Secret Affair - Glory Boys

Secret Affair are a mod revival band, formed in 1978 after the demise of the CBS Records signed power pop band New Hearts. Singer Ian Page and guitarist David Cairns spent the second half of 1978 writing songs that would form the basis of the first two Secret Affair albums. After spending January 1979 demoing songs, Page and Cairns enlisted the services of bassist Dennis Smith from the power pop band Advertising and Young Bucks drummer Seb Shelton. Saxophone player Dave Winthrop, originally playing with the group in his capacity as a session musician, would join as a full-time member of the band later in the year.
Secret Affair made their first public appearance supporting The Jam at Reading University. And it was at this gig that Secret Affair discovered they weren't alone. "There were mods there and they liked us," said Ian Page later the same year. "They said: 'Look, we're mods, there's quite a lot of us, and what we're really looking for - I mean we love The Jam - but we're looking for a band of our own, because they're famous already. What we want is a band that's part of us.'"
Directed to a pub in Barking called the Barge Aground, Ian Page went along to check out this burgeoning youth movement. "And there it was. A sea of suits and parkas and hairstyles. Fuckin' blew me out!" Page admitted to the NME. "I'd invented this Glory Boys concept, which was my reaction to being told that I wasn't any good, and if I'm going to be honest the real idea was like a spiv; a suit, a black shirt and a white tie, clothes being very important. I walked in and I thought, 'they're all Glory Boys!' But too late, they were mods. They said 'We chose mods. We like what they did and now we're going to make something of our own out of it'. That's how our following started."

[dougturner]

Good to see photos with me in, back in the day

[jonandrews]

Great Video, Last photo is Secret Affair with Bristol Mods taken at the Cheltenham leg of ‘March of the Mods’ tour in 1979, I’m sat in the middle aboard my SX Scooter.

[jimsregaturntableshifijukebox]

Nicely done 👍 That takes me back, was a mod from 77-83, then a Scooter Boy, been a Scooterist since and still have three Vespas 🙂. Have even heard Glory Boys played at mates funerals.

[gordonspence]

At 1.20 great to see some of my old mates from the Perth Red Star Scooter club back in the day... Graeme Dott . Scott Neil. Ian Kennedy . Tony Duncan and big Narey on the end .. I suspect it was our unofficial photographer Steve Anton who took that pic as he always had the camera out .. great days and great memorys.

[matthewjdouglas]

Those sirens, did the clash sample them for white riot??