Jerry Dammers Blasts the Specials Over Hometown Show

The long-running feud between reformed ska superstars the Specials and founder member Jerry Dammers shows absolutely no sign of simmering down. As he prepares to take to the road with his new project, the Spatial AKA Orchestra -- a tribute to the cosmically-fried free jazz pioneer Sun Ra -- Dammers has blasted his former bandmates for wanting to snub a gig in their hometown of Coventry.

With his own tour -- Dammers' first in 25 years -- set to kick off in Coventry on Thursday (Mar. 4), the keyboards maestro revealed the Specials' initial decision not play the city was one of the reasons for not joining the current tour.

"I was actually kicked out of the reunion finally because I wanted to play in Coventry," Dammers revealed to the BBC.

According to Dammers, the band's refusal to play or record any new material was also a deciding factor in the full reunion not taking place.

"It was supposed to be progressive musically," he said of the band's first break-up in 1981.

"It was supposed to move forward. I grew up with the Beatles so my idea was that if you're lucky enough to reach a certain successful point, you should use that to try and be creative like the Beatles did, rather than just trying to repeat it over and over again and cash in on it."

However, speaking exclusively to Spinner last week, Specials guitarist and co-vocalist Lynval Golding was confident that new material was on its way saying, "It makes sense to get some new ideas together. It will happen,"