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British political giants join forces on record
2008-12-19
LONDON (AFP) - They may come from opposite sides of the political divide but former British prime minister John Major and ex-labour lawmaker Tony Benn have become unwitting colloborators on a new conceptual music album. "There's Me And There's You," by Matthew Herbert's big band project, uses various unusual original samples, including 100 powerful people saying 'yes,' recorded in various national institutions to highlight recent political turmoils. Locations used by the DJ and producer include McDonalds, the British Museum and the Houses of Parliament, despite being denied access initially. "The album was supposed to be about institutions. I was going to make it at Tescos but I thought if I'm going to make a political record then it should be made at the Houses of Parliament," Herbert explained to AFP. "They said 'no' because they were worried that I would bring the House into disrepute. I thought this was amazing considering the amount of people they've killed over the years and it suggested to me that there's still some kind of residual power that music has," he added. Not to be denied, the Doctor Rockit creator managed to sneak into the home of government and was rewarded with an unexpected bonus. "I put a secret tape recorder on me and went back on the day of the 42-day detention debate. I recorded protest sounds, including the shaking of a box of matches where one match equalled a 100,000 people killed in Iraq," the multi-instrumentalist recalled. "I turned around and John Major was standing next to me, talking about when he was a young man, so he unwittingly made it onto the record. He was prime minister when we went to war with Iraq in 1991 so there was a certain poetry in the fact he was bumbling away beneath us," he added. Herbert had fewer problems securing contributions from former London mayor Ken Livingstone and political veteran Benn, who both sympathise with the artist's political ethos. "I had a long conversation with Tony Benn about the importance of music and politics and the artistic process, which was very enlightening," the former REM remixer revealed. "While I was there I made a recording of the recording that he made of the division bell, which is when rung when you are called in to vote." Herbert explained the philosophy behind using highly specific and well-defined samples. "I applied a formalist approach and used specific abstraction. Everything was done in the measures of 100 so we had 100 condoms being scraped along the floor of the British Museum, a building where power is directly and explicitly implicated. "Music itself is an abstract force. I like the specificity of recording inside the Kensington branch of McDonalds on the left pair of seats immediately to the left stairs as you go down. "This is where Bisher Al-Wari met MI5 before being handed over to the CIA, sent on rendition flights, tortured for five years in Guantanamo and then released without charge," he reasoned. Given his criticisms of outgoing US president George W. Bush, Herbert expressed surprising views on election victor Barack Obama and the president-elect's main priority, the ailing world economy. "For me what's exciting about the economy are the environmental possibilities. If the economy collapses there's a very strong chance that we are going to stop importing apples from New Zealand and start eating our Kentish apples again. "I like the idea that there may be a return to sustainable values firmly rooted in the principles of a local community," the anti-globalisation activist added. "It is a real opportunity to reshape society in a different way but I suspect Obama will be like Tony Blair, coming in on a wind of change but basically more of the same in slightly different shades."
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