UKRG Exclusive interview with Dreadzone @ Endorse-IT Festival 2009

In December 94 Dreadzone, now officially Greg, Tim and Leo, signed to Virgin Records; a few other labels were interested, one of them being Paul Oakenfold for Perfecto. He had become a good friend after a trip to Moscow and claimed he could match Virgin’s offer whilst pledging to make Captain Dread the first single featuring his own remix…imagine that? The profile was really increasing and in the spring of 95 they released the first single Zion Youth.

In the summer of that year they released their second album called Second Light. Joining the dots on a sound picture of a multi -cultural Britain it drew praise from many different sources.“ Blissed out, hyperinventive, unfailingly entertaining” (Telegraph) “Witty inspired soundscapes”(Guardian) “Dreadzone have to be one of the most interesting groups of the moment” (Independent). The album has gone on to become a favourite for many... John Peel cited it as one of his top ten albums of all time. He even chose five Dread tunes for his festive 50 at Xmas.

With a live tour in full swing and a new album just around the corner, UKRG caught up with them at the Endorse-IT Festival for a quick chat..

UKRG: I'm here with Greg and Spee from Dreadzone. You have a new single out, tell me about it?

GREG: We had a single out July 6th called 'Beyond A Rock' it's a new sound for Dreadzone. It's out on iTunes digital. No vinyl, no CD at the moment so it's all digital, so iTunes, Amazon, all those places. I know you love your Reggae but it's a bit different.

UKRG: Yes definitely.

SPEE: Yeh obviously some of the clue is in the title! A little bit of Rock going on, a little bit of Rap. It's like Rock, Funk, Rap, this that and the other. What it represents are the different elements that are in Dreadzone at the moment and the sort of influences that we take. The next album, it goes back to its roots and it goes forward into the future, so it's a bit of both really.

UKRG: Would you say there is more tracks like 'Beyond A Rock' on the new album?

GREG: No.

SPEE: No.

GREG: The whole album is very different, it goes through a lot of different things. I think that was kind of because we got a new guitarist in the band because obviously we lost people in the past. It's like here we come with a tune, it's a proper song, it's got proper chords. There are lots of elements, we've just thrown it all in and it's Dreadzone.

SPEE: It's great because what's been nice is over the little bit of time we've been playing it out, and then when it came out. Whether its people who know us or don't know us, when you drop that tune by the end of it it's won!

GREG: And it's only 3.49 minutes so everyone is like "Oh it's finished already". We've actually got a new tune 'Gangsta' which is off our new album which is actually under 3 minutes.

UKRG: How would you describe the new album?

SPEE: It's gone back to old school writing.

GREG: It's something we're very proud of to be honest. On this album there's only one instrumental track and the rest are all songs.

UKRG: When will it be released?

SPEE: Hopefully early next year, I'm not going to say when.

GREG: We're not going to lie now, we've only just finished this and if we wanted to get it out in the Autumn it would be too rushed.

SPEE: After all the work the whole band has put into it, I don't think it would do it justice. We've got a good agent/manager and helper out and he believes in it and he says he's got a lot of good feedback. It's nice to pass the baton over sometimes. Greg has normally had to take that whole role on and it's been nice for him to just be a band member playing drums. Alright a bit more administration than the rest of us but at the same time it means we can enjoy ourselves and stay as a writing duo.

GREG: Also it's made me step back a bit more from the music and trying to get all these new elements together. We can tell you the new album has 11 new tracks on it and it runs the whole gamut, if that's the word, it's everything.

SPEE: Scouse John our roadie said today when we were driving down, he said it's like a milestone of how the band is now. It's like a story so far. We're still playing old tunes but it has to be what it is, the new incarnation of the band and what it represents and the fact that we're not frightened to go back and do some song writing on it and it doesn't have to be to keep everyone happy. As long as we're happy and proud of the music that's coming out and we enjoy playing it then that's going to come across to the people and therefore they will love it too. YOU WILL LOVE IT TOO!!

UKRG: You are touring in the autumn, can we expect to hear new tunes from the album at these shows?

GREG: We do have a lot of opportunity to play new stuff in the set, to try it out and see what it sounds like. We have been playing some of it for a while now and we've put even more new stuff in for for the Autumn tour. We'll most likely put a little CD single out or maybe another free download off the album and some special mixes. There's a few big singles coming and we want to kind of reinsert our place in the pop pantheon.

SPEE: Pop pantheon! Fantastic!

UKRG: We are here at Endorse-it Festival and Dreadzone have acquired the title of 'festival favourites'. What is your favourite festivals?

GREG: Glastonbury.

SPEE: I like Glastonbury but I have to make sure I'm there for the work and then get out. I like Beautiful Days, I like Endorse-it obviously. I like some of the smaller festivals, it's nice because there is more of a family vibe. Sod the weather, they had a downpour here the same as us in London but they've coped with it really well. They got the tractors to tow us in and they look after us, it's great. I had a wander round and it's a nice little buzz and we're headlining the Friday night and so I think it will send people to sleep...

GREG: (Laughs) Hang on, we're not going to do Jazz Odyssey are we?

SPEE: I mean after, it will send them to sleep afterwards!

UKRG: I can see you're still on crutches Spee, how are you?

SPEE: Well it's not going to get any better unfortunately so I've just got to take it easy. It's great at this festival because there is this guy who came and gave me a great neck and shoulder massage before our gig here last year. I know he's here so it's nice to know the personal masseur is one site! It's going to be alright but I have to do the gig sitting down again.

UKRG: Well thanks guys for talking to me.

SPEE: Your welcome.

Interviewed by Dready Sam

Related Links

>> Dreadzone Webiste

>> UKRG Review - Second Light

>> UKRG Dreadzone Photo Profile

>> UKRG Live Review - Trinity Community Centre – Bristol – 24th 2007

>> Endorse-IT Festival review 2009