ZANG TUMMM TUMB ARTICLES “the first draft of history”

THE NEXT DEGENERATION OF ROCK MUSIC

Nasty Rox Inc interview by Tim Jeffery

Still smarting from the embarrassing revelations of the Holly Johnson fiasco, ZTT is set to unleash a new beast destined to dig its teeth right into the pop charts. Nasty Rox Inc, an unlikely but menacing fusion of rock and hip hop, are a more fiendish proposition than Frankie Goes To Hollywood, combining a brattish arrogance with streetwise sharpness. But are they just another Age Of Chance/Big Audio Dynamite or do Nasty Rox Inc have something new to offer?

Badder than bad

David Dorrell, ex-M|A|R|R|S and more of a sleeping partner than on actual member of Nasty, is emphatic. “We’re a lot f***ing harder. They played it safe but we go to extremes. We’re a rock band that’s moving on. Nasty Rox Inc is the next degeneration of rock music.”

Three out of five personnel are present, including lead vocalist Dan Fox and scratch DJ CJ Mackintosh, last year’s UK mixing champion and also of M|A|R|R|S. Together they typify the tensions in music and character of the group. Dorrell is the sharp-tongued, quick-witted product of London clubland, an ex-music journalist who’s never short of a quote. Dan is the more earnest mouthpiece of the band’s musical direction. CJ sits thoughtfully in observance, speaking rarely and only when spoken to. Their debut single, ‘Escape From New York’, is a hard, no-nonsense rant on the trappings of capitalism, trashed with fierce scratching, and wah wah guitar over a gritty go-go rhythm. In person Nasty Rox Inc portray a picture of genial conviviality, so is this mock anger a contrived marketing ploy?

“Angry? Yeah we’re angry — angry about how hard it is to get a mortgage in London,” quips Dave. “And Luton beating Arsenal — Jeeez!”

Dan continues: “We’re not gripped with conviction like Public Enemy, in fact we’re not clever enough to be contrived!”

Meaner than Run-DMC

“What sets us apart from the others is that we are a real band,” says Dan, referring to the DJ-inspired ‘groups’, like S-Express and Bomb The Bass. We can do everything ‘live’. The limitation of hip hop up until now is live performance. Even Run-DMC is just a couple of microphones with a DJ.”

Dave interrupts: “Wouldn’t it be brilliant if Run-DMC and Aerosmith actually played together on the same stage? That’s the spirit that Nasty Rox will capture.”

CJ nods in agreement. “I treat my scratching like an instrument. I sit down and arrange it just as you would with any instrument.

(cont.)
It can be as exciting as a guitar solo,” he says, before demonstrating a new scratching technique by flicking his wrists and forth over imaginary decks. The others fall about laughing at CJ’s turntable equivalent of air guitar. “It’s just like when he was trying to explain what ‘transforming’ was six months ago,” laughs Dan. “Many people would just be content with the fact that CJ is one of the fastest and best DJs but if we don’t like something he does, we tell him.”

More fearsome than Forsyth

Dave compares a Nasty Rox Inc live performance with an episode of an infamous TV game show. “It’ll be just like ‘the Generation Game’,” (Seventies family quiz show hosted by Bruce Forsyth in its heyday) “with CJ poised over a conveyor belt of turntables! No, but seriously, this is really taking hip hop out of the ghetto, and putting it where it belongs alongside all the other types of music. People who’ve tried it before have always taken the ghetto with them. We’re mixing it with rock. Muddying the waters. In fact Muddy Waters, now there’s a guy…” Trying to pin Dave down to a serious conversation is like trying to hold an eel. Just as you think you’ve got a grip he slips out, grinning.

Nasty Rox Inc may not possess the spite that their name suggests and on the strength of one single it’s too early to judge whether their bark is worse than their bite, but they are at least bringing some spunk back into a chart that’s being increasingly dominated by sterile pop. Nasty, but nice.