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The Bassist Magazine JJ Interview
The October 1999 issue of "Bassist" magazine (from the UK) published an interview with JJ. In this interview, JJ looked back over 25 years with the band, from a bass-player's point of view. Scott Rowley, the magazine's editor has kindly allowed us to reproduce the following excerpts: "Bass players in those days were in the background -- they didn’t dominate the musical or the scenic landscape. In 20 years it’s changed a lot. The bass parts are bloody important now. Those three notes in Peaches -- you do those three notes and it’s instantly identifiable. "Hugh and I used to have a 500 watt PA. We used to rent it out and once we were asked to augment a sound system in Acton. We were the only white guys there -- they had all these guys toasting over just bass, and I came out of that and my mind was burnt. I’d never heard bass so dominant, and I thought, ‘I’m going to write a song like that’, and the next day I wrote Peaches. But it didn’t turn out as a reggae piece and I couldn’t work out why -- we didn’t put the snare in the right place for a start. Some of our stuff was kinda reggae -- guitar on the offbeat -- but we never had the snare on the third beat which a lot of reggae does." "Well, none of them were as good as me, that’s for sure! But some of them did great stuff. Peter Hook did some great stuff -- I mean, how can a guy play with his bass on the floor? That amazes me. Captain Sensible was a pretty good bass player. Jah Wobble was alright -- nice style, I’ll give him that, and Foxton was fine except he always made me wanna go, ‘Look at the audience, you c**t!’ Some people hide behind their instrument, looking at the fretboard all the time. Some just look at their shoes, or hide behind their hair... Loadsa good bass players, but none of them could approach me in speed -- listen to Mr Modesty -- or had the variety, lyricism and melody. [He laughs.] So there." |
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