Aspects meets ireallylovemusic
Hello Ian - The new album is very interesting stuff. tell me about the concepts and the ideas of the songs
The general tone of Mystery Theatre is more human and vulnerable than Correct English. This wasn’t deliberate, I think it’s more of a group late twenties life crisis combined with the aftermath of the last album. We all returned to dead end jobs, broke having left Hombre/ our agent/ our management. The team that had thrust us forward were gone and we had to pick ourselves back up and start all over again in our attempt to escape the rat race. Burning on pure faith, You can hear this theme throughout songs like “Chase The Devil” (fuck a job) and “Off The Lip” (I’m so tired of working…). There are still lighter moments where we engage “battle mode” and rinse some distaste toward the industry in general “Wayback” and “Impact”. “Self Help Song” is an experiment in paranoia, a universal ego crusher are all rappers assholes? Myself included discuss.
no skits .. was this deliberate avoidance or just that you weren't ready for that side ?
No need, we just wanted to bring original song writing to Hip Hop. There is a lot more work (tracks and skits) that have been rejected to preserve the flow of the LP.
short and concise songs - 45 mins is short for a hiphop album. a deliberate choice of length ?
Nothing in Mystery Theatre was deliberate, it was very emotionally charged and a fucking struggle to finish. I personally can’t stand those double cd 24 track affairs. Always think back to Illmatic 9 tracks more content than any triple pack, utter dynamite. I think the most direct route of communication is the key and sonically wanking off for 2 hours aint my idea of fun for a listener.
the bees involvement .. tell us how that came across ? the other 2 collaborationss are quite subtle and fit with the flow ..
Basically we know who will add to the track from the beginning it’s just a psychic thing, we try to do every thing from feeling rather than thinking. No label related “Power Collabs” We met The Bees at a Dazed and Confused photo shoot/tour. The tour was full of coke hoofing Hoxton mullets so we stuck together discovering almost identical influences. Both bands had a hard time with industry bullshit last year and we just shouldered each others problems. They are true friends and fucking geniuses and this year will be rightfully theirs.
melody strong on several tracks ? how do you approach the backing tracks, are you secret bedroom musicians?
We are the worlds first real rock n roll group who can’t play instruments or sing, we don’t need to we’re treading our own path.
what's with all the weird merman stories and cover artwork ?
The cover art work is steeped in Victoriana, the Devil is a puppet in the theatre not you, take the power back, shoot your boss fuck a job.
“Man Under the Sea” Is a story about the number one killer of my friends and family is a strange world when your age brackets biggest killer is their own hands.
and the prince/nerd type soul funk track 'soul sister' collab with dj formats mates little barrie - wassat all about ?
Lets get this straight we’ve known Barrie Lou and Wayne for the same amount of time as the Bees and they are the third prong in our musical trident. Format discovered them through us! Again Little Barrie were fighting to get signed at the same time as us and mutual support was the order of the day. We have the same management and are going to spawn many many more musical projects.
uk hip hop : discuss. a strong valid force in 2004 or yet another hyped up genre that will never get the respect it is due ?
No whole genre deserves respect, there is very little quality control in UK rap and the industry constantly piles unattainable expectation on artists like Brotherhood who fail because it’s impossible to live up to the hype. We live in a pop fired industry where GLC receive 10 times the press and TV attention that artists like Jehst get. I’m not slagging of GLC just illustrating why things are fucked. It also depends on what you include in the UK Hip Hop bracket it fucks itself by excluding it’s most successful artists like The Streets.
who and why do you rate currently ?
The Bees- Genius production and real soul power.
Little Barrie- The epitomy of rock n roll
DJ Format- One of the few real believers.
The Dirtbombs- Detroit balls out fuzzed out garage lead singers previous group Gories spawned the White Stripes etc. Dynamite.
Madlib- That’s fairly obvious although I think he produces too much when he’s good he great.
MF Doom- The only rap veteran to keep cutting edge for ever never has done anything shit in over a decade, rare.
The Headcase Ladz- If you want ghetto soul go to Wales these guys are the real deal new LP due on Zebra Traffic also listen to Lews Tunes UK’s oldest rapper and original jazzman.
what are your intentions for the album ?
Sell enough to make our 3rd LP, which will be the legendary one. We were nearly there this time but the 8 new tracks we’ve written are a new genre of their own.
doing any of the festivals ?
NASS Festival/Ashton Court are the only ones that leap to mind, the guy who organizes the relevant Glasto stage gets us confused with other white groups and keeps thinking he’s book us. Reverse racisms a sod.
how do you perform live ? backing tapes or all live dj action or a mix of real band and dj and tapes ?
As I mentioned earlier we are rock n roll minus conventional instruments, were electric power blues/punk, with a touch of emo rap!
aspects have a new album, 'mystery theatre', out on antidote in july