Let’s get this established from the off: This is bloody great. Any album that kicks-off with a tune that causes its reviewer to emit a camp ‘ooooh’ like a startled hairdresser is definitely off to a winner. ‘Lightwerk’ sets the tone of Lost Idol’s second long-player ‘Brave The Elements’ quite magnificently and serves as a confident statement of intent for what follows. Brimming with ideas and atmosphere, the latest release by James Dean on Cookshop Records is as sharply executed as many of the finer releases on Warp or Ninja and one hopes it’ll gain enough listeners to reflect this. The opener aside, highlights include the single ‘A Sorrowful Thing’ and the beautiful ‘Peace For Joseph’, a fatherly tribute to the most recent addition to the Cookshop family. Reflecting Dean’s love for Electronica, Ambient, Krautrock and Cinematic soundscapes, ‘Brave The Elements’ comfortably melds genres into what is often a rarity nowadays; a very  pleasurable album experience from start to finish.

Download Album from Bandcamp

By now you’ve probably heard that the founder of the legendary Gangstarr suffered a heart attack last week. The good news is that after surgery on Monday he’s back on the mend. At this stage little other news is available other than an unnamed source being quoted as saying “Guru is alive and recovering from his surgery. Doctors are expecting a full recovery luckily.” However, the internet being what it is there’s plenty of misinformation doing the rounds, with MTV.com flying the flag of poor research at full mast, attributing quotes to people who may have said bugger all on the issue. Good work guys. Maybe have your work experience bods stick to bagel-fetching in future…

Most recently Guru has been working with producer Solar and Beatmag were fortunate enough to catch up with the duo last year. However for fans of his earlier work with Gangstarr, a tidy ‘Get Well Soon’ mix by DJ Wonder has been doing the rounds and will serve as a reminder as to why the man is held in such high regard by so many of us.

Download – DJ Wonder – Get Well Soon (The Guru Respect Mix)

Yordan Orchestra

Psych Introduxeon: Bringing Ingredients Together (Megatier Productions)

So. Beatmag has been away for a half a year and now we return looking very different but let’s not fuss, eh, let’s just review an album of bizarre psychedelica, instead, to get our hand back in. ‘Psych Introduxeon’ arrived at Beatmag Mansions with no info but a snapshot of a sallow pallid dude with sunken stoned eyes. This, we must presume, is Jack Aleister, leader of Yordan Orchestra, a latterday prog-psychedelic outfit from Holland whose concerts are sprawling happenings, heavy with the whiff of a druggier bygone age. Taking their cue from the Polyphonic Spree, who they’ve supported in concert, Yordan Orchestra hurl a mass of instruments into their melodramatic head music. The album has traditional rock leanings, but then the brass and cellos join in for a streak of howling ballads redolent of both Arthur Lee’s Love (for their musical ambition) and early Robyn Hitchcock (for their wilful but tuneful oddness). Like a baroque, burlesque and grungier version of early ’70s Pink Floyd, Yordan Orchestra wear their lysergic attitude loudly  – announcing they have “mushrooms to try” on ‘Faced You In A Neon Light’  – but retain a core of approachable, melodic musical experimentalism that certain media-celebrated British bands would do well to emulate.

Thomas H Green

Beatmag webmaster, boozehound & questionable disc-jockey, Tim Gomersall, takes us through a night playing alongside the big boys (and girls) in London town…

Firstly, a confession. By the end of this gig I was rather plastered. In fact, I was so inebriated that the fact that i actually saw the last band only came back to me a few days later. Anyhow, I will try my best to fill in the blanks, and provide a balanced review of the night. And if there are any glaring holes in my memory, then I will fill them up with sparkles of imagination.

‘This Is Music’ manage to pull of some pretty special line-ups, and this was far from the exception to the rule. Originally billed as a ‘Secret Headliner’ gig, the info that Felix from Basement Jaxx was playing was released only 5 days before the night. And judging by the massive one-in-one-out queue, that was growing rapidly by 10pm, word had spread pretty fast. Also on the line-up were dj’s Firas, Flexmaster Nylon (that’s me by the way), and Gabriel from Metronomy. And on the live stage were electro-pop-rockers, Crystal Fighters and all-girl hip hop crew, Yo Majesty.

Crystal Fighters were the first live band on, and they lit up the stage with a barrage of high energy electro pop. The lead singer leapt around and bawled out lyrics with Jim Morrison-esque vivacity, while 2 guys pumped out the sounds from what appeared to be suitcases full of bleeps and lasers. I know from experience that taking an electronic band to the stage can be a difficult task. When you don’t have a drum kit and conventional instruments, then it takes some innovation and stage presence to rock a crowd, but Crystal Fighters did this with ease, and roused up a storm with a lively sweaty show.

It was probable that the majority of the crowd had come along to see the secret headliner dj, Felix of Basement Jaxx. This was apparent from the torrent of fans wanting to shake his hand and show some love. I’ll add at this point that my memories start to get a little fuzzy. I’m pretty sure somebody spiked my healthy glass of cranberry juice with a large plop of vodka and being an ardent non-drinker (hic) this sent me a little sideways. I got a little obsessed with Felix’s jacket that looked furry, but wasn’t. It was amazing. But stroking a celebrity when you have just met them surely isn’t the ‘done’ thing, so lets pretend I made that bit up from my imaginary memories. Oh yeah, the music. Ive not been to a ‘Rooty’ night before (that is Basement Jaxx’s’ club night), or seen them dj, but I’d heard that they put on a mean party. Unlike Basement Jaxx’s own music, Felix played a less commercial set of electro and dubstep. I think. I cant really remember too well. But I remember hearing some amazing tunes and a dj maestro at work. He seamlessly threaded tracks together and relentlessly kept the dancers on their toes.

Now, the Yo Majesty set really is a little on the hazy side of my recollection. I’m pretty sure one of them had their tits out. I know it sounds like I’m making this bit up, but no, really. She did. I’ve asked one of the promoters since, and it turns out it’s part of their stage show. Yo Majesty are a scary band. They are aggressive, loud and make you feel slightly on edge. But I get the impression that this is part of their feminist stance. They are all openly lesbian, and their lyrics and stage show depicts an antagonism towards conventional male hip hop sensibilities. They talk about girls in the same way male chauvinistic hip hop might, but from the point of view of a girl. It may be a little uncomfortable to listen to, but then that’s what hip hop is about, challenging popular view and exposing the wrongs of our society. These girls are hard, like public enemy, and their heavy electro hip hop sound made the place feel like a block party.

After this, I have very small nuggets of memory left to write from. I don’t remember leaving. I don’t remember if anyone else played afterwards (I presume Gabriel from Metronomy did). And I don’t remember how I got home. But I do remember the police arresting a guy that I’d befriended on the street, and who was trying to steal my record bag…

by Tim Gomersall

50 Cent: Blood On The Sand (Xbox 360, PS3)

Nah, I don’t give a FUCK, if this game be old as dirt! I couldn’t just let my nigga Fiddy drop some new game knowledge without spittin’ ‘bout that shit, yo! My nigga done it again, yo! He’s a prophet and an ambassador for the world, and shit…. And this game proves it! See some Arab bitch done stole Fiddy’s jewel-incrusted Human Skull (I hate when that shit happens!) and now Fif, and G-Unit (remember them niggas? Nah, me neither) are gonna go put a cap in his punk ass, and get it back by blasting every motherfucker in the Middle East into rubble, ya heard!?? They got the big burners, and they be shouting shit like “Fuck yeah!” and “G-g-g-g-unit, Nigga” while they shoot through schools and old people’s homes to get that fuckin’ skull back! You thought now that we got Obama in the White House that niggas were gonna change up and get on some righteous shit?? Hells to the no, son. Fif is gone keep shit as ignorant, as the last 8 years. BRUP BRUP BRUP!!!

