A message from Paul Willo

In 2010 I had just finished The Specials tour around the UK. It had been a fantastically hectic schedule and busy on the fan forum. So in the lull after the tour I thought we needed to keep the band momentum going. But how? One cold grey day, I was watching a programme about children with cancer. Awful. Which then reminded me The Specials raised 9K on their tour for Teenage Cancer Trust so I thought be nice to tie in the band again with another fundraiser to keep momentum going. Knowing many people in the scene for years, I hit on the idea of a Specials tribute album by modern artists on the ska scene. The whole idea went viral. I was gobsmacked if I’m honest. Specialized sparked into life. A mix of the band name and “specialising” in “something”. I used the Z simply cos it looked a bit more striking They say from little acorns and all that, well,10 years later here we are and the amount of things we have done and with wonderful people whether it’s an artist, promoter, supporter etc… Is mindblowing. We’ve raised a lot of dosh (not a lot over the last 18 months!) but the work rate and amount of recordings , events, side projects, being involved in other countries, our own record label with big named releases, still staggers me.
If things work out how I want them to, the future could be even more staggering.
If you ever bought a badge, a recording, attended a show, sponsored, Took part in an event, performed, promoted, worked for us, or just like what we do, I thank you most sincerely.
We will be re releasing the very first album on CD with added new bonus tracks as part of the 10th Anniversary celebrations. We will also be announcing new ambassadors that encompass other areas of UK ska history shortly.
Thank you all for your support.
Its completely immeasurable.