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Nightmares on Wax George Evelyn might be running things on his own now following the departure of Kevin Harper, but Nightmares on Wax have been commanding high levels of respect from those in the know for over 15 years now. And whilst 2002s Mind Elevation album didn’t receive the critical acclaim that the now classic Smokers Delight and Carboot Soul albums enjoyed, his latest long player is already set to be a highlight of 2006. In A Space Outta Sound is a soulful, compelling record that many will struggle to put down. It wields genuine warmth and spirit like few downtempo albums manage. But enough about what we think (read our review if you’re interested). In the week before the UK launch, we got chance to speak to George about his experiences working on the album, and more besides...
PIXELSURGEON: First of all, congratulations on producing a great album. How long did you work on it for?
I’d say on and off about two years. We finished this album in August last year and then mastered it October time. Since then we worked on the artwork and the worked on a couple of remixes
Did you have a particular idea in mind of the album you wanted to make?
The only premeditated thing I had about this album was that I wanted to make a “deep” album, in the essence of my upbringing in music, which is reggae, hip hop and soul. What I normally do is make over twenty tracks and pick the best of the bunch, which I think make up a great album. There’s no great master plan with it because I base a lot of my stuff on vibe, and I believe working on that level you deal with honest music.
Presumably all the tracks develop in different ways, but in general is there a particular way you start the creative process?
It’s really different every time. If I went into a studio today I could grab a record from my old collection and just bang a record on and I might hear something, like a string and I’d think, oh let me just focus in and hone in on the string. And I might loop it or throw a beat down, play a bass line along to it, add some keyboard or guitar. I’d then start building up and emphasising the melody, and I’d maybe even remove the sample and not even use it. It’s a way of getting inspiration. So that is just one process that might happen. Another time I might even start knocking a beat together and then find something to fit the beat. I might have a keyboard player, guitarist or vocalist with me in the studio and work around them.
So then, with a track like Flip Ya Lid, did you have any idea of the lyrics or theme? Or did that all come from Ricky Rankin?
The great thing about that track is that Ricky never even came to do that track; he came to do a different one that didn’t actually make the album. We finished pretty early and went to get some weed. We got back and just knocked this beat together. I was saying let’s do something new, knocked a beat together, and he was freestyling. I said yo just go in the studio man, just go in the booth, and I just pressed the record button, and he freestyled the track. That day we had been talking about social issues and the way things are, between riot police on the street, and this was when all the ASBO stuff had just kicked in, and he was pretty freaked out by it all. So the actual influence of the day and that track is about how people should just calm down and take time out for each other.
How did other collaborators contribute to the album? What about Chyna B on Damn, for instance, which is one of our favourites?
Chyna is a local girl from Leeds. She was on the Mind Elevation album. She’s an amazing lyricist and has got fantastic melody – a lot of raw talent in a beautiful sense. Again we kind of came into the studio to do something else, and we finished early. Chyna always has a book of lyrics on her. I pulled a record out and I picked out that horn loop, and she laid some vocals down. Then she laid another one down and soon as she started singing that song I was like “Yo, I can imagine a gospel choir behind this.”
So then we travelled down to London and we got the gospel choir for that track, and just that experience in itself was amazing ’cos the vision got bigger then. I was like “Yo, I can kind of see this really theatrical, almost blacksploitation kind of track”. I’m really chuffed with the way that that track turned out, because you visualise the idea of the song, and then it kind of took its own form you know.
You’ve said that soul is the earliest form of hip-hop. Who were you listening to growing up, and do those artists continue to have an influence on your music today?
Yeah definitely. My dad always used to play a lot of Quincy Jones stuff, a lot of jazz as well, a lot of Duke Ellington. Quincy Jones has been quite a big influence on me just as a writer and a producer because he kind of came up with the whole jazz era. And then when jazz became doo-wop, and doo-wop became rock and roll; just the fact that it went that commercial he opted out of it; he wasn’t interested. He went off and played in loads of underground clubs and stuck to his guns, and then when the whole soul thing arose he was there. Then he went through that whole genre, and when the funk thing happened he went through that too. Then he came out with producing the Michael Jackson stuff and all the film scores and stuff that he has done. That makes him such an amazing person to me for that. Michael Jackson did his best ever work with Quincy Jones. So he is one person who has definitely got a massive influence on me.
We spoke to Coldcut recently, and one of the things that came up was how influential Malcolm McClarens’ Buffalo Gals video was back in 1982. In fact, whereas in the States the so-called “four elements” of hip hop (graffiti, rapping, scratching and breaking) hadn’t necessarily developed together, thanks to that video they all hit the UK at once, and it seemed to literally change youth culture overnight. Was that moment particularly significant for you too?
Oh yeah, that was the record that changed my life. Like I said, I was brought up around a lot of reggae sound systems and that, and I was a rudeboy and into ska, and I had elements of jazz-funk in the background ’cos my older sisters were into that sort of stuff, and they’d come back from disco championships. I was exposed to it, but then I remember on Thursday night watching that video on Top of the Pops, and I remember the next day at school everybody was breaking in the playground. It had that much of an impact and that was it then we were hooking up everyday, me and my mates, practicing. I couldn’t really get my head around all the scratching, I was fascinated by electronics and with things like that because of sound systems and MCing and that, but not on that level.
