All language subtitles for The Man From Mo Wax-2016.en

The thing that I've learnt
most, and I would...

I would always recommend to anybody
starting out in this business

is total and utter control.

And to be able to retain as
much control as you humanly can

is the... the... the
greatest power that you have.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Good Evening citizens of Earth,

or any other planet
in the Solar System..

Tonight on your telescreen, we
will see and hear, first-hand,

one of man's most momentous
space adventures...

ma boy will go to the moon..

I got everything you
could ever dream of.

Probably made a million
by the time I was 21.

You don't ever think
it's gonna end.

I'd love to sell a
hundred million records.

I was always a
pushy motherfucker.

"Return Of The Original
Art Form" by Major Force

♪ Come on. Let's do it! ♪

♪ Alright! Hey hey
hey hey, hey hey! ♪

♪ Ready ready,
ready ready, ready ♪

♪ Ready to roll! ♪

♪ Ready ready, re... re... ♪

"The Planets, Op. 32, Venus, The
Bringer Of Peace" by Gustav Holst

I grew up in Oxford, and I've
always been surrounded by music.

My grandfather was a
singer on Radio Two.

My father played
with The Dubliners,

which are a very
influential Irish folk band.

My grandmother was the first woman
to be in the Irish Philharmonic.

She taught me to
play the Cello...

and then I broke her heart
by getting into Kung Fu.

The friends that he went
to primary school with

didn't seem to carry on as the friends
that he had in secondary school.

He was too...

He was too sort of unusual.

He was very unusual.

I think that happens.

They got in an educational
psychologist to do tests on him.

On the imaginative artistic score,
he was actually off the chart

because he was so high.

Reasoning and logic, he wasn't
doing very well on that.

I mean REALLY wasn't
doing very well on that,

but this complete imbalance.

His dad went off.

James probably saw
it as very abrupt.

They... They got divorced
and it was horrific.

It was like a war.

He was absolutely distraught.

I remember seeing this
mad other universe.

"Check Yo Self"
remix by The Message

The first record I
bought was The Message.

♪ It's like a jungle
sometimes It makes me wonder ♪

♪ How I keep from going under ♪

Seeing hip hop,

it was like seeing
something alien, you know.

It was science fiction.

♪ A child is born with
no state of mind ♪

♪ Blind to the ways of mankind ♪

♪ God is smiling on you
but he's frowning too ♪

♪ Because only God
knows what you gon' do ♪

I was bunking off school
to go and hang out,

to play tapes with my friends.

It was trying to find a family identity
because your family had broken.

Grandmaster Flash, Why
do they call you Flash?

What it is, is the way that I mix, I
mix a little faster than the average DJ.

Hip hop is poetry to
the beat of music.

We used to isolate the particular
section, for example, the drummer's solo.

That's been the template,
turntable science,

what I came up with in
the early seventies.

Said yeah.

Alright! Yeah!

The whole sound system thing
was what I was really into.

The Wild Bunch...

They were my idols.

3D the graffiti artist, the
collaborations, the design.

They were just the
coolest motherfuckers.

♪ It's the Massive Attack
You're on the right track ♪

The Wild Bunch, which then
became Massive Attack.

Massive Attack,

it was so influential for me they
way that they were as a band.

I wanted to be like that.

Telling your Mum that
you wanted to be a DJ...

Was, "DJ? No".

He asked me if he could have all of his...
his pocket money for a year.

Don't ask me why I said OK, but
he went to buy these turn tables,

then he started
having gigs in pubs.

He was 14.

How did he get to work in
pubs at that age? I mean...

At 15, 16, basically just
spent most of the time

skiving off school to just go into
London to get records, you know.

All your life was about was
buying tunes, that was it.

He'd had enough.

He left and finished, and said
to me "I'm going to London".

I attempted to study
some business studies

but just left college to
work in a record store.

I started getting a reputation
for selling certain DJs' records.

I'm hearing about this
amazing record shop,

and then I'm hearing, like, there's
a guy in there called James.

He's into hip hop, jazz...

He's collecting records.

He's into obscure, kind
of, Japanese hip hop.

So I'm gonna go to this place and
I'm gonna see who this dude is.

As I walk in, there's this
kid there with the glasses on,

and I'm just like, yo. This
is James Lavelle, yeah?

I was just like, this is the kid?
Of course it's him!

You know, and so, you
know, we bonded over music,

and we just kind of developed this
relationship from buying records.

There was a scene going on
and I gotta infiltrate that,

trying to get in there somehow,
trying to make your own mark.

♪ You dig? ♪

- Give me a word.
- A word.

Straight No Chaser was a
magazine of world jazz and jive,

and what was emerging
out of the underground.

It provided a hub around which
a global community evolved.

James came in and had a chat,

and he was this 17-year-old
kid who was hip hop "style-y."

He said, "You need me".

And Swifty, who was
sat working next to me,

turned round after he'd
gone and said "Get him in".

And so James came in
to say you need me

because you need a
column with new music,

and you could tell he wasn't, you know...
He... He wasn't a fly-by.

We just chucked him in at
the deep end basically,

and gave him a column,
which was Mo' Wax.

♪ Sing it! Sing it! ♪

The column was really
good for him, actually

because, basically,
it was a vehicle

which was gonna go out to a lot
of different DJs around the world.

"Talkin' Loud" by Incognito

I was getting a little
bit of a name for myself

as a sort of, you know,
musical, kind of, archaeologist,

pulling out the tunes
for that new generation.

♪ Talkin' loud ♪

♪ And saying somethin' ♪

♪ 'Bout the way we
live our lives today ♪

I DJ at a place
called Dingwalls,

doing a club, Talkin' Loud,

which included everybody
who was into house music

and had been raving the night before
or who was just into jazz tunes.

The greatest thing about that club,
it really brought everybody together.

♪ There's a new generation
taking up the challenge ♪

There was people
like James Lavelle,

coming through
with a new spirit.

I really wanted to kind
of hook up with him

and to start something
fresh and new,

and that's really how the club,
That's How It Is, appeared.

♪ That, That,
Th-that's how it is! ♪

James sharing the
turntables with Gilles,

that was quite a
big step for him.

It was a barometer of
how things would change,

finding what were the links
between different genres of music.

You know, joining the
dots, connecting things.

You know, everyone used to go.
It was a real mad mix of people.

That was a test for him, and
he came through it really well,

and it was an amazing time.

You know, all these records were
getting their first rinse in that club,

anywhere in the world.

I spent a lot of time travelling
up and down the motorway

and playing the UK and playing
other countries, DJing abroad.

He was just relentless.

In those days, only very few people
had these vast record collections,

comprehensive discographies of
labels, where it's like all of it.

He was obviously a
very good hustler,

being the first person to hear
whatever people are doing,

making contacts, building a
community with all his heroes.

I suddenly just started realising
there was this crew of people

that wanted to change
things, you know.

Maybe the best thing to do was
to try and set up my own label.

DJs had their labels.

If you were a cool DJ, you
had your own record label.

He'd heard this track
by Repercussions.

He went over to New
York on a mission:

to get a license for it.

I borrowed a thousand pounds.

I went to New York.

I gave a thousand
pounds to the manager.

I got the DATs.

Came back with the license
and the master tapes.

He'd asked me to
design the logo.

I got a deal with a distributor

and pressed the record.

My name's James Lavelle,

and I run a record label in the
UK called Mo'Wax recordings.

Um, and that's
kind of what I do,

is my "styl-o".

That is my shit, Mo'Wax, baby.

At that time,

the music industry and DJ culture
was locked down by the old guards.

It was just like a
closed door, you know.

I always really admired his kind
of, "I'm gonna get this done

regardless of how many
obstacles are in my way",

and he's given me the
opportunity to make records.

I literally had a conversation,
got signed to Mo'Wax,

made a record, it came out.

I never made demos.

The Psychonauts, we
were just DJ kids.

We had got signed to Mo'Wax.

You know, I was this kid that
grew up being into Star Wars,

then started scratching
records and collecting hip hop.

You know, I was a dreamer,
where I came from,

looking at James, like...
James was God, you know.

James turned
everything into gold.

You know, going through your
teenage years is hard enough.

Trying to run a business? Must
have been really hard for him.

I mean, you've got to always
remind yourself he was a teenager.

It was very hypothetical.
It was a bit of a mad dream.

It wasn't even like work. It was
just like non-stop mucking about.

I don't even know
what work we did.

I can't even remember.

James did make it up as he went
along because he was really young.

You know, none of us
had done it before.

If anything went wrong, it was
always down to you being young.

Now when you're successful,

it's like, "You're really young.
Wow, you've done really well".

So, it kind of...

I think people take it seriously
and people don't, you know.

I don't know. I don't
really have that problem.

I think if you're good at
what you do, you're good.

I was very much on my own.

It was just kind of me and
Swifty, who did all the graphics.

"Coast To Coast" by Mistura

And I wanted to set up something
which was like a fast record label,

releasing records just, bang. Ching,
Ching, ching. Just like, on point.

Bang. Ching, Ching, ching.
Ching, Ching, ching.

More wax, more
records, more music.

You gotta credit James Lavelle

with being the first
person outside of our crew

who really believed in us and
believed in our sound, genuinely,

and was able to give us a
shot and put our music out,

so, you know, shout
out to James Lavelle.

