Producer
of hit records by Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse, uber-cool fashionista
DJ, and maker of that Radiohead cover, Mark Ronson was in London to
chat about his new album Versions.
magazine’s
Phil
Dixon was there to listen.......
Mark
Ronson stands in near zombie-like amazement, enthralled by a foot-high
figure of recently deceased soul icon James Brown as it jerks its fully-articulated
hips and emits a distorted rendition of 'I Feel Good' from its tinny
speaker.
"I
swear to God I am so tired I think this James Brown has just come alive
and started singing to me."
It's the last interview at the end of a long day of press for Ronson.
His fatigue is especially evident as he disaffects himself from the
mesmerizing idol on the shelf and turns to show bags under his eyes
that he could have checked as hold luggage before his early flight from
New York that morning.
Dressed in a vintage Run DMC t-shirt and battered Nikes, he assuages
the platoon of red wine and Evian bottles lined out for him to sip sporadically
from a Coke bottle by his side. Not what one would expect from one of
the world's most sought-after producer/DJs - having in the last year
produced tracks on albums from Robbie Williams, Amy Winehouse and pop-moppet-du-jour,
Lily Allen, and a track record of presiding over the fashion elite at
soirees for Tommy Hilfiger and P. Diddy from his current home of New
York to his birthplace of London to Milan and beyond. But then Ronson
never was one to deliver the expected.
His first album, 2003's Here Comes The Fuzz, was an eclectic mixtape
of party tracks across the gamut of genres featuring artists as diverse
as Ghostface Killah and MOP to Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, from which hip-hop
floor-filler 'Ooh Wee' was the runaway success. A success that was not
to be capitalised upon, unfortunately, due to the subsequent collapse
of Mark's then label, Elektra.
"Even for that record not to do well,
the things that it's lead to I'm definitely grateful for… I mean
it was fun - we were going out, opening for Justin Timberlake with just
a song on the radio, and ten thousand kids were singing along and that
was sort of enough, you know? Like my grandmother had no concept of
what I did until I could actually say 'Oh, I'm on Top Of The Pops.'
And then she was like, 'Oh I understand, so you're not wasting your
life away?'
"I saw it as like, "Holy shit, Elektra Records want to give
me an unlimited chequebook to work with every rapper that I've ever
loved since I was fifteen!" It was just a fun record to make and
it's hard to imagine if the record had been successful how I would have
felt differently."
Four years later Ronson dares to put his name back on the front of the
CD case with Version: this time a collection of re-imagined indie hits
in the same vein as his most recent runaway success - a funked-up, horn-addled
version of Radiohead's 'Just' - encompassing such revered acts as The
Smiths, The Jam and, yes, Britney Spears. So after the sting of the
first record not doing as well as it would/could/should have, was he
hedging his bets with a cover album?
"No, I don't think so. Someone asked
me to do the 'Just' cover for this BBE compilation. And at first I was
like, well how the hell am I going to do a cover of a Radiohead song?
I mean yes, I loved them, but does that warrant the fact that I need
to do a version of it? And then we did it, and just the experiment of
doing it, replacing guitars with the horn and that thing was just really
fun and I would sit at the clav keyboard or the guitar and bring up
a drumbeat on the MPE and just start fucking around with chords and
fucking around with my favourite songs and it was just a sort of labour
of love, like a fun project. And then when the 'Just' one blew up here
and was so embraced I was like, well fuck it, I've got a version of
like six of these songs."
Ronson has set himself quite a demanding task in facing the trials involved
in putting out an album of cover versions. A music lover first and foremost,
however, he is fully aware of the possibilities of being critically
branded as a novelty and adverse fan reaction - deliberately courting
controversy and risking attack from a legion of gladioli-wielding vegans
by covering The Smiths' 'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One'.
"The thing about making a covers
record, it's an easy argument: you could say what's the point? We already
have those songs recorded and they've done quite well… and maybe
if the Radiohead one hadn't been embraced I probably wouldn't have the
balls to do a Smiths thing. But the fact that Ed O'Brian from Radiohead
and Morrisey and all these people actually loved the covers, that's
just an additional bonus, that's not worth it enough to make it work."
" If they didn't like it I probably wouldn't want to put it out,
it's like if you don't have the blessing of 'Dad' what's the point?
But I think that there are also some people who are going to discover
'Stop Me…' for the first time because of this record as well:
people who might not listen to indie-ish type of music and more like
their hip-hop and funk and that kind of stuff. Like people who might
instantly hear the heavy guitars in Radiohead's 'Just' and - it'd be
a crime but I'm sure there are people that hear it and go "This
isn't my type of music," and switch off instantly. And I'm not
saying that I'm on some kind of mission to expose people to the great
songs of all time, but there's a validity in both, you know?"
So is there anything that Ronson wouldn't touch, himself, out of respect,
as a music-lover? Is there anything that he'd keep away from because
it has been done and can never be done better?
"No, I don't think 'Stop Me' can
ever be done better, I just thought there was something that I wanted
to bring to that song. I wouldn't touch any songs that were already
kind of heavy with the beats and stuff? Because that's what I'm doing,
essentially, like my addition is more on the rhythmic side of it rather
than enhancing the melody, because the melody's there. But there are
songs like 'Fool's Gold' already with that break, like you're not going
to get any better than that. Songs like 'Unfinished Sympathy' by Massive
Attack - anything from the modern beat era I wouldn't touch because
that's my sensibility, that's what I imagine that I'm probably adding
to it."
Version marks a new phase for Ronson, having evolved further in the
studio and had the chance to dabble in more diverse musical influences
on other artists' albums. So if Here Comes The Fuzz was a party mixtape,
is this album more of a cohesive unit?
