|
Gerald Simpson is an elusive character.
Following an involvement in the early days of 808 State, where he was
responsible for the production of their first long player 'Newbuild', he
split to concentrate on his own material, with his first solo single,
'Voodoo Ray', crashing through the national forty and bringing him a deal
with Sony. Despite critical success, he ducked back into the shadows of
the burgeoning jungle scene, unleashing '28 Gun Bad Boy' on his own
Juicebox imprint, which grew a reputation synonymous with experimentation
and culminated in the release of the 'Black Secret Technology' album.
Critically acclaimed, this seminal drum 'n' bass long player took the
music beyond the darkness which had previously dominated, introducing slo-mo
instrumentals and cross genre material which featured the vocals of the
unknown Mancunian Finley Quaye, in addition to more straightforward
output.
In 1998, Gerald wound down Juicebox and moved
to New York. Apart from a couple of singles and some notable remixes, he
again disappeared. With his 'Essence LP' due for release in August,
Kingsley Marshall caught up with Gerald at his label's London office.
He explains what happened with the label. "There were a few problems.
Polygram were just around the corner from the studio; the guy I had
running the label was hanging out with the guys from there. All I wanted
to do was get on with my next album, but he had ideas of our label being
something it wasn't. I found myself badgered into doing remixes and work
away from my own projects. I've fallen into that kind of situation a few
times; where someone else has wanted to control what I was doing, I guess
through me trying to be too easy going and just wanting to get on with it.
"At one point Juicebox re-released 'Black Secret Technology', which I
found to be a step backwards when I was personally trying to progress from
one album to the next. It was quite a claustrophobic situation and,
because I really felt the need to get out and find the space to finish
writing the album, I disbanded the label and moved out to New York."
New York Stories
"You get a lot of space in America," he says. "I'm actually based in
Brooklyn, and have found myself a cheap spot in the ghetto, but it's a big
place to write in." Laughing he adds, "Though I guess there are parts
which are nice, no one wants to hang out where I am unless they're into
burning cars or shooting people. There's a lot more feeling here - more
colours and diversity - and though music is still categorised, it all
falls under the general banner of electronica. Though I'm a bit dubious
about the name, to look at something as a whole seems more positive than
continuing to fragment, as people have a tendency to do in the UK. When I
started making music, there wasn't really a scene around and it was like
being on the outskirts of something which then went on to grow around the
people involved.
"When I first went over to the States my
intention was to get a label together and put stuff out myself. After the
onslaught of egotism that had taken over Juicebox, I wanted to go back to
something simple - just making music and releasing it. Someone mentioned
that Studio K7 had an office in New York and I should hook up with them
for my distribution. We got on really well, all being Europeans in the US,
talked it through and figured we'd work together. Although I'd got into
some pieces like Kruder and Dorfmeister I'd never really focused in on the
label. They've allowed me to develop and move onto vocal material and for
them, as a label, they're moving on from that DJ Kicks type thing to
artist albums. They've just taken on Beth Hirsch, which is as far away
from dance music as anything can be."
So to the album... five years in production and more than a worthy follow
up to 'Black Secret Technology'. A science fiction theme runs throughout,
with spoken interludes breaking up the track listing, and contributions
from the likes of Lamb's Louise Rhodes, David Simpson, Wendy Page and Lady
Kier providing an additional vocal dimension.
Gerald explains, "After the last album I realised that it would be a
difficult project to take out on the road, which is something I really
wanted to do so people can see the music and get an idea of how it was put
together. This album was really designed so it would lend itself to a live
show and I have a bass player, guitarist and drummer. With the singers, it
wasn't a case of getting specific people in to do any one particular
track, it all happened more organically with people I knew. We'd just have
conversations about what we wanted to do and write songs from there. We
did a gig in Miami in March and had all of the singers there, which was
fantastic, but with the tour later this year I'll have another singer
coming with me from New York. When Lou is available she'll do stuff with
us, but obviously everyone is professional in their own right and so are
either touring or writing material for their own projects.
"I've always wanted to work on albums as opposed to singles for a few
reasons really. Primarily, because I feel that an LP is more a piece of
work, a mother ship where the singles are like satellites. It has reached
a point with me where singles have almost no value, DJs are almost just
doing stuff to play to their mates and the music has become so personal
that a single is almost like doing a tape for someone."
Continuing, he says, "I never really recorded music for DJs and didn't get
played in a lot of places for that reason, but though I don't mind being
part of a scene, I certainly won't go out of my way to be part of
something. After the re-release of the last album I just wanted to cut
loose of any competition, or what anyone else thought of me personally,
and that has perhaps affected the way I look at things in that I'll try
and take the broader view. As such, the thoughts towards 'Essence' were to
really focus on the music as opposed to what genre it was going to fit
into. The world is a small place; wherever you are there will be people
who just want to listen to music – good music and songs. Although that
sounds self indulgent, I see it as tapping into a purity where you focus
on your art and try to sharpen it to a point at which you feel it's
supposed to be."
Head-hunted
Following the completion of the album earlier this year, Gerald has gone
on to work with the legendary Herbie Hancock and Bill Laswell. "Another
organic accident," he says. "I wanted him to do a remix for me and we
traded some material. From there, he asked me to do some beats."
As for the rest of the year, Gerald adds: "There are a few things around
the LP that I'm recording. After that, I'll be spending most of my time
working on orchestrating the band to act like machines – that's the next
step."
The 'Essence LP' is released on Studio K7 in August.
|
