It's still Jam today for drummer

Rick Buckler sold his beloved gold discs from The Jam to pay for a court case against his former bandmate Paul Weller over unpaid royalties. It sparked an almost quarter-century rift between drummer and frontman that has never been healed and left Buckler on the brink of financial ruin.

But after various other bands and 12 years away from the music industry with his first love, carpentry, he has bounced back to form The Gift, a band bringing back the hits of his original punk-based mod trio.

Some claim the group is a rehash of the glory days of The Jam. Others turn up in their droves to hear the distinctive sound of the group live on.

And fans will get the chance to judge for themselves when The Gift performs live at the Robin 2 club in Bilston tomorrow night and at the Stourbridge Rock Cafe on Sunday.

Buckler admits he had a "miserable existence" for a few years after Weller called it a day with the band in 1982 and says there is no love lost between them.

"Paul's attitude about The Jam has not changed. He didn't want to talk about it for years and he denies its existence," he says.

Clubs

"As time goes on I don't think he is that interested at all in a reformation. We had a great time doing it, it is just a shame that Paul doesn't seem to appreciate what he created there.

"He just won't speak to me and seems to want to have cut us right out of his life. The split was very amicable, but we all know nothing lasts forever."

The Jam rose from the ashes of the 1976 punk movement, after learning their trade from the working men's clubs of Surrey in the early 1970s.

Buckler on drums, Bruce Foxton on bass guitar and vocals - who he does still speak to regularly - and Paul Weller on guitar and lead vocals, went on to become one of the biggest and best bands the UK has ever known.

The Jam achieved four number one singles, five top 10 albums and numerous sell-out tours.

It holds the record for the most simultaneous top 75 singles with 13 in all, including number one hits Going Underground, Start, Town Called Malice and Beat Surrender.

Yet Buckler did not walk away from The Jam a rich man. Instead he had to endure hard times just to get his share of the proceeds from playing to sold out venues.

"People think because you are famous that you must be really in the money, but I still have to work to earn a living," he says.

"I have a mortgage and bills to pay and I didn't walk away from The Jam with very much money at all. I still have to watch where the pennies go.

"There was a lot of money that went missing and I had to sell a lot of my gold discs simply to fund the court case, so there were a few years when I had a pretty miserable existence, but I have got through that and they did settle with us at the eleventh hour."

He last performed with The Jam in December 1982, a date still etched in his memory as clearly as the day it happened.

"It went through my mind when we did our last set that I would probably never play these songs again," he says. But it is great not having to re-learn anything and I just really enjoy playing."

Mainstream

He left music in the 1990s to take up antique furniture restoration, after first finding a love of carpentry at school when he made his first drum kit.

Times were tough at that time for "real" bands which played instruments, competing against the dominance of manufactured, mainstream pop, he says. "It wasn't a good time for live bands and real acts. When I was at school I was very much into carpentry so finding myself at a loose end I thought I would just go back to that.

"I spent a couple of years with a cabinet maker seriously learning all aspects of carpentry and cabinet making because basically like everyone else you need to turn a shilling or two. Grandfather clocks were especially enjoyable to work with."

Buckler, a father of two, who against all rock and roll tradition remains happily married to Lesley, the woman he met 30 years ago, has just turned 50.

And in the week when anti-ageism laws were introduced, he seems to be the epitome of a man able to offer so much more than someone younger.

"That birthday just crept up on me without me noticing it," he says. "I don't feel much different to when I was 23 or 24 to be honest and I have been very lucky health-wise."

l Tickets are available for the Robin2 gig on 01902 401211 or email music@therobin.co.uk. Call 01384 390918 for the Stourbridge Rock Cafe concert tickets.

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