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!

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!

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!)

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

david_gamson-interview-2007.mp3

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.

Session BBC radio 2 – Janice Long