Franz Ferdinand man and friends go dub
Who they?
A loose gathering of musicians, singers and producers associated with Hackney’s Sausage Studios. Studio bosses Nick McCarthy, former guitarist/singer/keyboard player with Franz Ferdinand, and long-time friend and dubaholic Seb Kellig, decided to lure some of the illustrious talent passing through the studio onto their own productions. Among the guestlist is Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab fame, KT Tunstall and Basement Jaxx vocalist Vula Malinga, to mention but a few.
Why The Nix?
Because, like a lo-fi rendering of Colourbox’s sublime digital skanking, their debut 12-track album, ‘Sausage Studio Sessions’, is bursting with DIY dub pop sunshine. “Seb’s main musical love is dub,” McCarthy tells us, “and he was really into going to dub nights in Tottenham, especially Jah Shaka’s Sound System. I went along and it was pretty diverse, an amazing mix of people of all ages at their super-multicultural events. The techniques of dub are fascinating too, using the mixing desk as an instrument and really playing it. That’s what we were going for on this record.“
Tell us more…
Most of the tracks were created in the dead of night, once other session work had finished, and have a definite after-hours party feel about them. “During the day you always seem to be sorting out technical issues,” says McCarthy, “then when it gets dark you get into the bubble properly.” Alas, the social vibe of the record can’t, for obvious reasons, be continued on into the live arena as yet, although McCarthy is dying to test out the material in a gig setting. “I want it to be the kind of thing where you don’t quite know if there’s going to be four or 20 people on stage when you turn up,” he laughs.
‘Sausage Studio Sessions’ is released on Moshi Moshi
