Artist Feature #149: Mungos HiFi Soundsystem

In der Artist Feature Serie stellen wir euch regelmäßig interessante Musik-Künstler vor. Grundlage des “Artist Feature” sind um die 15 Fragen, von denen einige immer gleich und einige individuell sind.

In der 149. Ausgabe des „Artist Feature“ haben wir Mungos HiFi aus Glasgow zu Gast. Das Soundsystem wurde um die Jahrtausendwende rum von zwei gleichgesinnten DJs gegründet.

Interview & Text: Gabriel Maring

Getreu dem Reggae/Dancehall „Do-It-Yourself“ Ethos, bildeten sie ihr erstes Sound System aus Lautsprechern, die sie im Sperrmüll fanden und begannen auf einem alten Atari zu produzieren. In den Folgejahren entstanden so bis heute vier Studioalben, auf denen Sie unter anderem mit Größen wie Sugar Minott und Ranking Joe (Jamaica), Major Lazer (USA), Kenny Knots und Solo Banton (England) und Soom T (Schottland) zusammenarbeiteten.

Das aktuelle Album „No wata down ting“ entstand zusammen mit YT und ist seit dem 16. März erhältlich. Passend dazu sprach RAB Gast-Autor Gabriel mit Mungos HiFi über die Soundsystem Kultur, Features mit Szene-Größen, Fußball in Glasgow und vieles mehr.

At first we usually ask for some spots to get good food in the artist’s hometown. Where do you go to eat in Glasgow and where would you send strangers and guests to taste some typical Glasgow cuisine?

In the west end of Glasgow we are spoilt with many fine eateries. The best has to be the Banana Leaf. Offering the most authentic South Indian food from the most unassuming looking restaurant.

While we’re at it: what’s your favorite food in general? Are you into Haggis, just to ask a stereotype? ;-)

We are all into good food, but if we had to sum it up curry. Yes you can’t beat a good haggis, especially if you have hunted it yourself. ;-) Another Scottish delicacy is Stornoway black pudding made from tasty blood.

How do you celebrate New Year’s Eve / Hogmanay: with a lot of ruckus and partying or do you celebrate just with a little music and keep calm?

We are often playing on Hogmanay but as long as you are with friends and family it doesn’t matter if it’s wild or calm.

What place does the Soundsystem hold in your life and how important was and is it to you, to present your own productions in a proper way via Soundsystem? How often do you set it up and run a dance with it?

Soundsystem has always been integral to what we do. It is by far the best way to present any bass music and to feel it as well as hear it. We string up our sound locally every two months and take it up and down the UK on a monthly basis. We go further afield at least once a year.

Do you get into Soundclash, if you are challenged to a duel or would you say, that music is a mission and not a competition? Is the Clash-Culture in any way relevant to you? I know some sounds, who never clash and don’t like the habit to clash at all and some other sounds who see it just as a way of competition.

We do clash and enjoy it, but we are not a clash sound-not like you have in Germany anyway! we don’t wave towels round our heads and we play our dubplates for more than 10 seconds! We see a clash like a friendly game of football friendly competition, where no ones mother getting a mention. Of course we are happy to have a laugh and a joke with the loser after, we might even buy them a drink ;)

I remember seeing you at a dance in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany in 2008, I think. Late that night the Belly-Ska-Riddim mashed up the place and got many forwards. After that I got the selection on vinyl and since then I came across 2-tone, Ska and early reggae influenced tunes on most of your productions. Do you have plans to get more into that direction, perhaps with a whole album in that style

We have done less ska tracks of late and our compilation albums have been moving more into rub a dub, dancehall and UK bass styles but next year we are returning to a more ska based project which is top secret at the moment. We are starting a new live show and have a full brass section and have some exciting collaborations lined up…..I’ve probably said too much already

You say, you were heavily inspired by King Tubby, Prince Jammy and the UK-based Sounds. Did you listen also to Rodigan’s broadcast (especially as you got promoted by John Peel or Don Letts on BBC), watched movies like BABYLON or went to see JAH SHAKA back in the days like many other sounds?

Up in Scotland its wasn’t always possible to just nip out to a sound system dance, it usually involved a journey to Leeds to see Iration Steppas. This has thankfully changed as there are lots of soundsystems in Scotland now. To be fair there has always been a soundsystem scene since the early 90s. Yes we are influenced by listening to Rodigan, radio djs and sound tapes. We are influenced by the diy culture of King tubby and try to build things ourselves.

Going on tour all around the globe, playing on dances in many countries you got to know many different Massives and the varying styles of reggae they like and want to hear. Would you say that the Glasgow-based massive is somewhat special and unique compared to other places you went? Do you got a good anecdote aside to tell us relating to the Glasgow scene?

We have the pleasure to play all over the world and travel far and wide and people are good hearted and lovely the world over. We are always welcomed with a good enthusiastic crowd wherever we go. The Glasgow crowd is particularly lively and loves the party vibe and are humbling. They don’t give a fuck if you have just flown in from Brazil, they are just there for the music.

You got tunes and whole albums with veteran artists and up-and-coming artists from the UK-Sound scene like Brother Culture, YT, Bush Chemists, Charlie P, Mr. Williamz and Daddy Freddy for example. How do you usually start such a collaboration? Do you meet at a dance, studio et cetera or do you search for artists you would like to work with.

Most of these tunes are recorded in Glasgow. We invite artists to our sessions and take the opportunity to collaborate. Most of the artists we have the pleasure of working with we consider good friends. We still have projects remotely with artists in JA, mostly dubplates. But main albums are recorded here, where we can take the time to do it properly

How did the great collaboration with the OUTLOOK-Festival start, where you got your own are(n)a? Do you have some other projects like that in the pipeline for the future?

Outlook is partly run by our good friend Simon Scott, the man responsible for running SubDub in Leeds with Mark Iration. We were out at a very early Outlook in 2010? i think before it was at the fort and as they expanded and we were asked to bring our rig for an arena. It kind of developed from there. Our arena was originally the second stage kind of thing. The festival has grown beautifully and although we have been asked if we want to move to a bigger space we are happy in our corner and i think people who come year after year love it just as much as we do. Without sounding like an advertisement i would say Outlook is one of the best festivals in the world. The line ups are out of this world and then theres the boat parties… We also have an arena in Glastonbury called the blues stage

Are you interested in football? Do you support Celtic Glasgow or the Glasgow Rangers? What means The Old Firm to you?

No. I would rather watch paint dry. My Grandfather gave me one good piece of advice for living in glasgow: „Son, if someone asks you who you support….tell them a wife and three kids“ Old firm to me means stay in and away from knuckleheads

Finally we always get some sentences started and want you to finish them. A biography of Mungo’s Hi Fi as an audio book should be read by…

Frankie Boyle.

5 minutes before the show starts…

drink a beer

5 minutes after the lasts tune of our set…

run for a pee

Where we come from, the most important is…

love and laughter

Tracklist & Cover

A1 – God bless pickney
A2 – No wata down ting ft Johnny Osbourne
A3 – Bumpercart
A4 – Raggamuffin girl
A5 – What you got to do
B1 – Work to do ft Little John
B2 – Cokehead
B3 – Run like a tief
B4 – Boomsound
B5 – At dem

Der Beitrag Artist Feature #149: Mungos HiFi Soundsystem erschien zuerst auf RAP-N-BLUES.com.