Live4ever Presents: SupaJamma


Despite comprising of some of the hardest working and best known musicians in Manchester, SupaJamma (Martin ‘Sugar’ Merchant, Simon Collier, Steve Wilson, Dan Adams, Lord Bevs) have been together for less than twelve months, but are already making waves thanks to their unique fusion of rock, reggae and jazz which they term ‘Rock & Soul’. Here, Simon and Martin tell freelance writer Carl Stanley of the origins of the band, their long association with the Manchester music scene, and their future plans.

supajamma

CS: The new album ‘That Was Then, This is Now’ sounds great, a pure melting pot of dub, rock and dance. How would you describe your sound?

Simon Collier: We tag it ‘Rock & Soul’, it encompasses all the flavours you mention and more, mixing musical flavours is the only way to come up with something fresh and even half original sounding, but if we start laying too many points of reference it throws confusion out there about the band’s identity. With the exception of Hendrix and a small handful of others generally black guys fronting rock bands causes confusion enough, especially if they are British.

CS: What’s the background of the band – the different bandmembers and their influences – and how long have you been together?

SC: Martin ‘Sugar’ was also part of the legendary Saxon Sound System back in the eighties, he’s done some solo stuff which is out there for those who like to look, then he had the Sugar Merchants who evolved into Audioweb.

My background was purely punk to start with; three power chords maxed out to eleven and a load of shouting ‘fuck the system’ in as many ways as possible. Three chords if you were lucky. One of the punk bands evolved into a pure Manc indie band Raindance, a few dozen people might remember them as we did get around the country, before I started managing bands full time – Dog Toffee, Goldblade, Pachinos, Solanoid to name a few – and later running an independent label Rock ‘n’ Roll Unlimited.

Did some PR, tour management and some A&R before sitting down with Martin to write a few tunes which then turned into SupaJamma. Me and Martin have been friends from way back, the Sugar Merchant days.

After Audioweb Martin always said the only way he was coming back is if it was with a best mate, little did I know at the time! We sat down every few weeks and ideas just flowed, then we came to a point where we thought it was time to take it live and put a band together. I guess we’ve been together a couple of years as an actual band getting things ready at our own pace but the definitive line up that we have now only about ten months.



Steve Wilson is another veteran Manc and all round musician that’s been responsible for several notable Manchester bands such as Smile Like Fools, Wilson, Bong & Plastic Gun Alliance – they had various deals but like many other great bands never quite broke through to the national consciousness.

Dan Adams, the drummer, used to front another Manchester buzz band in its day, Valve, he’s an all rounder; vocalist, guitarist, drummer, mandolin player – you never can tell with SupaJamma, might be a place for it yet.

As for the Divine Lord Bevs, we don’t really know anything about him; he comes, he plays like a demon, then he goes, he doesn’t say much, his past must be a dark one because he isn’t sharing. Collectively there is a very wide influence of music between which we embrace.

CS: The album has had some pretty good reviews, plus with artists like Ian Brown and Clint Boon as fans do you feel SupaJamma moving in the right direction?

SC: Clint’s a star, but I’m glad to hear Ian Brown likes it too, we know he was into Audioweb, and it’s great to hear he’s still on board with the vibe now.

Regarding the right direction, we’ve all been around for a while and have heard a lot, learned a lot, and we know what we like and where we want to go with the band. So as far as we’re concerned we are definitely going in the right direction; mix it up, mash it up and kill it live. If we’re wrong it will die but it will die on our terms and by our hand, we’re not pandering to someone else’s whim.

Independently of SupaJamma we’ve experienced the major label shit where they love you, sign you, then want to change you – not going to happen, the way this one plays is down to us.

CS: Audioweb were one of kind back in the nineties with what they were doing. Do you feel people are more ready for what SupaJamma are doing now than what Audioweb were doing fifteen years ago? What are the difference between the two bands?

Martin Merchant: What Audioweb was doing in the nineties, half of the people got it and with SupaJamma it’s hard to say; we have not reached public knowledge to a lot of people yet so it’s very hard to say.

SC: I was a big Audioweb fan back in the day, and the people who got it were also into it in a big way. I think the same goes for SupaJamma, every audience we’ve played to so far we’ve connected with completely. If you’re doing something that isn’t completely obvious it can take the general public a while to get it – safe is what the first decade of the 21st century has been about musically so it’s hard to say if anything has really changed.

CS: Manchester artists and acts have always had that ability to mix and fuse their influences, like Happy Mondays and the dance/pop/rock thing they had going on. Would you say Manchester bands do this the best, and if so why?

SC: Manchester is a multi-cultural city so is naturally a melting pot of influences, and with plenty of musicians interested enough to experiment. Manchester has its share of stereotypical types who see it as having a particular identity and try to keep it there, but try as they might they’ve never been able to hold it back so there’s always some fresh, innovative sound emerging.

CS: Tell me about the single ‘Madaboutit’, sounds awesome…

MM: ‘Madaboutit’ is just the system in this world. People have a short memory of the Tory party, we got stitched up then and we are going to get stitched up now, plus the Labour party were no better simple as that – mad mad mad (laughs).

CS: I see you’re at the Friends of Mine festival this year and Strummer camp, where else can we catch SupaJamma this year?

SC: Beside Strummer Camp and Friends of Mine we’re booked to play Free In The Park in Scotland which is what it says on the tin, there’s another festival near Harrogate called the Rogues Carnival, we’ll be doing a few of these cool independent sound system based festivals through the summer and are talking to a couple more of the bigger ones.

There will be a few more singles over the rest of the year, and a tour late September/October time where we’ll cover as much of the county as possible. We’re also in the middle of negotiating an agreement with a US label so if we get an opportunity to get over there or into mainland Europe we’ll be taking it. The full album will be early next year.

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(Carl Stanley)


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