Scritti Politti

-- Bounce, July 1999

Words: Sato Moegi. Translation: Mitsuo Tani.

[Mistuo: The interviewer's questions and comments are abridged; Green's answers not abridged. Scritti's history part & short notes on the musicians involved are omitted.]

Your voice didn't change at all in spite of the long absence. It sounds the way it used to, like a young man.

"It's strange, because apart from my voice I'm totally different from what I used to be. I cut my hair short and I wear a beard now. Moreover, I pierced my lip 3 years ago. So I'm not sure if I'm young or not, except my voice (smile). Talking about what did not change, I should mention my passion toward music.This may sound too cliche, but I'm always interested in something new."

'Pop and hip-hop' is one of the key to the new album?

"I listen to hip-hop in the morning and the Beach Boys in the afternoon. I like melodies and harmonies that are in pops. By the way, Cornelius' [Japanese one-memberd band] album reminds me of the Beach Boys. He's a great artist. As for hip-hop, you can't miss the remixes of the first single. They were remixed by my hero Alli and Beatnuts. The remixes were so exciting as to make me want to sing differently according to each of the mixes. We're going to shoot a video in N.Y. next week, together with Mos Def and Lee Majors of Bush Babees, who contributed to the new album. We'll do the shooting all over Brooklyn. After that, we'll go to L.A. and rerecord one of the album songs with Jurassic 5."

About the recording of the new album

"I went to N.Y. 2 years ago to do the new materials head-on. The recording this time was done with live musical instruments, with no computer programming. So I explained the intensions of the songs to musicians beforehand, and we did several rehearsals, then did the recording. It was the most pleasant recording ever."

It seems there's a reason for his adherence to live sounds, with no keyboards.

"I've listened to music with no keyboards these days. And I wanted to play the guitar by myself. I wanted to make harmonies with guitars, without the help of keyboards."

About the title 'Anomie & Bonhomie'

"'Anomie' referes to people who are in discouragement, disappointment or despair. 'Bonhomie' means frankness, geniality, warmth. The two words combined represents my life. I tend to grow weak both physically and mentally. I always have problems in life, but at the same time, I always want to live each day pleasantly. Both these sides are in me."

David produced the new album.

"He introduced me to Me'shell N'degeocello. He had produced her album. Me'shell brought many people to this project. She started playing the bass guitar at around the age of 13, and she was in a go-go band in Washington D.C. then. The drummer of the band was Ju Ju House. Wendy of Wendy & Lisa is a long time friend of mine. We did rehearsals together, and then called my favorite rappers. Things didn't go smoothly between me and Me'shell at first, and we often had quarrels. I made too many requests. But we came to understand each other gradually. We are very good friends now. We had good times in the quarrels though (smile)."

Other aneccotes?

"Other than the battles between me and Me'shell (smile) ..., we recorded vocals in the bedroom of David's. And when Mos Def came to the studio, he disappeared after he listened to the track for about an hour. Walking outside the studio, he was thinking what to do with his parts, how to ryhme or something. When he returned, he went on immediately to rap in front of the mike. It was fantastic. And I asked Paul Riser to do the strings. He worked with the Temptations, etc. at Motown. It too was a great experience working with him."

About the whitening of black music.

"That is a point drastially changed compared to the past. It's very interesting that Puff Daddy incorporated white music into his music. Personally, I want to make music like his."

About the dream that pop music should have inside.

"Do you know the UK artists Gilbert & George? They painted a huge picture on which was written 'Our wish is to leave ourselves to art.' When I saw it, I thought my wish is to leave myself to pop. I mean that is the dream which pop music intrincically holds inside."

AoF/SCRITTI < AoF toc < AoF home < e-mail AoF top of the page ARTICLES ARCHIVE 92-00 listing > previous > next >