Roderick James "Roddy" Byers (born 5 May 1955), known professionally as Roddy Radiation, is an English musician who played lead guitar for

the Specials The Specials, also known as the Special AKA, were an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, J ...

, as well as many

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

bands such as the Bonediggers and the Tearjerkers. He wrote the Specials favourites " Concrete Jungle", "

Rat Race A rat race is a metaphor used to describe an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit. The phrase is sometimes used to relate the human life to that of rats attempting to earn an ultimately pointless reward when Mortality salience, death ...

" and " Hey, Little Rich Girl", later covered by

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer, songwriter, musician, and businesswoman. With over 30 million records sold worldwide, she was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix ...

. Currently, Byers leads

the Skabilly Rebels ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

, a band that mixes

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

rhythms with rockabilly.

Biography

Byers' first real band was formed in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

in 1975 and were called the Wild Boys. It was in the Wild Boys that he started songwriting. His first was "1980's

Teddy Boy The Teddy Boys or Teds were a mainly United Kingdom, British youth subculture originating in the early 1950s to mid-1960s and then revived in the 1970s who were interested in rock and roll and Rhythm and blues, R&B music, wearing clothes part ...

", and later came "Concrete Jungle" which was recorded by

for their debut album, '' Specials'' (1979). Byers joined the Specials when the band was called the Coventry Automatics, and he wrote several songs for the band. The most successful was "

", which peaked at number five in the UK Singles Chart in May 1980. Byers also wrote "Hey Little Rich Girl", which appeared on the Specials second album, ''

More Specials ''More Specials'' is the second album by English ska band the Specials, released by 2 Tone Records in September 1980. After the success of the band's debut album, band member Jerry Dammers assumed the role as the band's leader and stirred them i ...

'' (1980). "Hey Little Rich Girl" was released as a single in Japan by

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British independent record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ell ...

in 1980, and covered by

on her album ''

Back to Black ''Back to Black'' is the second and final studio album by English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, released on 27 October 2006 by Island Records. Winehouse predominantly based the album on her tumultuous relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, ...

''. Byers sang the lead vocal on "Concrete Jungle" and "Braggin' and Tryin' Not to Lie", which was released as a free single with initial copies of ''More Specials''. "Braggin' and Tryin' Not to Lie" was credited to Roddy Radiation & the Specials. After the Specials split in 1981, Byers was dropped by Chrysalis before he re-emerged with the Tearjerkers, a band that he had begun in the last months of the Specials. The band played numerous gigs and gained a

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

following. The band originally were Roddy Byers (vocals/guitar), Mark Byers (vocals/guitar), Joe Hughes (vocals/bass), Pete Davies (drums) and Slim Tearjerker aka Clive Pain (vocals/keyboards/accordion). The later version was comprised Roddy Byers (vocals/guitar) Mark Byers (vocals/guitar) Badger (bass) and Tony Lynch (drums). The Tearjerkers were signed up by

Chiswick Records Chiswick Records was a British independent record label. Established in 1975, Chiswick was the "first true ' indie' label to be established in Britain for nearly a decade". The label has been described as "significant" in the "punk era". It rel ...

in 1982, and released their debut single "Desire" b/w "Western Song". The band finally split in 1987 because, as Roddy commented, "after seven years there was no major recording success". The Bonediggers were formed shortly after the Tearjerkers ended in 1987. The band released a self-titled album on

Rimshot A rimshot is a percussion technique used to produce an Accent (music), accented snare drum backbeat. The sound is produced by simultaneously hitting the Drum hardware#Rim, rim and Drumhead, head of the drum with a drum stick. The sound and var ...

