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WORDS T ho mas Fro s t S c o tt Ja mes Geraint Da vi es
PHOTO C h a rle s Em e rso n
TUN E S af e Fr om H ar m
Setting foot in Robert Del Naja’s studio space is, in itself, enough to take you aback. Located in Bristol’s Bedminster area, a passer by wouldn’t begin to imagine the significance of the processes taking place in the midst of this unassuming setting. As we’re shown to the open plan loft area on the top floor, we’re surrounded by artwork and memorabilia. Notable are a 1986 Wild Bunch poster and a Hail To The Thief-era Stanley Donwood piece. The building is buzzing with activity, with the likes of collaborator Tim Goldsworthy milling around freely. As an individual, Del Naja is accommodating and energetic. Art – his own, and that of others – is perhaps the topic which sparks most vividly, and at one point he darts off mid-interview to show us a piece which had been run off the printer the previous night. For a man who’s been at it for nigh on 30 years, there’s no dearth of creative passion on show here. It would seem inappropriate to meet the man known as 3D in any city other than Bristol. His multi-faceted output has come to represent the city to a wider world, becoming synonymous with its expanding and diverse musical heritage. First finding his way in the early 80s, he became part of The Wild Bunch, a collective of graffiti artists, musicians and enthusiasts that included the core of what would come to be Massive Attack. Informed by the sense of emancipation and self-expression innate to punk music, he quickly became engrossed in the rapidly expanding phenomenon of soundsystems, one which blurred lines of race and cultural grounding.
3D’s actions are endlessly entwined in a system of self-referentiality. His latest project, a series of events in Bristol’s abandoned Old Crown Courts and Prison Cells at the heart of the city, speaks in every way to that tendency. Describing it as “a way to reengage” with Bristol – musically, politically, artistically – the significance of the space is of prime importance. Beginning life on 12/12/12 and titled the Battle Box, the opening event will be based around a three-day soundclash between a deconstructed version of Massive Attack alongside two other, as yet unnamed but significant acts. From these will spring a series of debates and political discussions, at some point planned to include hugely respected Human Rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith and his not-for-profit Revive organisation. The prison cells themselves will be co-curated by Del Naja and London’s Lazarides
Also we’ll only put a bit of rehearsal into it because of time anyway, and we haven’t got a giant budget. It’s good because we’ve got so many limitations in terms of what kit we can put in there, what lighting, what PA, how many people can perform and how much time they’ve got to rehearse. All those parameters are going to make it completely different.
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But as much as this surge to international prominence continued, Del Naja has always called Bristol home. While never reluctant to engage with politics on a national level, notably in his involvement with the Occupy movement, his focus on more local affairs was recently thrust into the spotlight with an open letter to mayoral candidate George Ferguson. Publicly questioning Ferguson’s involvement with the Merchant Venturers, a resolutely private entrepreneurial organisation in Bristol which has existed since the 13th century, Del Naja cast doubt over a figure regarded to have Bristol’s cultural and historical wellbeing at the very core of his belief system. Having received a prompt and sympathetic response, which Del Naja stresses he “appreciates”, there still seems an element of doubt in his mind. “I still find it slightly strange why he’d want to be in an
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It’s fair to say that over the years, you’ve been a symbol of leftleaning common sense. Or scattergun leftyism! [laughs] Where does that side of you come from?
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This benchmark record has recently been scheduled for a remastered rerelease. Given a dynamic retouching from the original tapes, the version presented sparkles with life. Not one to dwell on nostalgia, there is certainly no lack of pride on his part concerning the album itself, or it’s shiny new rebirth. Yet ever the reluctant figurehead, there are far more immediate issues to address above something which happened over two decades ago. That’s not to mention the four albums which came in its wake: 1994’s sublime Protection, the masterpiece which was 1998’s Mezzanine, 2003’s turbulently-realised and oft underrated 100th Window, and the flurry of creative energy and diversity which was the band’s last release, Heligoland, in 2010.
DATE S Bri st ol O l d Crow n Court s | 12 -14t h D ec
Obviously, the nature of your live sets are quite large scale compared to that, it’ll surely be one of the smallest, most intimate things you’ve done in a long time?
