Laney Amplification, from The Black Country, ay we!

You will have heard the term ‘The Black Country’ but what does that mean and how does it relate to Laney Amplification?

Laney Amplification and our UK custom shop, Black Country Customs, were both born in an area of England called the West Midlands, and as you guessed correctly, it is the west of the middle of the land that is England, but where our identity is defined is through the tale and telling of our history and our changing location across 57 (and counting) years.

Laney Amplification started life as a small business in West Bromwich where Lyndon Laney got things going, this is in an area of ‘The Black Country’, so called because of its heavy industry from the Victorian era onwards to the continual industry that defines the area to this day, and we are proud to be a part of that. We moved from West Brom, to Digbeth in Birmingham and then to Cradley Heath in the early 1980’s but we are now in Halesowen, proudly in The Black Country and proud to represent the name of our home area globally in over 70 countries. We are proud west midlanders!

How does the term The Black Country Relate To Laney Amplification?

The term ‘The Black Country’ was first coined by a Mr. Simpson who was the town clerk to Lichfield (Staffordshire) who on 24^th November 1841 described going into “the black country of Staffordshire – Wolverhampton, Bilston and Tipton.” This description continued throughout the Victorian era helping boost the start of the Industrial Revolution with The Black Country being known for its heavy industry mainly consisting of coalworks, cokeworks, ironworks, glassworks, brickworks and steelworks.

The latter is synonymous with us as a company as our factory and current home is on ‘Steelpark Road’, a reminder of the heavy industrial past to our home. We even named our selection of effects pedals, the Black County Customs collection, in honour of our history. Our Black Country Customs workshop is where we design all of our products and manufacture amps like the Laney Supergroup series, Laney Ironheart and Laney Lionheart amplifiers – this hand-made approach with one foot firmly planted in a deep, rich tradition of creating amplifiers with a human touch is why artists all over the world know why Laney amps are so good!

The Black Country Dialect

One thing that is recognized as a big part of Black Country and the surrounding areas is the accent and dialect, spotted and depicted quite famously in the hit drama ‘Peaky Blinders’ where although it was mainly centered in Birmingham, quite often the show told of life in and around The Black Country too.

When it comes to the dialect, there are certain words and phrases that stick out, here is a quick vocabulary of some more infamous sayings:

• “Orroight” = “Alright”
  • Used as a questioning greeting, short for “Am yow orroight?”
• “Yow” = “You”
• “Yam” = “You are”
  • From “Yow am” or “Yowm”.
  • This is the origin of “Yam Yams”, a term designated by “Brummies” for the people from Wolverhampton who use this expression.
• “Am” = “Are”
• “Ar” = “Yes”
• “Arm” = “I’m”
• “Wim” = “We Are”
• “Bin” = “Been”, “Are” or “Am”
• “Dow” = “Don’t”
• “Day” = “Didn’t”
• “Gewin/Gooin” = “Going”
• “Oss” = “Horse”
• “Tekkin” = “Taking”
• “Cut” = “Canal”
• “Ay” = “Ain’t”
• “Ova” = “Over”
• “Car” = “Cannot”
• “Wor” = “Wasn’t”
  • g. “It wor me”
• “Babby” = “Baby”
• “Arl” = “I’ll”
• “Doe” = “Don’t”
• “Tat” = “Junk”
• “Yed” = “Head”
• “Tar” = “Thanks
• “Kidda” = A young relative, sibling, or friend
• “Arr” = “Yes”
• “Saft” = “Stupid”
• “Summat” = “Something”
• “Mekkin” = “Making”
• “Med” = “Made”
• “Mista” = A greeting for a friend
  • E.g “OrroightMista”
• “Ta-rarr” = “Goodbye”

So that is a bit about us, our heritage and our home!

Be sure to follow Laney on your social media platform of choice too:

www.instagram.com/laneyamplification

www.facebook.com/laneyamplification

www.tiktok.com/laneyamps

www.twitter.com/laneyamps