New connections

September 2, 2005
Stereo MCs: British hip-hop pioneers.

Stereo MCs: British hip-hop pioneers.
Photo: Supplied

The path to Paradise has been long and difficult, writes Andrew Drever.

WHEN Stereo MCs released Deep Down and Dirty in 2001, their first album in nine long years, it was with a sense of unease. It was not the celebration that the band's return from the dead should have been.

"Re-entering orbit," proclaimed frontman Rob Birch on the tense title track, and it was an aggressive, wired album that reintroduced them to a public who had heard or seen little since 1992's Connected.

Birch recalls that the mood of himself and Stereo MCs partner Nick Hallam - the band also comprises drummer Owen Rossiter and vocalist Cath Coffey - at the release of Deep Down and Dirty was extremely defensive.

"I think unconsciously we had to come out with our fists up," says the singer from his home in Brixton, London, "because the press in England can really turn on you. Everybody was saying that if it's not as successful as Connected, then we're a failure, and if you're a failure in England, people turn their back on you. So we really felt like we had to come out with our fists up and be ready for the bullshit.

"We had to come out in a warrior stance, because we felt that was the only way we could deal with the music business at that point, and at the end of the day we were correct to do that.

"It was really a bit like we'd been boxed up, dead, ready to be buried, and we were punching the lid off the coffin."

Birch says the extraordinary nine-year gap between Connected and Deep Down and Dirty was necessary for him and Hallam to pick up the pieces of their dysfunctional personal lives.

"We both had our own life problems going on," he sighs.

"The music business can suck the shit out of you, really. And because of over-exposure, over-touring and over-working, we realised that we hadn't really attended to our personal lives.

"And when you get home and realise that everything's gone down the pan, you also realise it's pretty important to have a life other than just promoting a record."

Their return this year, however, sees the band freshly revitalised. Gone is their previous label, Universal Records, and also previous management.

In their place is a new independent record label, Graffiti Recordings, from which the band will release all future Stereo MCs music, a new management team and a new album, Paradise.

Paradise can perhaps be viewed as a more natural successor to the funkier Connected than the extreme and severe Deep Down and Dirty.

Indeed, Birch says that the relaxed feel with which they made this record was a flashback to the late-'80s, when they were one of the originators of British hip-hop.

Paradise has a more laid-back, soulful and less jittery feel than its predecessor, although some may find its laconic grooves a little unsatisfying after the concentrated intensity of Deep Down and Dirty.

Standouts include the trip-hop crackle of First Love, where a sped-up Birch duets with himself, the brass-fuelled swing of Float On, the clipped beats and dreamy contemplation of Paradise and the voodoo edginess on Breathe Out.

"To a degree, we just want to reflect what we are," says Birch.

"We're a bunch of people who live in south-west London in a thriving, vibrant environment. It's full of life, full of ups and downs, and we just want to reflect that and try and put out some uplifting vibes and energy.

"I think that we've actually relaxed a bit and enjoyed making a record without trying to foresee what's going to happen to it.

"I think that's why it's so colourful and quite a versatile record. We've just tried to do something that we enjoy doing."

The frontman confirms that there will be more Stereo MCs records and, despite the band's largely uncredited pioneering role in British hip-hop (their 1987 album 33 45 78 was one of the earliest examples of the form), he is far more interested in looking to the future than the past.

"We're just glad to be here doing it after this amount of time," he says simply, "to still be making records. I feel quite proud of that.

"I feel like: wow, here I am, I've been doing this since the 1980s and we're still making relevant music, current music, contemporary music.

"I feel pretty good about it, you know. I don't really need anything else. I'm here to do a good job, and that's what I'm going to do."

Paradise is out now.
