If you wanted to, you could set up these tunes to have improvised elements.
We can to a certain extent, but it's difficult. Most of the improvisation is done between the gigs. We change a lot of the tracks in rehearsals. I told the guys "I'm so ****ing bored of 'Karmacoma' that I wanna change it." So we put new parts in it—a new intro, new middle section and a few new lyrics. And it's still ****ing boring! But it sort of spices up the boredom a little bit. [laughs]
What about the differences in crowds from night to night? Can that spice it up too?
You can always divide the audience into three groups: ecstasy, alcohol and ****ing spliff, d'ya-know-what-I-mean? [laughs] The spliffheads are the ones nodding, the e-heads are ****ing losing it and the drunkards like me are wearing silly grins on their faces.
Drinking and sex? You must hang out at some interesting hobby shops.
[laughs] I didn't mean to say sex as a hobby! As I said that I tried to pull it back! Y'know, it's as opposed to music. I don’t consider music a hobby. Every now and then you get wicked ****ing joy and satisfaction out of it. You can even be surprised at something that’s happened. Sometimes you go to the studio one day and come out with a track. You could have gone to the pub instead. But you wake up the next morning and you put on the tape and you go "**** me! That was last night and the only reason it exists is because I couldn't be ****ed to go out." Other times, you spend three days in the studio and ****ing nothing. You play it back and it's just ****ing bollocks and you rip it out of the machine and say "This is shit!" and have a complete ****ing bout of self pity and self doubt. I think that’s part of the process. I can't see how it can all be fun. I don’t think it's real if it is.
Can you read music or play a conventional instrument?
Not really, no. That's the beauty of it. Everything I've ever done—painting, music, writing—has always been untrained and uneducated. It's been about finding books yourself, art you like, images you like and parts of the world you ****ing like. I don't think it’s a necessity at all for most bands. It's the same for Roni Size and everyone I know apart from people like Adrian [Utley] who plays guitar for Portishead. He's a classically trained musician, and so is Angelo [Bruschini, Massive's guitarist]. He can ****ing read anything. But for us, it's much more about ideas and imagination—that's why it's not a conventional structure. Massive Attack was always an idea. No matter what happens in the future, we will continue to make music in one shape or another. And it'll be driven by the same thing— what's happening in your head.
How do you go about planning and structuring a piece without traditional notation?
I think you can write a song on paper, describe the sounds and plan the ****ing track out and the arrangement without actually writing music. I do it as a ****ing set of images, drawings, arrows and lists—that's how I write. And then I'll get into the studio and I'll have a loop or I can operate a sequencer and write beats, bass lines and music electronically easily, d'ya-know-what-I-mean? In terms of ****ing describing it to someone else, it's a completely difficult matter. If I want Angelo to play a part, I have to sing it to him, and he'll do something completely different. Then I'll go "No, it's like this" and sing it again. I might play a bit of music which will give him an idea of where I'm trying to go. We get there eventually.
You've established an instantly-recognizable vocal style. Along with Horace Andy's voice, it's one of the things that defines the band's sound.
Does that mean I've become a cliché meself?
Maybe.
[laughs] ****! I've ****ing blown it already! Third album in, I've ****ed it up! My range has got an eight octave whisper and that's it. That's all I can do!
There are some interesting worldbeat influences strewn throughout the track that are new to Massive.
The music came from nights out in Istanbul. There's some mad music there at some belly dancing shows which are pretty embarrassingly tourist-orientated. But the music was ****ing really cool. I got some tapes and I was in the studio when we were working on this music. Mush came in and I was ****ing really bitching and beat as shit and I said "I got this ****ing wicked beat I heard from this ****ing tape" and we started writing this new beat from it and so it was really cool, d'ya-know-what-I-mean? It was one of those good ****ing days in the studio when everyone was on the same ****ing vibe.
How do you bridge the generation gap with Horace? You're all a lot younger than he is.
He's the ****ing biggest kid you've ever met and I mean that in the best possible way! [laughs] That's why he's still very creative and so open-minded as opposed to saying "I only do reggae." He's into experimenting and that's the great ****ing thing about keeping your brain alert, young, and naïve to a certain extent. Y'know, one of the reasons we three argue all the time is because we're childish. We're all ****ing kids which is probably why we're so dysfunctional at home after going on tour in this ****ing playground.