The Badger caught up with the Welsh charismatic frontman of Alabama 3, Rob Spragg for a quick chat following their sold out show at Concorde.
How did you take such a collective role instead of branding yourself as frontman?
Have you ever seen dogs that are pure bread dogs they are fresh out of the dog house looking for a cat they are. Now being mongrels we f**k anything that moves metaphorically and musically. With kids these days there are no rules or regulations as to what music is. Children are listening to their grandparent’s records and mashing it all up. Alabama three hopefully are representing that kind of level of a zeitgeist which means we appropriate everything because there no point buying anything anymore because never trust the f**king c**ts t who they put the money in their tills for. Always steal appropriate and if you get busted shoplift for Jesus.
Has new music technology affected your style?
Alabama 3 have been ahead of our time for many years now in terms of the sense that we mix country western with techno and we could do that at 1997 and 1998 the height of Britpop and look whose still standing now? Well they have their moment but we are still standing and I like to think that Alabama 3 have anticipated that total breakdown in terms of what the record industry is and recognize a fact that once again young people are defining what music should be and it should be mongrel music. If you listen to dubstep you listen to any cool motherfuckers that getting on with their shit they are mashing it up and they are taking stuff from everywhere. I like to think we are the daddies of thievery.
Are you a central role in bringing everyone together?
Basically I’m the saddest f**ker in the book yeah and I haven’t got any friends. The only way I can make friends is to give them a microphone and that’s where it has gone. We are a pitiful crew of freaks well we play the game man we what is says and take Sex drugs, rock n roll, that’s what are job is there is but there is not enough of that going on at the moment.
Do you have any pre stage rituals?
We pray to the devil and the lord we pray to everyone. At the end of the day we’re fucking poor boys at the wrong side of the tracks we are blessed and privileged to make a living out of rock and roll and that’s really important. We’ve got our own record label now; we’ve got our own studios. It’s very much about inclusivity. We are working with lots of different people from Rebel MC to dead silence.
You seem to have an amazing ensemble onstage.
We come from a hip hop collective point of view we love Wu Tang, we love public enemy, you’ve got to have a posse with you and it’s tough sometimes because we are not singularly 4 members of a band there can be 20 people on stage with us but that’s where the power is and as I’ve said before Alabama three is bang on the zeitgeist now We were ahead of our times in 1999 doing country western techno and our record sounds as relevant as they did then. Not one Alabama 3 record sounds dated. As you correctly asserted there’s a timelessness.
Any new albums out?
Out new we’ve got shoplifting for Jesus but we are in the process of signing bands to our new label. Greg Fleming, Deekline & Wizard. Drum and bass vibe.
I give this advice young people at Sussex University. If you haven’t invested yet steal our fucking record if you can’t steal it download it off your pals if you have to buy you’re a f**cking pr**k.
