Bristol at the British Library, March 14, in pictures

A huge thanks to the British Library for having us on Thursday:

Our fantastic host Miranda Sawyer was with Mark Stewart, Mad Professor and Inkie, and myself, for a 90 minute discussion, facing a passionate audience!

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TALKS AND DISCUSSIONS

Massive Attack: Out of the Comfort Zone

Thu 14 Mar 2019, 19:00 - 20:30

The story of a sound, a city and a group of revolutionary artists

Bristol was part-built on the wealth generated by the slave trade, an arrival point for Caribbean immigrants, and a melting pot that shaped one of the most successful and innovative bands of the last thirty years, Massive Attack. Journalist and broadcaster Miranda Sawyer talks to the author of a new book on their story, Melissa Chemam, and special guests, artist Inkie, producer Mad Professor and musician Mark Stewart.

Massive Attack: Out Of The Comfort Zone (Tangent Books, Bristol, 2019) is based on a long series of interviews with Robert Del Naja (known as 3D), other Massive Attack members as well as many other musicians and artists who worked with Massive Attack or saw them arise. It explores the often non-conformist history of Bristol and how it shaped the formation of the Wild Bunch and then Massive Attack, and how band members 3D, Daddy G and Mushroom shared this space with musicians and artists including Banksy, Tricky, Portishead and so many more. Chemam follows the making of their groundbreaking album Blue Lines; their astounding successors including Mezzanine, and their unique collaborations with Horace Andy, Shara Nelson, Tracey Thorn, Madonna, Elizabeth Fraser, Sinéad O’Connor, Mos Def, Damon Albarn, Young Fathers, Adam Curtis, Banksy and others.

This event will have speech to text interpretation.

Melissa Chemam is a French journalist and author who has worked for France 24, the BBC World Service and Radio France International, as well as many magazines, and for the filmmaker Raoul Peck. Massive Attack: Out Of The Comfort Zone is her first book

Inkie emerged as a graffiti writer from the notorious 80s Bristol scene where he painted alongside 3D and Banksy. In 1989 he came 2nd in the 1989 World Street Art Championships, but was also arrested at the head of 72 other writers in the UK's largest ever Graffiti bust, Operation Anderson. Inkie has since worked as head of design for SEGA, Xbox, and creates prints, illustrations and clothing; his beautiful trademark style takes inspiration from everything from Mayan architecture, William Morris, Alfons Mucha and Islamic geometry, and has appeared in the books Bankys Bristol, Children of the Can, Graffiti World and magazines Graphotism and Dazed & Confused

Mad Professor is one of the leading producers of dub Reggae music's second generation and was instrumental in transitioning dub into the digital age through releases on his own Ariwa Sound label and collaborations with the likes of Lee “Scratch” Perry, Sly and Robbie, Pato Banton, Jah Shaka and Horace Andy, as well as artists outside the realm of traditional reggae and dub, such as Sade, The Orb, and Grace Jones. In 19915 he created an entire dub rework of Massive Attack’s Protection album, and went on to repeat this for Mezzanine – with those versions only now appearing, 20 years after being recorded.  

Miranda Sawyer is journalist and broadcaster. Her career began in 1988 with Smash Hits and through the 1990s she wrote for Select, Time Out The Mirror Mixmag andThe Face. She is now a feature writer for The Observer and its radio critic and her writing also appears in The Mirror, GQ, Vogue and The Guardian. She makes radio documentaries for Radio 4 and BBC 6Music and interviews musicians and artists for The Culture Show. Her latest season is Sound and Vision for 6 Music, which invites actors and directors to discuss key musical moments from their films

Mark Stewart and his first band The Pop Group blasted out of Bristol in 1979 with the wired, avant future-funk manifesto of their ’We Are All Prostitutes’ single and the vibrant, cyber-punk energy of his music productions has been undiminished ever since - across anarchic dub reggae inspired collaborations with Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound; his early hiphop-influenced oufits Maffia and Tackhead, ‘industrial’ albums of the mid 1980s cited as seminal by Ministry’s Al Jorgensen and NIN’s Trent Reznor through to techno and proto dubstep. 