Streetfighter IV (Xbox 360, PC, PS3, Wii)

You know how when you were a kid you’d somehow be kicked in the nuts like every week, or something? A normal day could start with your nuts not even under threat at all, just hanging low and all relaxed, then something would kick off and you’d get a swift kick in the goollies by some girl, or someone might just graze your nuts by mistake with their fist? The result was always the same: Pain! Well, now that your older, can you remember the last time you were kicked in the nuts? Nah, didn’t think so, that just doesn’t happen as you get older, does it? WELL, IT DOES WHEN YOU BUY THIS GAME!! You’ll feel like someone just Bruce Lee’d your balls, as you try to control the ugly looking characters, you’ll feel like Ronaldo just took a free kick with your family jewels, as you keep getting whipped, and you’ll feel like MC Hammer did his big trouser dance on your peanuts after you realise you just paid £40 for this shit! Save yourself the pain, don’t even go there, watch the film again instead… it’s less painful.

Afro Samurai (Xbox 360, PS3)

Bet you didn’t now this show was based on a true story, right? No? Well it’s true, every word of it. Verily, there was an African-American Samurai in feudal Japan many, many years ago, and lo did he kick much of the ass, and legend did tell that he sounded much like modern day journeyman actor and “Coolest Motherfucker on the planet” Samuel L. Jackson. All this is true, for it was written in the good books of Japanese history and made into an Anime TV series where my man Afro did relieve many mother-fornicators of their heads and their limbs with his mighty blade. All set to the classical music of the The RZA from the esteemed singers-of-song, The Wu-Tang Clan. And so it came to pass that a game of said Afro Samurai was created and it did kick much posterior, and further it allowed you to chop many heads off and relive this important moment in history as fountains of blood did fly skyward from the severed arms of your enemies. And lo it was good.

The Chronicles Of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena (PS3, Xbox 360)

One night I dreamed that I was Vin Deisel, I was cool as a motherfuckin’ cucumber, and I was like playing Riddick in Pitch Black. Except I wasn’t acting and shit, nah I WAS Riddick, ok? I was all “Did not know who he was fuckin’ with”, and “Don’t you cry for Johns, don’t you dare.” And “I’m a bad ass, all bald and musclebound, ok?” but it wasn’t a dream, it was all a beautiful true thing. I was Riddick, I really did carry around some cool ass knives and guns that I could kill anyone fool enough to get in my way ! I escaped from prisons, flew spaceships, and killed everyone who looked at me funny. And I could see in the dark with my cool silver eyes… And then I woke up in the real world, in hospital after walking out in front of a bus at 4am in the morning in the dark. Oh well, it was a good dream, while it lasted.

Games for review should be sent to Khalid at P.O. Box 3365, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 1WQ

The freshest forgotten albums of yesteryear. Not the usual fawned over suspects but albums that ‘net-trawlers and second hand record shop aficionados may come across and should snap up now.

Neil Gardner Recommends:
Chrome
Red Exposure
(Beggars Banquet) 1980

“I am anti-fade and I can’t go away” Chrome -’Eyes On Mars’

When independent label Beggars Banquet were looking to capitalise on the huge success of Gary Numan at the cusp of the Eighties, their attention switched to a strange duo from San Francisco with an obsession with the darker aspects of science fiction.

No doubt Beggars were hoping for an American version of Tubeway Army, a band who could take troubling subjects, give them an offbeat but commercial twist, and turn them into a major cash-generating machine.

What they got was something rather different.

Formed in 1976 by vocalist/drummer Damon Edge and Gary Spain, Chrome’s debut album, ‘The Visitation’, a relatively straightforward take on Latino-tinged electronic rock (‘Eno meets Santana”) gave little warning of the aural carnage to come and it wasn’t until the arrival of maverick guitarist Helios Creed, and Spain’s departure in 1977 that things started to change for the weird.

The notoriously eccentric Creed nearly blew his chances with the band, allegedly irking Edge by turning up to their first meeting dressed as a pirate, but his influence on Chrome was immediate. His abrasive guitar sound coupled with Edge’s demented tape manipulation and powerful drumming gave their next two albums – ‘Alien Soundtracks’ and ‘Half Machine Lip Moves’ – a deliriously wild, chaotic quality, pitched somewhere between Suicide and The Stooges.

Chrome purists invariably gravitate towards those records’ primitive dark psychedelics – Julian Cope memorably referred to ‘Lip Moves’ as ”Turkish robots playing Hawkwind“, but the general view appears to be that their difficult fourth album was where the duo compromised their sound, initiating an inevitable decline.

Yet, even a cursory listen would suggest that was nonsense, as ‘Red Exposure’ is, if anything, equally as wacked out and individual as its predecessors.

Taking a much more electronic approach, it isn’t so much produced (by the band themselves with the wonderfully named John L Cyborg who received a credit despite actually being the drum machine) as submerged. Its dense and cluttered sound, described by one critic as “so murky and bizarre that basically EVERYTHING sounds like it’s in the background”, provided the soundtrack to a gloomy Philip K Dickian future, where horror roamed at the corner of the eye and unspeakable things scuttled in the gutter.

As well as playing with a bewildering array of tape machines, oscillators and delays, the duo share vocal duties throughout – Creed opting for more traditional rock yelp, while Edge remains buried under waves of effects, veering from ominous whisper to malfunctioning robot.

The diseased synth introduction to opener ‘New Age’, an unlikely choice as a single, sets the tone by not so much fading in as seeping out of the speakers like poison gas, while Edge wails menacingly through waves of static over squelchy percussion and a clanking riff.

Even more upfront tunes like ‘Static Gravity’ teeter on the cusp of madness, with a crunching cyclical riff underpinned by a woozy orchestral sample, while ‘Eyes In the Center’ delivers a particularly nasty synth line over cavernous mine-shaft drums, portentous bells and shards of feedback, that explode like firecrackers.

Elsewhere, the menacing ‘Jonestown’ with it’s distorted vocals and piercing bowed guitar line is a close cousin to the harsh industrial tones of Cabaret Voltaire’s ‘Mix Up’, ‘Eyes on Mars’ is a delirious phasers-on-stun frug powered by some fierce tribal drumming, while the stentorian march of ‘Animal’ is enlivened by Creed’s deranged soloing.

Despite the album’s otherworldly qualities, flashes of beauty do occasionally rise out of the murk – the ghostly bleak ambience of instrumental ‘Room 101’ and the spooked piano of ‘Night of the Earth’ in particular.

There was even a cursory attempt at pop with the mutant Devo-esque ‘Electric Chair’, although inevitably it came out all wrong. Only Chrome would attempt to write a catchy song about an execution and although an increasingly hysterical Creed gleefully yelling “I know you want to fry!” over a gloopy guitar riff is oddly catchy, it was hardly Top of the Pops material either.

The deep, droning ‘Isolation’ was a suitably grim closer – with Edge’s repeated plaintive cry of ‘I’m so isolated’ proving to be sadly prescient.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, ‘Red Exposure’ didn’t exactly find favour with the UK music press – the NME dismissed it as “fine for those moods where you want to contemplate life in a toxic atmosphere, like a slave mine on Alpha Centauri, or after the bomb” – and that was one of the kinder reviews.

However, British youth ignored its pioneering use of backwards masking, cut-ups and electronics too, in favour of the more palatable dystopian visions of Numan and Ultravox.

Subsequently dropped by Beggars, Creed and Edge went on to record two more albums together, adding a rhythm section (the great Hilary and John Stench) for the punkish guitar-driven ‘Blood on the Moon’ and the gnarled metallic ‘3rd from the Sun’ before a somewhat acrimonious split in 1982.

Unfortunately, the Chrome story doesn’t have a happy ending. Edge attempted to keep the name alive, relocating to Europe and recording a series of albums that removed Creed’s more extravagant, experimental flourishes and appeared to appeal only to French teenage Cure fans with noticeably diminishing returns.

Depressed by lack of recognition and the break-up of his marriage, Edge eventually became an alcoholic recluse in Los Angeles, ballooning to over 300 pounds and dying of heart failure in 1995. His body lay undiscovered for over 30 days, a bitter reminder of how far Chrome had fallen from the public’s consciousness.

Meanwhile, Creed who had made several well received albums of fried psychedelia under his own steam, including the excellent ‘X-rated Fairy Tales’ in the Eighties, reclaimed the name and has recorded and toured as Chrome once again – most recently with 2008’s occasionally brilliant ‘Retro Transmission’.

