INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN FROM THE AGGROLITES

13TH September 2006
333 Mother, London

After watching a soundcheck that was better than some live shows we had seen, we took Brian Dixon, rhythm guitarist and founder member of The Aggrolites, round the corner for what was only supposed to be a pint and a quick interview. We’ve sifted through nearly 3 hours of drunken rantings and what follows are the best bits….

LGIT – London, looking forward to tonight’s gig?

BD – Yeah, London’s kind of a mecca for us. Some great sounds have come out of London and it’s always had a great scene. Lee from Madness should be coming to the show tonight to play some sax with us, that’s great! We should be supporting Madness in December, big shows too.

LGIT – What was the Derrick Morgan experience like?

BD – A friend of mine, a promoter in LA called me up and asked me to put a band together to back Derrick Morgan. We got the band together (including members of Hepcat and local band The Rhythm Doctors) and Derrick was amazed. He couldn’t believe 5 guys from California could sound like that. So we did the shows and that was great. The guy’s nearly blind but sings great, we learned a lot. Then he asked if we would record with him, and we said YES! We got about 2 LP’s worth of stuff down and it was sounding really good, but next time we saw Derrick I gave him the discs and he said ‘Yeah, that’s ok but I want to record this (handed him a disc of old Jamaican classics)’ We had to say no. Those songs don’t need to be messed with. We were so disappointed. I’ve still got the recordings, so who knows maybe in 10 years? Then 6 months later we said let’s do it live.

LGIT – Where did you come up with the name Aggrolites?

BD – It’s kind of a combination of the Aggrovators and the Crystallites.

LGIT – And Bunny Lee’s Aggro sound system?

BD – Yeah man, Derrick’s wife is Bunny Lee’s sister and she came over with him!

LGIT – You haven’t got a brass section which is reasonably unusual, was that a conscious decision?

BD – [Laughs] Less people to pay! No really, the organ works for us, it’s perfect for the sound.

LGIT – You don’t carry that heavy console organ all over the world do you?

BD – No, not in Europe. But we do in the states. We’ve got around 20 of them, they’re everywhere, in friend’s houses, basements, garages! We’ve worked out which studios (Pama, Trojan etc) used which ones. It took a very long time and it’s our secret!

LGIT – You really catch that late 1960s sound. Is that something you aim for?

BD – We’re singing about our lives and experiences but in an authentic musical style. We want the world to know how great the Jamaican sound is but we’re not trying to rip off the old reggae artists. Our collective goal is to make people realise that there is more to reggae than Bob Marley.

[The conversation then descended into all of us moaning about ska punk (except Operation Ivy of course)]

BD – Why is there a slice of lemon in my lager?!

LGIT – Dunno, must be a London thing. Maybe that’s why they think it’s worth £4.60 a pint? Come and play for us in Cambridge, the beer’s cheaper and doesn’t have fruit in it!

BD – We’d love to!

LGIT – I’m not sure what’s going on with your support acts tonight but there’s one guy with a beard and a projector!

BD – Let’s not hurry back then!

LGIT – So what’s the story about Countryman Fiddle?

BD – It’s kind of Jessie’s story. Not 100% but it’s about him and his dad. His dad’s a musician too.

LGIT – 5 years on and 2 LP’s later, you must have had some great experiences and played some killer gigs.

BD – We’ve played with some real great people. We played with Prince Buster, that was cool, but I love the small shows like tonight too.

LGIT – We hear The Aggrolites played on the new Tim Armstrong solo material.

BD – Yeah, Tim called us up, hired us to play on ‘Hold On’ He wanted the sound really stripped down and basic. Real Dirty Reggae like the first album.

LGIT – What time are you onstage tonight?

BD – 10:30pm – why?

LGIT – It’s 10:20pm, we’d better get going!

BD – Shit!

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