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Book Cover art from Massive Attack: Out of the Comfort Zone by Melissa Chemam. 

Image by Robert Del Naja.

https://www.bl.uk/events/massive-attack-out-of-the-comfort-zone

Book reviewed by readers: "A definitive read. Fantastic piece of journalism."

Second review on my book on Amazon UK:

David Horler

5.0 out of 5 starsA definitive read

11 March 2019

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A fantastic piece of journalism. 

Widely researched and very well informed, there were some parts in the early text that I had forgotten about the scene then and it was lovely to be reminded of them. 

A difficult story to tell but the author stays with it throughout. 

The only thing that could have been added for me was an index as I am sure I will return to this book again and again.

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Thank you!!

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Other review:

Carter Brune

5.0 out of 5 starsWell worth waiting for... terrific!!

7 March 2019

Format: Paperback

The last time there was a collaboration of such cultural enormity between the UK and France was the building of Concorde. Thank Tangent Books for picking up on this text and what a prize. Melissa Chemam is giving us two books for the price of one. On one level it’s easily accessible, a good read, a real page turner but kicking it up a gear it has an academic quality and would be a brilliant research tool, of this genre, time and place.

Bristol has a special place in my heart and Massive Attack has accompanied me over thousands of miles in many dodgy motors, but I could always rely on them. There is something exceptional about Massive Attack even before a superb chronicler as Chemam gets near them. I remember seeing Grant around St Pauls and in the local pub off Jamaica Street. The brilliance walked amongst us and that counts for a lot. Built from the ground up on a foundation of hard learnt experience and this comes over in the writing. This book is Bristol in many ways, the diverse music and cultures coming together and creating something truly unique. The real deal.

Everything works: The cover, I think it’s brilliant and I’m reasonably qualified I work at a major London gallery, the content and the context.

Call me dramatic but Out of the Comfort Zone is a message of hope to a younger generation, that you can get things together, much is still possible. Not because of… but in spite of.

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On Facebook:

Really enjoying this excellent book by Melissa Chemam on Massive Attack & the Bristol music scene. 

Published in English this week (the original French edition has been out a while), it’s a hugely enjoyable read, exploring the social & political background that informed a whole generation of Bristol artists & musicians. 

A city & a scene that had a huge influence on me personally & the music I went on to make with Earthling It’s certainly bringing back a lot of memories! Those fantastically exciting years of discovery, from the early 80's onwards : post punk bands, blues parties & sound system culture , weird art happenings , living in Stokes Croft & Montpelier, squat gigs , the Special K cafe & early Hip -Hop & Electro... 

Me hiding behind the bins over the road from Smith & Mighty’s studio on Ashley Rd, just to get to listen to the amazing new music coming out !! 

#bristol#bristolmusic #massiveattack #portishead #tricky #earthling#smithandmighty #carlton #markstewart #thepopgroup #blackroots#thestartledinsects #banksy


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ON BANKSY, MASSIVE ATTACK AND BRISTOL

Reposting my discussion with a young writer for the Frequency 21 online magazine.

We talked about Bristol, street art Banksy and of course Massive Attack, ahead of my book release in France in 2016. Enjoy!

Some of 3D's early artwork for Massive Attack

IN CONVERSATION WITH MELISSA CHEMAM
Written by Leah Bennett

Our article on the newest Banksy theory received lots of views with some agreeing with Craig William’s claim that Banksy was in fact 3D from Massive Attack. One of those who disagreed was Melissa Chemam, a writer from France who has a book on Banksy, Bristol and Massive Attack. Following this, we thought it would be great to sit down with Melissa and find out more about her book.

Her book Out of the Comfort Zone – Massive Attack to Banksy, the story of a group of artists, their city, Bristol, and Their Revolutions focuses on how the community that you come from can inspire you throughout your life. 

The book also addresses the rumour that 3D from Massive Attack and Banksy are intertwined.   

INTERVIEW:

What sort of background do you have?