Despite their lasting influence, heard in bands as varied as the Butthole Surfers, Skinny Puppy and Prong, Chrome have been rather ill-served by the nostalgia industry, with sporadic re-issues of their material, often in limited quantities. ‘Red Exposure’ itself was given a rather shoddy repackage (even printing the wrong title on the CD spine) by Cleopatra Records last year.

But at least it is now available and, 29 years after its difficult birth, it deserves a higher place in the Chrome canon – a mesmerisingly haunted creeped-out classic that remains determinedly out of its tiny mind and gloriously out of time.

Jack Penate

Everything Is New (XL)

Yes, in an event as unlikely as Phil Collins cutting a dubstep album with The Bug, Jack Penate is Beatmag’s Album Of The Issue. Previously pegged as yet another tedious singer-songwriter, indie-lite model – which indeed he was – he now completely turns the tables on any such criticism. Joining forces with dance producer Paul ‘Phones’ Epworth he popped up at the beginning of the year on an XL compilation with a song called ‘Tonight’s Today’ that sounded absolutely nothing like anything he’d done before, an Afro-flavoured pop romp that reeked of joy and sunshine. Brilliantly, the pair have made an album to match, spraying flecks of African guitar and percussion onto euphoric indie songwriting. It’s original, it’s fun and it’s a feat. If he can do this live, Penate may prove an unexpected highlight of 2009.

www.myspace.com/jackpenate (be careful, though, one of his crappy old songs comes on and you can’t turn it off)

Willie Isz

Georgiavania (LEX)

It’s clear from the start of their debut album that Willie Isz are bringing a much-needed something new to hip hop, but it’s not until a deranged fiddle-led Irish jig called ‘The Grussle’ that you realize quite how far off the rails they’re prepared to go. With the avowed intent to combine crunk’s energy with psychedelic rock attitude, Willie Isz consist of Atlanta MC, Outkast associate Khujo and producer-singer Jneiro Jarel (AKA Dr Who Dat? and Shape Of Broad Minds). Their album, much of which features live instrumentation, has a bawdy pop power that stays away from lyrical cliché and deserves to crossover, like Gnarls Berkley, if they took rock rather than funk as their template. Mind you, it’s still funky as Hell.

www.myspace.com/willieisz

Moby

Wait For Me (Little Idiot)

Moby has done allsorts over the years. He became rich by accident when he famously attached old blues acapellas to electronica and beats on ‘Play’. It was hardly a recipe for immediate success. Previously he’d messed up his dance music career with a dismal punk album. Moby does what he feels is interesting. Last year that meant an album honoring the sound of disco and early house (‘Last Night’). This year, on his own label, he’s in a mordant mood and, together with singing female New York pals, he returns with an elegiac album of strings and tuneful downtempo numbers, all delivered with stripped down yet opulent production. It doesn’t sound a winning formula, as ever, but, despite a few too many filler instrumentals, it works admirably.

www.myspace.com/moby

Malcolm Middleton

Waxing Gibbous (Full Time Hobby)

The Scottish songwriter and former member of Arab Strap claims this, his fifth album, will be his last for a while as he’s said all he wants to say for the moment. This isn’t good news as Middleton is one of Britain’s premier songwriters and his quality threshold rarely drops. ‘Waxing Gibbous’ opens with a couple of numbers that are musically slightly naff but his lyrics never quit and, in any case, once you’re passed those two it’s all gold. Middleton majors in songs of love and humanity that are firmly grounded in messy modern reality. Poignancy and loss are never far away and any album with a tune on it called ‘The Ballad Of Fuck All’ is surely worth a listen.

www.myspace.com/malcolmmiddleton

Silicone Soul

Silicone Soul (Soma)

A little known fact is that two of the greatest electronic albums EVER are ‘Staring Into Space’ (2005) and ‘Save Our Souls’ (2006) by Glasgow duo Silicone Soul, both beautiful, warm, groove-laden masterpieces that emanate everything good about house music. The trouble with that kind of achievement is that comparisons can forever be made. Their first album since is less soulful, lying somewhere between Berlin minimal techno and sadly now defunct Eukahouse acts such as Get Fucked, G-Pal and Smart Alex. It’s very good, especially the sampledelic ‘David Vincent’s Blues’, but perhaps doesn’t quite match the drive and personality of their classics. Never mind that though, it still beats most of the current competition.

www.myspace.com/4siliconesoul

Homecut

No Freedom Without Sacrifice (First Word)

Jazzual hip hop is very much an acquired taste, often disappearing up its own fundament in a welter of musical technique and yawn-inducing supper club smoothness. Sometimes, however, someone as classy as Homecut appears. Sure the mellow finger-clickin’ grooves, midnight muted trumpets and flute flourishes are intact but this young dude from Leeds, otherwise known as Testament, weaves it all into a mellow engaging whole. While it’s certainly coffee-table friendly (it even has Corinne Bailey Rae on one song) his style, somewhere between Roots Manuva and Soweto Kinch (who also features), is sufficiently bright and engaging to draw appreciation from all quarters.

www.myspace.com/homecut

We Fell To Earth

We Fell To Earth (In Stereo)

For those who like the idea of Krautrock but always found it a bit relentless, Richard File, once of U.N.K.L.E., and American singer Wendy Rae Fowler, arrive with We Fell To Earth. They take the hypnotic drones and rhythms of European space-rock, sprinkle it with electronic pulses and bleeps, then gently mutate it into sweet, mellow cosmic pop music. It veers towards the melancholic but is carried by a wistful sweetness and late night ambience that bears comparison to Portishead or Massive Attack.

www.myspace.com/wefelltoearth

Motor

Metal Machine (Shitkatapult)

The third album from Parisian doom-dancefloor duo Mr No and Bryan Black lays off their more industrial rock tendencies in favour of fierce gnarly techno. Appearing on T.Raumschmiere’s Shitkatapult label from Berlin, the nine tracks hammer home a viscerally hard club sound, jammed with waves of angrily humming machinery-in-meltdown effects. Far from Saturday night high street dancefloors, this one has steel in its blood, and the completely OTT ‘Death Rave’ will send fluff-merchants scurrying for their bolt-holes, quivering terrified beside their racks of David Guetta mix CDs.

www.myspace.com/motor66

Bachelorette

My Electric Family (Drag City)

Annabel Alpers may be based in New Zealand but I suspect that rather than surfing or country hikes, she spends all her time locked away with her collection of cheap synthesizers (possibly the electric family of the title) which she mingles with more conventional instruments, all played by herself. Her second album is a cheery collection that bridges the gap between synth-pop and the Beach Boys. Admittedly she’s nowhere near in the league of the latter in their ‘60s prime but her multi-layered sweetly harmonic songs have a charm that’s well worth checking out.

www.myspace.com/bachelorettepop

Terefe Whitecross

From Here To Helsinki (Kensaltown)

Back at the tail end of the original electro-pop boom, a time La Roux and Little Boots dream of, Nick Whitecross was singer with Kissing The Pink whose ‘The Last Film’ was a minor hit in 1983. Thirteen years later, he created an album with Martin Terefe (now best known for producing singer-songwriter bores such as James Morrison and Jason Mraz). Thirteen years after that the pair are back with a follow-up (although, to confuse things, it was apparently recorded six years ago). The wait has paid off. Terefe Whitecross muster juicy contagious synth-pop such as the ace ‘Jesus Was A Hippie’ or the mellow ‘The Collector’ with it’s haunting whistled riff, but even when they pull out their acoustic guitars, it’s all fairly witty and enjoyable.

www.myspace.com/terefewhitecross

OLDIES/REISSUES

Rodriguez

Coming From Reality (Light In The Attic)

A Mexican-American based in Detroit, Sixto Rodriguez recorded in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s but no one paid him any mind and by the early ‘70s he had to give up and get a ‘proper’ job. He sounds a bit like ‘Season Of The Witch’-era Donovan and, in an unlikely turn of events, over time his music became hugely popular in South Africa, eventually growing into a global cult that came into focus last year when his debut album ‘Cold Fact’ was re-released to acclaim. ‘Coming From Reality’ was his last album, made in London in 1971, and it’s a vibrant mixture of Dylan-esque poetics, electric and acoustic guitar action, and palatably kitsch forays into stringed up easy listening pop. While of its time – a time of hippies – ‘Coming From Reality’ is so approachable and vibrant it’s hard to believe no-one cared a jot when it first appeared.

