Deeper Underground
The expert proponent of the hypnotic bass rumble has been exploring the Molam tradition of Laos. With the addition of the odd beat-wise loop, he has crafted a chill-out sound that bites. Gal Detourn caught up with him at the British Library.
From Public Image limited, through to his work with Sinead O'Connor, Primal Scream, Brian Eno and members of Can, Jah Wobble has aspired to improve himself. He's an East London urchin who, despite embracing high culture and setting up his own label, has lost none of his down-to-earth 'diamond geezer' demeanour. Wobble's hypnotic rumbles have appealed to both middle class 'world music' liberals, and the chill-out end of the dance spectrum. But is he a dance head himself?
"I tell 'ya wot"' he states in his distinctive Cockney tones, "a few years ago I played some of those clubs and you'd hear big techno sounds, and there'd be passages in them that were just amazing. A living breathing thing you could really appreciate. Stockhausen would have liked it; that's what he should [have been ] doing instead of operas."
Wobble's had various ups and downs, including drink and drug bouts, but he refuses to romanticise them because he's not into "playing the victim". When 1988's 'Summer Of Love' Acid House explosion kicked off, he was at a particular low ebb working on the London Underground, having dropped out of music, Dance rekindled something, though. As he went to work he saw kids queuing outside clubs. There was a buzz.
"There was a definite thing going on", he remembers. "It made sense to me. Very quickly I made connections with people on that scene."
However, Wobble finds the dance world's myriad of offshoots too regimented for his liking. His instinct is to explore. Hence 'Molam Dub', where he teams up with Lao traditionalists. Molam is the southern Laos' courtship ritual where vocalists compete in rhyme.
"I felt their DNA code was gonna match mine," he enthuses. "We did it in three days. It was special. They were doing their thing, we got loops and bass lines going, and mixed as we went. They were very enthusiastic. They even liked the more break-beat aspects. Everything we played them they had something for."
The album sees Wobble on form with lush, deep, repetitive playing. It might sound simple, but he's doing more than you think.
Bass players, listen and learn: "A lot of it's about pitching. Every room has a resonance, so suddenly that 'A' note might sound ugly 'cos it's more of an 'A#', so you're checking that stuff. Also, you're felling a groove. You're felling it sink low, and you want it to settle. If the drums are busy you need to play an pattern around them rather than getting inside them, so you slow it down, but if they're slow you can do more. Also, I look for more interesting ways of coming in, like not on the one. There's a bass drum there so why do I need to be there?"
Although he isn't noted for being a gear head, he understands that musos are interested in his set-up/ "I've got two Ovations," he explains. "A Dutch geezer lent me one around 1987. After ten years I said, "look, I think I should pay you because I've been using it so long.' Then, I gave Jaki Lebezeit from Can a Juno keyboard, and lo and behold he got me another Ovation in return. I've also got an Ampeg scroll neck that Bill Laswell gave me, but I'm not a gear kind of man. I don't use pedals. I just use Ampeg amps, either SVIIs or SVIs. Marshall have also let me use a new bass rig thing they've got. It's actually a wall of bass speakers. It drove people out of the room in Portsmouth because it made a wave form at the back."
He might not be a gear head, but he admits to loving his Yamaha QY20 Sequencer.
"It's a sketch-pad", he states. "It's got its own little keyboard, and about a hundred sounds. You write the parts on there and then shift them over onto the main computer where there's more sounds, or score it and get real violin players or drummers in. But the album I've done in the last two or three years have been mainly done live in the studio, straight to DAT. I like to work that way, live mixing as you go."
Like many musicians, he likes to keep it simple. He has no desire to be a Midi rocket scientist. "Midi is hell. Very cumbersome," he sighs. Maybe his punk roots inspire him to keep it simple and spontaneous.
"There was something angry about that generation," he remembers, "a lot of bright people." He doesn't romanticise the period, he just remembers the spark that many of the key individuals had. It's why he likes his own musicians to be more that dutiful session types.
"You've got to have people with some ego." Wobble maintains, "because otherwise you'd have poor defenceless creatures. You're looking for people who've found their own voice."
Sound advice if you're looking to join a band. But bear in mind his last words too: "However, I must admit, you're not looking to debate a load of shit either, ha ha. "
Jah Wobble And The Invaders Of The Heart's 'Molam Dub' is out now on 30 Hertz