Chaz Jankel
The Blockheads are one of the best live bands there have ever been. Chaz Jankel and Ian Dury co-wrote some of the best songs of all time. Chaz has collaborated with everyone from Sly & Robbie to Robbie Williams. Le Document highly recommends the 5CD Anthology of everything Chaz recorded for the A&M label that Cherry Red Records brought out last year and were delighted Chaz was up for a chat. Now read on...
Le Document (LD) What are you working on at the moment?
Chaz (CJ) I am working on the soundtrack for a short film about an English activist called Alan Holdsworth who now lives in Philadelphia. In the 90s Alan campaigned for better rights for disabled people. Alan and his girlfriend fought for laws to be changed so that there was better access for disabled people using public transport. It’s a very good film and it will be on the BBC sometime next year and on Netflix too. It’s been a joy to work on. It came about because I co-wrote a new song called If It Can’t Be Right It Must Be Wrong for a musical in 2017 called Reasons To Be Cheerful which was made by a brilliant organisation called Graeae. I thought their production was absolute genius. The new film about Alan Holdsworth is in post-production. I’m not allowed to reveal its title just yet.
LD I’ve read the first record that amazed you was by Lee Dorsey. What other artists inspired you to make music?
CJ There have been certain records over the years than have just blown my socks off. One of them is a Beach Boys song called, Disney Girls it’s from an album called Surf's Up. I think Max Bruch’s Violin Concert Number 1 is phenomenal. And also Mozart’s clarinet concerto. I also love the work of the Brazilian composer and guitarist Caetano Veloso. I think he’s an amazing writer.
LD You’ve collaborated with Norman Watt-Roy for many decades. When you’re on stage with The Blockheads is there one particular song you like hearing Norman play? What would you say is his most funky bass line?
CJ I think if I had to pick one song it would be Hit Me With Your Rythm Stick Norman is an outstanding player. We connect on stage a lot. Sometimes he’ll play a little funky lick and look my way and we just click and spark off each other. Playing on stage with Norman is wonderful. Norman wears his heart on his sleeve. He has huge stature. He’s only 5 foot 7 but he has a massive stature. He’s awesome.
LD I listened to the 5 CD Glad To Know You Anthology that Cherry Red Records brought out last year and I was surprised by how contemporary it sounded. Do you have any idea why it has such a timeless quality? Why do you think it stands the test of time so well?
CJ Well, I have a theory that roughly every 20 years — the generation that had musically inclined parents, re generate the music their parents played. When I made that record it was reimagined disco club music. Dance culture wasn’t huge in the UK at that time. I was tapping into post disco music and I loved Afro/American culture and the people working in that area. Digital drum machines were very new then and almost a dirty word as drummers thought their days were numbered. I wanted to try Linn drum machines and other new developments in digital technology that were happening in 1981. Glad To Know You went through four different incarnations some of which are findable on YouTube and Spotify.
LD The Labour Party is in a strange place right now. The group of left wing Jews who supported Corbyn but said (Blockhead sax player) Gilad Atzmon was racist have now been kicked out of the party because right wing Jews say that they are racist. Were you ever troubled by comments Gilad has made about Israel and Palestine?
CJ I feel we don't get to hear the real news going on with the horrendous treatment of Palestinians. I think currently there's a hijacking of the Labour party. Corbyn got dealt a deadly blow. The motives behind the Labour Party getting rid of Corbyn seem suspicious to me. I don't think Corbyn is anti-Semitic for one second. Gilad (who was born in Israel) has a real issue with what is going on in Palestine. Although I have some empathy with a lot of Gilad’s views, his obsession with Jewish identity is overpowering. His very staunch views meant The Blockheads lost gigs in venues that were run by Labour Councils.
LD It’s sad because The Blockheads have always been a celebration of how people of different backgrounds and views can come together and have a great time.
CJ Absolutely!
LD There have been a couple of books about Ian Dury and now his son Baxter has brought out an autobiography — which books about The Blockheads have you enjoyed reading are there any you’d recommend?