www.myspace.com/sixtorodriguezzz

COMPILATIONS

Disco Kosmische Volume 1 (People In The Sky)

Jerry Dickens was once better known as Red Jerry. His Hooj Choons stable fronted an armada of top notch techno, trance and (quality) prog-house from the mid-‘90s to the early ‘00s. Dickens had golden A&R ears, a cracking attitude and the hedonic spirit to match. Then he disappeared. Happily, he eventually came back with People In The Sky, a new label, original home of Friendly Fires and current home to Wax Stag and Plugs. Where he’s at on this selection is an extremely tasty melding of psyche-disco grooves, techno throb and indie-funk. ‘Disko Kosmische’ ranges from heavy ‘80s Italo-disco to remixes by Optimo Espacio and Hercules & Love Affair, from Chaz Jankel to They Came From The Stars I Saw Them. Underground, edgy and original, it’s a thoroughly welcome listen.

www.myspace.com/peopleinthesky1

Albums for review should be sent to…

Thomas H Green, Beatmag, PO Box 4653, Worthing BN11 9FG

Beatmag Album of the Issue

SINGLE OF THE ISSUE

The Brownies
Cougar (NROne)

“Mark me like you mark your territory,” sings Sophie Little of Norwich three girl/two boy outfit, The Brownies, over a jagged indie-punk racket that throbs with energy, attitude and shed-loads of sex. Featuring production that’s engagingly frayed at the edges from The Subways producer Jon Gray, it’s a triple-header full of rough hewn power pop fire. As indie slowly falls into disfavour, with the term ‘landfill’ attached to it, so it’s pleasing to see an outfit who don’t give a damn about that and who are also capable of reinvigorating crude guitar action. All three songs have ballistic yet catchy choruses that faintly recall The Ramones while ‘Violence’ with its fevered line “you’ll have to do to have sex with,” couldn’t be any more carnal. Fans of panting hot rock’n’roll filth should check ‘em out.
www.myspace.com/thebrownies

Marissa Nadler
River Of Dirt EP (Kemado)

It took me a while to dig Marissa Nadler. I have a natural suspicion of female artists who travel the trail of Kate Bush/Bat For Lashes oddball, gathering critical plaudits for delicate whimsy. Nadler’s oeuvre has been called ‘dream folk’ and her latest album, ‘Little Hells’, her fourth, takes a smidgeon of country and works it into something fragile and lovely. This number, lifted from it, is an aching ethereal campfire wisp of a song, and comes backed with a desolate reading of Neil Young’s ‘Cortez The Killer’. Rather late in the day, I’m a convert…
www.myspace.com/songsoftheend

The Heavy
Oh No! Not You Again! (Counter)

The Heavy reappear with a gigantic two minute slab of punky blues-rock that, despite a whiff of Led Zep, remains very much its own beast. The quartet hail from Britain’s west country but also have much clout in London hipville, snagging Kasabian producer Jim Abiss on desk duties and Noisette Shingai Shiniwa on vocals. Home to fab noiseniks The Deathset, amongst others, Counter Records deserve a break-out hit so let’s hope The Heavy’s sweaty Kerrang pop is it.
www.myspace.com/theheavy73

Dizzee Rascal
Bonkers (XL)

Unlike, say, Roots Manuva, who has so far achieved modest commercial gains while gathering critical plaudits at every turn, Dizzee Rascal has given UK hip hop broad mainstream success. Sensibly he long ago ditched the clattering grime backing in favour of exploring a wide range of other options, including collaborating with Calvin Harris on last year’s monster hit ‘Dance Wiv Me’. For ‘Bonkers’, from his forthcoming fourth album ‘Tongue’n’Cheek’, Armand Van Helden provides a patent earthquake-sized bassline while Dizzee explains he’s not bothered about being called mad. Lyrically it’s so-so but as a floor-filler, it’s gold dust.
www.myspace.com/dizzeerascal

The Ettes
Danger Is EP (Take Root)

The recent death of Lux Interior marked the end of the great punk-trash band The Cramps. It’s great, then, to hear an outfit ready to pick up the mantle and run with it. The Ettes are a three-piece from New York who emigrated to LA’s West Coast sunshine where their tight but crude, ballsy sound has been making waves. Produced by White Stripes associate Liam Watson, they achieve a gratifyingly distorted enormous bass rumble smeared with ‘60s garage trash. Female vocalist Coco tops it all off but it’s the raw urgency of their rockabilly spirit that’s most persuasive.
www.myspace.com/theettes

Violet Violet
C-c-c-cat (NROne)

Like our Single Of The Issue, this is more raucous guitar action from Norwich. The NROne roster is a mixed bag, sometimes veering onto the forgettable indie treadmill, but they’re also prodigious leading to a release schedule with plenty of juice in the tank, particularly lately. All girl three-piece Violet Violet offer a taste of their forthcoming second album, ‘The City Is Full Of Beasts’, and it’s jammed with juddering angular guitars and shouting, happily attached to a cast iron alt-rock pop song.
www.myspace.com/violetviolet1

Ultrachorus
Words Kept Talking (SoTM)

Being a vinyl fetishist I enjoy the rare occasions it appears in Beatmag’s PO Box. Unfortunately, it usually disappoints, featuring fiercely Luddite indie, vanity projects, or quirkily marketed major label dross (decent dance music sadly stopped reaching reviewers on 12” years ago). Minneapolis duo Chris Heidman and Jeff Lorentzen, however, sent their little black 7” over the Atlantic – hurrah! – and for those after the missing link between country & western and vocodered synth-pop (not a large fan subdivision, admittedly) here it is. Gentle beats and laid back honkytonk guitar accompany a cheerful outing that shouts, “ONES TO WATCH!”
www.myspace.com/ultrachorus

Fuck Dress
Everything’s Ultra Now (NROne)

In an unheard of coup NROne have three songs in Beatmag Singles this issue. Sadly we didn’t even need a bribe. Fuck Dress appear to be a bunch of middle-aged dudes, usually dressed as priests, which is probably why ‘Everything’s Ultra Now’ bemoans the “Go quicker, go faster, work harder, work faster” pace of life today although, at another level, it’s a dig at consumerism via a crafty Goethe reference. Half spoken, with a hint of Mark E Smith, all four tracks are worth lending an ear, including a reappearance from ‘Suburban Nietzsche Freak’ which we reviewed last year [http://www.beatmag.net/issue19/reviews/singles.php].
www.myspace.com/fuckdress

Worthy & Yankee Zulu
Bad Side (Playtime)
+
Skank Sinatra
Bombs (RMD)

A couple of tasty, if hardly groundbreaking, slivers of club action. Worthy & Yankee Zulu, a San Franciscan and a Belfast boy, invent quease-house. Things start off smoothly enough, with a steady club-friendly beat and a sampled voice threatening, “The bad side,” then this whole other thing kicks off. A series of disorientating siren effects build and sway giving the whole track a giddy twist, like standing up too fast or staggering into daylight from a daytime pub marathon. The overall effect is enjoyably unsettling. The bad side, indeed.
Like prime time Underworld but with a dirty modern rave twist, the Dogmatix mix of Skank Sinatra’s‘Bombs’ rides in on a hammering rhythm, spiced with gnarled techno bass squelches. It’s a far cry from the dub’n’breaks original although lyrics from MC Spaced Arab – one of the odder stage names I’ve come across of late – remain a lazy resigned twist on Faithless’ Maxi Jazz’s peace’n’love Buddhist schtick.
http://www.playtime-records.com + www.myspace/skanksinatraspace

Greg McDonald
Reclaim The Night (Sugartown)

