Another interview from DJ, 30th March -12 Apr 1995. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ANOTHER COUNTRY by Andy Crysell Reload, Jac & Stepper, Global Communication, Wish Mountain - the missing link is Evolution. --- City sounds through-and-through, that's house, techno and jungle for you. Tough urban ingenuity carved out strictly for use in the vicinity of dirty mean streets, throbbing nightclubs, wailing police sirens, freaks, loons, bumper-to-bumper traffic and explosive tension. Right? Shame no-one ever told the Evolution label this. Would've saved them the bother of toiling over so many scintillating - sometimes patently trend- setting - tracks in the middle of nowhere; in a poky bedroom studio overlooking a field of grazing cows. Take a trip to the village of Crewkerne in Somerset - just off the aptly titled A303 - and prepare to adjust your mindset. Preferably though, don't visit Crewkerne in a car driven by a lunatic press officer who thinks nothing of bombing down rural roads at speeds touching 115mph. But hey, we're lucky. We survive. We arrive at Evolution HQ - a house inhabited by several dogs, numerous fish, Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton's room full of electronic gadgets and the rest of Mark's family, including his grandma, known as Reload Nan - where Tom shrugs off the 'bumpkin' techno' tag as having little significance. "We get asked about this all the time. Who do people think we are? The Wurzels of techno? The only way our surroundings have influenced us is that there's nothing to do round here. What better way to waste time than making music?" In this instance, there is no better way - Evolution music is rapidly expanding attack on the purveyors of limited horizons, the DIY dance ethic in its most healthy, purposeful and resonant state. Named after an early Carl Craig track, they formed the label in '91, with the initial intention of mapping out new spheres of techno, and then later, ambient. Using monikers such as Reload, Link and Global Communication (recording for the Infonet, Dedicated and Warp labels, also), they've consistently done just that. Now, however, it's time to look further afield - to open a new chapter of the Evolution story by bringing to the fore elements and factors that if the truth be known have always lurked somewhere in the depths of their distinctive and bulging record collections. "People on the techno score are missing the point," says Mark when we relocate to a nearby pub. "They're not listening to other styles of music - they're not listening to the records that originally inspired techno. Everything's getting stale - it's about time those people sat down, checked out a massive pile of disco, house, P-funk, jazz fusion, classical, electro and dub and did some revision." They're an odd couple, musically speaking - perfect examples of the increasingly and brilliantly confused condition of British youth culture. Ask them who they'd most like to collaborate with and they talk about resurrecting Led Zep's John Bonham and lining him up alongside Johnny Marr, Talk Talk's vocalist and Brian Eno. On the other hand, quiz them on right now and they namecheck Palmskin Productions, Masters At Work, Todd Terry, Deep Dish, Black Dog, Wagon Christ, DJ Duke, Roy Davis, A Guy Called Gerald, Roni Size and a whole host of junglists. "Basically people who have been doing their thing for years; true artists." Stradding full-throttle breakbeats, obscure and aural experimentation, driving techno pressure and a multitude of mutant funk strains, 'The Theory Of Evolution' on Warp rounds up highlights from Jac & Stepper. There's even a bizarre wig out called 'Tribute To Peter Cook'. "He died while we were putting the album together," says Tom. "We've always considered his comedy as a release when things aren't going too well in the studio. If that doesn't work we listen to our collection of fart samples. We're great fans of the natural sounds the body makes; we're blessed! Hey, you should listen to the one we call the Linda McCartney Vegetarian Special!" Perhaps instead we should discuss the Aphex connection - Tom, born on the same day as Richard James, was originally the other Aphex Twin, working on early tracks on the now defunct Mighty Force label. "Mighty Force never got the credit they deserved - Richard treated them really, really badly," Tom states with barely concealed disgust. "As far as I'm concerned the Richard James I knew died a few years ago. He's turned into Dick Vader. He's developed certain ego problems and turned to the dark side of the Force. He moved to London, bought a tank and got put on a pedestal by the press. We're both Leos - I know exactly what that does to a Leo. He likes nothing better than being told he's a god, when in actual fact, he's angst-ridden and very destructive." "Come down 'ere in yer tank," he jokes, faking a heavy West Country accent. "And we'll 'ave yer in our combine harvesters!" It'd be wrong to suggest this rather genial duo have harsh words aimed at all and sundry but as it happens, they're also having a spot of bother with London techno outfit Bandulu; who accused them of cashing in on the much talked about electro revival with their last two singles. "I reckon they're just jealous that they've been beaten to it," continues Tom. "Some people say we're just jumping on bandwagons but it's actually fun to move on and try something new. People are changing their spots. For instance, Mixmaster Morris would slag off jungle and house whenever he could; now he's on the phone to us really rating the stuff." "As