The thing that was dope about
James is that he just had a vision.

The Mo'Wax sound, to me, was
one of just forward movement.

I'll credit him with being
one of the truly great A&R men

of the nineties.

At the moment, people that
are signed to Mo'Wax are:

Blackalicious...

♪ A dooby and a skin, funky
break beats and rhyme ♪

Attica Blues...

Dr. Octagon...

♪ Dr. Octagon paramedic
foetus of the east ♪

La Funk Mob...

"Flow" by RPM

The Psychonauts...

DJ Krush...

The Mo'Wax office,

there's so many people coming
and going all the time.

It was like a meeting ground for
all these different types of music

and from all over the world.

What's the secret
of your success?

If you send me a cheque...

with a large sum of money to
167 Caledonian Road, London,

I'll tell all of you.

No, um, the secret of my success
is a very strong identity.

I basically was a famous
graffiti artist when I was 18.

You know, if you ask people like,
"Have you ever heard of Future?"

Like, "Oh shit. He's...
He's dope".

I was recognised.
I had no success.

I mean, I had no... I was broke.

And then turns out James
knew a lot about our culture.

We just started talking about
what we could do together.

James had tracked Futura down,

and he was working in a
photocopy shop in New York.

We went out and bought
hundreds of aerosols.

Futura arrived off the plane,

and we set him up in a broom cupboard,
and he just painted in there.

He was just like
handing us artwork.

I mean, it was incredible.

James was delivering this kind of
complete thing to his audience.

He was really a pioneer.

I was always like, you know, if
my label fell apart tomorrow,

I'd rather have a load of
nice looking records at home.

Also, I brought in people
like 3D, from Massive Attack.

Everyone was completely
mesmerised by their artwork.

It was a boutique label

before people even knew
what a boutique label was.

Mob... Rob...

James has wasted a lot of my money
basically, over the years, um...

and a lot of my time,
as well, to be honest.

- It's been a...

difficult relationship
but, well, you know...

but, you know, I'm sticking with it
for another couple of years at least.

Mo'Wax was the label that
really spoke to everyone,

like techno, drum and bass,
hip hop and acid jazz.

Mo'Wax was the label that brought
them people back together.

It was doing what
hadn't been done.

This guy's doing
something different.

All these other people
just trying to follow

what's happening in...
in New York,

and at some point, we're all
gonna wake up and realise

that we are not from the Bronx.

I'm living in South London,
I don't have a gold chain,

I don't have a firearm,
I don't have a Jeep,

um, I don't have cash in my...
I... I'm overdrawn.

Like, I don't have
any of the trappings

that any of these hip hop
records that I'm so obsessed with

are talking about.

You know, I need something new.

Expect from Mo'Wax that
we are a, inverted commas,

trip hop instrumental
hip hop label.

♪ Rock died out
and then came pop ♪

♪ Now you're living in
the world of trip hop. ♪

What people call trip hop: the
hip hop, soul, reggae vibe,

the slowing down of the beats, for
the head nodders, for the stoners.

It would be very easy for us to
just kind of commercialise on the...

on the trip hop thing and just be
like, that's... that's our shit,

but it doesn't help your artists,
'cos everybody sounds the same.

Nobody's gonna
break out the pack.

I'd rather have a label
full of individual people.

I

I'd rather not go
into it anymore.

Just leave it, that
question, if it's alright

cos I... I just kind of
feel now that, you know.

There are a couple of particularly
famous acts around at the moment,

that one was
heavily involved in.

You're an independent with, you
know, that can give them a grand.

It doesn't work.

For me the only way that
I could feel comfortable

in what I was doing was
to team up with a major

and have that financial backing,

that the next time an act
that I wanted came along,

I didn't have to worry about it.
I could just be like...

There. Let's just go.

A&M records was one of the
great independent labels,

and the idea was to tap an
existing artistic community

that was making great music.

Mo'Wax was the
first on our list.

James was thinking
really, really big.

He really thought like
great record moguls.

We offered him a great
home at A&M records.

Pioneering trip hop
label, Mo'Wax, '

is the brainchild of a young
man barely into his twenties,

called James Lavelle..

He '3 recently signed the label
over for a small fortune to A&M.

- Are you rich?
- Am I rich? Am I rich?

Do I look rich?

Ask my accountant.

- I thought you would be.
- I can't say things like that.

Tax man's watching
MTV all the time.

Damn.

Couple of hundred grand,

which I suppose if you're
21, lot of money, huh?

Looked really good
on paper, mate.

They had a lot of freedom to
build an independent label

within the structure of a major,

which was quite mad at the time.

I guess, like anything,

when you start something to
rebel against the system,

eventually what happens
is you become successful,

and then the system
comes to find you.

And then the system says,
"You're doing really good now.

Do you wanna come and eat at the
table?" And you always say "Yes"

because you only rebelled
against the system

because the system wouldn't
allow you in, in the first place.

So, the deal comes with A&M.

He hired a guy to manage
it all called Steve Finan.

Clearly, he was a different
breed, quite ruthless.

I quickly sussed out that
that was the end for me.

The thing that annoyed me

was that James didn't really have
the bottle to tell me to my face.

He got Finan to do his
dirty work for him.

Major label, deal with
the bullshit, the money.

Everybody's happy.

I get on with doing the music.

No problem.

I think Swifty was a bit
aggrieved, but at the same time...

It can be stressful, you know, it
can be stressful working with James,

because he's always
looking for the next thing

that people are
gonna think is cool.

That doesn't mean to say

that Swifty's not the best
thing since sliced bread.

It did kind of piss me off that I
lost a friend rather than a client.

We were his friends, yeah.

Well, we thought we
were his friends.

You know, I came into
Mo'Wax as James' friend.

Now I can't get hold of you?

It's not a handshake and a Spliff
anymore, you know what I mean?

Those days are over.

Those are the beginnings of
the music industry changing.

Labels were merging.

James was prepared to put
himself on the line without fear.

It was remarkable what James
achieved at an early age.

It is just about keeping your ear
to the ground constantly, you know,

test the barriers of music
and create something new.

"Best Foot Forward" by DJ Shadow

♪ Oh hold up, before
we get started ♪

- ♪ Guess who's coming. ♪
- Um...

- ♪ Guess who's coming. ♪
- JAMES: Um...

♪ It's... ♪
- DJ Shadow...

DJ Shadow.

♪ DJ Shadow ♪

Does it say record?'?

I met DJ Shadow,

and that revolutionised
and changed the sound now.

"Rivers Of My Fathers"
by Gil Scott Heron

DJ Shadow's like an instrumental,
progressive hip hop thing.

This is our shit and nobody can...
You know, this is...

Suddenly, you... You know,
you find your own thing,

and it's so much more
important to you.

It's so much more special
because that's your shit.

Do you know what I mean?

James, if he wanted something,
he would go and get it.

He would get on a plane and
go and knock on Shadow's door.

DJ Shadow.

James came out to San Francisco.

This is my first, like,
major video footage.

It's been christened in
Josh '3 home of beats.

"See And Don't See" by
Marie "Queenie" Lyons

♪ The only way ♪

- AW, look at that.
- ♪ How to get through to you ♪

Man, you've been buying
a lot of records.

- The par/our of mystery.
- The par/our of mystery.

This is dope, you know.

We could, like,
record this shit'

and you can download it
onto fucking internet shit.

We were so similar,

our absolute obsession
of collecting records.

We'd go to San Francisco
every other month,

and we'd go record shopping.

I just wanna shoot this.
This is so dope, you know.

It's crazy this place..

It's so amazing..

This is classic..

I was very close to Shadow.

I mean, I... You know, he was
my brother, and I loved him.

You know, I loved... I loved...
Loved everything he did,

and uh, it was a beautiful time,

and it was an innocent time,
and anything was possible.

I'm gonna leave my water there.

So you know Where it is. The water
marks the last spot discovered.

Another day, another batch
of samples, you know.

My way of working,
everything's from a record.

I'd find something I thought had
interesting qualities as a loop.

I had to kind of sample
each word or phrase

and just play with
it within the MPC

to get it to all line
up the way I wanted it.

It was time consuming.

Music's changed.

You don't have to have had ten years
practising a guitar and playing the piano

to be able to make a record.

Kids can just get on a
sampler and do the same thing.

James' mandate to me was just:
"I want that out there" stuff.

Everybody else was telling
me to dumb it down.

As an artist you need somebody to be
like, you know, go with your strength.

I needed that.

"Edge Of Time" by
The Growing Concern

Fed-Ex package
comes, got the BATS,

and I sat down and
played the album,

and it was just one of those
moments where you were like,

fuck. This is a masterpiece.

Do you wanna listen?

"Organ Donor" by DJ Shadow

As a piece of art, Entroducing
was incredibly important,

and you know you've...
you've got something special.

♪ I have just
recently cleared up ♪

"Building Steam With A
Grain Of Salt" by DJ Shadow

The use of sampling in Shadow's
work was completely mind blowing.

It was a complete headfuck, you know.
People were going, "What?!"

That was a record that
most people told me

was not gonna work, and that was
the turning point for Mo'Wax.

You suddenly think, well you know,
I'm just gonna do what I wanna do.

If I don't challenge myself and
try the next level of things,

where does it all go? It just
gets a bit boring after a while.