Greg McDonald quietly released one of last year’s best albums, ‘Stranger At The Door’, a collection of indie/acoustic numbers imbued with storytelling wit and a tendency towards melancholy. Thus the arrival of his new single caused great excitement round these parts, but it’s a very different kettle of fish. A big triumphant number, the dreamy lyricism remains but a martial rhythm and stadium-sized chorus predominate, before it closes with a last burst of guitar overdrive. Not his best but great to have him back.
www.myspace.com/gregmcdonalduk

Singles for review should be sent to…

Thomas H Green, PO Box 4653 Worthing, BN11 9FG, UK

Label Feature

Each month, Beatmag’s vinyl fetishist Blackbeltjonez throws badgering queries in the direction of labels in the hope of gaining a positive response (and maybe some promos). Germany’s Jazz and Milk has been somewhat of a revelation in terms of its no-nonsense attitude to releasing what can only be described as, an astoundingly consistent selection of crispy beats, and chunky breaks that will do wonders for fans of the good stuff. Think Mr Scruff, DJ Shadow, Tru Thoughts and Ninja Tune (before it went a bit too weird). Answering the questions this time round is label-owner, artist, DJ and allroundniceguy; Dusty. Besides his Clubnight “Jazz & Milk Breaks” at Zerwirk Club (with international guests, such as Mr. Scruff, Nickodemus, Zero dB, Diesler, The Hi-Fly Orchestra or Romanowski) and his productions, he has been running the Jazz & Milk Label for over three years now. Several successful vinyl and CD releases have been released so far, including Dusty’s brand new debut album “Keep it Raw”. He’s even been kind enough to give us a recent mix – check it out by clicking here

How long has Jazz and Milk been running?
The label was founded in summer 2005.

Did you have any particular motivation for starting the label?
Actually, I have never thought about the possibility of starting my own label. My friend Tim Schmitt wanted to design a vinyl record cover as part of his graphic exam in 2005. He knew some of my productions and asked me to finish some songs for a vinyl EP. The result was the “Jazz & Milk EP,” a limited edition of 300 records with silk-screen printed and hand-folded cardboard sleeves. Finally a label owner introduced me to his distribution that seemed to be really interested. So we decided to keep the record title and founded the label “Jazz & Milk”. The whole handmade edition was sold to Japan and we had to do a repress for the European and US market.

Are you happy with the rate that you release or do you have a back-log of artists waiting to put out music on Jazz and Milk?
I’m happy to release at least a handful of good records per year which still allows me to concentrate on each project, rather than putting out random stuff each month. At the moment we have some nice projects in the waiting line and can’t wait for the third volume of Jazz & Milk Breaks to be released before summer.

As Dusty, name some dream collaborations.
To be honest, I’m already more than happy with my past and present collaborations, as there are so many brilliant musicians around me. More important than collaborating with big names is to be able to work with creative people, no matter who they are and what specific style they’re into. I love the flexibility that nowadays allows me to work and record with lots of good musicians everywhere in the world.

Can you see yourself sticking with vinyl releases or is it likely (given the economic climate) that you’ll do more digitally?
No question, we will keep up the vinyl as long as possible. Every vinyl release comes with a digital version for sure but as long as we’re not paying on top – vinyl always comes first!

How do you feel about file sharing – is it a nightmare or a necessary evil to promo music nowadays (bearing in mind that mixtapes were how hip hop used to be promoted before it became all shiny and sellable)?
Of course sharing music always had its positive sides too, but right now we’re not talking about some music lovers anymore who are trying to recommend good music to each other. When you heard a good track on a mix-tape back in the days, you had to buy the whole album to hear more. Today you can download almost everything you want by just clicking a button. Unfortunately stealing music is almost considered a common thing. The worst thing about it is that most people do not take enough time to appreciate the real worth of music anymore. There’s so much music on the web and on most people’s hard drives that they don’t even find the time to let the music sink in or open their minds for something new. Furthermore, everything happens in front of the computer screen. I think nothing can replace a nice chat and a personal recommendation in your local record store.

How do you go about making your own music, and do you have specific methods and approach to your art?
After starting with sample-based productions years ago, I have discovered the advantages of fusing samples with live and electronic elements. I’m always trying to keep a raw and vintage sample vibe in the main sound. Mostly, I’m doing several live recording sessions on top of a rough musical sketch, before starting to arrange everything, and add the final electronic elements while working out the beats. Samples are still giving me lots of inspiration for new tracks, even if I wouldn’t always use them in the end. My basic set-up is a PC with Cubase, a Fender Rhodes Piano and some percussion instruments.

What is your own history in music – how did you get to be Dusty (influences etc)?
My uncle Christian Doepke, a professional jazz pianist taught me to play the piano when I was a kid. I was sick of classic piano lessons and always wanted to learn how to play “Take Five”. But finally as a teenager Hip Hop became more interesting and I started deejaying. Soon I was digging all the old samples in Funk, Jazz and Latin and started to discover styles like Trip Hop, Breakbeat and Drum’n’Bass. In my productions I’m trying to bring all these influences together in a new context. The melodic richness of Jazz probably influenced me most, which can be found in almost all of my tracks.

Has it taken a long time to get to your ’sound’ – are there years of older tracks you’ve dumped in frustration?!
For sure! I have spent too many nights, trying to build a track or to mix it right. It is a long and sometimes very frustrating process that never stops for me. I’m never a hundred percent satisfied with what I do and exactly this fact gives me the motivation to keep on improving my sound and to learn new things. I’m always looking forward to the future, as there are so many more experiences to make music wise.

Putting on your DJ hat, name 5 records that never leave your crate and 5 new records that you’d recommend Beatmag readers to check out that we may not be aware of.

Classic Records:
Free The Robots – Jazzhole
Art Blakey – Cubano Chant
Sindbad – Gauche
Digi Onze – Pinball
Sergio Mendes – Magalenha

New Records:
Herbie Hancock – Wiggle Waggle (Mr Scruff Remix)
Nat King Cole – Day In Day Out (Cut Chemist Remix)
Moonstarr – Instrumentals Forever
Greenwood Rhythm Coalition – Salsa Verde
Dusty – Keep it Raw

I’m also due to talk to Guru for this issue, regarding his latest project – is there any question you’d like Beatmag to ask on your behalf?
Sure: I’ve always appreciated innovative and forward thinking Hip Hop projects like Jazzmatazz. As for the present and future would you still consider the project as something besides the norm or would you say that fusing Hip Hop with live, or even electronic elements, has already become the new sound of this genre?

Guru’s Response: I think it’s part of it, definitely. First of all, sampling will always be a part of hip hop, it was an integral part when it was started with just 2 turntables and sampling is just multiplying that. But then you have me getting live jazz and putting it with hip hop beats. Getting those actual cats who we were sampling, that takes it to another level because then you’ve got personal music expression added to that , then you’ve got world class vocalists coming in and doing their thing , that’s adding too. So at the foundation you got hip hop, jazz, and with RnB, funk, and Reggae. All sorts of things can happen after that – real intelligent music. For me I would say, yeah, definitely fusing things and experimenting with things, embracing the digital is important and necessary. At 7grand, we love all that shit!
http://www.jazzandmilk.com
http://www.myspace.com/dusty45
http://www.myspace.com/jazzandmilk

FILM Q&A with Robert Watts, a production maestro on the original ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ films.

By Adam Locks

Born in 1938, Robert Watts is one of the most respected and successful British producers in the film industry. Although his name is most well known for his association with the first three ‘Star Wars’ films and first three Indiana Jones movies, he has been involved with many other high profile projects. As the saying goes, ‘A picture speaks a thousand words’, and so does Robert’s CV: it’s an astonishing list that shows him having worked with many of the most significant players in the history of British and American cinema. He’s worked with the likes of Roman Polanski, and Stanley Kubrick, through to being the Production Supervisor on ‘Star Wars’ (George Lucas, 1977) the list really is endless. In a room full of movie props Adam Locks meets a man whose films have been the largest cinematic influence on millions of children from the 1970s and 1980s.

The first thing I must ask you is what does a producer do because many people don’t know? It’s a rather nebulous job title.

