There are some musicians whose careers are almost impossible to reduce to a single band.
Jah Wobble is one of them.
For many, his name will always be tied to Public Image Ltd, the band formed with John Lydon after the Sex Pistols. But that only tells a fraction of the story.
Across a career spanning decades, Wobble has moved through punk, post punk, dub, reggae, experimental music and world music, collaborating with an extraordinary range of artists while developing one of the most recognisable bass styles in British music.
In the latest episode of Misadventures in Music, he joins Ian Prowse and Mick Ord for a conversation that moves from the birth of punk to The Beatles, Public Image Ltd, the joy of making music and, perhaps unexpectedly, his deep affection for Liverpool.
A New Liverpool Connection
Liverpool runs through this conversation in a way we weren’t entirely expecting.
Wobble talks warmly about the city, the people and his own connections to it, including the story of how he once seriously considered moving here.
He is particularly drawn to the Mersey and the idea of walking beside the water, something he compares to his relationship with the Thames.
That Liverpool connection has now found its way into his music too.
His latest project, Mystic Liverpool: The Beatles Psychedelic Songbook, sees Wobble working with his sons John and Charlie, blending traditional Chinese instruments, jazz and dub with music inspired by The Beatles.
For someone so closely associated with punk and post punk, his affection for The Beatles might surprise a few people.
It shouldn’t.
It Was a Slice of Heaven
One of the most revealing parts of the conversation comes when Wobble talks about hearing Strawberry Fields Forever as a child.
He describes the record not simply as music, but as something closer to a feeling.
“slice of heaven”.
It leads into a wider discussion about growing up surrounded by wildly different sounds: Bowie, soul, ska, Stevie Wonder, Philadelphia soul, Motown and The Beatles.
Those influences help explain why Wobble’s own music has never stayed comfortably inside one genre.
Even during the punk years, his instincts were already pulling him somewhere else.
Before Punk Had a Name
Wobble was not watching the birth of punk from a distance.
He was there.
The episode takes us back to London in the mid 1970s, when Malcolm McLaren’s shop on the King’s Road, Vivienne Westwood, John Lydon, Sid Vicious and a collection of musicians, artists and outsiders were beginning to form something that would soon explode into British culture.
Wobble’s memories of that period are particularly fascinating because he talks about it without mythology.
These were his mates.
They were young people hanging around, discovering music, fashion and identity, long before anybody knew how historically significant those moments would become.
There are some brilliant stories about John Lydon and Sid Vicious in this part of the conversation.
We’ll leave Wobble to tell them.
Public Image Ltd and the Joy of Making Music
When the Sex Pistols ended, John Rotten became John Lydon and Public Image Ltd emerged with a sound that was far removed from straightforward punk.
Wobble’s bass became fundamental to it.
When Ian asks what it felt like when PiL suddenly had a hit, the label was paying attention and Wobble himself was becoming a recognised figure, his answer says a great deal about him.
He was simply happy to be making music.
That feeling, he says, has never really disappeared.
For all the attention, records and mythology surrounding that period, Wobble continually returns to the basic pleasure of playing.
It is probably the thread that connects everything he has done since.
Much More Than a Punk Story
That is what makes this episode so enjoyable.
It could easily have become another conversation about the Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd and punk.
Instead, it keeps moving.
Wobble talks about art, bass playing, community music, family, creativity, northern musicians, London, Liverpool and the strange connections that music creates between people who might otherwise never meet.
There is also an interesting discussion about the community music work he continues to be involved with and why he would like to bring something similar to Liverpool.
Once again, the city seems to keep finding its way back into the conversation.
Jah Wobble on Misadventures in Music
Jah Wobble has spent nearly five decades refusing to stand still musically.
From the beginnings of punk and Public Image Ltd to dub, experimental music and his latest Beatles inspired project, his career is a reminder that some of the most interesting musicians are the ones who never allow themselves to be defined by their most famous moment.
This episode of Misadventures in Music gives Ian Prowse and Mick Ord the chance to explore that journey, but it also becomes something more personal.
It is a conversation about discovering music, making music and still being excited by it decades later.
And, somewhere along the way, quite a lot about Liverpool too.
Watch the full conversation with Jah Wobble on Misadventures in Music with Ian Prowse & Mick Ord, from Urbanista Magazine.
