Brixton's most controversial funk, blues and beats outlaws the ALABAMA 3 return to the album racks with their cracking new LP "Power In The Blood" after soundtracking the World's best Mob series EVER in "The Sopranos." Tim Peacock chats to the band's ace co-vocalist THE REVEREND D.WAYNE LOVE about Loyalism, Jay Leno and the re-instatement of the protest song and avoids ending up face down in the river wearing concrete boots...
With their outlaw image and slightly untouchable aura, ALABAMA 3 have been one of the most distinctive outfits on the scene for the past five years since the release of their debut album "Exit On Coldharbour Lane." The past couple of years have done their profile little harm since they wrote the groovy, techno blues of "Woke Up This Morning," the song that ushers "The Sopranos" into homes every week.
Before I ask The Reverend D.Wayne Love about the new album, the talk comes around to "Woke Up This Morning." That song must have opened doors for you, surely?
"Aye, it did, but it's a shame it wasn't a legitimate hit in the US," muses The Rev in his wonderful Glaswegian burr.
"Geffen (Records) fucked that up. But it still meant lots of people heard us. We got to perform it live on Jay Leno with a Gospel Choir."
Christ, that musta been something to behold.
"Yeah, well the performance was, but those guys (the choir) grassed us up for smokin' pot in the dressing room. They'd been hassling me about coming down to their church and I wasn't up for it, basically. Then they snitched on us. I was fuckin' furious with them...I was taunting them, going 'Snitches, fuckin' snitches!!
Oh dear...
"Ah, it wasn't all bad," he finishes, "I mean, we got to meet Kevin Spacey and he was fantastic. A really lovely bloke."
Having soundtracked THE Mob series, though, are you actually "SOPRANOS" fans?
"Yeah, it's a crackin' show and no mistake," enthuses D.Wayne.
"Our drummer's Mam got him the whole first series on video and I saw it all recently and I heard recently it had 50,000,000 people watching it in the States - the biggest rating for any show ever."
"We're pals with Huey (Morgan) from FUN LOVIN' CRIMINALS and he knows James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano in the series) personally and apparently James thinks we're great."
"We've got plenty of celebrities into us," he continues.
"Madonna's into us...Mick Jagger called One Little Indian for all our stuff. He loves us. Mind you, that's mutual: I love The Stones...at least until "Exile On Main Street."
Talk turns to the new A3 album, "Power In The Blood." Featuring references to "spindoctors" and "cover ups", am I right in thinking the title and title track refer to America's present threats to snuff out terrorism...no matter what it takes?
"In a way," responds The Rev.D. "Power In The Blood" is a fundamentalist Protestant expression. Y'see, Rob (co-vocalist LARRY LOVE, otherwise known as Rob Spragg)..his family are mormons and with all forms of fundamentalism once you're inducted you're seen as people in the fold and once you stray you must atone."
"I mean, it's all psychosis at the end of the day...and these people are no different to the likes of the Latter Day Saints and people like Jim Jones, who we've previously spoken about. The lyrics to the song have changed a bit, though...they referred to Naomi Klein when they were written 18 months ago."
Meanwhile, one of the new album's most memorable tracks is called "Woody Guthrie" (formerly "Flag" for it's cool chorus of "Don't need no country, don't fly on flag"). The lyrics juxtapose images from Afghanistan through to the BNP firebombings in Oldham. If I have this right, it's a totally anti Gung-Ho patriotism thing. Does the title refer to Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land"?
"Yes, Well done Moriarty! Chocolate watch for that one!" laughs The Rev D.Wayne (otherwise known as Jake Black, by the way).
"Yeah, it's like a direct line to Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Barry Maguire with "Eve Of Destruction." I got the BNP stuff in there because we were in Leeds around the time of all the rioting and shit and we had hooligans coming to our gigs and we felt it was time to speak up about it. I mean, for fuck's sake - the protest song's been dead for too long!"
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At a seperate tangent, "The Devil Went Down To Ibiza" is really funny. It really takes the piss out of all the club herd mentality...
"Yeah, absolutely, Super Clubs" says Jake, almost spitting.
"It's about the extreme conservatism of these fads and how this stuff becomes trendy. Y'know The Ministry of Fear ( I think he means Ministry of Sound - Ed) is ridiculous. Before we know we'll be having Adam Smith tribute nights and it'll be like going to Berlin in the old days. Horrendous."
"Power In The Blood", meanwhile, features an impressive list of collaborators from Keith Allen to David McAlmont. The song "The Moon Has Lost The Sun" begins with a spooky Hubert Selby Jnr spoken word sample. How did you manage to get him involved?
"Ah, that song is Rob's most beautiful, soulful song," replies The Rev, almost misty-eyed.
"We originally had the sample set for use in another song, but we tried it like this and sent it to Selby for clearance, never thinking he'd go for it. He gets back to us and says: 'Give me a dollar and it's yours.' Fantastic. He e-mailed us to say how much he liked it.
Naturally for a band equal parts sleaze, tough social comment and tongue-in-cheek enigma, the ALABAMA 3 perpetrate a fair amount of self-mythology. Take the opening track from "Power In The Blood." An amusing and brief Country/ Gospel pastiche called "Two Heads", the sleeve notes suggest this refers to The Rev.D.Wayne's hospitalisation. True or false, Jake?
"No, pure ad-lib," he laughs. "We were drunk with the guitars one night and it popped out."
"It's just like a TOWNES VAN ZANDT pastiche, like that song "Two Hands" that opens his album "High, Low & In Between." That whole Country pastiche thing...I mean, we've been trying to do a Hank Williams number properly for years, but I'm sure we'll eventually do one."
"I quite like Alt.Country actually," he continues. "Gram Parsons is a good person to steal from. I like some of Sparklehorse too and Mark Eitzel...he's like an Alt. Country Peter Hammill."
Now, by the time you'll probably be reading this, the ALABAMA 3 will be dragging their supercharged, testifyin' revue around the provinces. What can we hope from you now you're "out on bail" again, as your cool website puts it?
"We're on brilliant form!" cries Jake. "Our guitarist (this'll be the elegantly-monikered ROCK FREEBASE, kids!) is so fuckin' cool and the whole team's cooking with gas. We've still got Segs (legendary ex-RUTS bassist on board). He still plays the same old Fender Precision from back in the day. He's amazing, the muso's muso, he does basslines for The Chemical Brothers and all sorts."
Finally, Jake, according to your biography you were schooled in Marxism when you were young. How big a part (if any) does this play in your lyrics and attitude these days?
"None at all really," he shrugs.
"There again, it depends on what a song might call for. I was involved in Communist Party summer camps when I was young, but when I got to 17 I became a punk rocker and drpped it. I had no time for that Trotsky shit any more. These days we're after the truth."
And with "Power In The Blood" we can certainly see the light. Hallelujah and amen.
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