R W: I have a stock answer to this. It’s ironic. A producer nurtures talent because he hasn’t got any himself. Obviously though, the director is directing the film, the producer has the overview – what’s yet to come, what’s behind you, and what’s going on now. I was always on set first thing in the morning, middle of the morning, before the lunch break, after the lunch break, the middle of the afternoon, and before the wrap at the end of the day. But I’m not on set all the time. I can’t be. It’s not my job. If I’m sitting on set all day, I’m not running the film. You get a lot of producers who really should be called Executive Producers because they sit on set throughout the day.

It’s amazing how many films you’ve made with George Lucas.

RW: There were six films which defined Lucasfilm really: the three ‘Star Wars’ and the three ‘Indiana Jones’ and I was the only one in the producer capacity who survived all six.

Clearly you were doing something right.

RW: I don’t want to blow my own trumpet…

Why not?

RW: I did what I did, but I got to solo produce the last two Indiana films, ‘Temple of Doom’ and ‘Last Crusade’. Like a lot of us, you suffer from a great deal of self-doubt because these films are so intense and you’ve got to be on all the time because, basically, you’re looking for the problems which are going to occur and delay the production.

Let’s go back to how you got started in the movie business.

RW: The time I got into film in 1960, there really were no film schools. The National Film School had not begun yet; there was the odd course going, but nothing like today at all these universities. The only way in was to become a runner. There was that difficult situation whereby you can’t get into the union until you’ve got a union job, but you can’t get a union job unless you’re in the union.

Catch-22.

RW: Eventually you break through and my first film was ‘A French Mistress’ made in 1960 and I was a runner. Then after the films ‘Fury at Smuggler’s Bay’ and ‘The Secret Ways’, both from 1961, I got a permanent job with a company that made TV commercials and the odd documentary; that was Francis-Montagu Productions. I was with them for two and a half years. While I was with them, I got the union card and then I went back into the film industry as a Second Assistant Director. The Second Assistant Director is basically the lisaon between the office and set; I was the one to tell the actors what time they had to be at the studio, what scenes we were shooting. So, anyway, that’s how it began.

Going back to ‘A French Mistress’ from 1960, it’s a wonderful cast with Ian Bannen, Cecil Parker and Irene Handl. Were you star struck on your first film?

RW: It was ridiculous. Here I am with all these people I’d seen since I was a boy. One day at Shepperton I was walking past the stars’ dressing rooms and I walked up to a door and two people were coming so I held the door open. I heard this “Thank you”, and it was Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. They were doing that film ‘Road to Hong Kong’ which was the last of the seven comedy films they’d done together. Joan Collins was also in it.

‘Fury at Smuggler’s Bay’ was very Hammeresque, wasn’t it? Wonderful title.

RW: I didn’t do the whole thing. I did the studio end of it. That was the film where I first met Peter Cushing. The director was John Gilling.

He was a big Hammer director directing films such as ‘Plague of the Zombies’.

RW: Yes, yes. I also did a Hammer film with Freddie Francis called ‘Hysteria’. I joined that company making TV commercials and then went back into features of which ‘Man in the Middle’ was the first. That was 1963 and starred Robert Mitchum.

The director of ‘Man in the Middle’ was Guy Hamilton, who became a major Bond director. Was he your way into the Bond films later on?

RW: No. I ended up doing two Bond films, ‘Thunderball’ and ‘You Only Live Twice’. On the second film I became Location Manager. I had to live in Japan for six months. I was there way ahead of the crew and then stayed afterwards. When I arrived, I was the only Englishman there. All the rest were Japanese.

Had you had any experience as Location Manager?

RW: Yeah. For example, on ‘Thunderball’ the opening is in France. Because we started the film in France and I could speak French, I worked directly with a French Production Manager. I set up the whole of Paris with his help. So anyway, I knew what I had to do.

I should point out that between the two Bond films, you were working with Stanley Kubrick on 2001.

RW: Yes, but I didn’t stay for all the model shots because they took forever. Stanley didn’t want me to go, but I kept telling him that I wasn’t doing anything. Eventually he let me go. So I then went on to ‘You Only Live Twice’.

What was Kubrick like to know and work for?

RW: He was one of the funniest people I ever met. He was quite an amazing person in the sense that he could assimilate the project. He was using someone on the film, who worked at NASA and Kubrick almost knew more about the stuff than he did. He was able to assimilate everything really well.

Moving back to You Only Live Twice, what was Japan like to visit in 1964?

RW: Very archaic. I was only 27. I had to negotiate a contract one day with these four Japanese guys. I had an interpreter and he said that to start with, just talk about bugger all. Promotion in Japan is an age issue and hence they couldn’t understand why this young boy – me – was meeting with them. Then I had a brainwave. I had one other English person, George – he was the catering manager for the film. He was about 60, grey hair and he had a pin-stripped suit. I told him that every so often I’d be asking him to come to a meeting and he’d have to pretend to be my boss. I told him not to ever say anything. I’d just look at him and he’d nod. I insisted on doing the talking. So the next time I had George sitting there in his pin-stripped suit.

So it worked?

RW: Yes, but what they could never understand….They’d draw up the contract there and then. They’d then pass it on to George who’d give it to me. You could see the puzzlement on their faces: “You mean the boy signs the contract?”

While making the two Bond films, did you get to know Sean Connery quite well?

RW: Yes, I got to know Sean very well. He was very professional. On ‘You Only Live Twice’ he was getting a bit pissed off with it all. When he arrived in Osaka Airport in Japan with masses of Japanese there to see him, Sean refused to put his toupee on. Broccoli and Saltzman didn’t like him appearing in front of the press bald. In terms of character, Sean was very professional, he doesn’t suffer fools gladly. 19 years later I worked again with Sean on ‘Indian Jones and the Last Crusade’. When he saw me on that film I was now the Producer. He said, “Oh, you’ve done well” and I said, “You haven’t done too badly yourself, Sean”.

And what were Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman like as personalities?

RW: They were very different. Harry was far more severe. Cubby was very nice. After I did ‘You Only Live Twice’, I was location manager on ‘Billion Dollar Brain’ with Michael Caine and that was produced by Harry as well. He was the one who asked for me.

And, of course, ‘Billion Dollar Brain’ was directed by Ken Russell. He has a reputation as a very odd director.

RW: He’d say things like, “Don’t do what I say, do what I think”. I got on with him though.

Going back slightly, how did you get involved with Roman Polanski on ‘Repulsion’?

RW: Basically, I was the Second Assistant Director on ‘Repulsion’. I worked with the First Assistant whose name was Ted Sturgis – that was the only ever time I worked with him as second. The film was made by a company called Compton Cameo Films – it was run by Tony Tenser and Michael Klinger. That company’s claim to fame at the time was making soft-core porn – ‘Confessions of a Window Cleaner’ kind of thing. They embarked on ‘Repulsion’ which, in a sense, was a departure for them. This was a very different kettle of fish. They were also taking on a director who’d never worked in the English language before and didn’t speak much English at the time. I’d seen ‘Knife in the Water’ which was his previous film in Poland. He spoke fluent French which I did too. There was actually one more murder in the film which we shot but isn’t in the final movie. I’d need to see the film again to remember who was murdered. In the film, Catherine kills two people; when we shot it, she kills three. I think that was thought to be a little excessive. The set was quite claustrophobic. If you remember the rabbit in the film, that actually was rotting as we went along; it was pretty horrible. Polanski being the kind of auteur director he is – you know, he has his own mind – was taking a long time shooting. It wasn’t my fault because I wasn’t in charge of that. I went in the evening to my office to give the actors on call the next day their in-and-out times; two offices up was Tenser and Klinger. I’d hear the most screaming rows coming out of there between them and Polanski because he was going over schedule. It was quite possibly the most successful film they ever made.

I’m sure in was Tenser, yes?

RW: It was certainly a class act for them in a sense.

Repulsion was part of that ‘Apartment trilogy’, which included ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ and ‘The Tenant’. Was Polanski like as an individual?

RW: He was OK. He was very enthusiastic. I didn’t have a problem with him at all. Catherine Deneuve who was in the film was extremely young then – she was in her early twenties. What year was that film?

1965.

