TERRY Hall turned 60 this year. “It means I got my Freedom Pass from Transport For London,” he says with a grin. “I bloody love travelling around London on buses, and I plan to fully abuse this pass as much as I can. I also bloody love being 60. I’ve wanted to be 60 since I was in my twenties. I’ve always thought I’d make my best music in the years between 60 and 70.” Hall has been able to put this notion to the test during 2019. The Specials started the year with their first-ever No 1 album, Encore, and continued with an 80-date world tour, including a homecoming in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral. Los Angeles even named May 29 ‘The Specials Day’ in the city. Not bad going, then, for a band who celebrated their 40th anniversary this year.
Today, meanwhile, at the Universal Music offices in King’s Cross – just a short bus ride away from Terry Hall’s home in Islington – Uncut’s reporter is sitting on a high office chair, taking notes on a pad, while Hall is slumped on a sofa, occasionally puffing on a vape. The seating position quickly starts to resemble a psychotherapy session, especially when Hall starts to elucidate about mental illness, medication and a track on their album called “The Life And Times Of A Man Called Depression”. It’s also led him to get involved with a mental health charity called Tonic. “They came on tour with us, and we’ve raised a ton of money for them, so they can run choirs and get people with mental health issues to piss around on instruments. It’s great. That’s where my politics are now – direct action.”
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