Prior to the final gig on the Funkt / Eat Static tour, I caught up with
Barry Ashworth - DJ, producer and band member of the notorious Dub Pistols.
I talked to him about his career, his new label and the project, Rumblefish.
A Rumblefish track appears on the Free Radical Sounds compilation: '21st
Century Ska Volume 2'.
Barry Ashworth: The Rumblefish project is me and Will Hensal - who used to
be the keyboard player in the band Arkana. I met him in the Rollover
studios. He's a really good programmer and player. He's with me on my new
label, Ugly Records, alongside Shamus Morley. Will also plays keyboards
with Dub Pistols. And as Rumblefish, our single ['Fabric Session'] was the
second release on Ugly Records.
Smart Monkey: How long have you been running a label?
BA: About six months so far. We've put out four releases, the current one
being by Environmental Science ['The Bikini EP'] - which is a beats and
breaks thing from these people who used to be on the Skint record label.
SM: I know you operate under a number of different guises so what was the
idea behind having your own label ?
BA: Well, it's just a chance to do something else: it's a more dance
floor-orientated record, whereas the current Dub Pistols project is going In
a completely different direction. A group of artists on the label got
together to start a movement - it's about putting out music that we want to
put out. There's no real A&R policy: the music cuts across the board. The
Environmental Science album will also be coming out on Ugly Records.
SM: I sense that you enjoy working with other musicians: had you a
background of working in live bands, etc?
BA: Yes. I was a singer in bands since. well, for the last 13 to 14 years.
They all tended to have electric edges to them but we always still managed
to use guitars. You can sample almost everything now but it really is
better to get somebody to play something.
I used to be in Cowboy records and I've written songs for people such as Boy
George: the 'Why, Why, Why?' track went top 40. I've also just started
doing vocals again. I have been doing them live for a while, but sometimes
hated the sound of my own voice - it gurns me! When I was recording I used
to go into every fucking pub along the way to get hammered beforehand. But
I stopped and thought "Why the fuck are you doing that to yourself?" So I'm
back enjoying it now.
SM: When did you form the Dub Pistols?
BA: I think it was about 1997. I'd done a track with Jon Carter, as Monkey
Mafia, and then we just sort of went our own separate ways. I then spent
ages trying to get things together and then came up with the track 'There's
going to be a Riot' which was released on the Concrete record label. From
then on we went on to release another four singles and an album. 'Cyclone'
was the biggest hit.
We then went stateside and moved around a few different labels without
releasing a record - as all the record companies were, like, merging and
everyone was getting thrown out. But because we had our heads down doing
the album we must have had about four deals whilst making it. We've ended
up on Geffen records, which is fantastic! They want me to move to LA but I
will have to see what happens - I'll have to think about it.
SM: Earlier you played me some tracks from the album 'Six Million Ways to
Live'. There are some quite well known performers on it, such as Horace
Andy, Terry Hall, Planet Asia and The Cheshire Cat.
BA: To get someone like Terry Hall to come over to your house is
unbelievable - the same with Horace Andy. When you have them ringing on
your door and standing there. well! With Horace you cannot go wrong as
every word you have written, when he sings it, sounds totally fucking
amazing - know what I mean?
SM: You seem to have lot of musical heritage from both the ska and reggae
scene.
BA: Yeah, totally. We used to spend a lot of time when I was in school down
Petticoat Lane market, buying loads of roots, reggae and dub - and then that
led on to Two Tone and Specials and all that stuff. These bands to us were,
like, the fucking nuts! The track that we've done with Terry is very like
Specials' stuff. I think that it is probably the first time that he has done
that [kind of material] in years; the reaction we are getting from people is
really good.
I really loved punk as well. As a kid you go through every different fad
going: I used to buy all the 7" singles religiously, everything from Sham 69
to Jilted John and the X-Ray Specs - especially as I was from South London.
SM: You said to me earlier that '6 Million ways to Live' was going to be
released in the USA first and then released later in the UK ...
BA: - which I find frustrating, but I have to be realistic. To me,
the UK is still the number one territory that you want to break, especially
as England and its music mean so much to the rest of the world.
SM: Tell me more about the Dub Pistols' live setup.
BA: It's really a collaboration thing but with solid core members who are
myself, Jason O'Brian and DJ Stix. But there are lots of people who just
come and go. I have always had a different squad of people and I use
different line ups, depending on the event. Jason is a bass player and a
wicked programmer-engineer, whilst Stix is the hip hop scratcher and DJ -
always deep in thought - one of the loveliest guys that you could ever
wish to meet.
We mixed most of the album down at the Kingsize studios. It's nice
surroundings and so many good people have come out of there. it is a label
that has not received the profile that it deserves.
Following the Big Beat backlash we - as the Dub Pistols - had to go
somewhere else (I always hated that fucking term 'Big Beat'!). That is why
the album sounds the way that it does. The first album was like a lot of
dancefloor singles thrown together; this one is more refined.
SM: Where did the ideas come for fusing Ska riddims come from?
BA: Just really being into it, I guess, and because if you make music you
can do what you like. The idea behind the Dub Pistols was that you could
throw everything into the pot and that there were no rules. In essence we
adopted the Sex Pistols' punk rock ethic of 'anything goes'. and obviously,
being into dub, there were a hell of a lot of old skool influences, such as
Tommy McCook, Roland Alphonso, as well as all the 80's producers and current
artists such as Cutty Ranks, Sizzla and Pressure Drop.
I've just got back from America where the biggest selling record is a Reggae
record by Shaggy. There's also a lot of dub around at the moment. This year
is going to be a big year for Reggae and dub as well as for the Dub Pistols.
OK, lets crack on!
Smart Monkey