Most bands start from
hypothetical dreams.

Put aside the everyday world

and come With us into
the realm of imagination.

I'm not your father
Luke: I'm in UNKLE..

UNKLE, which is my project,

and we worked with
various different people.

I was beginning
to work on UNKLE.

Here we are in the
studios, and um...

that, I need to do just
exactly what it is that I do.

James' genius was
connecting the dots,

convincing people that he
has a really good idea.

Shadow's doing all the music.
James' role is more editorial.

When James first used
the two characters,

he was like, "Wow. That
could be the identity

for this group I'm
trying to do", and...

the world of my characters
took on the persona of them.

"Lonely Soul" by UNKLE feat.
Richard Ashcroft

I had this concept.

I wanted to make a record
which was like a film.

I was heavily inspired by 2001,
Star Wars and Blade Runner.

Science Fiction.

What I was desperately pushing
for was to have my heroes.

James, he had, kind of, epic
fantasies about big albums,

an unbelievable idea of a sonic
journey that combined art and music.

We'd hooked up with
Richard Ashcroft.

"Great. Let's do
some music together."

♪ God knows you're
lonely souls ♪

Ht Yeah, yeah it'

That song, I think we 're
both pretty proud of, um...

Like the bench... It was...

For us, it was definitely a
benchmark thing for the record

because it set the record
up, to know that we...

could... That we could pass...

We could achieve possibly
what we set out to do.

Suddenly, there's a slightly
different league of people

that he is working with.

"Guns Blazing" by UNKLE

♪ Somewhere in space, this may
all be happening right now ♪

♪ Technical surveillance,
this is U.N.K.L.E. 77 ♪

♪ I'm requesting permission to land.
Do you copy? ♪

♪ Roger that. You're
clear for landing. ♪

♪ Styles like Al Pacino,
Reno until the Borsellino ♪

♪ The mad Dino with the
bambino, the Gambino ♪

Alright, Guns Blazin'
features Kool G Rap

His voice, his timing, what he's
saying, I always really admired him.

♪ You got the smoking section
First-class tickets to resurrection ♪

♪ Forever destined to a place where...
Never restin' ♪

"Nursery Rhyme/Breather"
by UNKLE

They were really
struggling with the project

'cos it was so big and
they said would I do it,

and I was like right at
the start of my career,

and I said I'd give it a go.

♪ Does it mean I never let you know?
Each time I turn inside ♪

♪ When I fully grow,
I'll outsize you ♪

When the Badly Drawn Boy's
recordings going on, James is bored.

James phones Osmond, middle of the
night, crying on the phone to him.

Osmond gives him
his credit card.

We never saw him again.

Just gone.

Parties every night by then.

Every night you were out.

There was just that whole sort
of party scene that was going on,

musicians and artists
and everybody.

It was like the explosion
of youth culture,

and we were right there in
the middle of it, you know.

You know, it was just really
fucking exciting, but fucking messy.

I can't remember a lot
to be honest with you.

There was a cocaine epidemic.

You've hung out With a fair few
excessive types in your time, James.

- Isn't it the Gallaghers and stuff?
- Oh right, OK. Here we go.

Is that right?

Tell... Tell me if I'm wrong. Have...
Have you been down the path of excess?

I've had good times
and I've had bad times.

I dunno, man. It's all
rock and roll, isn't it?

You've got everything
you've ever wanted.

All your heroes, basically... Being
the guy that everyone wants to know.

You've got a chance
of hanging out with me

or hanging out with Kate Moss.

Alright, cool. You're gonna
go hang out with Kate Moss.

His whole spectre of people
that he's hanging out with

starts to change, and
we weren't part of that.

- James?
- Leave me alone.

Just go away. I'm tired..

Throw a tantrum. I wanna
get a tantrum on tape.

Josh, it's not funny.

Nobody likes when I film.
Why is that?

James did the drugs,
the partying...

Shadow never drank, never
smoked, never partied.

Completely polar
opposites as characters.

I think everybody felt like
they were out on a limb.

We just wait another
month for Thom Yorke.

You know, I'll get hold
of Mike D eventually.

I knew that Josh was really
going a bit mad about it.

James is like, "OK, I wanna do
a tune with the Beastie Boys",

and we're like, "Yeah,
of course you do"

because they're like the biggest
hip hop band in the world,

and you, with your
obscure self...

Yeah, of course they are...

And he's like, "I'm gonna call them up".
And we're like, "What do you mean?"

He's like, "I'm gonna
call the Beastie Boys up".

And he did it. This
is a serious dude.

That was really
inspiring to watch.

"The Knock" by UNKLE feat.
Mike D ♪ Check it out ♪

♪ I got a little story to tell ♪

♪ With DJ Shadow
and James Lavelle ♪

♪ It starts right
now in history ♪

♪ And I am known as
the rapper Mike D ♪

We started working on
some demos for Mike D.

♪ UNKLE style ♪

♪ UNKLE style ♪

♪ Come on. Break it... down. ♪

♪ Lavelle be getting
down with no delay ♪

The only way to get Thom Yorke
was that he was touring America.

He was gonna be in San
Francisco for two days.

Book a studio. He'll do it
the day before his show.

James Lavelle,
a good friend of ours,

has a sort of outfit
called UNKLE..

We'd talked about it for ages, '

and, uh, Shadow is sort
of a genius, basically,

and one of my heroes..

So to get to work With him is...
is a big kick.

We did it in San Francisco and
did it in George Lucas' place:

Skywalker Ranch..

So dope, this place.

It's crazy though, isn't it?'?

It's just like you've... you've
just invented your own...

your own world..

I think I was at
a certain level,

where I really needed to work
with someone in a real close way,

and it did feel good to
work with other people in...

In that, you know, some of my
best work could come from that.

In that time in
the mid-nineties,

this was before you had a lot of those,
kind of, rock-electronic collaborations,

and there was no formula.

Nobody quite knew
how to deal with it.

There was no road map.

"Rabbit In Your Headlights" by UNKLE feat.
Thorn Yorke

♪ Fat bloody fingers ♪

♪ Are sucking your soul...
away ♪

Ht Away in“

ht Away in“

♪ Away... ♪

It was the first time
that I felt like,

OK, James, I think I see
where you're going with this.

♪ I'm a rabbit in
your headlights ♪

♪ Christian suburbanite ♪

♪ Washed down the toilet ♪

♪ Money to burn ♪

Films in general influence
me when I make music,

when you lose yourself in things
and you're taken on a ride,

this mad journey.

It just leaves so much
to the imagination.

That's to me what it's all
about, it's kind of dreams

and going into another
world, another space.

Nice coat, pal..

♪ Caught between stations ♪

♪ I'm losing my patience ♪

MTV banned the video
because he looked too real,

and it was just like, "OK".

This is James all over, right,

it's... It's the most
award winning video,

but when you're trying to have a hit
record, a video that cannot be shown...

It's like, no one's
gonna play it.

Suddenly it was like
managers kicking off.

Richard Ashcroft was
signed to Virgin.

Why would they allow us to
put a single out on our label?

It was just never gonna happen.

So many people involved, and
so many managers involved,

and so many labels involved,

and lawyers involved.

Here he is,

the man with the plan..

Do you wanna get a drink
or something upstairs?

- Sure.
- Yeah?

Um, I could tell everybody
was dancing around something,

but I didn't know what.

And um, basically, I was
sat down in Finan's office,

James entered the room and they
got down to brass tacks about...

you know, so what are the writers'
splits gonna be between you and James.

I was standing up for
myself not so tactfully,

saying, "You're not
touching my writer credits".

It was all my idea.

The people involved in that
record and everything about it.

I was the one that had
brought all this together.

The bottom line, it's the ideas.

It was a concept record.

I didn't think it was going
to be as controversial

as it was for James.

Showing up at a studio and kind
of checking in once in a while

and going, "How's it all going?"

is not the same as sitting
down and making a beat.

Most A&R men don't
get writer credit.

That process from beginning to
end was like a two year process.

Quite an amazing feat that we
got that record done, I think.

UNKLE by UNKLE

♪ An adventure unlike
anything on your planet ♪

Welcome back. Now even by the
standards of the music industry,

the advance notices for 'Psyence
Fiction' have been extraordinary.

Only just out and
the critical buzz

over UNKLE'S 'Psyence
Fiction' album'

has been a music
executive's dream..

If the UNKLE release can
unite rock and dance fans

in enough numbers, '

it'll make Lavelle millions'

and open up a huge new market
of consumers for Mo 'Wax.

Last night, at least,
they seemed happy..

♪ You are the first human
beings to ever travel so far ♪

It All people of the solar
system congratulate you it

James Lavelle was
this force of nature.

Epic and defining the nineties.

- UNKLE special tonight.
- Five star review.

- Big landmark release.
- The next big thing.

The media coverage was
crazy on that record.

Elsewhere in pop world, a new
sort of group called UNKLE

has just released, well,
not an album exactly,

this is the sort of record that
longs to be called a project.

The record was recorded as a...
As a 60-minute experience,

rather than just an individual,
single-based project.

James Lavelle is the talkative
one and Josh Davies is the guy

who appears to have spent way to
much time in the studio with him.

During the 'Hello Nasty'
sort of recording, '

we used to have this bet Who's
gonna finish the album first.