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From the embryo of The Wild Bunch, Massive Attack blossomed. Working with a stark clash of seemingly disparate musical ideologies, by 1991 the group had crafted the era-defining, game-changing Blue Lines. It’s an album referenced freely to this day, and indeed, one of the first things to catch our eye as we entered 3D’s studio space is a newly packaged, 12” copy.
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organisation that has been so non-transparent about their dealings, and haven’t seemed willing to reconcile their negative history with the AfroCaribbean community”, he says.
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Gallery, brimming with a range of thought-provoking artwork. Exclusive Battle Box releases are also to be expected, 12”s including collaborations with Guy Garvey and Tim Goldsworthy, as well as the physical release of the Massive Attack vs. Nas 12”, available exclusively from Bristol record shops, to be bought with the Bristol pound. With this initial burst of life sure to cause an eruption of interest and discourse within the city, and six events scheduled over an 18 month period, the mutual influence of Robert Del Naja on Bristol, and vice versa, is as powerful as ever.
It probably comes from the pub, and if you see me sat alone in the corner it’s probably because everyone’s sick and tired of hearing it [laughs]. I think it’s informed by the music of my era, that sort of punk, hip-hop era. It was very much a background to all the issues of the day throughout my upbringing. And the Bristol riots?
And the Bristol riots, yeah. I think when the riots last year happened, it just became apparent that it solved nothing, that romanticising of rioting seemed to be over. All it’s doing is getting kids put in jail, it’s destroying people’s businesses, it’s terrifying people, it’s nearly killed people and yet, the next day, no bankers had been locked up, nothing’s changed, it’s the exact opposite. In fact, it’s quite mad how justice was delivered to the rioters. If you look at that kid who attacked the Sheffield Wednesday keeper the other day, he was jailed within two minutes. Yet a lot of these perpetrators, whether it’s media crimes or banking crimes, are gonna drag this shit through the courts for the next decade. You see the lack of balance between everyone’s civil and legal rights quite blatantly.
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Surely it just comes down to who can afford a good lawyer? Holding this project in the courtrooms, can that be attributed to your inner rebel? It has massive appeal. We’re doing something in a space you would never normally enter unless you were there for all the wrong reasons, or the right reasons. We’re also creating an opportunity to work in a space where the economic factors aren’t key, where you’re not trying to put a festival on for 10,000 people, with tickets at 50 quid to cover it, and then hope to sell 1000 gallons of cheap lager to make profit. In the era of austerity, we thought it would be more fun to go into a smaller space, more contained and be able to make decisions based on quality as opposed to quantity. From a musical point of view, what exactly have you got planned? When myself and Jules [Smith, a respected Bristol promoter who is partnering Del Naja in the organisation and curation of the event] went in there, one thing we originally agreed on was, let’s not try to just install a conventional stage, let’s work with the space we’ve got. Straight away, you’ve got to change a lot of stuff, which is cool. I thought that a great way to deconstruct the live show would be to have the central part as more of a DJ studio, keyboards and a bit of instrumentation and then start there, as opposed to basing it around a full live performance.
Exactly. You’ve seen on a local level the same things you’ll see on a national level, all the people who can’t afford representation go down and people who can afford it stay out of jail. And if we’re talking about democracy, something which the British like to export to the world militarily, then we have to stand by it. Look at the presidential election, we’re talking about both candidates trying to make America the most powerful and greatest democracy on the planet. But how can you stand by that if you’ve got Guantanamo Bay open? You’ve actually rendered prisoners to another country in order to break your own laws; how can you stand by an idea of democracy when that completely negates it? While we’re in this situation, it’s very difficult to really stand up to the next generation and say “this is how it works, this is the law you should believe in, this is democracy, it really is gonna work for you”. There are so many holes in it. You were quite influential in pushing the Occupy movement. There’s a video of you and Thom Yorke, obviously you felt compelled to go down and put some weight behind that. Direct action has always been something of interest to me and I think, coming from Bristol in the 80s as a youth, and the Bristol riots in 1980, I was only young and it was like this mythological moment. Growing up - - - - ->