Co Arts Editor Barney Evison interviewed Brixton stalwart Alex Patterson of dance music duo The Orb.
You’ve just released a new record, More Tales From The Orbservatory in collaboration with Lee Scratch Perry. Could you tell me a bit about that and whether you have plans to work with him again in the future?
We did a massive session with Lee Scratch Perry – out of that came two albums, this is the second one. This year we’re hoping to do live gigs with him in the UK at the end of the year, and we’ve got gigs with him in Paris, Tokyo and Norway. I’d love nothing more than to do an all-nighter at the Brixton Academy with Lee Scratch Perry too.
Where do you like to play now?
I prefer to perform at festivals that play new music, minimal or reggae music, not trance or rave. That’s very old hat – we’ve been there and done that. We’ve never come across as a rave band, we’ve come across more as a reggae band in essence. I wrote a track with a mate from Shakespeare Road called “Star 6 and 7” which is still one of my favourites, and it’s all based on African rhythms and thumb piano.
Do you think the reggae and dub influences on your music are a result of growing up in and around Brixton?
Yes, that and listening to the music around Notting Hill and Battersea. Being an inner London boy, growing up in Battersea, reggae music was all around me.
Have you spent a lot of time in Brixton?
Brixton comes and goes throughout my life. I bought my first 12-inch in Desmond’s Hip City. It was the original pre-release of Dennis Brown’s “Money in my Pocket”, if my memory serves me right. My brother was living in Effra Road in the early 1970s, and now we’ve just moved an Orb office this year to Effra Road. I’ve never really been away – it’s part of my blood.
You lived in Coldharbour Lane’s Barrier Block from 1983-86. What was that like?
The Barrier Block in those days was full of like-minded, free-thinking mid-20 year-olds who were just out to make good music. I had some really good 18” bass bins. One of the only times I ever got burgled, they couldn’t steal my bass bins because they were too heavy. I remember having loads of parties there, DJ-ing cassettes with a pencil. There were lots of people around like Brother Culture, Touch Bass and Jimmy Cauty, before he joined The KLF.
Has the change in South London been dramatic over the last forty years?
Totally. Everything’s changing all the time. I was born in South London Hospital, and it’s now a Tesco. One thing I notice as I get older is that the only thing that ever happens is change. If you can’t go with the change then you get stuck, like a broken record.
Talking of records – you were recently on the Today programme on Radio 4 talking about your love of vinyl. Why do you love vinyl so much?
It’s a warmer sound, and there’s a lot I’ve got on vinyl that you can’t get on CD.
What plans do you have for the future?
The Orb is 25 years old this year, so we’re putting out a 4-box CD with Universal Records in October and we’re going to tour the world with it – hopefully we’re going to end up in Brixton. We’ve got dates in America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. That reminds me, last time I was in Japan in March I took a Brixton Bugle with me to show Thomas [Fehlmann, the other half of The Orb]. I ended up giving it to a band from Detroit who thought Brixton was really cool. There you go – plugging you in Japan to boys from Detroit!
That’s great, thanks! Is Thomas from London as well?
No, he’s Swiss. He’s the Ying and I’m the Yang – I live in the city with lots of noise and he lives in the countryside with a lake and a big forest. We’re continuing to work together and we’ve got a new project called ‘Moon Building’ on the go, which was originally an opera commissioned by the Royal Opera House. We’re also working on another project with the Kakatsitsi Master Drummers of Ghana, and we’re playing at Glastonbury with them this year.
You’re keeping busy then. Thanks for talking to me – and glad to hear that you’re taking The Brixton Bugle around the world with you!
Anything local I hold dear to my heart.