"I think that it's obviously cohesive
because it's got a unifying theme. But that's kind of cheating, the
covers being a theme isn't enough to make it. I think the cohesive element
is it's a bit more musically three-dimensional? You know, there's more
things moving around? It's just like as you go on as a producer - I
think that producing Amy Winehouse's record I learnt a lot of things,
like not being afraid to go and bring in a sixteen-piece string orchestra
just because I don't know the classical terms, like I'd be too embarrassed
in a room with people like that, you know?"
This wasn't the only factor opposing that decision, as Amy herself said
no to the strings, "because to her
strings automatically make her think of sappy ballads."
Undeterred, Ronson even offered to finance the orchestra out of his
own pocket if she wasn't swayed.
"Even when I said that she was like 'What's the point? You're going
to have to end up paying for it.' And then I played her 'Love Is A Losing
Game', the first one with the strings, and she was like this for the
whole three minutes of the song (Bent over in chair, arms folded on
knees, head bowed in deep concentration). And then she just looks up
and goes, 'I love it… Just take that fucking harp out, it sounds
like some Mariah Carey shit.'"
In the past Ronson has kept out of the spotlight, content to let the
music speak for itself. But now having worked with the likes of Robbie
Williams, Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen - not only three of the biggest
artists but three of the biggest media-baiters from the UK (the latter
two due in no small part to his contribution on their critically and
publicly acclaimed albums) - how does garnering press attention and
the unavoidable tabloid headlines sit with the laid back producer?
"I hope all three might help the
record sales, I don't know! It's really random, I started Version with
no deal, just paying out of my own pocket and just decided to get my
friends on it as a favour and doing it for fun. And also I'd be doing
the songs I wanted to do. And now, Amy and Lily have had a stellar year,
and it looks like accidentally - well not accidentally, but I sort of
look like some genius for having two of the biggest female pop stars
on this record and for working on their records. I laugh, I mean I've
seen maybe two things in the paper where it says like, ‘Ronson
Dates Lily Allen’ or ‘Amy Winehouse Denies Rift With Producer
Boyfriend Ronson’ and it just makes you realise that people maybe
on a slow news day obviously just make up whatever they want. I think
literally an editor goes 'Listen, we have eight pages to fill today,
I wanna see some nonsense.'"
It's an attitude that bucks the current trend of 'The Producer As Star'.
With acts like Timbaland and The Neptunes firmly stamping their presence
all over other artists' tunes and showing their face in the videos,
isn't Mark keen to capitalise on his notoriety and help push his own
album sales?
"I think that's cool, 'cause Timbaland's
actually a rapper, so you know probably [has] more merit for putting
his name on the cover than probably even I do. I know as a music nerd
I always wanted to know who produced this record or that record, but
it's just not my thing to have a sound. Amy would come to me with a
guitar and play a song and it's like okay, well how do I make this song
the best? Does it need this kind of beat? Does it not need a beat? Does
it need strings? It's not like, 'How am I gonna put that Mark Ronson
shit on this song,' you know?"
Such a nonchalant attitude to fame comes easily to Ronson. He's spent
his life surrounded by celebrities - growing up a few doors down from
the McCartneys, he was taught drums by Keith Moon when he was two, he
taught Sean Lennon to play guitar - and his name had appeared regularly
on Page Six, the society gossip column of The New York Post. Still,
given these high-profile surroundings he manages to maintain a normal
Joe's capacity for self-humiliation:
"Yeah I get starstruck all the time,
like I get starstruck if I see Ghostface Killah on the street and I've
done three songs with him at this point, because I still have "the
fan" or whatever in me with some of those artists, you know? But
I'm kinda glad to get that, I never want to get so jaded that you can't
be impressed by somebody, somebody who was that influential and I don't
think that ever will change, you know?"
But that doesn't extend to everyone. On his self-penned Myspace biog
he mentions a shouting match he once had with Oscar Winner™ Charlize
Theron…
"Oh she was just being really obnoxious
at a party in Milan and she came up to the booth and was like (affects
nasal voice and self-important attitude), 'Can you play some dancehall
reggae?' And it was like some fashionista bullshit in Italy in the middle
of Fashion Week and it was like that thing when someone comes up to
ask a song to impress you with how cool they are that they know what
dancehall reggae is. Not that they really care if you play it. I'm like
look at me, come on, as if I'm going to play dancehall reggae right
now in front of like Fernando and Ricardo and Enrique?"
Quite a change from the less-self-important 'gangsta' hip-hop clubs
he started off DJ-ing in in New York. So how do the two crowds compare?
"I don't mind either one, as long
as you're having fun dancing I'll play for you. As long as I feel like
I'm staying true to what I play and playing shit that I like and doing
that it's cool, I can play for either one."
And what's the bigger rush then: the crowd reaction you get from a DJ
gig or getting a final result in the studio and seeing that music come
to life?
"I think the ultimate is the combination of the two, when I make
a record and I get to play it out loud and see a crowd in a club and
I'm like 'Wow, I can't believe I made this and I'm playing it and these
people like it,' that's the coolest feeling."
And on that golden nugget of a soundbite I wrap things up. In the course
of the interview his speech has become degraded to a mumble, eye-contact
is virtually non-existant now and I've already doubled the "five
more minutes" I asked of the interrupting PR guy. For Ronson, it's
the price he pays for being in demand, and there's only more to come
for him once Version is released. The light is out and he's curled up
on the sofa of the PR's offices before I'm even out of the room, watched
over by that James Brown figure…
Version
is released in the UK on April 16
