BEA Interview #438: noWaxJim

Skinny · 2014-08-07T15:33:02-04:00

Skinny: So, noWaxJim, let's start at the very beginning (a very good place yadda yadda yadda). What is your earliest musical memory? noWaxJim: Although I swear I can remember yanking all my parents' Beatles LPs out of their sleeves and sliding around the floor on them as a toddler (my memory's pretty sharp and this did happen, but I think my furtive imagination has always over-estimated to what degree this was responsible for my life as a music snob), the most vivid early memory I have involves a journey down to Tenby in a Ford Cortina in 1984. The song? "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel. Totally lost on me now as to why this made such an impact - perhaps I was enjoying an ice cream or a Sherbet Fountain on the back seat at the time - but it triggered something inside a naive 7 year old that come 1985 had manifested itself in religious watching of TOTP and binning of The Beano for the much more savvy 'Look In'. Skinny: Oh wow, right. I don't mean any offense by this, but I don't think I'm the only one who assumed you were older than that. I always sort of imagined you in the corner at blues clubs, blowing thick ganja smoke next to the speakers as they blared out impossibly heavy King Tubby beats. So how and when did the punk and reggae obsession start? And, more importantly, why? noWaxJim: That ain't ganja smoke, mate - it's the puff of steam from a heavy drag on an e-cig. God knows about punk - it just kinda 'happened', y'know. Like punk was a reaction against prog and all that horrible 70s smaltz like Disco Duck and Showaddywaddy so my conversion was down to the fact that I HATED all but 3 of my school mates and wanted to rebel against the herd. One thing most people say about me is that I really am THE WORST type of musical snob. I'll instantly shout down anything I don't like as 'shit'. And I think I hold punk partly responsible for this (and specifically the Clash's S/T, which was on sale in Our Price with a 'Nice Price' sticker on), mainly because no-one I knew was listening to it (this was around '92 - when grunge broke). When I came to school with Clash and Pistols stickers all over my A4 ring binders and wore a London Calling T-Shirt I did it with gusto and a tremendous sense of pride and self-belief. Being different was my escape from the humdrum of daily routine and I couldn't give a frig if people didn't like me for it. This philosophy has stood me in good stead for many years, as well as caused a bucket-load of arguments (probably why I don't post all that often on BEA). Oh, and fashion disasters my wife no longer tolerates. My adoration for reggae is a much more palatable tale, and with a specific beginning. It was '97, I was sitting in a student union bar after finishing my first year exams with one of those generic 'Ska' CDs blaring out over the jukebox - you know the ones, they always seem to have Too Much Too Young and Mirror In The Bathroom as part of the track listing. Buried towards the end of this LP was Rupie Edwards' Ire Feelings. WHAT. A. TRACK. The bass was so thick, the vocals cutting in-and-out, the vibe... it was amazing to uncultured (and mildly tipsy) ears. The next day I bought the same CD, followed soon after by Prince Buster's Fabulous Greatest Hits, which contained my Mum's all-time favourite track ("Al Capone") and was intended as a birthday present, but ended up in my possession when I substituted it for a bunch of flowers and a bottle of Charlie. Not long after I bought the amazing Soul Jazz Records compy 100% Dynamite, fell in love with Studio One and Blood and Fire reissues, and haven't stopped collecting since. My obsession (perhaps a bit too strong a word, Skinny man. I would call it 'continued fascination with...') with punk and reggae probably emphasises my entire world view on the majority of music I adore. If you haven't got anything to say, at least make the fuckers skank or pogo. It's rare that any artist/track slips through this self-imposed net and onto my radar. Skinny: So what else filled in the gaps during those formative years? Were you a regular at jungle nights? Sitting in your bedroom, crying to Belle & Seb and the like? Doing coke in the Student Union bar bogs to the sound of 'Live Forever'? All of the above? I know your charts give a decent indication, but I guess what I'm trying to say is; how were the nineties for you? noWaxJim: The nineties started with rave and ended in charity shops with Radio 1's Annie Mac looking for Roy Ayres LPs. I was bowled over by rave culture - not so much E-fuelled parties in disused warehouses, more the music (I was massively into New Order at this point, so bearing in mind Technique came out around this time it was no surprise that I side-stepped. Shame I was too young and far away to go to the Hacienda). One of the first CDs I owned was called