OK, now we have... Now we know
we can achieve something here.

And we've got a benchmark
to base everything else,

so, you know, to base
around, you know, what...

what else we need to achieve..

They won..

Money's in the post mate..

The men from UNKLE...

Featuring Ian Brown and
DJ Shadow, it's UNKLE.

♪ U.N.K.L.E requesting permission to land.
Do you copy? ♪

I was in Stone Roses.

Stone Roses finished, and, uh,

James said he was putting
together a record.

So we took the track called
'Unreal' from the album,

uh, put lyrics on it and
made it into 'Be There'

and released that as a single.

Next thing we were
on Top of the Pops.

Top of the Pops, you grow up
with these things as a kid,

you're like, wow, you know.

There became the issue of,
well, what's James gonna do?

And I said, "Well, why don't you play
a few notes on the Mellotron then?"

And it was just three
notes, if I recall,

but at least he'd be up there
with an instrument and doing that.

The idea was that we
were both gonna DJ,

but Josh wouldn't have it
that I DJ, and, uh, you know,

Shadow's view of me being just
an A&R man and not an artist,

and I had to then
play the Mellotron.

That was very degrading for me.

♪ You don't want to go there ♪

♪ Let me lead you by the hand ♪

♪ You don't want to be there ♪

♪ Over the sea and onto land ♪

♪ As I look into your
eyes I pay no mind ♪

♪ I found the way
to get inside you ♪

♪ I'd give you peace of mind ♪

It was a top ten single,

and it was one of the most
played records that year.

I went against
everybody and I won.

Bang. Ching, Ching, ching.

Ching, Ching, ching.
Ching, Ching, ching.

Psyence Fiction time...

it was...

He wants to do clothes.

Now everyone has a
collaboration with a brand.

In those days, people didn't do it.
You didn't even know how to do it.

You know, his trainer
game was on point.

Next thing we're making toys.

"Unreal" by UNKLE

Did I ever think that Mo'Wax
were gonna start making toys? No.

Was I surprised
that it happened?

Most definitely not, because
that was the culture at the time.

He started when
he was very young.

There is something teenage
about the whole thing.

He kind of made a career out of
being a perpetual adolescent.

You've got a problem if
the owner of the label,

wants to be the main
artist on the label.

You got other people going, "Well, hang on.
Where's he gonna put the money?"

On your record or
his own record?"

My artist versus
commerce problem..

Um... I'm working on
the future of my life.

This conflict between how
far does your vision go

in relation to the people who
actually make your vision a reality.

James really wanted to
be like his artists.

The more he wanted to,
kind of, be a rock star,

the more that alienated
a lot of his artists.

I find it kind of strange that
the man who's fronting this record

is essentially an A&R man
and a record label boss

and not a musician..

And so the actual creative input
that he's had on this record

is actually getting
people to be on it, '

and that is seen as some kind
of giant artistic effort,

which strikes me
as kind of weird..

Um...

James?

Really pathetic that a magazine
like the NME can sit there,

the way they'll have Robbie
Williams and the Spice Girls

on the front cover
of these magazines, '

yet the whole idea
of these magazines'

is that they're there to
support new alternative.

No. I don't appreciate that.

I was just gonna say
the NME, and Q, and...

It started off as this
amazing fanfare of:

“it defines the nineties”,
and then suddenly it was like,

they fucking hated me,

and the review of
Psyence Fiction was,

who the fuck does James
Lavelle think he is?

And this is the worst
collaborative record of all time.

They were hyping this record

for years and years... and years and
years and years before it came out,

and all of it was like a
million years in the making.

They'd built this album
out to be so much.

It was putting a lot
of pressure on himself.

I think what's tricky for James

is the fact that he was super
successful as a young guy.

There's a lot of jealousy here.

I think most of them would prefer
to see him fall than see him go up.

Before he got to enjoy the fruits of
being young and having some success,

everybody had
fucking destroyed it.

Osman pulled the whole
company together,

and he's like, "James,
I wanna play Lonely Soul".

"Lonely Soul" by UNKLE

It... It... It was a dark moment

because PolyGram, financially,
was under a lot of pressure.

I heard about A&M and
Island being merged.

They felt that two art
house labels could be one.

That's when I thought it was
the beginning of the end.

Osman did this speech about why
fucking A&M's getting shut down.

Uh...

fuck.

♪ I'm a lonely soul ♪

That deal...

ended, and the deal
with A&M ended,

uh, so A&M got
folded into Island.

This structure that we'd
had didn't exist anymore.

We'd always had Mo'Wax
trademarked in our name,

so we had the name, but
as far as any catalogue

or anything like
that, we had nothing.

Uh, all the people that
were signed to Mo'Wax,

now they were signed to
Island, same with UNKLE.

Same with UNKLE.

We didn't really have
a label at that point.

Starting again was...

difficult.

The industry was
destroying everyone.

The whole PonGram merger
was the first big bang

that knocked the music scene.

It was horrible...

uh, total shit storm.

I can't see how that
album came together

and James walked away
with no writing credit.

He wouldn't earn a penny.

James was naive...

but that was one of
his assets, I think...

naivety.

All this stuff happening and
you were going from a young kid

to suddenly you're
like a fucking adult.

I was 24, the end of
everybody being together.

♪ A ticket to nothingness ♪

Hopefully, yeah.

It's not between me and Mo'Wax.
It's between Mo'Wax and PolyGram.

We were bound by contract to
a bigger label than Mo'Wax.

James was upset about
losing all his artists.

He made it out in his head
that everybody was against him

and that all his
artists left him.

Right after 'Entroducing',
I went right into UNKLE.

I'm taking a break..

UNKLE had to tour.

I wasn't interested in
touring as part of UNKLE,

so I wasn't involved.

He wiped his hands clean of it,
which was just mad, you know,

after all this work
and everything.

He just fucking
disappeared, you know.

It was like everybody just wiped
their hands clean of it, you know.

James and mine relationship had changed.
I could feel it.

It... It just was really
complicated emotionally.

It was the height of mine
and Josh's relationship,

and then the...

the end of it really.

They were gonna do an
album launch in L.A.,

and James rings The Psychonauts
up two days, three days before,

and Josh didn't turn up,

and he didn't come back.

And he flew us out, and we played the
Psyence Fiction album launch party.

I think that was
pretty unfair on James.

That split changed the
course of that movement,

because James was like the brain
and DJ Shadow was like the heart.

Psyence Fiction being
the great masterpiece,

but also the end
point of an era.

Being in... in a musical
relationship when you're young,

there's an idea that, you
know, that first kind of love

and you... you have a dream,
and it would've been nice

to have been able to see
that dream to the end.

"Lonely Soul" by UNKLE

We have lost contact
with U.N.K.L.E.

Vs anybody out there, copy?

"Napalm Brain/ Scatter
Brain" by DJ Shadow

I had this romance, which
was just like perfect.

You know, I'd met the
woman of my dreams, Janet.

Absolutely blindly in love.

We were engaged
within three months.

James?

You're so annoying,
I really want some..

Now's my time. Now's my time..

I think having Lyla at the
beginning was extremely difficult.

In a very profound relationship,

you have a kid, and
you're still so young,

and you're trying to create a
career and be a businessman.

To push... as...
as far as you can.

How... How... How do
you do all of that?

Boo.

Every day you're in a nightclub, or in...
You're in a studio.

It's... it's a
total way of life,

but there are obviously other things that
are really important in life, as well,

and I think that...

um...

trying to find that balance is kind
of my greatest struggle really.

You get knocked down
and you pick yourself up

and at the end,
you know, hope...

You know, hopefully you walk
away and you win in some way.

Steve Finan got him a
home at Beggars Banquet,

and their flagship label, XL.

When we started
working with Mo'Wax,

XL could bring a kind of
paternalistic independence,

if you like, to Mo'Wax

in a way that would allow it
to be reborn and flourish.

It was really down to
James to repopulate the A&R

with a new generation
of artists.

It was business as usual really.

Got a nice new office
in Notting Hill,

bought his expensive
furniture again.

He always had his toys
and everything round it.

This is off-road
mission control ♪

We met about eight years ago.

Over the years I worked with Mo'Wax.
We just hit it off.

UNKLE sounds, our DJ
outfit come out of that,

through as living together.
It was fun, you know...

You lived in the same house and
didn't get into fights at all?

- Yeah, loads.

It was a good time,
and um, it was fun.

James enabled people that he saw

had the potential to be
creative, to be creative,

who potentially... Who might
not have had the opportunity

had it not been for his trust.

I love Rich, you know.
He was my best friend.

He was such an
amazing character.

This would be great:
Rich could sing.

He could become somebody in the
band that, sort of, nobody knows.

♪ The awesome... Return.
UNKLE! ♪

"Morning Rage" by UNKLE

♪ What was it all about ♪

♪ Something's turned
me inside out ♪

It's about giving people
freedom to be creative,

working with people that have
a voice and say something,

and it's about giving those
people that space to do that.

That is wicked, man!

That is amazing!'!

That was mental, mate.

- That was vibe central.
- Sweet.

That's not something
that happens every day,

Jarvis Cooker and
Brian Eno turning up.

Doctors' Cooker and Eno surgery:

James, I thought he
has big beautiful eyes,

and then he took his glasses off
and I realised they were that small.

