Warp Week: Nightmares on Wax – The Journey Continues

There are very few artists in the dance music scene who genuinely need no introduction – but Nightmares on Wax is definitely one of those artists. His nineties albums A Word of Science, Smoker’s Delight, and Carboot Soul are widely regarded as definitive peaks of the trip-hop scene. This is a reductive way of looking at the albums, however – in terms of production techniques, arrangements and range of influences, they are perhaps better regarded as classics of modern soul, soundtracking the lives and smoking sessions of a generation of listeners.

Having been in the music industry for twenty years, and being one of Warp’s first few signings, George Evelyn, aka DJ E.A.S.E. has developed a very philosophical, almost zen-like attitude to his music, and its deeper significance to his listeners and the world at large. His tracks, and in a wider sense the albums, always feel like they have a very definite narrative structure, which Evelyn describes as ‘a journey.’ Nevertheless, he plays down the emphasis on structure, arguing that sometimes, it is imposed after the music has already been made: “I’ve always spoken about the journey side of music – being able to put an album on and really go somewhere with it. But I don’t think that there was a massive focus on making music like that though. There’s a lot of talk of it – when you get a collection of music together, you try to use the tracks as jigsaw pieces to make that picture. That includes that journey element. The journey never ends, does it?”

When discussing the response to his music, Evelyn confirms that this writer is not the only NoW fan to have considered the albums an integral part of their life’s soundtrack: “The stories that I’ve heard during the time I’ve been doing what I do, in all the different countries… everyone’s got a story to tell. The thing that I find interesting is that every album that has manifested has a story behind it. It’s a different part of my life: it’s the soundtrack to where my head or my heart was at that time. It’s the same for the people that are around me, for my loved ones, my friends. Some of the music was based around spending good times with my friends. The songs are about my people. So we kind of have that story inside of us, while that’s all happening. Then to go around the world and hear people tell us their story… like, it was their soundtrack to backpacking across South America, or something. It’s like… fucking hell man… We have our story, but then there’s the next stream to that. Or our story could be the next stream to somebody else’s. I think that’s fascinating. There’s nothing you can say about music other than it travels. It passes person to person. It makes me totally grateful and proud, not only to have the tracks and the music, but to have that substance behind it.”

Reflecting on the wealth of largely instrumental hip-hop produced in the UK nineties boom, Evelyn sings the praises of James Lavelle’s Mo’ Wax label: “It’s interesting. Around that 93 to 94 period, it was really fascinating – Warp were doing their whole thing, but then Mo Wax were coming up. Both were just so relevant to where I was, you know?”

Evelyn still plays some of these seminal nineties releases when he DJs: “It’s funny you should mention Mo' Wax actually… I’ve just been moving my record boxes to Ibiza, and I came across some old Mo' Wax stuff, one of which was the Headz 2 album. I couldn’t believe how much that is going for now, second-hand. All the Mo' Wax stuff is. I was amazed. It’s interesting that people are hunting that shit down now. It makes me proud of my vinyl!”

Coasting into his third decade as a musician, Evelyn has been working as a producer on albums for his own Wax On Records label, by the likes of Nygaard and Deadbeat. He remains optimistic about his future, and the industry’s future: “D’you know what? One, I can’t ever imagine me not making music, and two I can’t imagine not sharing it with anybody. It will always be out there, no matter what. It’s hard to predict where we’re gonna be in ten years time. It’s more about now, and living for now. We could say all kinds of things about the business looking back from now to ten years ago, or even in the last ten months. It’s moving so fast. The way that people acquire music, and even the way they get to know about it, is changing in so many ways.”

Currently enjoying a renaissance of sorts, Evelyn talks of feeling like he has ‘come full circle’ as a producer, returning to his studio arrangements with a fresh perspective and vision. He remains loyal to Warp as a label, and is proud of his association with the seminal label. When asked to pick his favourite albums from Warp’s twenty year back catalogue, he opts for the early classics: “In terms of complete albums, I would definitely put Richard H. Kirk in there. It’s a good question… Polygon Window should be in there, Coco Steel and the Lovebomb… I could go on, couldn’t I really?” Indeed he could – the Warp catalogue in general is a dauntingly inspired and challenging legacy to be part of, and Evelyn’s own contributions to that particular hall of fame should not be overlooked either.

As he looks ahead to his seventh album for Warp, Evelyn also has a lot of time for the label’s recent signings, such as Flying Lotus and Bibio. “It’s interesting, because there’s a different energy about what these guys are doing. In a sense they really push it to the brim – that’s what it’s about sonically for them, pushing it to the brim.” Evelyn says this with the hushed admiration of a seasoned pro, enjoying watching the rising stars, but with the same zen-like equilibrium that characterises his albums. “It’s a different energy, but I suppose the generation before me would have said that about my music!”