Hardcore Ecstasy which had Bizarre Inc, Joey Beltram and The Prodigy on. Me, my brother and my mate used to make home videos lampooning Normski from BBC2's Dance Energy. I danced wearing a labcoat in one of them. It was only once I'd turned 16/17 I went 'clubbing' in the truest sense, mainly at the Rhythm Station/Club X at Aldershot or The Wok Club in Guildford. But by this time other forces had invaded my psyche... Soon after my rave phase came one of the half-a-dozen or so musical epiphanies I've had. It was 1992, London had just bought the Rough Trade back catalogue, and thankfully decided to re-release This Charming Man. I cannot begin to tell you what a profound effect The Smiths had - there was something in Morrissey's lyrics that spoke to me directly. I was the guy who went to a club on his own and left on his own. I was 15, clumsy and shy. I didn't want to go Back To The Old House. Some girls were indeed bigger than others. I was obsessed. I had an Alaskan penpal who went by the name of Girl Afraid. I wore out all the taped copies of the albums that a mate called Simon made me. I still listen to Rubber Ring and remember reading To Kill A Mockingbird for GCSE English. And yes, I did sit in my room having a bit of a blub from time to time. From the Smiths came Britpop, and Oasis. I saw them twice in quick succession, but around this time (1993-5) I had started a Saturday job and spent every lunch break in Soundbarrier, a long-since gone record emporium in Guildford. Every week I bought a new album - the Beatles catalogue, Pet Sounds, pretty much every Husker Du album, Psychocandy - you name it. Music had easily become an obsession at this point - I'd already been an avid NME reader since 1992 (hence why I had already bought MBV, Ride, Pavement, Teenage Fanclub and Sugar LPs), but for back cat stuff I relied on the influences of bands I loved. I'd also started listening to Peel pretty regularly, so by this time already had both a sound knowledge of all sorts of random shit as well as a love of The Fall. In fact I remember vividly the day I bought my first Fall LP - it was This Nation's Saving Grace in Farnborough Our Price. I bought it home, put it on. Mum said it was bollocks. Then two Mormons knocked at the door and I spent most of I Am Damo Suzuki having a theological debate with them. But by far and away the one record that shoved me away from the herd and into the realms of musical snobbery was this record . Amazing to think I got it by sending off tokens to the Melody Maker - I ended up getting at least one album by every artist featured. Oasis died for me the minute I went to University - every fucker was into them (as well as the Spice Girls), so I shifted scene, bought The Velvet Underground & Nico and Bryter Layter with me and tried to convert campus. This I did by appearing on student radio - a lot - and siding with like-minded souls such as my good mate Eilir, who got me into all sorts of Welsh music (Gorky's, SFA, Tystion (Welsh hip-hop, Skinny man - you should try it) and Datblygu - the latter sounding like a Welsh Fall) as well as Bowie. My radio career reached its zenith in 1998, when Eilir and I (along with our friend Matt) ended up going on FM for 4 weeks. We played All Tomorrow's Parties at 10.30 in the morning, Welsh language songs about milking cows, mixed the Fraggle Rock theme with Kraftwerk's The Model and got away with it. That was until we go booted off air for playing Bodies by The Sex Pistols trying to use the fader to mask the expletives. Mind you this was to have been our last show, so we didn't really give a shit. 1999 saw me return home and start a college course in a vain attempt to carve out a career as a radio presenter. It was here I met Annie Mac, who I ended up presenting shows with once or twice (tapes for sale to the highest bidder). She loved Orbital, Stevie - all sorts in fact. It was the biggest waste of a year, but students being students we were just thankful we didn't have to enter the real world. Not yet, anyway. I'd started DJing the Student Union at this point, ending my sets with I Am The Resurrection and mixing pretty badly (for some reason, I always played A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays, only to try and get my scratching synced up with PA Mase's). Nothing much changes on that score. Skinny: And so what/who has stoked your enthusiasm in the last few years? And do you see yourself falling into old patterns of, "hey, this is a sound I like and they do it well and that's enough for me", or are you on the lookout for new trends and sounds that might excite you? Are you at a stage now where you're quite happy with your tastes and are likely to look for records that conform to them? Or are you continuing in that stubborn, 'John-Peel's-championing-of-happy-hardcore' sense to look for the latest, most innovative sounds? noWaxJim: A bit of both, I