Shall we, ya know,
rock and roll?

He goes, "I sent you a song",

and I want you to take a look at it and
see if we can collaborate, you know",

and the song went:
bom-bom-bom-bom, bu-bom,

bom, bu-bom-bom-bom-bom,
bom-bom-bom-bom...

for three minutes.

And I was like, "Hey
James I got news for ya:"

that ain't a goddamn song
yet", you know what I mean.

But he was, like, adamant.
He was like, "Yeah. It is".

That sort of excitement and possibility,
to me that's the essence of DJ culture.

You may not have
made this sample,

you may not have made
those drums or sang that,

but when you put 'em together,
they're something new,

and there's an artistry to that.

Don't get me wrong, most
DJs are fucking retarded...

but the great DJs are
a real fucking thing,

the great combiner of things.

"Safe in Mind" by UNKLE

♪ Don't you go ♪

♪ To turn around ♪

Wrote the song in half hour, sung
in one take, and there you have it.

♪ Someone's found a way ♪

♪ To break into my mind ♪

James had recently met Antony
Genn, who co-produced the record.

You know, he wants me to be
involved in a record. Great.

And then we got into the
studio and started working

and, obviously, it was
very clear that, um...

as brilliant as James
is at some things,

writing music wouldn't
be one of them.

I got to do pretty
much what I wanted.

So we'll just do a
couple of takes of this,

for like, three or four
minutes of a go, yeah?

Would that be OK with you?'?

It just sort of
all came together,

a snowball that starts really
small and just keeps going round

and picking up more, and
more, and more, and more,

and by the end,
it's out of control.

The way that I like working.

Ht No pain, no gain in“

"No Pain, No Gain" by UNKLE feat.
Keith Flint

♪ No gain ♪

♪ No pain... ♪

No Pain, no Gain
with Keith Flint,

the fucking fire starter,

and uh, he came in the studio.
We had a right laugh.

It was wicked.

It doesn't always go that easy.

That voom, voom thing..

Yeah, that's the
best bit in the tune.

- You think so?
- What, you don't like that bit?

It's just one of those things...
I do and I don't.

I'm finding it really
hard, it kind of...

I'm worried about it
just being too cheesy.

Um...

I don't want it to suddenly sort
of be like a Limp Bizkit record,

which is what it kind of
starts reminding me of

when I hear that beginning.
That scares me.

Um...

Well...

Um, there was a lot of pain
in the creative process.

You know, there was a
lot of beauty from that,

but they were tough
records to make.

"Reign" by UNKLE

♪ And if you could
have said it all ♪

♪ I know you would
have said it all ♪

♪ I am the rain ♪

"Back And Forth" by UNKLE

♪ Never, never land ♪

I don't think it was a bad record,
but as a follow up to Psyence Fiction,

I don't think it cut it.

Psyence Fiction, it wasn't something
that I ever wanted to compete against.

DJ Shadowfis not on this
album, uh, how come?

Um, he's just got his own things,
you know, doing his own things.

The Keith Flint song, there
was an instant buzz around it,

and the record company were super excited
about the smell of commercial success.

James didn't wanna
put it on the record.

He said "It's cheesy".

This was a record that was
costing a lot of money.

This is a business.

You've gotta turn something on.
You need something to hang it on.

Maybe they could've had a hit.

The record label were very upset as
a result of us pulling that song.

We did start rehearsing
to play the record live,

but the record label,
they'd lost interest in us,

so we were left with
no way of playing live.

The budget that we were
offered wasn't gonna do that.

So I feel like the record
could only go so far

in terms of who
it connected with.

Uh, you know, Island dropped us.

I ended up going nearly bankrupt
because I went way beyond the advance.

At that point, you're at
the beginning of piracy.

Vinyl Mo'Wax, people weren't
really buying wax anymore.

The MP3 was killing us all.

James had nailed the, kind
of, record as an artefact.

Um, and obviously the artefact doesn't
really exist in the digital world.

Everybody had picked up
on the Mo'Wax success.

Anything that I tried to sign,
everybody else tried to sign.

Mo'Wax was in debt.

James was still spending huge
amounts of money, you know.

I mean...

He signed South.

They spent over a quarter of
a million pounds on South,

and this is a band that nobody
knows or nobody's heard of.

When I went into XL, they weren't
records which were hitting.

The records weren't selling.

It was a failure.

Slowly, but surely,

the decisions were being
made without his consent,

or even without his knowledge.

Uh, James is a very
difficult character to manage

because he's such an individual.

He's, you know, all over the place, and...
Which is what makes him great.

He... He wouldn't be unemployable
as a creative genius maverick,

if there was a role
within a company for that,

but maybe those... those, uh...

those existences have to
be outside the mainstream.

He wanted to be the artist,

so the label just became
dormant and he was on his own.

The... The death of Mo'Wax was a
very, um, sad, traumatic experience.

I just walked away 'cos
I couldn't deal with it.

James Lavelle is defined
by Mo'Wax records,

and bringing together that magic
moment of synergy and zeitgeist.

The Psyence Fiction success,

what a wonderful thing
to have happened.

What a terrible burden to wake up
the next year and make new work.

If you'd shone so bright
at such an early age,

I think to try and sustain
that, to reinvent that,

it's really difficult.

It's not that easy. It's...
It's almost impossible.

When you suddenly realise
you're not gonna get paid

for something you've invested
a whole chunk of your life in,

then you have to re-evaluate
how you get paid.

In the early nineties,
he was more known

as playing downbeat stuff.

He totally reinvented
himself as a house DJ -

that's where the money is - but
did it in a very cool Lavelle way.

♪ Pure energy ♪

We spent a hell of a lot of
time at Fabric in those days.

I was a resident for five years
at Fabric, every Friday night.

It was a very good time, but it
was a very long five year weekend.

Escapism, this Peter Pan thing
where you always wanna stay young

and have a certain freedom,

Always parties. It
was just non-stop.

I did used to get quite excited.

One time, a bouncer
stopped me killing myself.

It can't always just
be up all the time.

When reality kicks in, coming
down is always the problem.

I mean he's lucky he's alive.

Really.

Drugs, drink, everything.

Dad.

You're trying to be a Dad,
but you're fucking that up.

I mean I just... You know,
I left home, living in hotels.

I... I... I cheated on her and I...
I started burning my soul, really.

She wanted to change. I didn't.

Broken up with my...
my daughter's mother.

And it was a very sad
period of my life.

Why did this break up happen? Why
did I end up in bed with this person?

Why did I do the
drugs at this time?

Whatever, you know, those are
the war stories, you know.

What is the biggest
war you've fought then?

Myself.

Yep.

- And have you won the war?
- No.

- Still in it?
- I doubt it'll end till you die.

James would always get
himself into financial trouble

because he would always
spend everything that he had.

I walked out with a £270,000
bill, in tax and other debts.

James and I met at a time when,

you know, there was definitely
fracture in his life,

use of substances.

I mean, I buried six of my friends
who subscribed to the same philosophy.

I don't want to be at
James Lavelle's funeral.

Hi, daddy.

I'm not wearing these..

I find it very difficult to know
when James has been most happy.

He adores his daughter.

We are Chillin' and illin'.

Let's run away, shall we run away?'
- No.

No?

Great artists have always been able
to go through these challenges,

and then rise above it.

I'd introduced
him to Chris Goss.

When I met James, it seemed
like that fire had passed

and all the trees were
burnt down around him

and he was, like,
still standing.

Just coming out of that
vortex of confusion.

Chris Goss is a producer, he's a
singer, he's an amazing guitarist.

Through him we were able to record at
Rancho de la Luna studio in Joshua Tree.

Ht Bum my shadow away it'

Good enough for now..

On Burn My Shadow, it was just fortuitous
that I would use the word "shadow",

and that was certainly no
reference to DJ Shadow, whatsoever,

but it was a reference
to, kind of, James' past.

Yeah, it's dark.

You stay with it, you'll
come out the other side.

♪ And burn my shadow away ♪

♪ Oh, how I loved you ♪

We done?'?

Fucking sorted.

Welcome, and What did
you think of that?

I left my wizard hat
here last night..

And I want it back.

I was in a tough time myself...
at that time,

you know, where my head was at.

James, you know, he and I
have apexed at dark moments

with striking
similarity in time.

If you're going to
collaborate with someone,

the more vulnerable you
are, the better it is.

I don't know if they have the
game Twister in England or not,

but he always starts by having
right hand blue, left leg green,

like he starts, like,

"Hi, are you interested in
getting into this game with me?"

And... And you look at him and you
go, "Well, that's all fucked up..."

I could give it a go".

I like insurmountable odds,

and he can't tell
when he's in one.

♪ Well I'm all restless
but I don't care ♪

♪ You don't like me
much, well me either ♪

♪ You're on me ♪

♪ Hold my hand ♪

♪ I need you now ♪

Chris Goes, he just made us feel
that it was OK to just let it out.

♪ Are your drugs healing? ♪

Um...

He became a songwriter
and a singer.

The press pointing
the finger at James

and saying, "Oh, what do you do?
You're just the... The A&R man".

At least now he could be a
voice and Rich didn't like that.

♪ The highs that
they were seeking ♪

He did his first vocal,
and it made the record.

"Hold My Hand" by UNKLE

War Stories.

