A year or so back, Paul Weller explained the circumstances under which he would consider reforming The Jam. "Me and my children would have to be destitute and starving in the gutter," he said. Even if said scenario came about, he added, people shouldn't get their hopes up. "I'd go and get a job working on a van or the builders," he added.
He has said the barrier wasn't personal enmity between himself and his former bandmates (although, by all accounts, there's plenty of that - largely revolving around those two old staples, songwriting credits and royalties), but principles: "I'm against all bands reforming. I think it's really sad. I think you do these things and you create these statements and music at a certain time and they sum up how you feel at the time and that's where they end."
And that appeared to be the end of that. You were more likely to have Paul Weller turn up at your house and re-point your walls, than see The Jam live again. Then came the news yesterday that Rick Buckler and Bruce Foxton have decided to resurrect the name without Paul Weller's involvement.
Should you wish, you can see The Jam, with new vocalist Russell Hastings, performing in May. The venues they're playing are some way off Wembley - their appearance at The High Rocks, Tunbridge Wells, represents something of a departure for a venue best-known for its Wednesday afternoon tea dance ("ballroom dancing with Peter Harvey, tea and cake, £6"). Nevertheless, it's clearly a step up for Rick Buckler, who last year was to be found drumming in a Jam tribute act called The Gift (from whence Russell Hastings has also sprung): "you could say that Paul Weller is a tribute band because he plays The Jam's songs live," he suggested to online mag Positive Energy of Madness at the time.
That seems a bit of a hopeful argument, but perhaps the kind of high-minded principles that Weller espouses are a luxury that a multi-millionaire rock star can afford, but his less successful former cohorts can't.
You could argue that - ahem - this is the modern world, and that The Jam touring without Paul Weller fits with the current vogue for musical nostalgia, in which trifling matters like the absence or death of a key member aren't allowed to get in the way of making some cash or, apparently, audience enjoyment: after all, plenty of people are willing to go and see Queen live without Freddie Mercury, so why not The Jam without Weller.
Then again, twenty-five years ago, anyone who publicly suggested that The Jam had anything in common with Queen would have swiftly been kicked to the floor by several pairs of bowling shoes. After all, die hard fans will tell you that what made The Jam special was the fact that were about more than just the music. They were about fashion and politics and, yup, our old friend principles which, with the best will in the world, isn't something that anyone's going to claim of Queen.
So, Jam fans, over to you. Is this an appalling desecration of a vitally important band's legacy, or just a couple of jobbing musicians trying to earn an honest wage? Will you be dusting down your two-tone Jam shoes and Lonsdale sweatshirt and heading to The High Rocks Tunbridge Wells ("with beautiful gardens and a terrace for eating outside, you can sit and enjoy the lovely views, the tranquillity of the countryside and watch the steam trains")?
If you do, do you think the gush of nostalgia will overwhelm the fact that Weller isn't there?
