NEVER GROW UP is the ultimate film about MOD and subcultures
Told in three parts, we retrace the story of the MODS – and with it the story of British rock music and the rise of youth movements in Europe. NEVER GROW UP is a sharp, stylish music film for those with an eye for fashion, music and subcultures.
Set to the music of OTIS REDDING, THE SUPREMES, THE JAM, THE WHO, THE KINKS, DAVID BOWIE, OASIS, BLUR, AMY WINEHOUSE and many more, the film takes us on a journey through time. From the jazz clubs of the late 1950s, through Swinging London in the 1960s and the punk explosion of the 1980s – right up to London today.
Along the way, we meet people united by one thing – they are MODS, and MOD has never let them go – whether it’s an 80-year-old original MOD or the 18-year-old bass player of MOD band THE MOLOTOVS. MOD has long been more than just a British phenomenon. Today MODS can be found across the globe – in Moscow, Rio, Tokyo, New York or Düsseldorf.
We set out to capture the story of MOD, conducting over 100 interviews and attending concerts and MOD MAYDAYS in more than ten countries. Along the way, we spoke with renowned actors, musicians, athletes and many others.
We – that is EDDIE PILLER and myself – aim not only to tell the remarkable and genuinely significant story of the MODS, but also to explore what MOD truly means and why so many people around the world stay MOD for life.
It seems to be the longing for eternal youth – something many simply cannot let go of.
On our journey, we have gathered hundreds of original photos and films (Super 8 and VHS). Unseen material from the 1960s and 1980s – footage and photos shot by the very people of that time themselves.
NEVER GROW UP is conceived as a three-part episodic film:
Part 1 = The birth of the MOD movement in the 1960s.
Part 2 = The MOD revival in the 1980s.
Part 3 = MOD today in Europe and Asia.
A 90-minute version for cinema and live events is also planned.
We are filming digitally and on 16mm.
“This is a film about growing up. About 5 generations of MODS, their passion and their dreams — some broken, some inspiring...”
— Eddie Piller
Two years ago I drove to Cologne with my MOD friend Bodo (singer of the band STUNDE X) to see PAUL WELLER live. It had been ages since I’d been to a concert, and I had done my best to suppress any expectations of what a PAUL WELLER gig in 2025 might be like: It was your typical over-50s gathering… mostly teachers in corduroy jackets.
The last time I saw PAUL WELLER live, my trousers split while I was pogoing and I very nearly got crushed against the stage. That was in 1981 in Paris. PAUL WELLER, RICK BUCKLER and BRUCE FOXTON were THE JAM – and I was a MOD.
“Well“ I thought, gazing into the greying crowd. So this is what remains. Meeting Bodo and heading off to a PAUL WELLER gig together had sparked a tiny, nostalgic teenage kick in me.
By now, it had completely fizzled out. Where did all those cool guys from back then end up? We were the greatest, ready to die rather than grow old and conform. And now?
London, Scala. Backstage.
Issy (18) tugs at the dress she’s stitched together from a Union Jack and slings her bass over her shoulder. Her brother Mathew (17) stands beside her in a made-to-measure suit. Behind them Noel, the drummer, in a turtleneck and paisley scarf. Out front, the crowd goes mad while the announcer calls their names. THE MOLOTOVS…
They stride on stage and launch straight into it. The audience: 16 to 25-year-old kids. Many of them MODS. What’s happening now feels like THE JAM or THE BUZZCOCKS in their prime.
In an interview, Issey explains they see themselves as part of a new generation, diametrically opposed to the values of Gen Z. They want to spark something in the kids. They flatly reject the idea of passively consuming whatever the commercial world serves up. Could there still be a young generation out there that actually wants change, and refuses to settle for the all-pervasive commercialism?
In Germany, it was STUNDE X which radiated that carefree feeling and energy. Every concert was an experience. Bodo is still a MOD today. He wears Ben Sherman shirts and the Paul Weller haircut, sideburns and all. Life hasn’t always treated him kindly – it knocked him off course. But he’s never lost his sharp mind or his dry sense of humour. Without him and his enormous knowledge on the subject, this film would not have been possible.
But what I wanted to know was: whatever happened to all the other MODS? The dashing SUGAR, the MATIC brothers, GABI – who somehow everyone went out with at some point – TANJA and KARSTEN Minter, SCHULZE and SCHULTZE, KOPPELMANN, BENNE SCHMITZ and PHURDY…
That’s where NEVER GROW UP began.
WHAT HAPPENED TO MOD?
Together with British MOD icon and ACID JAZZ label founder EDDIE PILLER, I set out on the journey. We didn’t just meet my old friends, but the entire MOD scene of then and now, in Düsseldorf, Brussels, Paris, Milan, London, Tel Aviv and Tokyo.
It was fascinating to see what became of those men and women. One failed, another successful. Dropouts, business types, family people, social workers, creatives, fashion designers, and so on.
We met well-known musicians and artists (among them PAUL WELLER, PETE TOWNSHEND and NOEL GALLAGHER). Actors who had once been MODS themselves, like MARTIN FREEMAN, HEIKE MAKATSCH or BILL NIGHY. Fashion designers such as PAUL SMITH, STELLA McCARTNEY or RAF SIMONS.
At MOD MAYDAYS and various NORTHERN SOUL WEEKENDERS in London, Blackpool, Brighton, Cologne, Hamburg, Tokyo, Jakarta and Barcelona we encountered MODS from every corner of the world. However different the people may be, I always got the same answer: MOD shaped my life.
Through these interviews we gathered not only wonderful film material but also more than 1,000 photos, Super 8/VHS films, fanzines, press articles and flyers from that time.