RW: So it was made in 64. She was a very contained actress. Strikingly beautiful. Bit of an ice maiden which people still say today. I also worked with her sister, Francois Dorleac who I worked with in ‘Billion Dollar Brain’, but she was sadly killed shortly after in a car crash.

Would you have liked to have worked with Polanski again?

RW: Well, yes. It’s an odd one really. My life just unfolded in the sense that one film finishes and you’re either out of work or someone has made you another offer. Polanski’s next film was ‘Cul-de-Sac’ with Donald Plesance and that was a very strange film. I worked with Donald Pleasance later on ‘You Only Live Twice’ when he played Blofeld. Thinking about it, Cul-de-Sac was also produced by Tenser’s production company.

A number of the films you’ve worked on had actors well known for heavy drinking and being difficult because of this. I’m thinking particularly here of Rex Harrison in The Yellow Rolls Royce and Ian Hendry in Repulsion. Did you have any experience of this?

RW: I had no problems with Ian Hendry or Rex Harrison. I know Ian Hendry had a terrible reputation. Rex Harrison’s was less well-known. He may well have been. He was a pompous arse.

I know he was abhorrent while making Dr Doolittle.

RW: Yes, I read a piece about that recently with interest. When we were making the film ‘Yellow Rolls Royce’ with Rex in 1964 – I had to deal with the actors as second assistant – he was pompous, but he put in a good performance. He had this thing about one side of his face photographed better than the other .. He did have a brilliant career.

Going back to Hendry, so no problems with him?

RW: No, no. I tell you who I also worked with who was a heavy drinker: Peter Finch. I remember he visited us on the film ‘Pumpkin Eater’ which was directed by Jack Clayton.

Who, of course, directed the Great Gatsby in the 1970s.

RW: He did. He also directed ‘The Innocents’ based on the Henry James story. Quite a brilliant film-maker.

Returning to the subject of troublesome actors, I presume most aren’t difficult?

RW: Yes. Generally actors are pros. They come on set and do a job. The audience by and large have a very strange view of the film industry; they only see it as premieres. It’s actually very hard work. Occasionally you get a Christian Bale type outburst.

What did you make of that incident? Did you ever experience anything like that?

RW: No, no, no. It strikes me that he’s got a bit of a problem because it’s a bit over-the-top. I can understand that someone may have walked into his eye-line. I thought it was the cameraman, but then reading about it, I think it was one of the lighting crew. The cameraman would normally be behind the camera. So I don’t know who it was, but whoever it was, I do understand that actors are hyped up and maybe it’s just a question of that. When you add it to that case where he was over for the premiere and, apparently, assaulted his mother and his sister in the Dorchester – maybe there is an anger-management problem coming along here.

Clearly his anger could be linked to all kinds of factors. For the Batman films he’s been very bulked up and maybe he’s taken the Stallone path of using certain muscle enhancers.

RW: You never know. I know Empire magazine has an interview with him so I’ll be interested to see what he says about that event.

I’ve read it and all he says is “No comment”. The journalist quickly moves on. I’d loved to have been a fly on the wall for that interview.

RW: I met him once. He was 13 years old then. He was doing ‘Empire of the Sun’. Spielberg was doing that while I was working on ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’?

Can we move on to ‘Star Wars’? How did your involvement with that film come about?

RW: I was doing this film down in Mexico – ‘Wrath of God’ – with Robert Mitchum, Rita Heyworth and Frank Langella.

Frank later played Dracula in 1979. He was very good in the role.

RW: Yes, that’s right. Anyway, this was an American movie and I was a British Production Manager and wasn’t a member of the Producers Guild of America. The only reason I could do the film was because it was entirely shot in Mexico. Once we’d finished shooting, I went to LA just to wrap up and hand over. I went to MGM studios where I had an office and I got a call from someone who’d heard that there was an English Production Manager around. They wanted to come and talk to me about shooting in England. The guy who came to see was Gary Kurtz who would become the Producer of ‘Star Wars’. This was just before Gary was to work with Lucas on ‘American Graffiti’ in 1972 . Anyway, I finish wrapping up and don’t think anymore about it. Two years later I’m working on a film in Greece and I get a call from the head of Fox in England. He told me that Gary Kurtz was asking to see me. So I flew back from Greece and went into Twentieth Century Fox in Soho Square and I meet Gary again. Then I possibly returned to Greece the next day, then came back again and that’s when I discovered it was ‘Star Wars’. So my involvement with ‘Star Wars’ started 1975, September time but we still hadn’t got a green light for the film.

Fox weren’t very supportive of the movie, were they?

RW: No. The only supportive person was Alan Ladd who was working for Fox at the time. We didn’t get our green light until after Christmas. We had a budget of around $12 million dollars and our shooting schedule was 12 weeks.

That’s very little time.

RW: Oh god, it was a scramble. We didn’t have a Second Unit operating until the last three weeks. Gary eventually formed a Second Unit and filmed things such as Princess Lea’s holograph and things like that. I did the Third Unit – I did the close-up of R2-D2’s leg coming out. The technology for R2 was very primitive at the time; for example, it could only turn its head when Kenny Baker was inside. When we finished shooting, ILM who were based in a suburb of LA at that time, took over for post-production. They used Motion Control which had never been used before. When you look at the film’s opening with the Star Destroyer, that was the first time Motion Control had been used which meant we could do all kinds of moves. That was so different from 2001. In that film everything was a static frame. We couldn’t do any shots of movement, whereas with Motion Control you could; hence, that opening of the first ‘Star Wars’ (as an aside it was originally called ‘The Star Wars’) was very impressive.

The impression I get from reading about the making of Star Wars is that much of the crew didn’t have much faith in the film, while it was being made.

RW: I thought it would do quite well, but more in line with how the Bond films were performing.

And the sets were very impressive, particularly at a time when location shooting had made sound stages rather unfashionable.

RW: They were very impressive.

A bit of a sad question, but was there anything actually inside the Millennium Falcon?

RW: Well, we had an exterior set and an interior set. Because George had always said this film was part of a trilogy, we took things like the Millennium Falcon set – anything which we might use again – and did what’s called pack-striking. That means you take a set apart with care, put it into pieces and put those into containers. We kept anything we possibly could: costumes, bit of set and so on.

Because George had always said the film was part of a trilogy?

RW: Yes. We thought those sets would be very useful if there ever was a sequel which, of course, there was.

What kind of person was George Lucas?

RW: George is so shy. Superb editor.

Where were you when ‘Star Wars’ became such a huge hit?

RW: Well, after ‘Star Wars’, I then went to Afghanistan of all places to do this film, ‘Meetings with Remarkable Men’. Terence Stamp was in that. I was in the middle of Afghanistan when ‘Star Wars’ opened. The only way I kept in contact with the outside world, besides dodgy short-wave radio, was by buying Time and Newsweek. One day, I opened it and there were several colour pages on ‘Star Wars’ and suddenly, for the first time, I knew it had been incredibly successful.

When did your involvement with ‘Empire Strikes Back’ begin?

RW: 1978. What was very different to ‘Star Wars’ was that I had about a year’s prep on ‘Empire’ – locations to find and so on so that we could get it together properly. For example, I chose Norway to stand in for the ice planet of Hoth.

Did you encounter any problems on ‘Empire’?

RW: Well, it did go over schedule and budget. But I do think it’s the best film of the three. While we were doing some blue screen work at the end of ‘Empire’, George came up to me with a script and it was ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’. I took it away to read and thought it a very busy script. I was told it was going to be directed by Steven Spielberg.

Had you met Spielberg at this point?

RW: No. I was taken to meet Steven by Frank Marshall who was Producer on ‘Raiders’; when I met him Steven was doing post-preview edits on the film ‘1941′ , a film that was a disaster for him. Understandably I was a little anxious working with Spielberg because that film had not gone well; it had seriously gone over budget. Once I was officially involved with Raiders I did the thing I always do first, I scheduled the film. I laid it out over 23 weeks. When I showed it to Steven he said he was going to do it in 17 weeks. That made me even more worried, but he managed to shoot it in only 15 weeks. In fact, we were two weeks under schedule which was something I’d never experienced before. That’s unheard of. Both Steven and George told Paramount – who funded the picture – to take out a full-page advert in the trade papers thanking the cast and crew for finishing the film two weeks earlier than planned.