I was surprised when I heard he
was the singer, I have to say.

James Lavelle, the
lead singer of UNKLE.

It's not a fucking
rock record, man.

You know, it's... It's an
UNKLE record, you know.

And this record actually is
much more of a rock record.

Has this always
been in your mind?'?

I'd spoken to 30 from Massive
Attack about doing the art work.

Future had done a lot of
artwork, obviously, for UNKLE,

so it was a kind of a
tough act to follow.

Basically changed our direction

to give us a new image..

So What do you think of James
setting up a brand new record label?

I think it was naive to be honest, but...
- Do you?

We haven 't really set up a record
label in the way What I did for Mo'Wax.

It's a label where we can
put out our own records.

So this opportunity came along.
I'd set up a label with Rob.

Rob put a lot of money in.

It was called 'Surrender All'.

We were independent.

It felt like a new beginning.

But I had acquired
a lot of debt.

I hadn't been DJing.

I didn't really have any income
because I wasn't getting a wage,

so I borrowed money from Rob, and
there was a lot of money flying around.

And Rob spent on War Stories
probably close to half a million.

That's a lot of money when
everybody's downloading your albums

on MP3s for nothing.

Physical sales they get smaller
and smaller at the moment.

Most people make
money from touring.

People weren't buying records.

Well, the only way you're gonna make
money out of music is you gotta go live.

"Morning Rage" by UNKLE

♪ What was it all about? ♪

♪ Something's turned
me inside out ♪

♪ Some put myself around ♪

♪ You should pull me
in and turn me out ♪

Sell-out crowds
everywhere we went.

It's not a bad way to
start a live career.

Cheers.

Cheers, big ears.

- I love you.
- I love you.

Before I even met James,

somebody told me James Lavelle's
a nightmare to work with.

You know, he made Richard File's hair
fall out with alopecia through stress.

But he kind of just
swept me off my feet.

Some things in life
need to stay private..

"In A State" by UNKLE

♪ My mind is in a state ♪

On tour, all hell could
potentially break loose.

I can't remember much of it.

♪ Cos all I seem to
do is tempt my fate ♪

Rich and James' relationship
was already kind of frayed.

They were constantly drinking,
got wasted and partying.

I mean that takes a toll,
you know, a massive toll.

Something which is part of the fun can
then become the destructive element.

"Price You Pay" by UNKLE

♪ I don't care ♪

♪ It's the price you pay ♪

James only works
with his friends.

You know, Rich was his friend.

The problem is, if you're in
business with your friend,

you know it's gonna...
It's gonna get tough.

People used UNKLE
to achieve things

that they couldn't normally
do in their own situation.

- So you felt used maybe?
- Yeah.

- And you didn't use them?
- Did I use them? Um...

No, I just thought it was
the best thing for the music.

It was clear that me and James
wouldn't make another record,

and that was the end.

There wouldn't be any more.

It's just another loss of
something which was really special.

I've lost half of my best friends:
Shadow, Rich, my daughter's mother.

Is it really worth it? You know, for what?
To make music?

I used to imagine that the older
you got, the more experience you got

and you would fail less,
but that's not the case.

Inherent in the creative
process is it not working out.

That's why it's such
a brave thing to do.

Who would make music, hey?

Gotta be an easier
way to make a living.

Why does that fucking do that?'?

Pablo Clements used to
be in the Psychonauts.

We started working in a
studio that we set up.

"Hot Blood" by The Psychonauts

Me and James were really
close for twenty years,

and we did really hit it off because
every time he'd say something,

I... We knew what we
were talking about.

You go through relationships

to eventually find the person that
hopefully you're gonna stay with.

Pablo's one of those
people you trust.

I think with my fucking history, it's...
It's really important to have that around.

We're a self-sufficient band in the
fact that we have our own label.

We did achieve a lot of
what I set out to do.

We were doing great collaborations.
There was amazing video stuff being done.

I borrowed money from Rob,

and I didn't realise the interest
on my debt was ridiculous.

Everything that I did was
to pay back this debt.

Ching, Ching, ching.

- War Stories had its own debt.
- Ching.

- UNKLE live was creating a huge debt.
- Ching.

You're having to support
all of these people.

Everybody was getting paid wages.
I wasn't. Ching.

He had art shows.

He had the remix department.

I started a clothing company.

James thinks really big. That
comes at a price, you know.

Suddenly everybody realised
that the way to make money

was to license records to
advertising, films or television.

We did 150 tracks in
five years or something.

It descended into a factory.

I'm on a complete hamster wheel.

All of this creative world that we
were trying to create was going,

and it was just literally
about knocking out tracks.

I was really in debt.

The only way of making
a living was DJing.

James Lavelle!

DJing is a wonderful thing, but
it's a very lonely experience.

I'm fucked? Everybody's fucked.

When you live a
nocturnal lifestyle,

you're tired, you take
drugs to keep you awake.

I'd like to think that he will stop.
He will find his happiness.

He says he wants to give up the
drugs, and it's like, prove it.

♪ Are you really living? ♪

♪ Are you happy being? ♪

I'm fed up with it. It's
great being creative,

and it's great, you know, putting
records out and all that stuff,

but there's a point where if
things don't change in a year,

I don't know, man..

I don't know..

The only way that I could be
myself and get back my life,

was to make another record.

I wanted to be an artist.

We're going to sell millions and
millions and millions and millions,

take over the world, and be
the biggest band in the world.

He still wants to make the
biggest album in the world

and sell millions of records.

He still believes he can do it.
I don't.

Um...

Everything was not making money, so
budgets were cut and time was cut.

They wanted the album
finished, and we were given

six months.

Um, gives us...

It's the first now...

Three and a half weeks
and they have to finish,

- For them to finish.
- Finish.

Yeah.

We've been working on loads of demos
to send to potential collaborators.

Any collaborative record,

you're only really as big as
the collaborators you use.

That's proven by all of
UNKLE's records, and...

No one was coming back and we were
just kind of panicking that...

we'd just written crap music.

How we gonna get guitars done?

How we gonna get all the
vocals done properly?

We need somebody to do that,

otherwise we're just not gonna
make a good enough record.

Vocals, songs, it's
not what we're good at.

♪ Oh, Oh ♪

♪Oh♪

♪Oh♪

Oh, fuck me.

Chris is only over
for three weeks,

and it's a big thing
for anybody to look at.

You should have your songs
first and then record,

but because of the tight schedules,
we haven't had that chance to do that,

so it's... it's
been a bit weird.

♪ We've seen things
they won't believe ♪

♪ We crossed into oblivion ♪

How about throwing "This is
where it all begins" in there?

- This is where it all begins?
- Yeah.

- We crossed into oblivion?
- Yeah.

♪ So far gone, the edge
I'm on, I see it now ♪

♪ Oblivion ♪

What I really need is what track they're...
or track stroke tracks

- that they're interested in working on.
- OK.

What I did was ring Marcie.

I said we could turn
it into another track,

and she was just like, we haven't got
time to turn things into another track.

What, James is gonna tell us
that we're gonna need more time?

We can't. We don't have more time.
We haven't got a company.

She went right into
one like that with me.

I was kind of like, "woah".

- I know. It's not fair though, man.
- Absolutely. Fuck 'em.

We're gonna make it in spite
of it, so who cares right?

And the record will be fucking finished.
I don't give a fuck.

I was thinking just
for the ending,

you know, it's like...

No, it's, um...

If we had the collaborations
which we thought we would,

by this point, we would be in
a very different situation.

It's not anybody's fault.

Yeah.

Um...

Musically we're way behind.

We've got like another ten tracks
to do in two days or something,

deadlines and stuff, it's
a bit of a joke really.

Good approach.

Try it, like, as you wrote.

Alright, cool.

♪ Each day ♪

♪ Each day ♪

♪ In a clock ♪

Don't understand, why are
you getting so angry with us?

Everybody's trying to
do the same thing here.

Right, but I'm trying to tell you...
But I'm just saying...

Why are you running away?
Why are you doing this?

- Because I'm fucking tired.
- So is everybody.

And... And do you know what? I'm just
pissed off with it at the moment.

You know what, just go away for a minute.
Go away for a minute.

♪ And my mistake's
to make it better ♪

We're not gonna have time to do it.
Why am I doing it?

We will have a solution.

Well then, there isn't a record.
That's it.

There is nothing
more that we can do.

- I still believe we can do it.
- We can't.

♪ A dream of love ♪

♪ Has spread her wings ♪

♪ And flew forever ♪

♪ Each day ♪

♪ Each day ♪

♪ In a clock ♪

I'd like to get an update

on what the
outstanding vocals are'

that we 're still hoping will
come in from different places,

and I really need to hear about
the things that didn't work.

Um...

Nothing has moved on any further

than what existed previously
going into the studio.

Really that it seems
like it was a non event.

When you've got very
specific deadlines, you know,

and it wasn't a very... you know,
so it made it a very... A very...

uncomfortable and depressing situation
in the end, to be perfectly honest.

Yep. Um...

If we could get like
one or two more days,

when we know exactly...
When we've like...

No. There's no money for
recording left at all.

Well, we're gonna have to...
We're gonna need to...

- There is no money left.
- Right.

I mean, basically we're aiming
for the end of this month.

- To finish the album?
- Yeah.

