Don Letts

DON LETTS: Don Letts’ reputation has been firmly established in both the film and music world by a substantial body of work from the late 70's through the 80's, 90’s and well into the millennium. His work has been exhibited in N.Y.C, London and Milan, and he won a Grammy for his documentary ‘Westway To The World’.    He came to notoriety in the late 70's as the DJ that single handedly turned a whole generation of punks onto reggae. It was whilst as a DJ at the first punk club 'The Roxy' in 1977, that Don adopted the punk D.I.Y ethic and begun to make his first film 'The Punk Rock Movie'. Shot on Super-8mm it is the only documentary on the U.K punk scene w/ Sex Pistols-The Clash and many others. This led to a period directing over 300 music videos for an eclectic mix of diverse artists ranging from Public Image to Bob Marley. He then moved into documentary work covering the likes of Gil Scot-Heron, The Jam, Sun Ra, George Clinton and most recently Paul McCartney.     

2017: 'Two Sevens Clash': Dread Meets Punk Rockers was shot, directed and narrated by Don. This archive based film looks at the myth and the reality of the 'punky-reggae party' - using unseen footage shot on Super-8mm 40 years ago and as such is probably the only untold punk rock story includes: The Sex Pistols - Big Youth - The Clash - Culture - The Slits - Linton Kwesi Johnson and many more. This film will be shown in full on the huge digital screen in The Exchange with full sounds through the PA.  Don will then take part in a discussion about Subcultures along with Pete Williams, a founder member of Dexys Midnight Runners, and with author and journalist Nige Tasell.    

PETE WILLIAMS:

Pete is a founding member of Dexys Midnight Runners and also a pivotal force in their recent resurgence as Dexys.

Pete had the honour of leading his 4 handed, incredible band as 'Special Guests' on the 21-date sold-out Protest Songs UK Tour in 2021, opening for The Specials.

With three critically acclaimed albums to his name. Pete was personally invited by the twins to open for the Mighty Proclaimers spanning 30 live shows, more recently, alongside guitarist Andy Wellings they completed a successful run of 15 shows as Special Guests to Simon & Oscar of Ocean Colour Scene on their Semi Acoustic,  'Evening with' 2023 UK tour. Night after night they captivated audiences with a 50-minute set of songs and stories. Pete will perform live and also chat about his life in music.

NIGE TASSELL:

Nige is a music journalist and author, whose most recent book is the highly acclaimed Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids?, in which he goes in search of members of all 22 bands on the legendary NME cassette. Nige will be talking about, giving a reading from and signing copies of Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids?, as well as giving us a world-exclusive preview of/reading from his next, still top-secret book, in which one of tonight’s guests features.