s'pose. I know what I love - indie pop, reggae, punk/post-punk, folk, funk, techno, psych - but I also know what I loathe, or at least the genres that no matter how many times I listen to them I just don't get. Jazz is the big one - I've never liked it, no matter how many times I've listened to Coltrane, Davis and Mingus - nothing has clicked. It doesn't speak to me or move me, and I can't connect with it. I often have a little smug chuckle when I read how some members on this site almost force themselves to get into a certain genre/album just to be part of the herd (like "first listen, hated it. Second listen, still hated it. But it's on Purple's chart and by the 40th listen I started tapping my foot" - no offence, KKS). Why fucking bother? Carve your own niche. There's never been a more exciting time to be a fan of music given that you've got virtually the entire history of recorded music at the end of a keyboard. That is, until tomorrow comes and more music gets released... As you get older time gets more precious. These days unless something grabs me by the balls I tend to move straight on to something else, unless there's a very good reason not to (very rare). This is probably why indie-pop is such a passion of mine - throwaway 3-minute mini-epics you don't have to cross-examine or pull apart to get/enjoy. It's probably the reason I adore albums such as this so much. I've never been a closed book when it comes to different genres - Sunbather is an amazing LP and the first time I've listened to a proper metal/screamo album in years. Two nights ago I reacquainted myself with some Gospel tunes I hadn't heard in ages (check out T.L Barrett & The Youth for Christ Choir). And if I ever get bored and need a quick fix of new listening experiences, I tend to head over to Brun027's chart and plunder it for MPB. The day I lose interest in finding something new is the day I give up on music and go off to live in a cave. Like NickVolos' quest for something that sounds like Forever Changes, I've always got one eye open when it comes to new releases. I have bought records on the strength of cover art before - Les Georges Leningrad being a prime example. I've never been a trend-follower - my wife will tell you that (she had to coax me out of kaftans and buffalo sandals when we first met). I forge my own path, picking and choosing what sounds interesting, different and for extra brownie points what no-one else (or at least few others) have discovered, although having said this I rarely strain from classic song structures and into the realm of the abstract/avant-garde/The Poe territory (unless there's a cartoon cat or something on the cover). Record labels and shops are often a good place to start - failing that, there's charts-a-plenty to pick from here. As for who stokes my enthusiasm, bar a couple of BEA charts (Brun0, Brandon) that would be my gig buddy Anna (my wife is hopeless when it comes to music - although we have seen The Pipettes together), my old band mate Rob (who used to drum for Montrose Avenue - some obscure 90s Ocean Colour Scene-lite effort. He wouldn't mind me saying that), and a certain former user from these shores who will always be my sister in twee from across the sea. I never thought I'd find a kindred musical spirit in cyberspace - she's still as groovy as fuck. I am proud to be and will always remain a music snob - I think I'm genetically pre-programmed to be odd. If I could sum up my mantra in picture form, it would probably look like this: Skinny: So - outside of music - what makes up noWaxJim? Any movies or books that informed your teenage years? Where do you stand on the political spectrum? And, most importantly, what makes you happy? noWaxJim: I hate novels. Full stop. 3 years of doing an English Lit degree put me off reading fiction for life. I read buckets of music biogs and histories, but haven't read a novel from start to finish in nearly 20 years. And whilst I love films - I'm a huge fan of Hitchcock and Wes Anderson - I can't say any particular film did anything for me during my formative years (although watching The Exorcist made me physically ill - not from the obvious scenes, but the site of a catheter and the blood that resulted - I'm terribly squeamish). I've always been about music - I was the guy who took the Guinness British Hit Singles book into school and got people to test me on when Fleetwood Mac's Albatross got to No.1 or how many hit singles Desmond Dekker had. Politically I'm totally ambivalent. I've been a lefty student campaigner in my heyday, but with British politics going forever down the toilet I've just given up giving a toss. Living in the heart of Tory Surrey (Michael Gove's my MP - and he's a total tit) the majority round here are so Right Wing they may as well be members of the NF. I'm liberal, but a traditionalist. And I do worry about the world my son's going to grow up in - everything's fucked, in the UK at least. The following make me happy (in no necessary order): playing cricket on a Sunday, finding records in Soho that I've been trying to find for ages (I tend to eschew eBay and Amazon and prefer having a record store rummage), curry (hotter the better, just so long as it's not a phall), Corona with Lime, cigs, taking my son to the park, dinner out with Mrs. noWax, dancing in the garden with my headphones on, BBQs, beaches, not wearing socks, the smell of bread, arguing with small-minded fools, growing a beard, doing fuck all on holidays, Barbados, driving on the M6 Toll Road, DJing and this album... Music For Parties by Silicon Teens Skinny: OK, time for the quickfire round. Favourite brand of cigarette? noWaxJim: I currently smoke Blue Pall Malls... cos they're cheap! But I prefer Camel Blues or Lucky Strike - but at nearly £10 a packet there's no way I'm spending that much every day or two. Skinny: Favourite spirit to shot? noWaxJim: Always been a Jack Daniels devotee. Fuck Jagermeister. Skinny: Favourite restaurant? noWaxJim: Tricky as I've got several. I really like Masala Zone just off Carnaby Street, perfect for a quick curry and a stone's throw from Berwick Street. Otherwise it's Pablo's in Costa Teguise, Lanzarote (they do THE BEST pepper sauce I've ever had) or Calabaza on the West Coast of Barbados, which I've just found out closed a couple of years back. Terrible shame... Skinny: Favourite TV show as a kid? noWaxJim: UNQUESTIONABLY The Mysterious Cities Of Gold - I remember the theme tune lasting about two minutes. Essential coming-home-from-school telly for an 80s kid. Skinny: Favourite TV show as an adult? noWaxJim: Pretty much anything that Chris Morris has been involved in - Nathan Barley, The IT Crowd and Brass Eye all crack me up. Skinny: Favourite record store? noWaxJim: Easy - Sounds Of The Universe in Broadwick Street, London. The best selection of music I've ever come across - from Tropicalia to Hip Hop to Funk to Reggae (LOTS of reggae) and much more besides. Amazing shop. Dub Vendor on Clapham High Street comes a close second - can't believe it nearly burnt down in the 2011 Riots. Skinny: Favourite meal to cook yourself? noWaxJim: I can't cook for shit. Does a BBQ count? Skinny: Haha, I'll give you that. King Tubby or Scientist? noWaxJim: What a bastard of a question. Skinny: The Pistols or The Clash? noWaxJim: Clash, definitely. Skinny: John or Paul? noWaxJim: Paul. If only for the Frog Chorus. Right - now I've got a question for you. When are we doing our tag-team dub night? I'll meet you in Oxford (that's roughly halfway) and let's Chant Down Babylon. We'll call it 'Best Dressed Chickens' or 'Dubalicious' or something equally unimaginative. You in? Skinny: Haha, yeah I'm down. I've been waiting for a good reason to bust out some of these Africa Almighty LPs my dad has lying around anyway. You find a venue and give me a date and I'll be there. More importantly, though - when are you going to give me my Lev Yashin poster back? noWaxJim: You'll get your poster back when you buy me a pint and a Dukla Prague away kit. I'm serious about dub night, BTW. I've got a few places to play down these parts if you're ever in leafy Surrey. Now unless you're going to ask me some salient questions such as 'what's your favourite album to hang the washing out to' or 'what in the world ever possessed you to buy an All Saints album' then I think it's high time you published this fucker. It's been emotional, much in the same way as one of those long-distance games of chess where you make a move every week unless there's a postal strike. Nanoo nanoo (BTW, did you know that Mork is Cockney rhyming slang for 'indie music'. I and I knows it.)

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meccalecca wrote:

That shit made me chuckle. It's not like you're a spring chicken. God knows how old he must've thought you were.

If I'm honest I thought Jim either experienced punk first-hand, or perhaps had a cooler older brother or sister who'd introduced him to it. I don't know why, but I guessed he was in his mid-late 40s. My sincerest apologies Jimmy.

Anyway, you were an absolute pleasure to interview. Apologies for the ridiculously long wait times between questions. And I've got a bunch of friends who live down Kingston-upon-Thames way (my last remaining ties to university), so next time I'm planning to head down that way I'll give you a shout about that pint and DJ session.
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Skinny wrote:

Nae worries chap. I'll see you outside Beggars Records when you're next in Kingston Town - there's an O'Neils round the corner. I'll use my free bus pass to get there... 😁
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You did a good job Skinny man, and excellent answers from Jim. I loved it.
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