CJ I’ve only read a small extract from Baxter’s book. It was just a small extract I saw in a Newspaper. I don’t know all the books about The Blockheads but to be honest because I was there at the time it seems daft to read books based on second hand information. In 2010 when the Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll movie came out we couldn’t talk about it. The Blockheads were all pivotal to the story but barely got a mention. I did read some of Will Birch’s book and I enjoyed that. Maybe later on in my life when my memory starts fading I’ll start reading all these books about us and see if it rings true.
LD There was an Ian Dury quote I remember where he claims you said you didn't like the song Blockheads even though you wrote it. Which of your compositions are you most proud of and would like to be better known?
CJ Norman mentioned this quote to me once. The story is a distortion — the song wasn’t Blockheads it was Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. Ian used to live in a place near The Oval he called Cat Shit Mansions. I’d go there and he’d show my sheets of paper with different song ideas. I couldn’t think of how to come up with a melody to go with Ian’s words for Sex & Drugs & Rock & And & Roll so I kept putting that sheet of paper to the back of the pile. Ian suggested the famous riff and I was able to come up with the rest of the music. Later it was revealed the riff was the same as a bass line Charlie Haden played in an Ornette Coleman song called Ramblin’.
LD There are some real gems on the Cherry Red 5CD Anthology. I enjoyed listening to Little Eva. Are there any songs that aren’t that well known that you wish had been hits?
CJ I think Ian came up with the lyrics for that after meeting a woman called Eva in Tel Aviv. Ian and some of The Blockheads were touring Israel and they met this woman who was huge and so calling the song Little Eva was ironic. I think you have to accept what you get in life. We all choose a path. I decided not to have a manager. If I had a manager they would insist I did certain things and if I did what they said I might have had more hits but commercial success tends to come at a price. The Blockheads are all a little sceptical and suspicious about the music industry. Maybe by not having managers we missed out on a few opportunities here and there.
LD When will The Blockheads hit the road again? What are your plans for the future?
CJ Well ... everything is on hold at the moment. A couple of the band are unwell. Mick Gallagher (Blockheads keyboard player and songwriter) is in charge of the tours and would never organise shows if it put any of us in a vulnerable position. So I don’t know what will happen for a while.
LD Derek Hussey joined The Blockheads in 2000 and became the band’s lyricist. Are there any of Derek’s lyrics that you can imagine Dury smiling at approvingly?
CJ Yes. I think George The Human Pidgeon (from 2009s Staring Down The Barrel album) would have made Ian laugh. I like Elegant Smile off that same album. Derek is a great writer, a great lyricist and great to be with. Hold Up (from the 2017 Beyond The Call Of Dury album) is good I think Derek was prophetic and he saw the crumbling of society way ahead of a lot of people. What he saw depressed him a great deal. But we wrote a lot of songs together and it was always good fun.
LD In terms of performing onstage when do you feel most shy or under stress?
CJ When The Blockheads tour and I go onstage with them I never feel nervous. There’s a symbiotic relationship, we don’t feel self conscious and everything just flows. Whereas when I did a one off gig at The Jazz Cafe I worried a lot about remembering lyrics and it can be a nightmare for me. There’s a fear I’ll get caught with my trousers down. But really ... I don’t think it would matter if I did get some of the lyrics wrong as it’s not that important considering probably many people in the audience don’t know all the words either!
LD Can you list 3 new reasons to be cheerful (that don't already appear in the song Reasons To Be Cheerful)?
CJ I think just being alive at this moment is one reason. But if you want three more I’d say; The colour magenta, a Korean pickled cabbage called Kimchi. And, Fransk nougat – which is a very good chocolate you can buy from Totally Swedish in Baker Street. Marabou French Nougat – it’s delicious!
Click here find out more about The Graeae Organisation.
Because The Blockheads can’t tour at the moment you can support them by becoming a patron. Details here.
Glad To Know You: The Anthology (1980-1986) is available from Cherry Red records here.
Twitter: @chazjankel
Main illustration by Leonie Woods