I’ve been a journalist for 12 years, I studied at a university in Paris. I studied European Literature, political sciences and journalism.  I started working for magazines when I was 24, about culture, music and literature mainly, and then I was hired on a news channel and I have been a reporter about international affairs for about 10 years. It’s a very competitive environment.  I think what helped a lot was the chance to be an intern, to be there quite young even if you’re not really paid. Later, I lived in Miami, where I was reporting about the Obama campaign in 2008, and then I worked with the BBC Work Service from 2009 about African News and that’s what I’m doing mainly right now through different media in Europe and America.

How did you manage to get into journalism?

Well when I was a child, I had this passion for my little globe and I wanted to travel everywhere and I wasn’t sporty or very good with my hands so I was better at things like having a great memory so I thought the best way to travel would be to be a writer or a journalist.  When I was in high school I had a huge passion for history and social studies and interaction with different cultures and I had a strong appeal for the English language so I wanted to live abroad.  The Eurostar came about when I was 16/17 so my first trip abroad without my parents was when I was in London and so I started writing for very local things.

Tell us about the book you’ve written on ‘Banksy and Massive Attack, Out of the Comfort Zone – Massive Attack to Banksy, the story of a group of artists, their city, Bristol, and their revolutions’ what was the inspiration for this book?

I wanted to write about Massive Attack especially because I knew they had a strong relationship with their city so I thought I could write something special about the environment where they come from and the society at the time in the UK through them.  I was involving their relationship with their city and why Bristol at the time was so special.  Also I thought that it was a very positive story it’s about being very young and using hip hop and music you could express your own view on the world. It’s about expressing who you are from the start, though you are not what the society considers "important".  Also I’m a big of their music and I know all their albums by heart. The lead singer from Massive Attack is a graffiti artist himself and I knew that he inspired Banksy, yet I realised that most people had forgotten about it!  Banksy has become this own huge phenomenon so I thought it might be interesting to go back to that and both of them have a very strong view on political issues, on the world around them, they’ve travelled a lot and they’ve tried to express that through what they create.

What is it that you like about Massive Attack?

What attracted me a lot was that when I was younger, I had a passion for soul music and RnB and then growing up and as a teenager you become oh so much more interesting and then I was very much into Radiohead, very rockish music, but very deep.  Massive Attack had all of that.

What is it about Banksy that you like?

It’s the political message that appeals to me first because I’ve travelled to Africa and I’ve worked with the BBC and I was really always very inspired by the fact that an artist or musician could make so much noise about an issue that I’ve struggled with as a journalist.  They can force people to go and have a look at what’s happening in the world.  They do it in a very inspiring way.  The mystery of Banksy being so powerful yet nobody knows who he is, it’s obviously a great story.

What do you think about the popular opinion that Banksy, rather than being one person is a group of people?

I ask around and I understand the thought because he’s done so much and has been to so many places and has gotten away with it.  He’s got away with stuff you can’t do like he put a manikin in Disneyworld figuring Guantanamo Prison, how could somebody do that on their own? I asked the question to the people who saw him arise from Bristol and they told me “No he’s one person!” It doesn’t mean that nobody was ever with him.  But he is himself, he’s one person.

What do you think of the claim that Craig Williams made of Banksy being part of Massive Attack?

Well I’m very surprised that Craig William’s blog has been spread out so widely. I had seen it a few months ago and it was just a blog and then suddenly, because I think Massive Attack were playing back home in Bristol for the first time in a decade, the Daily Mail and the Sun picked up the blog so that they could probably attract people on their website. Because Banksy is such a big thing for media, anytime you say something funny about him, it just takes people along. If you look at the little evidence of who Banksy could be, for example when he appeared on his film and he was masked, he appears a little younger and a little taller, he’s a different person.

Do you think there is any connection at all between Banksy and Massive Attack?

