Issue 46 / July 2014

16
Bido Lito!
July 2014
The classic tale of redemption is as old as man, but sometimes
this love-struck little teenager,” Wilson notes. “All these little
there’s a particular story that stands out from the rest. Bubbling
characters – some of them just a word here and there – it’s like
away below the radar, Paul ‘Kermit’ Leveridge’s triumphant return
this cast of characters.”
from the brink is as inspiring as they come and, thanks to SUPER
However, to get to that stage Kermit needed a cathartic
WEIRD SUBSTANCE, the brand-new multimedia label of DJ Greg
release from his darker days. Launching his newly founded
Wilson, this is a story that is far from reaching its denouement.
Having worked with Kermit since the embryonic stages of
Manchester’s hedonistic boom – putting the
b-boy electro
of
Broken
Glass
down
on
record
in 1984, and
producing two criticallyacclaimed
albums with
the idiosyncratic, sociallyinformed
Ruthless Rap
Assassins in the early nineties
– Wilson was always going to
be involved in the contagious
character’s return.
Eager to find out more
about the journey at the
heart of Super Weird
Substance’s
creation,
Bido
Lito!
sought out Greg Wilson in the sleepy
surroundings of his hometown in
New Brighton, and found a man who
was eager to pick up the threads of this
remarkable story. With the restrained
confidence of a man on the verge of
seeing through some unfinished business,
Wilson recalls a conversation he had with
Paul in one of the Rap Assassins’ last
recording sessions. “It was a bleak time:
Manchester was no longer Madchester
it was Gunchester. [Kermit] was also
sinking into a heroin addiction. I knew
that, but he wasn’t admitting it. So it
was a bit of an unreal situation, but in
this moment there was a real clarity,
and we were talking about the
future and we were talking about
this comic book album.”
Perhaps predictably, the album
never came to fruition and Kermit formed Black
Grape with Shaun Ryder instead. “It was basically two
junkies sat on a couch writing eyeball to eyeball, but they
managed to come out with this magic,” explains Wilson. “It
was during [this time] that he poisoned his blood system
injecting with a dirty needle and contracted septicaemia and
was basically at death’s door for a period.” After some major
surgery as a result of the infection, Kermit needed time to
regroup but took inspiration from the introspective period. “He’s
like a man possessed in terms of his writing,” asserts Wilson. “This
is somebody who’s understood from his own dark moments that
this is it, this is his chance now. If this goes, it’s gone.”
When Kermit brought his Blind Arcade project to Wilson
about twelve months ago, it soon became clear that he had
unknowingly adopted the comic book idea about which they
once spoke. Blind Arcade Meets Super Weird Substance In The
The poem is about his heroin addiction, and is read by Howard
Morphogenetic Field – a mixtape of demos blended together
Marks, who’s a friend of Kermit’s, and with that deep Welsh voice
by Wilson, who has also peppered in a few edits, samples and
[he] gives it gravitas.”
effects – is the result of that. “In some tracks he can sound like
Adopting a psychedelic aesthetic and Balearic sound, the
this wise old soul who’s seen it all, and in another he’s like
flagship mixtape harks back to past summers of love, and the fact
bidolito.co.uk
Super Weird Substance label at a sixties-inspired “happening”
at Manchester’s Dry Bar on
SUPER WEIRD
SUBSTANCE
Ripples In The
Morphogenetic Field
Record
Store
Day, Wilson facilitated
this catharsis through the
release of Kermit’s poem Lies
& Other Fools. “The idea of doing a
poem as a 7” single was stupid really, it
Words: Josh Ray / @Josh5446Ray
Illustration: Illustration: Oliver Oliver Catherall Catherall / olivercatherall.co.uk
olivercatherall.co.uk
was like commercial suicide, but we didn’t
do it [for commercial reasons],” explains Wilson. “It
was a symbolic thing, to draw a line behind the past.
that the second summer of love happened in Kermit’s hometown
isn’t lost on Wilson. “These connections and synchronicities
have been there throughout this project; we’re very aware of the
symbolism of what we’re trying to do.” Given the fact that the
graphic novel Watchmen made a huge impact on Kermit during
his Rap Assassins days, the Super Weird Substance name – derived
from a quantum physics theory championed by
Alan Moore, which argues that “information
is a super weird substance [that] underlies
everything in the universe” – furthers these
synchronicities.
Though it’s clear to see that Blind Arcade have one
foot in the past, they most certainly aren’t rooted
there. With the dextrous robo funk bassmaker Luke
‘Evermean’ EVM128 working alongside Kermit on
production, Blind Arcade have their sights firmly set
on the future, moving from warped versions
of retrospective sounds to edgy
electronica, animated by the
incredible vocal work of BB James
and telepathic Merseyside twins
Katherine and Carmel Reynolds.
Although they move through a
mind-boggling amount of musical
territory over the mixtape, there’s never
any pretence in Blind Arcade’s work;
what they’re making is above all else
pop music – perhaps even a new wave
of pop music. “What they’ve got on the
surface is really accessible, fun, vibey,
uplifting music,” explains Wilson. “But
repeated plays will unveil layers of
depth to it and you realise then
that there’s a lot of life been lived
in this. It’s a life thing, it’s about
the world we live in now; it’s
reflective of where we are.”
Wilson is pensive in his
stewardship of Super Weird
Substance’s flagship project, allowing the
mixtape to pick up momentum naturally. “That
organic thing of spreading around the summer is
really important,” he explains, “because those people
that it connects with will hopefully be firm supporters of
what you’re doing for a few years down the line because
they feel that affinity [with it] and they become almost
evangelical, spreading the word on your behalf.”
Aside from a couple of festival appearances, Blind Arcade
will stay quiet for most of the summer, letting the mixtape
seep into the public consciousness gradually, paving the
way for a tour in autumn. Super Weird Substance will also
for the most part remain quiet. With a possible EP release for
Kermit’s deeper, dubbier project with Ollie Miles (The Footprint),
and maybe something with the Reynolds sisters, the label won’t
be looking to add to the roster just yet. “It’s kind of set up in a
friends and family type way at the minute. We’re not looking to
go find anyone at this second,” Wilson adds.
This slow but steady approach will almost certainly pay
dividends as the movement really picks up steam, so get on
board with Blind Arcade and Super Weird Substance now
otherwise you’ll kick yourselves when they take off.
Download Blind Arcade Meets Super Weird
Substance In The Morphogenetic Field
for free now from
superweirdsubstance.com