WE GOT HALF AN HOUR BEFORE PEOPLE ARE COMING LET’S MAKE A QUICK BASSLINE DOWN
A CONVERSATION WITH JON KLEIN
Jon Klein and Jah Wobble are back with a new album, Automated Paradise. This is not the first time they have worked together, in 2021 they released the brilliant Metal Box – Rebuilt In Dub album (Jah Wobble was an original member of Public Image Ltd who originally released Metal Box in 1979). Klein and Wobble also released A Brief History of Now in 2023, along with numerous other recordings. Klein, a former member of Specimen and Siouxsie and the Banshees from 1987 until 1994. He firmly established himself as a producer and musician who has worked with many other artists.
“Strangely, our paths crossed at various points in our lives, particularly in 1995 when I was touring with Sinéad O’Connor, and he had just been working with her just before that. But I never met him. I did meet Brian Eno once at a Jah Wobble gig, but that was through Barry Andrews from Shriekback. But there is this community music project which we both work with. It is called Tuned In and the guy who set that up with Jah, he was head of libraries in South London. And he hired Jah Wobble as the libraries ambassador that year on another project after reading his autobiography [Memories of A Geezer: Music, Life, Mayhem] where Wobble talked about one his first jobs was working in a library in East London. And I had been working with them on various projects, as well.”
PHOTO CREDIT: FERGUS KELLY / ROOM TEMPERATURE
The Tuned In project launched in 2019 and is a project which aims to combat some of the issues of loneliness in the London Borough of Merton. Tuned In works with acclaimed musician, performer and writer Jah Wobble who facilitates musical jam sessions every Monday at Merton Arts Space, Wimbledon library. The sessions share and develop musical skills and build knowledge, as well as helping individuals build social connections and friendship groups. They create an environment for people from all walks of life to come together and enjoy mutual support.
“When Wobble mentioned the Tuned In idea, and there was and is a real need for this type of programme, particularly. So, we started that project off with jam sessions. We got quite a lot of people coming in, just doing jam sessions at the library. That developed into us building a studio in the library, doing recording workshops. When we went into lockdown, we put it online, and I was doing some teaching.”
Through this work together, they also began to create new music. They released a couple of singles. “Wobble was offered to do the Metal Box – Rebuilt In Dub album, and I guess because we were working so much together. And he knew I was familiar with post-punk, it is in my wheelhouse.”
But the current album, Automated Paradise, was completed almost organically. The two almost fell into the creation of the record. “It kind of made itself,” laughed Klein. “I think that is some of the magic of it, because we never set out to make an album. The last album we did, A Brief History Of Now, took us three quarters of a year to make. We were also doing other work as well. After Brief History, we made two reggae albums, which I loved doing because Wobble’s feel for it is proper. It was a crash course, like doing a PhD in reggae because he had opinions as to what is reggae and what isn’t. We were trying to make essentially exciting music and keep it moving quick and keep adrenaline happening. Keeping the performance element in it, really. It seems slightly lost, which is why I love those ‘70s albums so much.”
AUTOMATED PARADISE ALBUM REVIEW
It seemed it was those limitations of recording in the previous decade that appealed to both Wobble and Klein. “So we were just making music super quick, usually on our down time. I had made a few sketches to use for something, Jon would hear ideas and casually, well I say casual, but it isn’t casual. It is music making. You are not making music because you have an idea for a track.”
Although they did not set out to make an album, make an album they did. A thematic album about social isolation, technology and far too much faith in technology. “We never sat down and had a conversation about the album. Jon was coming up with the words this time around, and he just seemed to have the lyrics. He is a great storyteller, and he combines philosophy and what is happening in the news and the polarization of the word, which has accelerated post pandemic. With the evolution of social media and what’s going on.”
As they were writing and recording the album shaped itself. “A couple of tracks had ideas, “Make It Stop” was one of the first lyrics for the album, and this is…I live near Kings Cross Station, and I feel that every day. A million people staring into their phones, bumping into you. High anxiety and stress. Everyone is busy, you know. I guess a few of those pieces just sort of landed where they were. Lyrically that is where the continuity is. Some of the things I started I wasn’t sure where this would fit. But it metamorphosed as we were working. What ended up being the first track, “Fading Away,” started as a synthesizer experiment. I think I was trying to get away from the places I had been musically. When I played it for Jah, he said ‘oh, I really like that one, let me put bass on it’ [Klein does an incredible impersonation of Jah Wobble]. It turned the song completely upside down. I just thought, ‘hang on a minute.’ He had taken it somewhere where it wasn’t before. Then he came back and said, ‘it kind of reminds me of Joy Division’ and it was so far away from where I did or where I imagined the track was going. So, when he came out and sang it, we didn’t discuss it. He had his own ideas about the spaceship. It happened in a quick session.”
PHOTO CREDIT: FERGUS KELLY / ROOM TEMPERATURE
“I played synthesizer before in Specimen. In fact, with Specimen, when we got going, we wanted a keyboard player because we wanted that bottom noise. I guess since Gary Numan had done it with Tubeway Army, no one could make a record without synths. The power of the synth. So, we were always interested in moogs. We spent our first record advance on a moog on a synth. It was an absolute monster.”
While the two had a great time putting together Automated Paradise, at this point, there are no real plans for the duo to tour or perform live. “That is kind of tricky,” laughed Klein. “It’s just the two of us. Jah’s son drums on some of it and there are other musicians on some songs. We could maybe do it with his son on drums, his son is a great drummer. Both of his sons are terrific musicians [Jah Wobble’s sons are John Tian Qi Wardle and Charlie Tian Yi Wardle]. When we put out the album we thought we would do some songs live.
Some of it is because we haven’t overthought it. Too much cleaning, tidying, you reconsider it. One thing I found with Jah is that it is so quick. It is just how much you trust your instincts when you are working with him. And Jah is so much … ‘we got half an hour before people are coming let’s make a quick bassline down.’ Sometimes when I am playing, I just hear something in my head, pick up the guitar, pick up the phone and use voice memos. Play the guitar into a voice memo, put it into the computer, drop it into the song. What I found was that I was really trusting that the things I was doing in a minute, I was trusting them, keeping them and protecting them, these ideas. Jah is good at stopping you from doing too much sometimes.”
Jah Wobble Links
Jon Klein Links
Main & Background Photo Credit: Peter McDonnell
