PULSE - music and more, with Paul Barry

PARTY people Alabama 3 say they may have dug their own grave with their latest combination of dance music attitude, gospel blues . . . and sermons.

The collective, who bring their eccentric mix of blues, gospel and Deep South evangelism to the North West this week, have recently returned from an American tour with Burnley anarchists Chumbawamba.

Their last single, Ain't Going To Goa, mixed a tongue-in-cheek warning about the dangers of becoming a hippy with a rootsy house backbeat.

Band member Larry Love told Pulse what inspired he and The Very Rev Dr D Wayne Love to adopt their latest sound.

Larry, who occasionally lapses from his adopted American drawl to reveal his Welsh roots, said: "We have been a sound system for years and I first started playing at the Castle Morton free festival back in the early 1990s.

"That was a really exciting time and there was a definite rave scene around Blackburn in the early 1990s, with warehouse parties.

"Me and my mates often used to go up to Blackpool for raves.

"I remember going to Ibiza one summer with a crew from Nelson, who were a really good bunch of lads.

"Ever since then we have been doing different projects and have remixed other people's records. "The latest stuff that D Wayne and I are doing draws on American music and culture and it is a bit tongue-in-cheek.

Larry, who provides the music while partner D Wayne howls like a preacher, said: "We're into blues and gospel, Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, country stuff and the preacher sounds of the Deep South.

"I was brought up in South Wales on a background of Mormon evangelism and our latest stuff draws on the way that many right-wing evangelists preach in America.

"Our shows aim to hit people on a number of different levels. We might do an all-acoustic gig or play rock and roll until six in the morning - it just depends what we feel.

"The boundaries between different types of music are becoming much more blurred in 1990s.

"The divide between DJs and bands is narrowing and at our performances there is no gap between them.

"We like to get people thinking at our gigs but we don't pretend to have any answers.

"Too many bands think they can tell people what to do. We just like to mess people's heads around with massive backdrops of pictures like Lenin talking on a mobile phone. "Our problem is that we do spend a lot of time trying to be clever to be stupid.

"We have either dug our own grave or given ourselves a lifeline.

"It's too early to tell."

Alabama 3 play Liverpool Lomax on Wednesday May 13, and the Hop And Grape, Manchester, on Saturday, May 16.

New Yorker finds Pendle inspiring

POETIC singer/songwriter Angela Costa may hail from New York but a midnight trek up windswept Pendle Hill proved just the inspiration she needed for her latest album.

Angela, who is signed to Colne-based label Planet Records, came over from New York to record her latest album, Soul Disease, in the Rossendale town of Whitworth.

She plays Burnley and Colne this weekend.

Angela's shows are an unusual mix of folk songs, poetry and story-telling and she counts the late Jeff Buckley as one of her top admirers.

Planet's Adrian Melling persuaded the experimental New Yorker to take a late-night stroll in Lancashire's hill country to spark her creativity. Angela told Pulse: "He said the vibe would inspire the next day's recording session, and I certainly think it did.

"I could definitely relate to the feel of the place, as I have a bit of a feeling for the darker side of things myself."

Course offers record studio insight

A COURSE designed to give absolute beginners a grounding in modern studio techniques is being held in Chorley later this month.

The three-day course, taught by Simon Jones from the Moving Music studio, will give people a chance to use multi-track recording equipment, signal processors and effects units.

Simon's recording work has won national awards from the Foundation for Sport and Arts and has been featured on BBC and independent radio.

He said: "The course is ideal for anyone interested in music and how it is recorded.

"It is an opportunity to glimpse the fascinating world of the modern studio." The course, which runs from Wednesday, May 27 to Friday, May 29, costs between £15 and £92, depending on whether meals and accommodation are required and whether participants are on benefits.

It is run through Lancashire College, Chorley, and anyone wanting to register should call the college on 01257 260909 quoting reference G324.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.