Buster: We’re not sure about figures at all at the moment but we’re hoping for about 5,000 people for our first event and that to us seems like a really realistic figure to aim for. They were at their most popular during the early 1980s, during a period when other ska revival bands such as Madness, the Specials and the Selecter filled the charts. Bad Manners spent 111 weeks in the UK Singles Chart between 1980 and 1983, and they also achieved chart success with their first four studio albums, with Ska 'n' B (1980), Loonee Tunes! (1980), and Gosh It's ... Bad Manners (1981) being their biggest hits.

Buster: It was yes and people worry that I’m not the same man that I was but I can assure them I’m probably a better man than I’ve ever been! I think now everybody’s got mortgages and settled down with children the idea of fighting and being silly, things that they may have done when they were younger, has just gone out the window. In fact they’re the people who are now looking at the kids doing exactly the same thing and telling them off! In December 2012, founding members of the band met for the first time in decades at the Ship public house in Soho, London. Paul Hyman, Martin Stewart, Brian Tuitt and Chris Kane met with band historian and harmonica player David Turner, and Christopher 'Dell' Wardell, a music writer and promoter from Darlington. On 18 July 2013, seven of the original nine members reunited at The Brownswood public house, near Finsbury Park, that is within striking distance of their old school, Woodbery Down Comprehensive. The 'Bad Manners Originals' who attended the reunion were Andy Marson (alto sax), Paul Hyman (trumpet), Winston Bazoomies (Alan Sayag) (harmonicas), Chris Kane (tenor sax), David Farren (bass), Martin Stewart (keyboards) and Brian Tuitt (drums). The meetings were arranged after Wardell's 'Where Are They Now?' article was published in The Northern Echo in 2012, providing details on the current whereabouts of all of the original band members. [ citation needed] Of course I’m the last on so I’m going to be performing bigger than I can possibly be. And of course now I’ve lost so much weight I’m like a ballerina on the stage! Buster’s “Special Brew” set to entertain thousands! Bad Manners’ ebullient front man Buster Bloodvessel is celebrating an incredible 30 years in the business by organising Badfest, a three day music festival to be held at Twinwood in Bedfordshire this July. Katy Lewis met him.I feel a bit like I’m on a mission like Billy Butlins! I’d like this weekend to have that much appeal so that people would say “yes – you’ve almost achieved Billy Butlins status” which is to encourage people to come here for the weekend and have a blooming good time! They have been fronted from day one by Buster Bloodvessel, one of the biggest voices in show business with the personality to match! Buster: Well – just Bad Manners being there will make it a little bit different I can assure you! But it’s the quality of the bands that have been chosen and the fact that I know that when people come and see anything to do with ska it creates a good party atmosphere. It makes people drink and celebrate a bit more than maybe they should but I’m encouraging people to come here and enjoy themselves so that is really what this weekend will become.

Buster: Oh totally – I perform like I was 18 again. I’ve just got this mad idea that my body seems to be getting better and younger and fitter and as long as I’ve got that in my head and my body’s responding I’m not complaining! Q. This festival is kind of a celebration of the amount of time that you’ve been in the business isn’t it?

One of the main reasons for their notoriety was their outlandish huge-tongued and shaven-headed frontman, Buster Bloodvessel. His manic exploits got them banned from the British BBC TV chart show Top of the Pops, for painting his head red. [5] The band was also banned from Italian TV after Bloodvessel mooned a concert audience on live television at the 1983 Sanremo Music Festival, [6] after being told that the Pope was watching on TV. [5] [6] Buster: I went down from 31 stone to 18 stone initially and then down to 12 and half stone which was the lowest I got. Now I’ve gone up to 13 stone and the doctors have all said I’ve just been the perfect patient and I’ve never been the perfect at anything! a b Walters, Sarah (4 September 2008). "Tongue and groove with Buster..." manchestereveningnews.co.uk. After five years without releasing any new material, Bad Manners issued their Heavy Petting album in 1997. Six years later, Buster set up another record label and the band released Stupidity on Bad Records in 2003. Then it’s going to go on each year and I can guarantee it will probably triple and quadruple by the time we’re a blink away. It’s going to be a great event – everyone should be there!

Q. If all the bands in the Badfest line-up still tour and still attract loads and loads of fans, why are they largely ignored by media and record companies? Buster: We were going to have it in Butlins by the sea and there were many other places planned but once we came here, to Twinwood, we sort of fell in love with the place. It’s got lots of connections, with Glenn Miller taking off from here on his last flight, so it’s quite a special place to hold a music festival. The grounds being RAF based actually looked the part for a Badfest – it all goes with the artwork! We’ve got the artwork everywhere and we all want to be a bit more camoflagued up on that weekend. There’ll be lots of tents, lots of camping and lots of shorts!Q. So, what bands are confirmed? "Anybody who comes along will just go to themselves – “Wow I can’t wait for next year!" Bad Manners are an English two-tone and ska band led by frontman Buster Bloodvessel. Early appearances included Top of the Pops and the live film documentary Dance Craze (1981).

It’s increased my will to live and it’s made my health and fitness so much better. It’s a shame because I was a very happy fatty but now I understand both sides of the fence and I wish I’d done this a long time ago because health is the most important thing. I know it’s strange that I should be promoting health as people would think that I’ve lived more of an unhealthy lifestyle than anybody in the world, but I feel so great now. It’s just given me a real zest for life and the desire to want to achieve greatness on stage. Buster: We were originally booked to play the club that they’ve got here. It was a nice Christmas do and it wasn’t over sold but we saw the potential here to have a brilliant festival. Nobody else has probably ever seen this potential and we want to be the first to really set it alight really because I’m sure in years to come this will be a well-known place – certainly a landmark.But this July it is going to be the venue for another exciting music event, Badfest, a three day extravaganza featuring some of the bigger names from the past 25 years that continue to play live even though shunned by the bigger festivals and music companies. It will be an annual event. It’s going to be a solid three days of bands playing because there’s also a lot of small bands that will be going on. We’ll also have the bar running up at the museum end. The whole thing is going to be growing and in the next five years we hope to make it into a place where people will come along and really enjoy themselves – not just for this event but for other events. Buster: The whole of the music business is run by record companies who are very self-centred and if you don’t do what they want you to do then you don’t go anywhere. Of course once you get a bit long in the tooth you realise that these people are taking liberties out of you and you don’t want to be part of that. This means you survive any way you can and a lot of bands die at that point or go on the road. If they’re good enough they will survive and if they’re not, they won’t. It’s a dog eat dog world. Everyone’s out to try and earn a shilling and to make themselves as successful as possible. Q. You are billed as ‘the hardest working band on the planet’– how many gigs do you normally do in a year?