(Courtesy of guest contributor Craig White)
Early Spring saw the release from out of nowhere of ‘Militant Business And Grime Poetry’, an album, as the title would suggest, of street poetry recited to a mix of urban and hip-hop sounds – It’s a very good collection of hard hitting tunes, the words likewise at times, but also autobiographical and tender as well. I produced a very favourable review, amongst others as positive, including one from his old colleague Attila The Stockbroker. It has received useful radio exposure, and he has taken his poetry to a number of festivals, appearances which drew much praise from contemporaries and audiences. All this has been a promising commencement of a change in direction from his Madhatter deejaying pursuits. I fired a few questions to him by way of fleshing out the story.
Craig – 39 years between Anti Social Worker(s) albums – why the gap and why now?
Paul – I just was DJing and bringing a family up and I didn’t feel that righteous anger again until Boris Johnson became PM. I moved to the east coast during the pandemic and it gave me peace of mind to create another album after a long absence. I teamed up with West London’s finest rapper Le Magnifiq on his top black indie label M1music.com and the rest is history. I make righteous anger music that comes from a good heart in trying to bring unity, equality and peace. I’m a street poet and multi cultural white Londoner. I was part raised in the East End’s Tower Hamlets borough – the most multi cultural place on the planet.
I know the benefits of embracing other cultures and fighting all the bigotry and my music reflects that with influences from reggae, hip hop, trap, grime, drill, etc. Unlike the white gatekeepers of some black music scenes who want to separate the music from the culture that created it at the festivals they run – I never forget the foundations of underground black music that I helped pioneer on the iconic LWR pirate radio station. And above all I’ll never forget the house parties we had to hold because racist club door polices in the 80s and 90s wouldn’t allow a largely black audience in. We had to be militant and fight back in those days. We played mainly message music and created our own genre the ‘Speng Groove’ scene not the commercial lovey dovey stuff that the gatekeepers played. We were diametrically opposed to the white Essex soulboy scene.
The lyrics on this album are my whole life story about fighting against injustice but I’m a loveable rude boy not a bad boy.
Craig – The cover image is a powerful one, where did it come from, and what were your thoughts about its choice?
Paul – I chose it from stock footage but it reminded me of going on the Black Lives Matter marches in London and that militancy and the covid mask theme as well which is prevalent in the album.
Craig – Given your tastes and the material on ‘Punky Reggae Party, your previous album, were you not tempted/keen to include some reggae or dub?
Paul – My first love is reggae, I was going into illegal reggae blues dances and sheebeens when I was 17 years old. I got into Grime when it first started 20 years ago when a dude I knew at a record store in Essex recommended Sticky’s ‘Dollar Sign’ single. I thought this is fresh. It wasn’t even called Grime then but it was one of the first Grime tunes ever. I’ve lived and breathed the scene ever since.
I think Grime is the new punk – it’s DIY mentality, anger, minamalist beats, anti authority, anti establishment, street poetry. We’d done our dub thing with the Mad Professor and he’s retired from making new albums so I thought I’d go in a new direction.
Craig – Mad Hatter or Mad Ranter? – You’ve been saying of late that the poetry circuit is where you want to be, and that the Deejaying scene is a little toxic – Could you expand on this?
Paul – Sure DJing is just recreating someone else’s music, Poetry is your creation and it’s a much less toxic place and more welcoming. Whereas Superstar DJs I knew in the house scene had Nazi links, overplayed their sets and bumped other DJs off the bill, were dissing other DJs and stopping them playing, There’s way too many DJs now for a diminishing amount of clubs. I’ve done it since I was 17 and later went on the pirate stations and I’m sick of it now.
We achieved everything we wanted to achieve with the Anti Social Workers – making an album with the UK’s leading dub producer The Mad Professor on his Ariwa label, touring with reggae icons like Eek A Mouse and Marley’s partner Peter Tosh including a sell-out gig at London’s Dominion Theatre and getting on the front page of Sounds music paper. But when we split I was writing for the NME, DJing at Pacha, Ibiza, and Ministry Of Sound, London, doing occasional street poetry, being a press officer in the charitable sector and any other crap jobs that you need to keep the wolf from the door.
But yes I find poetry much more exhilarating, wheras with DJing you just get some dickhead who thinks you’re a human jukebox and keeps asking for requests.
The Anti Social Workers even though we were a reggae-punk/dub poetry band were part of the ranting scene – we played with Attila, Seething Wells, Benjamin Zephaniah, Linton Kwesi Johnson, John Cooper Clarke etc. And Attila as John Opposition in Sounds gave our album a 5 star review, and Seething Wells as Susan Wells in NME interviewed us and X Moore from the Redskins gave our album a top tier review in the NME as well. We were all interconnected. We called it socialist nepotism. Ranting came about as militant music in militant times like fighting Thatcher, the Miners Strike, Printers strike, Dockers strike etc and it was so accessible as anyone could do it.
Craig – Your anger (projected at injustice, inequality, etc.) seems to come from a place of peace (thinking of the track ‘True News’ here), what’s your chief gear grinder?
Paul – Lately it’s been the Monarchist mournfest where republican voices are silenced and people have to resort to holding up blank pieces of paper in protest for fear of getting arrested – but it’s just the class war being fought by the super rich which triggers me and it has done since I was 19 years old in the Anti Social Workers.
Craig – The Label, M1 Music, whilst being highly commendable in content, is not one with unlimited funds for promotion. Is this a frustration for you, and what more could be done to push the album toward a wider listenership?
Paul – We need someone on board who’s media savvy with social media which is the only way to sell albums nowadays. We’ve dabbled but we’re not experts. The amazing thing about this album it was produced on a shoestring budget, it was recorded in 2 hours with tracks being selected on the day and it was all recorded in one take and it’s been played on Radio 1, 1 Xtra and 6 Music.. Pretty impressive for an indie label.
Craig – What next?
Paul – I’m getting an agent so want to do lots of benefit gigs, charity fundraisers and paid work too – I much prefer grime poetry to DJing as you can do a 20 minute set for £150 and get applauded after every poem and all you need is your poetry book, for that money in the DJ world I’d have to lug heavy gear about (unless I was in a club), do a two hour set and not get much crowd participation and I think I’m a better poet than I am a DJ anyway and there’s way too many DJs out there fighting for the same festivals, weekenders and all dayers and you get a lot of egotists, bigots and snakes. That is why we started up the DJs Against Bigotry pressure group to stop these hate crime DJs playing. But my future looks bright. I’m married to the niece of the late great reggae superstar Sugar Minott, I live by the coast now, I’m creating decent poetry and playing out, I’m living the dream baby!.
…..and so he is. Must be good!