Former Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft has said he was forced to cancel a selection of planned collaborations for his new project the United Nations Of Sound as many of the people he wished to work with were in prison.
In a recent interview, Ashcroft revealed US rapper Lil Wayne was among those who were unavailable due to their prison terms. “Half the people I wanted on the record were either in prison or going there,” he said. “I tried to get Lil Wayne on the end of ‘America‘ because of his gravel, but he was about to start his sentence for gun possession so he was busy recording 15 videos and three albums. So they were either in prison or wanted £70,000.”
Despite being seen as another new venture for Ashcroft, who has also released three solo albums, the songwriter has said he believes the project could have been started at anytime during his career. “When I look at it, I could have attempted this in the Nineties,” he explained.
“I could have been working with these guys then, it just took a long time to get there. The idea, if there was any idea, was carrying on the dream of still believing the roots of music can be drawn on as inspirations.”
First unveiled with the promo single ‘Are You Ready?‘ in January this year, United Nations Of Sound released their eponymous debut album last month.