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ROTTEN HILL GANG
Look out! Who's that behind you?
Watch your pockets..!
Because you are entering the Dickensian hiphop world of The Rotten Hill Gang, with its tales of old and new London - stories as putrid as decaying vegetables at the end of a day in Portobello Road market and as uplifting and elevating as the sun rising over the Westway.
The best new group of 2008 kicked off as a loose collective at the beginning of that year, supporting Mick Jones' Carbon Silicon on seven of the eight Carbon Casino nights at Notting Hill's renowned Inn on the Green. The Rotten Hill Gang sprang out of the living room of Gary Stonadge, a personal project and production of the former Big Audio Dynamite II bass player.
The several musicians involved in this labour of love had first come together a few weeks previously, when George Vjestica of Groove Armada had presented a weekly night at Ladbroke Grove's Pelican pub. On of those evenings who should turn up but local rapper Reds, legendary local badman street poet. How does Reds look? Like an archetypal music hall villain seemingly missing in action since the turn of the last century.
The night at the Pelican, Reds linked up with Krysten Cummings, a supmtuous star of stage musicals and screen - her latest movie is Descent 2. Possesing one of the most breathtakingly powerful voices in Britain, Krysten regularly would play her own acoustic material at George's nights. However she was never averse to a spot of spitting rhymes. Providing beats behind them that night, a memorable experience for involved, were George Vjestica and Gary Stonadge. "That was one of the best night I have ever had", says Gary of the dynamic chemistry that immediately was revealed.
Continuing their musical understanding on further evenings at George's Pelican nights, this conglomeration expanded with the arrival of Andre Shapps, who had played keyboards in BAD II. "Gary conned me into coming round the corner to his place later on", says Andre. "We are going to do dome mash-ups", I was told. No, we're not, I thought: we're doing something with Reds.'
Putting together- amonmg other sources- snatches of such movie soundtracks and dialogue as Scarface and Once Upon A Time in America, mixed together with classic rock 'n' roll guitar-riffs, this crew of like-minded musical souls understood they were creating an upful sound that was utterly original, hugely compelling, and definitely adictive. When a friend of Reds came up with the Rotten Hill Gang name, it twist on rap pioneers the Sugar Hill Gang, the multiracial group's identity was in place.
By the time that their friend Micke Jones, the founder of the Clash, announced the first Carbon Casino night for the end of January 2008, the Rotten Hill Gang were ready to perform live. Even though on that occasion they only played a pair of songs - Pick a pocket and Fed Up - their unique sound was enhanced by a glamorous image of late 1890's loucheness, an element of which featured Andre Shapps as king of moustache waxing. That night at the first Carbon Casino, Andre played on a borrowed set of keyboards; unable to obtain them, he moved over to guitar for the subsequent six Carbon Casino shows.
Meanwhile, the group was expanded with the arrival of Alexia, a celebrated big-lunged diva of Ladbroke Grove, formerly a regular singer with Laurie Johnson's London Big Band, conducted by Jack Parnell. Alexia joined the group, left, and joined again.
The Rotten Hill Gang now has a fabulous two female, one male front-line - Krysten, Alexia, and Reds, who varies the vocals and raps between them. All the while, Mick Jones floated on the sidelines, contributing undertsated rhythm guitar and textures, sometimes playing ith the group, sometime not: an early favourite was a version of Should I Stay or Should I Go. Very quickly, The Rotten Hill Gang had become one of the great live road-shows, comparable with soul outfits of the 1960s, or - more appositely - George Clinton's Funkadelic/Parliament. Their material dealt with the dubside of life in Notting Hill, reality with rhythm.
What was missing? A permanent drummer. Although Alison from Taurus Tracker at first picked up the rhythm section sticks, and Dominic from Carbon/Silicon also filled in, it was not until the end of the of the summer of 2008 that The Rotten Hill Gang chanced upon the perfect person: Aaron Ness, from South London. For atime they were also joined by Jon Byrne, cult singer-songwriter of north-west England.
Fully formed, The Rotten Hill Gang embarked on a set of prestige dates, including shows at Movida, Bungalow 8, and the Cuckoo Club. Although their manager, celebrity jewellery designer Stephen Webster, had organized a tour of Russia for The Rotten Hill Gang last autumn, the recession caused it to be postponed.
As with any football squad, members of The Rotten Hill Gang are some times rested, even Mick Jones. Early in 2009, for such significant shows Reds took his place on the bench, replaced by Jimmy O'Regan, the Robert Palmer of rap. When Reds was soon once again match-fit, Jimmy remained in the team, trading tunes with Reds, especially on the epic song Londoner.
A turning point for The Rotten Hill Gang was the 2009 Glastonbury Festival, whre the group played in Gaz Mayall's tent: outside the tarpaulin-covered area, as many people strained to watch the set as had managed to get inside. Similarly, at a largescale Strummerville show beneath the Westway in August 2009, most of the audience departed once The Rotten Hill Gangs's performance was ended.
It was time for The Rotten Hill Gang to go into a recording studio. In September and October this year, the group members went into The Dairy in Brixton, recording a total of 16 tunes.
The rest will be hstory.
Chris Salewicz
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