You know, I think everybody
is gonna try their best.

"Oblivion" by UNKLE

♪ So far gone,
I won't ever stop ♪

♪ For all that I am,
for all that I'm not ♪

♪ So far gone the edge I'm on ♪

♪ I see it now ♪

♪ Oblivion ♪

♪ I see it now ♪

♪ Oblivion ♪

♪ Oblivion ♪

Well, I... I didn't even
know about that album.

You know, I had no
idea about that record.

No idea.

Most bands start from
hypothetical dreams.

I don't know if you're ever
going to fulfil what you expect

because you kind of build a big
picture in your head of something,

and I don't know if you're ever
really able to fulfil that.

This has been fucking hell,
actually, for this one.

Really stressful.

I mean I have a family life
and I live in Brighton,

so Brighton's definitely
nicer, you know.

Pablo's built a studio in Brighton,
hence the empty shelves here in London.

I mean, I'd love to do
Madison Square Gardens.

I'd love to do, you know, Wembley Stadium.
Who wouldn't?

I don't know if that
will ever happen.

You know, I'd love to
sell millions of records.

I don't know if that
opportunity has gone.

I've created this
studio in Brighton.

Is that the nice way to say...
way to say it.

Rob's pulled the
plug on Surrender.

Shouldn't say that.

Um, little bit worrying.

Um, the label, you know...

I'm... I'm not going to be
doing Surrender next year.

What happens with UNKLE,
we'll see what happens.

The Surrender All
situation fell apart,

so I'm just sitting there, no
studio, nobody coming to London,

everybody doing it in Brighton.

Just sitting there, just having
to deal with this for a year.

Biggest feeling like the
biggest dickhead in the world.

And nobody gave a shit.

We... We tried to make it... Make it...
To make it work,

and, you know, it was tough.

It was really,
really, really tough.

'Cos what I said is "Let
me go and do my thing,"

you do your thing.

"No more UNKLE, for a while".

And then I'd start doing some
remixes, under my own name,

and they put it under UNKLE,
which was not contractually right.

Everybody starts freaking out.

I get a call from
somebody telling me

that I'm gonna explain
how every record was made,

so people know
that it wasn't you,

which is the biggest load of
fuckin' bullshit in the world.

You know, I think everybody had thought,
you know, UNKLE was everybody now

and records started
getting made by committee.

In most creativity, there's a leader,
a great singular point of view.

Once you get rid of that vision,
things tend to deteriorate.

The things that are really
important are ideas.

The idea is everything.

If you take my ideas
or want to silence me,

that's everything you're taking.

These things are too important to
imagine that you can rebuild the bridge.

I kind of rung James and, um,

you know, I probably
said a lot of truths,

I suppose, to James, that
he didn't wanna hear, and...

And actually in weird ways, I,
um, you know, regret a lot of that

'cos, you know, he
didn't deserve what...

some of the stuff that I said, but he
said a lot of horrible things back,

and I probably said a lot of
horrible things to him and...

And, yeah we... We haven't
really spoke since.

It's hard to keep loving
each other, you know.

It's his vision.

I think some people feel
uncomfortable with that,

that they're kind of servicing,

to the vision of
this other dude.

People think, why are we
doing this for this guy

when we could be doing
it for ourselves?

And they underestimate
what he brings.

You know, the fact that
some people can't see it,

has been quite... Has been quite
damaging, I think, for him.

I really built this for me
and James to make music in,

and I wanted him to be a
part of this, you know.

We were a team,

and yeah, I miss him
though, you know.

You know, 'cos we are friends.

I'm... I love James, you know.
I really do.

I've known him for 20 years.

I'll never forget he is the guy

that gave the 21 year old
dreamer a chance, you know.

Um...

The band had gone, my DJing
career had disappeared,

I'd lost a label that I loved,

I was heavily in debt,

I'd lost my confidence,
my identity, in many ways.

Everything I touched
just failed, you know.

What changes do you wanna make?

Stop that sort of nocturnal, narcotic
world that I've lived in most of my life,

is the thing that is the
biggest challenge for me

and the thing that
I'm trying to change..

How long have you lived
that lifestyle for?

Twenty years..

- Do you think you can stop it?
- Yes.

- Really?
- I think that... yeah.

I mean, I... You know, things
change, don't they? Don't they?

And there are things
that are being lost.

There are too many
things being lost..

- What have you lost?
- You.

I lost you..

"Like Clockwork" by
Queens of the Stone Age

♪ Everyone it seems ♪

♪ Has somewhere to go ♪

I kind of got here and was
definitely not in a good place.

My relationship's gone
down the toilet as usual.

I realise that I just kind of
constantly throw things away.

♪ And the faster
the world spins ♪

♪ The shorter the
lights will glow ♪

Just had the last few days to
really go into myself in Sri Lanka.

To be honest with you, I just
got sick of hearing music, and...

the idea of even...

I had no idea of What a record
should be anymore, and I just...

suppose you just lose..

You lose the desire, and
you just don't end up...

You know, I just didn't
fucking care anymore, really.

In the past, relationships,
failure, has just been drowning me

and taking me down..

I need to find a bit
of myself right now'

and work out what it is that...

I wanna do in my life and
certainly not live this...

tragic roundabout
anymore, really..

It's just been a
vicious circle..

I dunno, I was always like, you know,
if my label fell apart tomorrow,

I'd rather have a lot... A load
of nice looking records at home.

Toys, stickers...

um, trainers, clothes,
photos, paintings, cassettes.

DJ Shadow, DJ Shadow.

Where I met my daughter's mum.

And then I've got my record collection,
which sort of spans a lot of here,

and here, and here,
and here, and here...

and here, and here.

A lot of great memories, there's
a lot of very, you know...

It's sad, you know.

Sad. It's sad, sad, sad.

Trying to store something like this
over 20 years, it's cost me a fortune.

Sometimes you think,

well, what, have I been mad
and spent money unwisely?

The sad thing with War Stories
and Where Did the Night Fall

is it's exactly the point where
dance music and electronic music

was really starting to take
off and in a big, big way,

and he went the other way.

And he missed the
boat in a big way.

He does put his trust
in a lot of people,

and sometimes people will take
until there's nothing left,

because they see James as
a path to something bigger

than where they're
at in their lives.

Funny how certain things
just constantly reoccur.

When Mo'Wax finished,

I kind of just put everything into
storage and threw away the keys.

It's a beautiful collection of
dreams, what you can create.

What I'd like to do is to be
able to show that whole culture

with an exhibition and a book.

James and I had met each other,

and he was telling me about all
the projects he had coming up,

so the book, um, the plan to
do an exhibition of Mo'Wax.

We started talking about
whether we might work together.

Meltdown is our annual curated
festival at the Southbank centre.

We ask an artist to come

and basically free reign
across the 20 acre site

for them to choose their favourite
artist from music, dance, theatre.

We've worked with all sorts of
people in the past 20 years,

from Yoko Ono, Morrissey, Patti
Smith, John Peel, Lee Scratch Perry,

David Bowie, Nick Cave, um...

It became more and more apparent

that James was an interesting
candidate for the role.

I'd met with Jane and she was like,
"Why don't you curate Meltdown?"

"Oh my god. Really? Wow. ll"

This was the greatest opportunity
to bring everything back together.

It was the greatest
moment you could imagine.

I mean, I was really... I'm...
I'm... I'm really, you know,

of course, I'm... I'm incredibly
flattered and I'm incredibly honoured.

Southbank, which is one of the
most important cultural landmarks

in England, in the world.

I'm back in it, you know.

Meltdown has given me a deadline, you know.
It's given a reason, you know.

Does anyone remember who I am?

When we said yes to Meltdown,

I just composed myself because how
the fuck are we gonna ever do this?

Wow, my first Filofax of all the
people that I used to work with.

James opened his
very big black book

of previous collaborators,
friends, artists.

We all expected everyone
would jump at the chance,

and in all honesty
not everyone did.

The same, you know, vulture
starts circling the head,

and the same resentment
starts coming out

because the Mo'Wax fall out
was a painful period of time

for a lot of people.

I for one, felt like I'd
lost a friend, you know.

There are these people that
have got all this resentment.

They've never actually sat
down with James and been like,

"Let's hug it out
and move forward".

There are too many
unsaid conversations.

If every single relationship that
you have, creatively, breaks down

then you might wanna, you know,
take a look in that mirror

because the chances are...

you don't need to be Sigmund
Freud to work out that, you know,

it might be you
that's the problem.

Massive Attack, we thought
was gonna be in the bag,

but it... it ended up
not being in the bag

at the absolute eleventh hour.

It was a really scary moment
because we were really, really close

and there was what felt like a
gaping hole in the programme.

James was feeling like he
had disappointed people.

There was a couple of
disappointments there,

in terms of people he probably
would've liked to have had on.

I think Massive Attack
should've been on the bill.

They embodied everything
that he wanted to do.

Urn, James realised what a
gargantuan thing he'd taken on.

How is it, getting involved
in the whole Meltdown thing?

A lot of horse-trading...

It's everything. I've put my
soul on the line for this shit.

It's a once in a lifetime
opportunity and..

Absolutely everything
was at stake for James.

James Lavelle curating
the 21st 'Meltdown'.

An honour really. Very,
very proud of that.