Obviously what is interesting is that there are very strong links between Banksy and the band, he is a very big fan, he’s been around them quite a lot, he said in his own book. And in Massive Attack’s visual history (3D and The Art of Massive Attack), he’s quoted saying that Massive Attack's leader, 3D, who is a graffiti artist, massively inspired him as a kid because of what he did with the walls and the murals as different from tagging your name, it was a passion and it was already very political so it’s an inspiration.  There’s a spin of inspiration between the two, they foster a lot of energy from each other.  They have a strong link that’s for sure but there’s no real trace that they could be the same person, absolutely not.  

Maybe he’s just a fan, maybe he’s just a friend. If you compare what they create as visual artists, it’s very different.  Of course Banksy has been inspired by the use of stencil by 3D, when he was really young. At the time in the mid 80’s, stencil was considered cheating - it was too easy, it was the era of free-hand. But because 3D was a mini hero in Bristol, he was able to do anything he wanted, he used stencils to apply very famous figures inside his murals, like Robert de Niro, Marylyn Monroe, Margaret thatcher.  It was playful and I’m pretty sure that it was this, among other things, that inspired Banksy. But apart from that, 3D has really moved on with his work.  Artistically they’ve evolved so differently.

On a whole, your book focuses strongly on the art scene in Bristol, how was it that you got into that?

Well I think that the starting point was when I was reporting in the Central African Republic two years ago about a civil war, when I came back home, it was difficult to adjust again, I was a bit depressed because of the impact of journalism.  It was at this time, when I had this feeling that I didn’t connect with my city anymore, Paris, this feeling of being alone and it was the very same week that Massive Attack travelled to Lebanon to support Palestinian refugees.  

Suddenly I had this feeling that we shared so many values.

I lived in London years ago and I really liked London because it’s really big and really mixed, and Bristol is too. I suddenly had this conviction that all their intellectual view son the world came from their city. Nothing has been really written about Bristol, I think people had forgotten about it. Bristol has a strong music scene, all the street art there has a very strong impact of the Caribbean culture and I thought it deserved to be in the spotlight.

As a magazine, we try to promote journalism as a career path for young people and help them get on their way. What advice would you give to those wanting to join the industry?

My main advice is that to be a journalist or in communication you have to be really passionate, you have to write about what you like and what you know.  Trust your gut, pick a topic that is strong to you, always try to remain true.  If you’re really true to what you believe in, work really hard and stay who you are, it doesn’t come easily at first but then one day it’ll pay off, it’s got meaning. What our society needs nowadays is journalists that are really fighting for something that they really think is important.  It’s about being committed to the community.

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The book is a fantastic read and will be of interest to anyone who enjoys art, music, literature or just wants to learn more about the culture that Bristol has. For our readers who are aspiring journalists, Melissa provided us with a great insight into the world of journalism and we would definitely heed her advice when thinking about joining the industry. 


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Link to the site: f21mag.com


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Update, March 2019:

The book is now out in English, find it here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Massive-Attack-Out-Comfort-Zone/dp/1910089729

My interview with Adam Crowther on Upload - BBC Radio Bristol

My self is still in buzzing London but my heart is definitely still in Bristol...

To know more, you can listen to my most recent interview with BBC Radio Bristol's newest show, Upload:

From: Upload with Adam Crowther

Massive Attack - Out of the Comfort Zone

Melissa Chemam talks about Massive Attack and how Bristol influenced them.


To listen, click here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p072ngzv

Massive Attack - Out of the Comfort Zone

Journalist and writer Melissa Chemam talks about Massive Attack and how Bristol influenced them.

Release date:

05 March 2019

Duration:

11 minutes

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On the book:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Massive-Attack-Out-Comfort-Zone/dp/1910089729/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1552753787&sr=8-1&keywords=chemam

Author Melissa Chemam's in-depth study of the influences that led to the formation of the Wild Bunch and then Massive Attack looks into Bristol's past to explore how the city helped shape one of the most successful and innovative musical movements of the last 30 years. 

Chemam gives a unique insight into Massive Attack - 3D, Daddy G and Mushroom - their influences, collaborations and politics and the way in which they opened the door for other Bristol musicians and artists including Banksy. 

Brexit: What's next

Graphics by BBC