INTERVIEW


this 45 minute album that’s going to be one long piece, and it’s going to have this this and this happen” it was none of that. With my old albums, I began with a map and filled in the details, but with this it was a process of discovery and it was a bit challenging along the way. Did you enjoy that challenge? It was amazing. You have to understand this was an experience like I’ve never even dared to dream. Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, I can’t explain what that place means to someone like me. You can’t exactly say no to Rick Rubin if he asks you to make a record can you? No! The whole frequency in which everyone is operating is different. It’s like a magic place. Everything is clear and hot, and there’s grape fruit growing on trees in the garden. How would you say your live shows have evolved over the years? You’ve obviously grown to playing huge stages at Glastonbury, and playing the Eventim Apollo on this tour from performing at house parties and raves. It is definitely something that is evolving. The bigger the stages get, the bigger the opportunity there is to grow


and make the size of that stage bigger. The temptation with a bigger stage is to throw more and more stuff at it but we’ve actually gone smaller than the last album tour. We’ve stripped it right back. Intentionally, we’re trying to be as clear and direct and precise as we possibly can be because that’s the stuff I’ve learned from Rick. I read a review about you recently that said your lights were your accompaniment and your backing, it’s just you and these lights in these big venues which makes it quite intimate. When we were touring the last album, I had my mate Gene on drums and Dan Carey was on synth, two people I’m extremely close to. We had this connection between us that created this support structure, it’s like having stabilisers on. I’d be there with Gene my drummer and we’d be together and being together at Brixton Academy, it was incredible, it felt like we really achieved something. But with this album, Gene’s a father now and has kids, it’s not the same. You can’t come out on tour the same way but that practical concern created something new that had to happen with the large shows.


10 / OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2019 / OUTLINEONLINE.CO.UK


The light, the set, the particular making of this new album and how we play it. It’s different, it’s all grown up, a more accomplished approach. It’s pretty intense. It’s not like I go out on stage and it’s a real buzz, I’m really enjoying it and rapping my head off - It’s not like that anymore, it’s like I’m delivering this work. How would you compare the new album to your previous works? The music is like a score other than a beat. The music and the lyrics on my previous albums are entwined; they are part of each other but for this album they run their own course, separately. It’s a different experience. The music is extremely important, it’s doing things that you don’t even know it’s doing and these lyrics wouldn’t even exist without that music. The music has been set free from the lyrics, and the lyrics have been set free from the music. It’s mad. Moving away from the music and your albums. You have a new production taking place at the National Theatre soon, how are you feeling about that and how do you juggle your other work with your music? Really excited. Something I reckon is


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48