Right, we 're gonna
talk about 'Meltdown'.

I'm doing a Mo'Wax exhibition
as part of 'Meltdown'.

It's gonna be a wonderful
ten days, so enjoy.

Thanks very much..

Meltdown is a huge thing.
You know, it's a big deal.

The greats have curated there.

It's a real honour for James.

It's the musical equivalent of...
of being knighted.

It's a recognition that you
had an influence on the arts.

When I heard that
James had got Meltdown,

I was... I was so chuffed.

He's not David Bowie,
he's not Yoko Ono,

but for the nineties
generation of music buyers,

he is as important.

The culture, the history, the things
that one has been involved with,

in many ways has been
publicly validated.

The fact that James did
something called Meltdown.

That's already funny. That's...
You know what I mean?

I knew it meant a lot to him, so it
meant a lot to me 'cos we're friends.

I was in the middle of making the
most difficult thing I had made,

which is Like Clockwork.

James said, "Can we
just do something?"

Josh had been working on his
Queens of the Stone Age record,

so I went to LA and
recorded this song,

Like Clockwork, with Josh.

In this collaboration, James,
in a way, he almost just drew

an outside shape in... in... Of a
colouring book and you colour in.

Like Clockwork became the
title track for his album,

and had gone to number
one in America, so, fuck.

Number one in America
and then Meltdown.

Meltdown was the most
successful M eltdown

that's ever happened, in
terms of ticket sales.

How the fuck did
we pull this off?

UNKLE at one point in time
was you and DJ Shadow.

Lots of people have come and
worked on it over the years.

I'm doing my Show, the
first UNKLE Show in a While.

For somebody like James Lavelle

to still be doing UNKLE stuff,

committing to it and, and playing
all these songs live, as well,

it shows that he cares about it and
cared about it from the first day.

He sort of stands up as a, sort of,
one man music industry kind of machine,

you know, that's never
played ball, you know,

constantly, sort of, evolving.

Genius comes in very
temperamental vessels

and if he had rough edges

or if he thought himself
the centre of the universe

for a period of time,

makes no difference.

All that matters is the
work that he created.

"When Things Explode" by UNKLE

All is forgiven.

♪ We're standing here ♪

♪ At the edge of time ♪

"What Does Your Soul
Look Like?" by DJ Shadow

"Stem/Long Stem/
Transmission 2" by DJ Shadow

Aw, look at that.

Ok, shall we start
at the beginning?

Yeah.

Is it gonna be the
James I remember,

or is it gonna be dark
and tortured James?

He seemed healthier, seems like
he's kind of turned the page.

Doesn't matter whether
you're behind the mic

or what role you're playing,

I respect you as an artist.

This is for you
and this is uh...

you know, a way for people to be
able to again, mobilise on his behalf

and try to achieve something better
than the sum of all the parts.

"Lead Me Home" by Luminous

Be still now.

I am with you.

I am deep within you.

You are at peace.

You cannot be harmed.

You will not suffer.

Breathe deeply.

Breathe in the healing
love of the universe.

And breathe out the sickness
which has taken you.

I am with you.

This wasn't just something
that happens anytime,

I hadn't done any UNKLE material
live since we did Top of the Pops.

The music is still something
that I believe in, and...

we all wanna do
our best for James,

and then for him to kinda bury the hatchet
with all these people from his past.

There was a lot of
positive energy around it.

They're doing a show together.
They're doing two shows together.

They're DJing together,
which they haven't done

for a very, very long time.

James is constantly reaching
for the stars, and I think,

it takes mad dreamers on both sides
to come together and make history.

He is an artist
in his own right.

Where an artist may use a
paintbrush, James will use a person.

It's brave because a
paintbrush can't answer back.

If I was a tool in his artistic
vision, then it was a lot of fun.

Who is it that says that
you need to make music

in this way and not that way?

The architect has to physically put
the bricks on top of each other,

is this what we're saying?

That's a... That's a nonsense.

Imagine all music that was
made was written on a guitar.

That's a disaster.

He gave me a chance, and he
gave lots of people chances,

lots of people who would never have
been given chances by anyone else.

I love James to bits
and I always will.

The friendship is what
was important to me.

Friends he's fallen out with,

all of those kind of things,

I think they weigh
pretty heavily on you.

You enjoy something more

when you struggle to get it.

You learn, and you
grow, and you learn,

and get your blessings and your
lessons, and you learn and you grow

and you go from there.

Thank you very much. Who says
that dreams can't come true?

You have to believe in
what you believe in,

and happier are those
that dream dreams

and are willing to pay the price
to see those dreams come true.

I've had a lot of
growing up to do.

I fucked up.

In many ways it's my fault.

It's been very lonely.

I've fallen out with
people that I really loved.

Time does heal. Somethings
it doesn't, unfortunately,

but I've seen what I wanna
be, what I don't wanna be.

It's like looking at yourself in
the biggest mirror you've ever seen.

♪ You see things in life, and
you'd be surprised what you see ♪

♪ Life, your whole
life, is changes ♪

♪ One second you got it made ♪

Ht Next second you're
down in the dumps ♪'

♪ And it goes back and forth
throughout your whole life ♪

♪ One second you got the most
beautiful girl in the world ♪

♪ Next second you don't even
have a girlfriend, no more ♪

♪ And it goes back and forth
and back and forth, you know ♪

♪ And this is life man.
It's changes ♪

♪ This is what you gotta go through
throughout your whole lifetime ♪

I feel like there's a lot of
stuff I can put behind me.

I see this as the beginning.

The great alien fortune
teller has wisdom for you.

"Your fortune:"

Oh, how you love
to whistle and sing

Oh how you love
to dance and swing

Your future life
with joy would ring

With all happiness it will bring

You have a very
sympathetic nature.

You do devote a great many
hours to the welfare of others.

You have a very fine mind,

and if you cultivate it properly,
you'll be very successful.

You always walk as though you
know exactly where you're going.

People will respect you
for your determination.

You will endure some
hardship in the near future,

but eventually everything
will turn out for the best.

"An unending happiness
will be yours."

Play again?

"Alphabet Aerobics"
by Blackalicious

♪ Now it's turn for our rap up ♪

♪ Let's give it
everything we've got ♪

Ht Ready? Begin ♪'

♪ Artificial amateurs,
Aren't at all amazing ♪

♪ Analytically,
I assault, animate things ♪

♪ Broken barriers bounded
by the bomb beat ♪

♪ Buildings are broken,
basically I'm bombarding ♪

♪ Casually create
catastrophes, casualties ♪

♪ Cancelling cats got
their canopies collapsing ♪

♪ Detonate a dime of
dank daily doin' dough ♪

♪ Demonstrations, Don
Dada on the down low ♪

♪ Eatin' other editors with
each and every energetic ♪

♪ Epileptic episode,
elevated etiquette ♪

♪ Furious fat
fabulous fantastic ♪

♪ Flurries of funk felt
feeding the fanatics ♪

♪ Gift got great global
goods gone glorious ♪

♪ Gettin' godly in his
game with the goriest ♪

♪ Hit 'em high, hella
height, historical ♪

♪ Hey holocaust hints hear
'em holler at your homeboy ♪

♪ Imitators idolize,
I intimidate ♪

♪ In a instant, I'll
rise in a irate state ♪

♪ Juiced on my jams like
jheri curls jockin' joints ♪

♪ Justly, it's just me,
writin' my journals ♪

♪ Kindly I'm kindling
all kinds of ink on ♪

♪ Karate kick type
brits in my kingdom ♪

♪ Let me live a long life,
lyrically lessons is ♪

♪ Learned lame louses
just lose to my livery ♪

♪ My mind makes
marvellous moves, masses ♪

♪ Marvel and move, many
mock what I've mastered ♪

♪ Niggas nap knowin'
I'm nice naturally ♪

♪ Knack, never lack,
make noise nationally ♪

♪ Operation, opposition,
off, not optional ♪

♪ Out of sight, out of mind,
wide beaming opticals ♪

♪ Perfected poem,
powerful punchlines ♪

♪ Pummelling petty powder
puffs in my prime ♪

♪ Quite quaint quotes
keep quiet, it's Quannum ♪

♪ Quarrelers ain't got a
quarter of what we got uh ♪

♪ Really raw raps,
risin up rapidly ♪

♪ Riding the rushing
radioactivity ♪

♪ Super scientifical
sound search sought ♪

♪ Silencing super fire
saps that are soft ♪

♪ Tales ten times
talented, too tough ♪

♪ Take that, challengers,
get a tune up ♪

♪ Universal, unique untouched ♪

♪ Unadulterated, the raw uncut ♪

♪ Verb vice lord
victorious valid ♪

♪ Violate vibes that are
vain make 'em vanished ♪

♪ While I'm all well would
a wise wordsmith just ♪

♪ Weaving up words weeded
up, I'm a workshift ♪

♪ Xerox, my X-ray-diation
holes extra large ♪

♪ X-height letters,
and xylophone tones ♪

♪ Yellow back, yak
mouth, young ones yaws ♪

♪ Yesterday's lawn
yardsale, I yawn ♪

♪ Zig zag zombies,
zoomin to the zenith ♪

♪ Zero in zen thoughts,
overzealous rhyme ZEA-LOTS! ♪

♪ Good. Can you say it faster? ♪