Records the following year with a rawer, hard-edged

sound. The Bonediggers consisted of Roddy Radiation (vocals/guitar), David West (vocals/guitar), Sam Smith (bass), and Gary Muldoon (drums), later replaced by Jim Pryall. Byers still plays with Sam Smith to this day in the Skabilly Rebels. The Bonediggers would transition into the Raiders, shortly before Byers reunited with several members of the Specials to form the Specials MK2. Byers was an essential part of the Specials 2, who formed in the early 1990s after teaming up with

Desmond Dekker Desmond Dekker (born Desmond Adolphus Dacres; 16 July 1941 – 25 May 2006) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group the Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Ho ...

for the ''King of Kings'' album. The group toured for a couple of years throughout the UK, America and Japan. They released two singles "

Hypocrite Hypocrisy is the practice of feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not. The word "hypocrisy" entered the English language ''c.'' 1200 with the meaning "the sin of pretending to virtue or goodness". Today, "hypocrisy" ofte ...

" and a cover of

Toots & the Maytals The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music. ...

Pressure Drop Pressure drop (often abbreviated as "dP" or "ΔP") is defined as the difference in total pressure between two points of a fluid carrying network. A pressure drop occurs when frictional forces, caused by the resistance to flow, act on a fluid as i ...

". The band recorded two albums 1996 ''

Today's Specials ''Today's Specials'' is a cover album by the Specials, released in 1996. It is the first studio album by the group since 1984, albeit not involving the full original line-up. Original members Neville Staple, Roddy Byers, Lynval Golding, and H ...

'', a compilation of covers and 1998 ''

Guilty 'til Proved Innocent! ''Guilty 'til Proved Innocent!'' is a 1998 album by The Specials. It is the first studio album of new songs by the group since 1984, with songs written by both original and new group members. As in their previous album and tours during this er ...

'' which were made up of original material. Byers contributed songs for latter's "Tears in My Beer," "Bonediggin'," "Keep on Learning" and "The Man With No Name". After the Specials 2, Byers worked with the acoustic project, Three Men & Black, which consisted of

Jean Jacques Burnel Jean-Jacques Burnel (born 21 February 1952) is an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist with the punk rock band the Stranglers. He is the only original member to remain in the band. Life and career Burnel perf ...

(

The Stranglers The Stranglers are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1974. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 20 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have originated in the ...

Jake Burns John "Jake" Burns (born 21 February 1958) is a singer and guitarist, and is best known as the frontman of Stiff Little Fingers, although he has also recorded with Jake Burns and the Big Wheel, 3 Men + Black, and as a solo artist. Early life ...

(

Stiff Little Fingers Stiff Little Fingers are a Northern Irish punk rock band from Belfast. They formed in 1977 at the height of the Troubles, which informed much of their songwriting. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star (named after the Deep P ...

), Pauline Black (

The Selecter The Selecter is an English 2 tone ska revival band, formed in Coventry, England, in 1979. The Selecter featured a diverse line-up, both in terms of race and gender, initially consisting of Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson and Pauline Black on lead ...

Bruce Foxton Bruce Douglas Foxton (born 1 September 1955) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Foxton's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as bassist and backing vocalist of mod revival band the Jam. ...

(

The Jam The Jam were an English rock band formed in 1972 in Woking, Surrey, consisting of Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler. They released 18 consecutive top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in ...

) and

Dave Wakeling David Wakeling (born 19 February 1956) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known for his work with the band the Beat (known in North America as the English Beat) and General Public. Career Wakeling began his professional caree ...

( The Beat,

General Public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

) and Nick Welsh (Skaville UK). Byers' current band, the Skabilly Rebels, are based in

. They are Roddy Byers - lead guitar, vocals; Adrian Lee - saxophone, keyboards; Joe Harcourt - second guitar, backing vocals;, Connor O’Connor - bass guitar and Matt Hart - drums. They released their debut album ''

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

Attack'' at the end of 2009 and toured the United States in 2012 and regularly tour the UK, Ireland and Europe.

References

External links

* * * Dave Thompson
Roddy Radiation
Biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Radiation, Roddy 1955 births Living people English male guitarists English punk rock guitarists English rock guitarists English male songwriters The Specials members Musicians from Coventry Rockabilly guitarists British ska musicians 20th-century English guitarists 20th-century English male musicians 21st-century English guitarists 21st-century English male musicians