BORN and bred in New Town, musician Dennis Siggery can tell you a thing or two about Reading and its music scene during the heady post-war Mod days.
The singer songwriter, who is still putting out albums – his 34th currently in production – has gathered together his impressions of life during the late 1950s and 1960s in his book: Mod Memories.
“Lots of books have been written about the Mod era,” he said.
“But they’re not all by someone who actually lived through it.
“I was there, and my songs played a part in the music movement.”
Dennis’s book is full of anecdotes and stories from a childhood growing up in East Reading, of his Mod beginnings as a teen, and of Reading’s music clubs and nightlife.
“I’ve tried to include lots of stories and a bit of humour,” he continued.
“I’m proud of the Mod days, proud that I was there, and part of it all.
“And I’m proud of my background.
“Growing up in the East End of Reading, the people in New Town were great.
“Yes, they could be rough, but they were honest, lovely people who looked out for each other.”
The Mod movement started in the late 1950s, when a group of young Londoners began modeling themselves on continental fashions; wearing sharp suits, and whizzing around on Italian scooters.
The Modernists, as they first called themselves, were into modern jazz, blues and R&B.
They loved music and fashion, and lived for the weekends.
“There were two kinds of Mods,” explained Dennis, “The ones that rode scooters, and the ones that didn’t.
“We were the kind that didn’t.
“We loved fashion, and spent our money on sharp clothes and vinyl records, but not scooters.”
Dennis and his fellow Mods would get haircuts at Francesco’s Italian hairdresser, on Reading’s Oxford Road, and they would pay for smart Italian suits to complete the look.
And each weekend, armed with little blue pills to keep them awake, they would take the town and city by storm in Reading’s and London’s burgeoning music clubs.
Dennis remembers buying his first pair of Levi’s from Jean Machine in Reading, and immediately bleaching them in the bath to achieve the right cool look.
Music was always his passion, but for some time, after he was married, he followed a conventional lifestyle and made a success of work.
Dennis said: ”I’ve always worked hard, and I love a challenge, but it got to the point – after we’d been married for thirty years, with a big house, and three great children – when I realised I didn’t want to do this any more.
“The challenge had gone, and I just felt I wasn’t going anywhere.”
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In 1998 he returned to his first love, music, and now sings with his band Eric Street Band.
Dennis on vocals, Gordon Vaughan, on guitar and keys, Henry Smithson on bass guitar, and Adam J Perry on drums, together produce a rock’n blues sound, and are currently working on their latest as yet unnamed album, to be released around June.
“All 12 songs on it have been written by me, or co-written with Gordon – and they’re all new,” he said.
Dennis’s tracks are inspired by the people he meets, women he’s loved, things that happen in his life, and things he reads in the news.
“My songs are all stories,” he said.
“So many lyrics are just words, but I want mine to mean something.
“The Light Of Life was written about one of my friends with dementia.
“I gave the song that name because it’s exactly what happens – the condition can take the light out of your life.
“And Mr Fat Cat was about someone I knew who’s firm went down.
“He kept his posh house and cars, but his workers didn’t get paid.”
Now a Wokingham resident, Dennis has lined the walls of his home with vinyl classics, CD’s, and pictures, in homage to the Mod era.
“I loved it,” he said.
“ I loved the clothes, the fashion, the music, and turning heads.
“They were dark days in the post war period, and we wanted to stand out.
“None of us wanted to be like our dads, dress like them, or to live the same life they had.”
Dennis says he’s never wanted to be famous, but is keen to leave something behind in his book – a record of a time and lifestyle of which he is still proud.
“I’ve had a great response to the book online, and from friends,” he said.
“But I’m never truly happy with what I’ve done.
“I’m still hoping to make that classic album, and I’ll keep pushing myself until I do.
“I’m young in my head, like Rod Stewart – old but not old.
People of Dennis’s era, with fond Mod Memories and a curiosity about Reading’s 1960s night life, should enjoy reading Mod Memories.
It’s available from Amazon books, for £6.99, or £3.99 on Kindle.
For information and to purchase, visit: www.amazon.co.uk and for more about the band, log onto: www.ericstreetband.com/
