Credited with introducing exotic styles of music to British fans, Jah Wobble is set to appear in East Lancashire. He spoke to JOHN ANSON. . .

WITH a triple CD restrospective just out -- and receiving rave reviews -- it might be a fair bet to assume that Jah Wobble, former member of Public Image and a pioneering force in the music scene is contemplating hanging up his bass.

"Nah mate, there's no chance of that," he says in an accent so heavily entrenched in the East End you can almost taste the jellied eels. "I've got a new album virtually ready to go and I've got a lot of ideas after that. I don't intend to go anywhere."

This will be reassuring news for fans of the man who has long been at the forefront in bringing a whole range of world music and rhythms to a wider audience.

Next Friday he arrives at Burnley Mechanics with his band as part of an on-going tour to celebrate over 25 years in the business.

"One of the reasons I've released the CD now is that I wonder if CDs will still be commercially viable in the next couple of years. I've been asked to do one since the '90s and I've covered so much territory I thought the time was right," he said. "What I have found interesting is that the early songs still sound as fresh today and that the production on them is still current."

Jah Wobble is a man passionate about his music -- and scathing about the bland production which he sees as afflicting many modern records.

"I'm a broad brushstrokes man," he said, "and I've come to despise anything that's too clean and horrible.

"You want music to be vibrant, to be bursting with vitality. I don't like records that have been mixed by numbers. If people love music they don't care that some boring git has spent eight days on the mix.

Jah Wobble -- he got his name after Sid Vicious drunkenly mispronounced his real name, John Wardle -- has worked with a legion of famous names, including Brian Eno, U2's The Edge and Sinead O'Connor.

For the current tour he has assembled a first-rate band -- and his expectations of them are high.

"There is a Jah Wobble way of doing things," he said. "I expect my band to give 100 per cent concentration. It's a bit like a successful football team."

Having experimented in styles ranging from Arabia and Africa to English folk music, where else is left for Jah Wobble to go?

"I really would like to do country and western," he confesses. "Seriously, it may be a bit of a fantasy and it could end up being sad but it could happen. I do like moving into risky territory."