Archive for the 'Interviews' Category

We just got an e-mail in from Bob, who maintains a podcast at PodOmatic.

I’ve just shared part one of a radio show I recorded with Green when he was between leaving Rough Trade and signing for a major.
http://bobcast.podomatic.com

I hope this is some interest to you

I just started it up and enjoying the 1983 music! Sofar i haven’t heard Green speak a lot yet, but hey.. i’m not even halfway the podcast. As this is part one, i do expect another part soon. You can find this here: Scritti Politti (Green Gartside) Interview (Part one).

This interview is from a interesting period, between leaving Rough Trade and signing with a major company. The main part of the broadcast is music, lots of reggae passing along. It’s a bit of a shock thinking that this is recorded 31 years ago.

So, i’ll keep on listening to this interview. It’s actually really nice to listen to this young Green talking about writing songs for other people and the person who represents him in New York. It’s not an in depth interview, but it’s pleasant to listen to.

Anyways, have a listen yourself. Enjoy!

photo: Marco Raaphorst

Here we are in the year 2012 with a new Scritti Politti line-up which is able to perform the classic songs in a superb way. They are a small group: drummer Rob Smoughton, Dicky Moore on guitar, Green on vocals and guitar and Rhodri Marsden on keyboards. Plus a computer, of course.

I felt it was about time for setting the record straight and finding out how these old songs were reconstructed for live gigs. So I asked keyboardplayer Rhodri a couple of questions. And guess what? He was happy to answer them!

Tell us a bit about the reconstruction of these old Scritti songs
Rhodri: I think it’s well documented that Green doesn’t enjoy listening to his old material! So what often happens is that I create a MIDI file with all the parts as I THINK they are. Green then works through it and corrects any mistakes I’ve made, and then creates / chooses all the sounds for the parts on his Mac. So by the end of that process we have a recreated Scritti song in Logic Pro which we then use to work from.

I see that you’re using laptops on stage, tell us about it
Rhodri: Actually, we’ve just slimmed down our setup massively in the last few days. Until recently we had four laptops onstage (very old ones, Powerbook G4s); one for live keyboard, one for live drums, two backups in case anything goes wrong. But the new MacBook Pro can handle everything, so that halves the number of computers onstage. Phew. I use a Nord Electro 2 keyboard to trigger my sounds and Rob uses an electronic drum kit, a Roland V-Kit. Green and Dicky both have amp simulators rather than real amps. So it’s really quiet onstage, which is lovely. You can hear all the detail.

Drummer Rob Smoughton is also playing samples on his electronic drumkit?
Rhodri: Yes, Andy (Houston, Green’s engineer) and I spent a lot of time creating virtual instruments for each song we play, using the sounds that Green’s been working on. One drumkit instrument per song for Rob, about ten for me! Some of the songs, like Wood Beez, are a real challenge to play, getting all the parts triggered from one keyboard.

Where do you draw the line between live-playing and laptop?
Rhodri: We started using backing tracks recently; firstly to get a fuller sound, secondly to keep the timing rock solid. Rob plays to a click in headphones, and the parts that we physically can’t play with four human beings come from the laptop – most of the time it’s just bass. Some songs there’ll be hardly anything pre-recorded (Skank Bloc Bologna only has that fast glockenspiel, for example); we play as much stuff live as we possibly can!

From fellow Scritti fan, Reason enthusiast Doug Rodriguez I received a link to an interview iZotope did with David Gamson. Thanks to Eric Hulsizer as well, who did the same thing. If you have something interesting to share, just send us the goodies: eem@bibbly-o-tek.com.

Well… we suddenly had a budget and were working with all the best musicians, in the best studios, with the best engineers. It was amazing. Green was pretty great about allowing experimentation in the studio, and since he was the one with the checkbook, he was running the sessions. If you could come up with some Rube Goldbergian way to record something, which I usually could, he was game. Those records were basically recording school for us. We got to play with all sorts of ways of doing things, at great expense I might add. Those records took a very long time to make.

Interview David Gamson @ iZotope

For the more technical oriented fans among us, this is a very good read. And I must say I am of course a fan of Gamson’s work. For me Scritti without him is 50% Scritti. Miles Davis without a trumpet, that idea. I am also a fan of iZotope software. Ozone 3 David mentions in the interview I am using for years now on almost a daily basis like him.

I told this story a lot, but without people like Gamson I would probably never be aware that creating sound & working with – not in – the studio can open up new worlds. You want control over the machines, play with it and create something new; a slick total package which is unresistable.

Gamson is responsible for making me aware I can be an audio professional myself. Which I did. And yeah, I am so looking forward to the new tracks!

A new book out from Simon Reynolds: Totally Wired, a companion to the excellent Rip It Up and Start Again released in 2005. In Totally Wired there are a lot of interviews with many people important to the post-punk era, including Green Gartside.

On Sunday February 15th there is a panel discussion in The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road in London, featuring Tom Morley (Scritti Politti), Colin Newman (Wire), and Viv Albertine (Slits), moderated by Simon Reynolds. More information.

More information on the book.

I like wordplay and clues more than straightforward narratives or confessionals. A sense of mystery.

Scritti Politti – eMusic Spotlight

(thanks Stephen Schwartz!)

Here’s a recent interview with David Gamson which was send to us.

David talks about Scritti, Roger Troutman and Meshell N’degeocello. It is from a ToddCast. Have a listen:

david_gamson-interview-2007.mp3

Last night Green performed two brand new songs at The Charles Hazlewood Show (BBC2) and chats a bit about how he wrote them. No official titles for those two new songs yet. First track has the working title ‘Unfrozen’ and the second ‘Forgiven’.

Sit back for 10 minutes and listen:

BBC2, Charles Hazlewood Show, May 16th 2007.mp3

An interview with Green in the All Things To All People podcast. It’s divided in 3 parts spread over the podcast. Shownotes here. Thanks to Steve Schwartz for pointing it out to us.

Last night Scritti Politti had a short, 3s ong acoustic session on Janice Long’s BBC radio 2 show. Dave, Dicky and Rhodri accompanied Green in a beautiful toned down rendition of Road to no Regret, Snow in Sun and After Six. Relexed interview, a really good listen this one. Some news on future plans: a collaboration with Alexis from Hot Chip (?), vague talks with Elvis Costello, something with a New York symphony orchestra. The plan is to buckle down and do some work (i second that!). In the beginning of June something for Friends of the Earth.

Session BBC radio 2 – Janice Long

Akemi recorded ‘Summer Sonic special program’ on TV Asahi (CH10). Green’s interview is short, but funny.