Malcolm McClaren exposed that whole movement really, and then I think straight after that was the Arena documentary on hip hop history by Alan Yentob, and that was it then. That is when I really started making a living with music. I think Malcolm McClaren has a lot to answer for on that level, a lot of people don’t like him, but I just think that this man opened a doorway for the rest of this world with that video. Some people say that it’s not hip hop, but you only have to watch the video to see that he’s exposing all the elements that are embodied together. House music got segregated, and hip hop has done the same thing. I think it’s quite encouraging that we have got all this trashy pop stuff happening then there’s still all the real shit still going on underneath; that’s encouraging for me; a kind of proof in the pudding.
You mentioned sorting out the album artwork; how much are you involved in that process and how important do you see that as part of the whole experience?
I think it is so important. I’ve always been involved in the artwork as far as concepts, and sometimes I even have the title of the album before I’ve made the record, because I know what message I want to say within the title. As far as the artwork on this album is concerned, I knew what I wanted to capture. Smoker’s Delight is one of my favourite covers, but I’m more proud of this album cover because we got everything right, you can do a cover and there is always something not right on it, but we got everything right this time. The whole feel of it, the paper is right, everything.
The tour is starting this month (March 2006) isn’t it? Are you going to get all the guest vocalists to come along with you?
It starts on the 25th March in Leeds. Yeah, we’ve got everybody on board man, Sara Garvey, Chyna B, Moses and Ricky Rankin, and then I’ve got a really close friend of mine who’s an amazing scratch DJ operating with me as well. We’ve got Iration Steppas opening up for us, closing for us and in the middle you’re going to have the Nightmares’ experience, so I’m really looking forward to it. This gig is all about coming to listen. The sound system is amazing, so I’m pretty excited about it.
Had you worked with Moses before, because I suppose people will know him best from some of the Zero 7 stuff he’s done?
The funny thing about Moses is that Hamlet, who’s the bass player from the band, has known him for about 20 years, and I’ve known him for about 10. We’ve always been threatening to work with each other and then the Zero 7 thing happened with him and then it came about to do this vocal production with the gospel choir for the Cyna B track, Damn, which he sorted out. Then he asked me to produce a track on his solo album, which I did. Then I wrote the track I Am You, and I was like “you know what man, you should do this track”, which he did. And we had an amazing time doing it ,and I’m pretty sure there’ll be more collaborations from us. He’s an amazing talent and there is much more to him than people have heard.
On the track You Wish, what is the sample you’re using? I know it but just can’t place it. Aim, if I recall correctly, has used it too.
It’s Private Number. Yeah he used it, Grand Central have used it, but if you dig in your record collection you’ll hear it on quite a few tracks. It just kind of pops back in, and for some reason I had it on a sample tape with loops and stuff. It worked perfectly after Damn because you’ve got the answer machine message at the end of Damn, which is someone phoning up my friends house but they’ve got the wrong number, and when I heard the message, ’cos it’s just this guy sending his love and stuff, I thought “I’ve got to use that”. Then I made the track You wish, and that has got so much sunshine in it, that’s just the happiness at the end of it all, so it all kind of pieced together.
Who’s going to be remixing some of this stuff?
At the moment we are doing three 7-inches over this year and they are going to be limited to 2,000 copies with bonus B-sides on there. The bonus B-sides are not going to be available for digital download at all. The first release will be The Sweetest and that is backed by a bonus track called Tie High. We’ve then got a mix coming from Mark Pritchard of African Pirates as well, and another bonus track coming from me on one of the 7-inchers, which I’ve not even made yet! Well I don’t think I have anyway (laughs).
If you could have been any other artist in the history of popular music, apart from Quincy Jones, whose musical life would you like to have lived?
Their musical life, er... wow. First person who popped into my head was Marvin Gaye, I don’t know if that’s true... No, wait, it has got to be Bob Marley hasn’t it. Saying that, it is hard to choose between the two, because they’ve both sung about things that are timeless right now. So I’ll say Marvin Marley and Bob Gaye!
You’ve got the tour coming up, but have you got longer-term plans?
Yeah, I’ve kind of quietly launched my own label, which is “Wax-On records”, which you can check out at wax-on.net. This is just bringing through the next generation of underground talent that I kind of know, and some people have handed me tunes on my travels. I think that it is time for me to share the platform that I have built. So I’m pretty excited about the stuff that is coming out, plus I’ve got an artist on there called JD37, who is actually the keyboard player out of Morcheeba, who’s got an amazing album. I’m really excited about that, and then we’re doing the Big Chill festival, we’re doing Sonar festival to name a few. There are rumours, nothing confirmed yet, of us doing a classic album, possibly Smokers Delight, unplugged; the whole album beginning to end – it’ll be great as it’s only going to be a one-off show too!
Wow- well we’ll keep an ear out and hope we can be there! Thanks very much for your time George, and good luck with the future of Nightmares on Wax and everything else.
Great, thanks for your support and take it easy!
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