To step out onto the street as a MOD in the 80s was a real risk and demanded courage. A fat lip or a broken nose could strike you anywhere, anytime.
Today’s over-50 MODS (some call them COMEDY-MODS) order their outfits on Amazon and hardly risk ruffling any feathers. By 50 most can also afford a cool scooter in the garage and all those things from England we’d have killed for back then.
In high spirits we drove, in blazing sunshine, to BAD HONNEF to attend the German MOD MAYDAY. Here, once a year, the local MOD, SOUL and 60s scene gathers. Some, like Bodo, remained MOD, others have only just discovered it for themselves. Again – almost exclusively over-50s. Everyone in fine spirits and exceedingly friendly.
It began with a boat trip on the Rhine. A bloke in a flashing blue-light hat (it read MOD POLICE) DJ’d. The music was OK. The view on the dancefloor less so. It looked more like a MALLORCA Magaluf than Small Faces. When people started doing a conga line to TIME FOR ACTION by SECRET AFFAIR, that was it for me.
What happens here has absolutely nothing to do with what made the real MOD MAYDAYS – say, 1983 in Eckernförde – so special, when 500 MODS descended upon the seaside town and ran riot.
Here you can find a MOD flea market, a modest record fair and a designated parking space for scooters (signposted: “Only for MODS”).
This isn’t a German quirk. The over-50 MOD scene exists all over Europe – in Milan, Madrid, Vienna, Paris and, of course, England. More precisely – Brighton. There, MOD tourism is in full swing. Selfies with the QUADROPHENIA stars, a small MOD museum, shops selling MOD keychains. MOD weddings and pilgrimages to QUADROPHENIA filming locations.
Welsh photographer DAVID COLLYER has made exactly that the subject of his new photobook entitled 50 PLUS.
THE BEATING HEART OF THE SCENE
…is the traditional MODS MAYDAY in London where MODS from all over the world gather. Here, the old bands play – SECRET AFFAIR, THE PURPLE HEARTS, THE CHORDS – but also newer groups like SHARP CLASS and BLOCK 33.
I got the chance to speak with IAN PAGE, my former idol, the singer of SECRET AFFAIR. For him it’s all about the music. Unfortunately Ian and David Cairns fell out with each other, while recording a new album. Ian has left Secret Affair… Without Ian Page, there is no Secret Affair. Sad.
I was equally astonished by the PURPLE HEARTS’ performance. They’re no longer young MODS either, yet they’ve lost none of their energy or attitude.There really were MODS from every corner of the globe.
One of the most memorable interviews was with SUKARNO, a MOD from Indonesia who organises MOD MAYDAYS in Bali and Jakarta.Two Brazilian MODS told me of the harsh realities in São Paulo and their love of Bossa Nova Jazz.
A few weeks earlier I had shot a music video for THE MOLOTOVS. Word had spread. Asked why the band weren’t playing his event, MOD MAYDAY organiser Adrian Gibson explained that he had invited them, but their management declined. The band’s label and management are keen to avoid linking THE MOLOTOVS with the over-50 MOD scene.
All this despite Issy and Mathew very much seeing themselves as part of the MOD scene. Mathew especially is a fervent devotee of PAUL WELLER – something that’s plain to see when he’s on stage.
I must say, I enjoyed the MODS MAYDAY in London. But did it have anything to do with what we once felt and lived? If so, only in the nostalgic sense.
At the legendary Bar Italia in Soho I meet Nick and his father Greg – both MODS. Outside the café, their gleaming 60s Lambrettas sit parked, all chrome and festooned with lamps and mirrors. Immediately a crowd gathers.
The two had come from a rather different MOD event – a charity supporting children with cancer. Each year they organise a scooter parade that brings together up to 300 MODS and their prized machines. They take particular pride in the fact that their scooter club was part of the Queen’s funeral procession.
Nick is about 40 and works as an estate agent. Greg must be past 80 by now – he’s an ORIGINAL MOD from the 60s. Back then, Greg recalls, they’d have met here at BAR ITALIA. These days it’s just for tourists. Soho’s dead, Nick adds. Excessive tourism has gutted whole neighbourhoods, stripping them of their identity.
The only one to have held the line in Soho over the decades is Adam of London – the most exclusive address for bespoke suits and shirts in true 60s style. Adam, now around 60 himself and dressed to perfection in a sharp three-button suit, speaks of the many Hollywood films he has outfitted, and of course of PAUL WELLER, LIAM GALLAGHER and other luminaries who favour his tailoring – among them, incidentally, THE MOLOTOVS and EDDIE PILLER.
So what’s left?
So what’s left? What have we – the over 50s who once, as MODS or PUNKS, set out to change the world – actually achieved? In fact, quite the opposite of what we once stood for.
Ours is the generation that has ruthlessly commercialised and homogenised everything that was ever authentic or alternative. We’re the ones sitting in talent shows, advertising agencies, design studios and media corporations, dictating what supposedly counts as cool and cutting-edge.
The idea of never growing old (as Roger Daltrey once sang in MY GENERATION) has gone spectacularly wrong. Whether it’s the ROLLING STONES, KRAFTWERK, DEPECHE MODE, MADONNA or now OASIS – the old geezers rock the show. And the youth? They’re all about Taylor Swift, TikTok and Heidi Klum (well over 50).
But thankfully, that’s not the whole story. A new generation is resisting the commercial frenzy and actively trying to make a difference – not only politically and socially. It’s also about creating for yourself: designing your own clothes, retreating to the basement to make your own music, organising live gigs in small clubs, meeting up in cafés, reading books – all in defiance of the mainstream.
Are these the MODS or PUNKS of today? In a way, yes. Do they call themselves that? No – but the energy and the attitude are the same.