{"id":2137,"date":"2025-02-19T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/?p=2137"},"modified":"2025-02-19T16:12:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T16:12:52","slug":"rick-butler-of-the-jam-dead-we-revisit-our-last-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/2025\/02\/19\/rick-butler-of-the-jam-dead-we-revisit-our-last-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Rick Buckler of The Jam: We revisit our last interview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_code module_class=”custom-cat” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]
\t
\t\tMojo<\/pee>\t<\/div>\t
\t\tFEATURE<\/pee>\t<\/div><\/div>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text module_class=”article-title” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”||||||||” header_text_align=”center” header_text_color=”#111111″ header_font_size=”68px” custom_margin=”40px||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Rick Buckler Remembered: \u201cWe did everything that we set out to do\u2026\u201d<\/h1>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”intro-text” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_orientation=”center” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

In tribute to Rick Buckler, who has sadly passed away aged 69, MOJO revisits a classic interview with The Jam\u2019s drummer.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-main” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_orientation=”center” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Words by Chris Catchpole<\/span><\/span><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/02\/2J0EMCDsm.jpg” title_text=”2J0EMCDsm” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

While few would deny that Paul Weller was the driving creative force in The Jam, as with any great band, the musical chemistry between Weller, bassist Bruce Foxton and drummer Rick Buckler, who has sadly passed away aged 69, was an integral part of what made The Jam the most successful British group since The Beatles.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u201cI\u2019m shocked and saddened by Rick\u2019s passing,\u201d wrote Weller in a statement following the news of Buckler\u2019s death after a short illness. \u201cI\u2019m thinking back to us all rehearsing in my bedroom in Stanley Road, Woking. To all the pubs and clubs we played as kids, to eventually making a record. What a journey! We went far beyond our dreams and what we made stands the test of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

A band is only as good as its drummer, as the adage goes, and in Rick Buckler The Jam had one of the best of the era. Born in Woking in 1955, Buckler met Weller, three years his junior, at Sheerwater Secondary School in 1971 and began playing with the group Weller had formed with guitarist Steve Brookes. Later joined by Foxton, The Jam became a trio after Brookes left and honed their skills playing R&B and rock and roll covers in youth clubs, pubs and working men\u2019s clubs across Surrey and London.<\/p>\n

Weller\u2019s discovery of The Who\u2019s first album and the fire lit by witnessing the Sex Pistols at the Lyceum in 1976 provided a creative catalyst and across six albums and an unbroken run of top 40 singles (including four number ones), their amphetamine-charged mod pop would develop into classic \u201860s-inspired songwriting, post-punk edged experimentation and excursions into blue-eyed soul and funk.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pull-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#111111″ header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

“After The Jam split, Buckler formed a new band Time UK in 1983”<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Sharp as the crease in a pair of Sta-Press trousers, Buckler\u2019s tightly-wound playing and bursts of snare gave an electric edge to Weller\u2019s songs of suburban life and longing. Just listen to how the nervous interaction between Buckler\u2019s hi-hat and Foxton\u2019s bassline creates a growing sense of dread on Down In The Tube Station At Midnight, the melancholy swing he gave to Just Who Is The 5 O\u2019Clock Hero? or his explosive tour de force on the band\u2019s 1981 single Funeral Pyre.<\/p>\n

Weller\u2019s decision to disband The Jam in 1982, bowing out at the peak of their success to start afresh in The Style Council, came as a huge shock. Not least to Buckler and Foxton, who maintained they were blindsided by the news, coming just months after the band\u2019s sixth LP The Gift had topped the charts.<\/p>\n

After The Jam split, Buckler formed a new band Time UK in 1983 and reunited with Foxton in short-lived new wave group Sharp, who released one single in 1986. He rejoined Foxton again in 2007 in From The Jam, performing songs by their old group, but unlike Foxton, Buckler never performed with Weller again.<\/p>\n

In 2015, Buckler spoke to MOJO\u2019s Chris Catchpole and looked back at his time in The Jam, what they achieved and what he felt they still could have gone on to do together…<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Paul sort of knew each other at school. Anybody who was interested in music used to hang around the music room and swap albums. Paul and Steve [Brookes, original Jam guitarist] had a gig and needed someone to play drums. He gave me a big stack of albums that were sort of Chuck Berry-style things and said, \u2018Go away and learn some of those.\u2019\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pull-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#111111″ header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

“We were always pushing the boundaries of what we could do with a three-piece band”<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u201cIn those days there were a lot of working men\u2019s clubs, maybe the odd party that we used to do. I think we did a gig for Chelsea Football Club at one point. If anybody offered us a show we would do it. Then we discovered that there was a great pub rock scene happening in London. There were The 101-ers, Joe Strummer\u2019s band, Dr Feelgood, The Stranglers, those sort of bands. Although the money wasn\u2019t as good as it was playing in the working men\u2019s clubs, we felt more at home there. Once Paul had seen the Sex Pistols and realised the content of the lyrics it changed for him then. It gave him a new direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe band was evolving all the way along the line and it almost stares you in the face when you look at it from a retrospective point of view. We were always pushing the boundaries of what we could do with a three-piece band. It meant that each album had its own identity. Just the diversity of tracks. The difference between Ghosts and Absolute Beginners and Funeral Pyre and Start!. They\u2019re all totally different in the way they\u2019ve been approached and recorded. I think in the early days we felt we had to prove ourselves to the record company or prove ourselves to an audience so that we could gain our own fan base. It just seemed to be an ethic that we carried on. Which is why when Paul said he was going to leave the band, me and Bruce felt that there was more to do. Maybe a couple more years or a couple more albums. There were still things that we could achieve. I don\u2019t know what Paul felt when he did it. I think that secretly he knows he made a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a fabulous time and nothing really did go wrong as such. We did everything that we set out to do as far as touring and having hit records and recording albums. It was just that I didn\u2019t see the end coming as it did.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In tribute to Rick Buckler, who has sadly passed away aged 69, MOJO revisits a classic interview with The Jam\u2019s drummer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-mojo-interview"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"akindell","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2137"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2145,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2137\/revisions\/2145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}