After the problems with ‘1941′, that makes Steven sound like an incredibly efficient director. Tell me about working with Steven Spielberg.

RW: He was a brilliant director. He’s a natural director. He was very challenging. When filming a really complex shot take one, he’d then say, “Print”, then move on. I’d say, “Hang on a minute, Steven. We always do a second one in case there’s a scratch on the negative, a hair in the gate” etc. He said, “No, move on”.

So he was quite a risk taker.

RW: In a sense, yes and in a sense, no. He worked so quickly. The way he shot it, that energy is in the film.

What followed Raiders?

RW: Then I returned to work on ‘Return of the Jedi’.

You were Co-Producer on that film, weren’t you?

RW: Yes. And then after that film George made me producer of ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’.

That must have been amazing moment.

RW: It was.

Moving back to Jedi, you were in it, albeit briefly.

RW: Yes, I played AT-ST driver Lt. Watts. I was the only character in ‘Star Wars’ to be called by his own name and his own rank (because I’d be in the army). I’m only in it for a second. I’m killed by Chewbacca.

Is that the film’s director, Richard Marquand, with you in the vehicle?

RW: Yes. I don’t know if you know, but my half-brother is Boba Fett. Originally the costume was white; it was going to be a super stormtrooper. Anyway, it eventually was altered and we needed someone to play the part of this bounty hunter. I phoned him up and told him that if the suit fit, he could have the part. And it did! That was back in 1979 and he’s still doing Star Wars conventions. We never expected that character to be so popular with the fans.

Moving on to ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’, I’ve read that Harrison Ford was suddenly pulled out of the shoot.

RW: Yes, we lost Harrison for eight weeks because of a disc problem, but we kept going for six. Steven was prepared to go into scenes we hadn’t yet started using a double for Harrison.

Who was the double?

RW: Vic Armstrong, who was our stunt co-ordinaor. He was a brilliant double. You could almost hold him full figure. You couldn’t go in close, but Steven shot over his shoulder and in long shot. I don’t know of another director who could do that.

As Producer, you must have been very stressed during those weeks that Harrison was away recuperating from a slip disc. I presume there was the worry that he might not have been coming back.

RW: One has to live in hope. We’re technically on an insurance claim. With Harrison gone, I said to Steven that we should close today. He wanted to continue. So we accelerated the dance sequence at the start of the film which Harrison wasn’t in. The choreographer moaned like hell when I said we needed that scene ready.

It’s a very Busby Berkley scene. How did you re-schedule the film while Harrison was recovering?

RW: We decided to go as far as we could and then I did a schedule for when Harrison came back. We had a two week drop. We went to California and shot some Second Unit during that time. I’d never done a schedule like that before. I was only one day out so I was really pleased. The insurance claim, had we closed the day of – which was our right – would have been about $3,000,000 dollars. It was actually just under $1,000,000 dollars. The insurance broker who came was not the normal one I dealt with who was really good. This other guy went through everything and I said to him, “I’ve just saved you $2,000,000 dollars”.

Unlike the first Indy film, the ‘Temple of Doom’ didn’t get very good reviews by many critics.

RW: No, I think they thought it was too dark. I liked it.

You were also producer on ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’, but that was a very stressful film for you, wasn’t it?

RW: Yes, very stressful. There were three executive producers and they all buggered off to do ‘Empire of the Sun’ leaving Bob and I. It was the most difficult film I ever made. All the animation was hand painted. We also broke all the rules mixing live action and animation.

I presumed the actors struggled as well.

RW: Yes. And we tested all kinds of people for Bob Hoskin’s character, Eddie Valiant. Gene Hackman really wanted the part. We offered the role to Paul Newman and he was offended. We tested Bob and he was absolutely brilliant. Bob acted to a life-size Roger Rabbit which we had on set just to show where he would be. Charles Fleischer, who was the voice of Roger, was off-set doing the lines. He was a stand-up.

Wasn’t some of the filming done in London?

RW: Yes. We shot a bit of LA (where the film is set) opposite the BBC. It was March and I was thinking, “Christ, I’ve got to make this look like summer”. We got some palm trees which we got from the same place that Kubrick got his for ‘Full Metal Jacket’. We got this place all set up and the morning was brilliant. It was completely clear, but cold because it had been cold that night. The problem was breath and there are ways you can deal with this. If you’ve got breath and you want to get rid of it, you have the actors suck ice. If you want breath, you have them sip a hot drink and you get breath. If you look at that scene, the guy playing the lieutenant in that with Bob Hoskins – Rick LeParmentier – we couldn’t get rid of his breath completely so, if you look at it, he’s smoking a cigarette so you never know.

Very film noir smoking a cigarette.

RW: Oh extremely. Anyway, that’s why he was smoking. They’re some of the tricks of the trade.

You said the shoot was stressful.

RW: The film had a $30 million dollar budget and it ended up costing $50 million dollars. I must say that most of the over spend was because of the animation which I didn’t budget. The film took two and half years to make unlike ‘Star Wars’ which took two. That extra six months was for the animation and all of that. I was a million dollars over on the first day of shooting. It was a nightmare. I remember at the end of the first days shooting Bob said to me, “We’re dying on the vine”. But we got through and the film made a lot of money.

After ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ you then produced ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’.

RW: Yes.

After that film was there any offer for working on further TV and cinema projects with the Indy character?

RW: Well, George was going into the young Indiana television series. I’ve never done television. It’s a very different medium. Very different typo. Generally speaking, slightly different crew. I didn’t know anything about it so I decided that it was time to go.

Are you still in contact with George?

RW: Oh yeah, on and off. I haven’t seen him for awhile. Next time I’m out in California, I’ll go out to his ranch to say hello.

Looking through your CV, I notice that you were executive producer on the film ‘Labyrinth’ which George Lucas produced.

RW: Jim Henson had written the script and he did ask me to produce it. I couldn’t because I was busy with something. Eventually to get the film going financially, it became a Lucasfilm with Henson and that’s when I now became involved because, at that time, I was Vice President of European Production for Lucasfilm – that was actually the same thing which brought me to ‘Roger Rabbit’. So I found myself on it, but not on it. I wasn’t there all the time. I used to go on set and watch a bit of shooting. I used to look at the dailies (rushes in the old days) and talk to Jim or whatever because I was like the Lucasfilm rep.

That title must have given you a very high status in the industry.

RW: Well yeah, but it didn’t mean a great deal. It was just that they asked me to do it and I said absolutely. And they paid me and gave me an office at Elstree Studios which they paid for. I should point out that George also wanted me to do the movie ‘Willow’ directed by Ron Howard.

The film with Val Kilmer?

RW: Yes. I eventually found him a producer and I did ‘Roger’ instead.

That was lucky.

RW: Yes, because ‘Willow’ was actually a flop. I suppose I got lucky really because ‘Roger Rabbit’ was such a hit.

Going back to Labyrinth, what was Jim Henson like?

RW: He was lovely. I went to his memorial service at St. Paul’s Cathedral. There was Big Bird walking around which was really strange. Jim died very suddenly. My involvement with Henson had come through ‘Empire Strikes Back’ with Yoda. As good fortune would have it, across the road from Elstree Studios where we were shooting, was another studio which used to be called The British National – it was then owned by ATV and that was where they made ‘The Muppet Show’. I could walk across the street to the studio.

RW: Yes, Mark Hamill was in it and Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker. Therefore, we were in direct liason with them.

As The Muppet Show was being made across the road, did you ever go and watch them filming the programme?

RW: Oh yes, and so did my kids.

Your children must have the most amazing memories or was it very normalised for them?

RW: It was very normalised because they grew up with it. In terms of the films, I didn’t have the children hanging around the studio all the time. They didn’t know anything else. I’ve got a picture of my youngest son, aged about eleven, and his friend on that huge set at the start of Return of the Jedi’. You can see Vadar’s shuttle which has just landed in the Death Star docking bay. For my youngest son’s birthday party, Anthony Daniels came along one day – he didn’t have the whole outfit but he did have a golden glove on. It’s good to have those things.