Lynval Golding would like to express the true intent and total content of a press release that was posted in the Coventry Evening Telegraph on 11/10/04. Lynval was contacted by the reporter in regards to the release but the reporter refused to use any of the content of the interview. Lynval, who speaks on behalf of the majority of The Specials, would like to express the band's regrets to the misinterpretation of their intentions in this article. The reporter decided to only use quotes from Roddy (which were not in the best interest of the band or valid for that matter) and only certain lines from the press release that best suited his (the reporters) agenda. As to the following quotes from the article "Coventry legends The Specials have reformed - to announce they will not be reforming" and "Former Special's producer Roger Lomas said:"They have offered this statement as a band and it is a band that does not exist." ; Roger Lomas, who never produced The Specials, is not in a postion to speak on behalf of our business ventures (or plan events for 2-Tone or The Specials) and to say we are not a band is only true in the performance sense of the word, we are still a business that needs regular management.
As you read the full press release below we hope you will have a better understanding of our decision. We would like to thank our fans for their continued support.
A STATEMENT FROM THE SPECIALS
We appreciate the Coventry Evening Telegraph in so far as they have
suggested that Coventry should celebrate 25years of 2 Tone.
We are also very honoured and pleased that Coventry City Council have looked
into the idea of a concert to celebrate 2 Tonešs 25th anniversary.
It is not our intention to spoil anything or interfere with anything anybody
else may want to do.
However, we are very sorry but we feel unable to perform in the context of
the proposed idea of a "2 Tone Supergroup". Most of the original Specials
have never played with members of the other 2 Tone bands and the original
Specials line up have not played together for twenty years . We think that
our involvement with any "Supergroup" would be unlikely to produce music
worthy of the reputation of the 2 Tone label without a great deal of
commitment and rehearsal. This would not be possible due to lack of
available time and other commitments. It's a shame that rumours of this
event started before we had agreed to anything. We think the idea could
raise expectations unrealistically and would involve a high risk of leaving
the public feeling slightly disappointed or let down, when they have shown
so much goodwill and enthusiasm.
Contrary to any speculation we would also like to make it clear that there
are no plans for the original line up of The Specials to perform anywhere in
the foreseeable future.
We would again like to thank Coventry City Council and trust that they can
understand why we feel unable to participate in this proposed event.