Sideshow - youlikewelike

Fin Greenall: SIDESHOW

When he's not writing songs for

John Legend, or travelling the
world as singer/songwriter Fink,
Fin Greenall can be found in
electronic outfit Sideshow.
Unlike the bluesy, heartfelt folk of his
Ninja Tune alter-ego however, Sideshow sees
Greenall dip back into his roots as a DJ and producer, and
for his (semi) debut release Admit One, it's all about the happiness
that is dub.

The last time I spoke to Greenall he was in Los Angeles while on a song-writing sojourn. This is just one of the many strings to Legend's musical bow, that reveals itself in Sideshow (which also features Fink band mates Guy Whittaker on bass and Tim Thornton on drums, alongside a host of guests musicians). Also, technically speaking, Admit One isn't the first Sideshow record, as it was preceded by a collection of 12 inches and other tracks, originally released as a download-only package.

"The first album was really just a compilation. It was done because I didn't have all those 12s, and I'm the artist!" Greenall jokes. "The fact that we got Matthew Johnson and John Tejada doing remixes for us really helped, along with up and coming talent such as Jesse Rose. The first record was our way of saying - Hey, this is Sideshow. It's kinda cool."

Admit One does arrive, however, as the band's first coherent album, and also as its first physical package which can be purchased ("if your shop still sells CDs"). The record also bristles with the rich, hypnotic bass lines, and beats of dub reggae.

"I just fucking love dub," Greenall enthuses. "I love playing it, especially when you have live musicians around you. This record is much more enjoyable than any other record I have made, or been part of. It's because there is no agenda with dub, or at least there shouldn't be. If you are true to dub, then you are going to come up with something nice."

For the album, Greenall and his collaborators dared to tread into fairly uncharted waters by fusing dub with house music. This bold approach was aided by Will Saul, who acted as A&R for the project and who also agreed to release the record on his Aus Music label. Greenall says that despite the fact that "reggae and dub sells for shit", Saul had the "courage" to back the concept.

"I'm not sure I would do it again, but the thing about dub and house is that they make really good combination, as long as you treat both with the respect they deserve. It's the same with blues or jazz.You can't just steal it and exploit it. That's not cool. We tried to create new stuff.

The dub beat is largely the same as a house beat; it's the same tempo and structure, though instead of the music putting you on a half lean in a reggae way, the house aspects put you a bit more of a front foot."

The origins of Admit One can be traced back to Greenall's first tentative attempts at making music. His early inspiration came in the "last century" after he heard a dance track, and decided to make something like it.

"It's not as if people like me sat down and said 'Let's change the world'. It was more that we just wanted to try and be like something else. The starting point for this album was listening to a really good reggae and dub record, and thinking, that would be great if it just had 'shsss, shsss, shsss'," he says, making a drum beat sound. This approach, in turn, taps into the history of dub, which originated in the Jamaican reggae scene when producers started creating instrumental versions of existing songs (reggae legends King Tubby and Lee 'Scratch' Perry are credited with pioneering this inventive musical approach, which has proved so influential ever since).

"In my opinion, there could have been no disco without dub, which would mean that there would be no dance music," says Greenall. "It's amazing that a little group of islands were actually birthing dance music when the West was into the Rolling Stones
and the Beatles. It blows my mind to be a tiny part of that journey, a small pile of stones on the road that marks our involvement."

The roots of dub can be clearly seen on Youth of Today, a re-working of a Horace Andy track of the same name. Greenall says that by infusing a 4/4 house beat, the group has "made it our own". Unfortunately however, when Greenall met Andy and expressed his enthusiasm for the original, the reggae legend couldn't even remember recording it.

"They say that you shouldn't meet your idols," Greenall says, smiling. "French Model In Dub [featuring vocalist Samar] was also inspired by other people's work. Because these tracks were made in the 1970s, or whatever, there was no house version.

That's the thing with dub, we are replaying music, not stealing it, we are just showing love, though maybe the lawyers will see it differently!"...more

words: Andrew Laughlin