story of The Mob is one that happened all across the U.K. In this case, the band -- made up of nine established rock musicians, including a member of noted 60's rock band Badfinger -- was actually based in the epicenter of Coventry. Despite its rather blatant attempt to jump on the 2-Tone bandwagon, it’s a song that really has no right to be so catchy. With lyrics such as, 'I can see no naked lady, riding on her horse now' (referencing Lady Godiva who is an icon in Coventry) and, 'C-O-V-E-N try our new horizon', its a great guilty pleasure."
Jim Pryal says in an interview with Marco " At the time of the 2-Tone explosion, I was drummer in a Coventry rock band Stiletto, doing mainly covers and playing bars and clubs. The bass player, Arun Bhandari had written several songs and the band was always experimenting with different beats and rhythms to try and come up with something original. Arun already had the idea of ‘Send me to Coventry’ so we booked studio time and drafted in other musicians – keyboard player Bob Jackson of Badfinger fame and a sax player who’s name I cannot remember and some backing singers. "Was it an attempt to jump on the 2-Tone band wagon sound?
It was a one off and a definite attempt at jumping on the bandwagon. " Tell me about recording the rare 45-rpm single, 'Send Me To Coventry. What kind of reaction did the single get when it was released?
We recorded it and had 1,000 copies pressed. Although the local radio station made it their record of the week, we couldn't get any other interest with it. I heard recently that it sells in Japan and I’m trying to find out what happened to all the copies!"
Jim Pryal commented on the original Hobo site " In 1979 I recorded a song with Arun called 'Send me to Coventry' at John Rivers Woodbine street studios in Leamington Spa. We were trying to jump on the ska bandwagon that was emerging in Coventry. On the B side of the single was a tune called 'Mobbed' featuring Bob Jackson of Indian Summer (and now The Fortunes) on keyboard. We called the band 'The Mob'. Mercia radio made it their 'single of the week' in their first week on air in 1980. It received some other airplay and publicity but that's as far as it went. It was at these sessions at Woodbine that I first met 'Ollie' or Roland Oliver as I was later to find out. He was in a band called Machine that became Hot Snacks, which i joined as drummer - replacing Silverton who had been in the original Specials "
This is a transcript of the article
"Chart Bound - That's the Ansty Mob
Rolls Royce News 1980 by Gary Atkins
"Send me to Coventry" has in recent months developed a whole new meaning in the pop world with the emergence of such groups as The Specials and Selecter who have captivated young audiences with the Coventry Sound.
Hoping to become part of that sound very soon - with the release of a single entitled Send me to Coventry - is Ansty's Arun Bhandari, guitarist and the brains behind both the record the recently formed band The Mob.
The other side of the single is supposedly called Mobbed, co written by Arun and another member Bob Jackson who is an ex Rolls Royce Parkside man but whose main claim to fame comes from the days when he played keyboards with the popular band Badfinger.
The third instrumentalist with the Mob is Jim Pryal, a drummer who played with Arun in Stiletto, a band well known at the Dog and Trumpet pub in Coventry before splitting up.
Arun said "I've always wanted to play the guitar - it has been one of my greatest ambitions. After Stiletto, I wrote the new number, felt it might do well, and got a few people together to make the single.."
Vocals
Some of those people who assembled to provide backing vocals are from Rolls Royce, Mick Forsyth from Parkside, and Chris Woodmass, Tony Cooper, and Kate Burns from Ansty.
Two other girls, Mary and Julie complete the backing vocal sextet. As well as writing and playing the material, Arun has handled all the stages of production, from practice sessions to cutting the record.
"I've had quite a lot of help, particularly from Pete Ashton, who also works at Ansty and has designed a beautiful cover for the record' he said.
"Studio costs and the outlay on artwork and production have cost me around a thousand pounds which means I must sell a thousand discs to break even."
To do that Arun is sending copies of the disc to all BBC DJ's and commercial radio stations to get as many airplays as possible.
Then hopefully a distributor will step in to control sales nationwide, said Arun. Kate, Tony and the rest are already looking forward to appearing on Top of the Pop - and so am I."