far as electro goes, we're just stepping back and researching a few of the great early production techniques. Maybe people are starting to hark back to their childhoods. Maybe they're just aching to get down on a piece of lino agan. Nothing wrong with reminiscing, I guess." Back at Evolution Central, Reload Nan is proudly telling us a Global Communication track on The Clothes Show - as well as forecasting much snow for later this evening (she's right - we drive home in a full-scale blizzard, causing lunatic press officer to slow down to a leisurely 95mph). We once again decline Tom's kind offer to experience their fart samples and instead settle to hear Mark's comments on where this most unlikely of sound sources is heading next. "Most importantly, we intend to put out more club music. It's something the UK never matches the USA at - basically because not enough students on the whole don't seem to like the funk. All we can do is try to change their minds before it's too late." Now that would be Evolution. Wish Mountain -------------- For a no-holds barred introduction to Wish Mountain's frantic musical science, turn on 'The Theory Of Evolution' compilation and listen to 'Royal Wedding': you're hearing Charles and Di tying the knot, making their vows live on global TV. Then, aptly, everything goes wrong: voices start to disengage and loop, repeat, break up, spin out... turn demonic. Blimey. "These are all these sounds and messages out there just passing people by," explains Mountain man Matt Herbert. "Having done 'Royal Wedding' I'm finding other cultural icons to attack. I've done one called 'Blind Date'; adverts as well - 'The Ultimate Cleavage', 'It's An Equitable Life, Henry', that kind of thing." Matt met up with the Evolution posse while studying drama at Exeter University. He says there's a concept behind every aural collage he experiments in. One of them , featured on his forthcoming LP, sets out to bring a new, improved meaning to the human beatbox term. "I wanted to see how many noises could be made by the body," he grins. "Like you get a wicked snare drum sound if you pull down your trousers and spank your arse. That's just one of the thousands that are available." He treated the opportunity to remix Mark and Tom's recent Link single from a similarly bizarre angle. "It was a new kind of brief for me. I was given a test pressing of the original version - I sampled the sounds it made as I threw it across the room and blew through the hole in the middle. I flapped it about and slapped it and scratched and..." Made a great new track out of it. Contrary to the signals, Matt stresses there's nothing worse than being an avant-garde type living on the fringe. "Start acting weird for the sake of it," he comments, "and you end up sounding like one of Velvet Underground's worst moments." Instead he says entertainment's his thing; neo-situationist pranking about. When he gets his live show together, he proudly proclaims he'll be playing his tracks off of DAT, leaving time and space for performance art to take control. Finally, though, here comes another concept. "My political agenda's taking shape now," he enthuses. "I've got my beady eye on quite a few MP's I'd like to deconstruct. Michael Howard, he's one. Portillo, he's another. Even John Major, who appears to be so inoffensive. I'm going to bring out the monster in him." JAC & STEPPER -------------- Everyone in techno claims to have their heart set on breaking the rules but fresh-faced kids Jac & Stepper (aka Dave Kempston and Stevie Horn, whose solo projects are Clatterbox and The Horne) are just a littel bit more convincing. "If you are just thinking about music rather than feeling it, that means you're stealing from everyone else. I dunno," suggests Stevie, sheepishly. "Maybe we're collecting vibrations from the planet or something." Innocence means everything in their random plan - they talk in hushed tones when discussing idols such as Derrick May, Carl Craig, DJ Pierre and A Guy Called Gerald. Turned on to dance courtesy of Radio 1 jock John Peel, in many ways they're perfect Evolution proteges, echoing many of Mark and Tom's opinions. "This is the West Country. We both live out in the sticks, we haven't got a car and we've hardly got any money. This is our cure for boredom," continues Stevie. "I can see the attraction of people talking about techno music coming out of farmyard land, but so what?" adds Dave. "It's a laugh, I suppose." They also harbour a similar preoccupation with that curious subject, the funk. "There's a shortage of sexy funk grooves out there," declares Stevie. "But the funk's all over the place if you bother to look for it - we sat down and worked out everything's that's got it. You can even find it on the telly - The Red Hand Gang music's got the funk; so's Kickstart. Anything quirky that gets you up and wiggles yer bum - that's the funk for you." >From lo-tech house and jungle (laid down on the barest basics of equipment) to electro-gone-wrong and rhythmically-enhanced techno flavours, Jac & Stepper's ragged take on the funk is primed to give cynicism and insularity the kickings they deserve. No careerist ambitions show up here, just the rare, free-flowing stuff that great music of every denomination is always from. The good vibrations say success beckons. The Evolution tour (featuring Reload/Link/Global Communication, Wish Mountain and Jac & Stepper DJing and performing live) visits Glasgow's The Arches on April 8, Manchester's Sankey Soap on April 21, London's Raw Club on April 26 and Sheffield's Music Factory on April 28.