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  Iron Bridge Interview
interview 0284 added 05.03.05 words: Nikesh
technical:
QED
Whatever you think about Iron Bridge, the likely lads from
Essex, after their seething diss of hip-hop journalist Rob
Bringur. Whatever the ins and outs were, they certainly helped
to raise the profile of Dirty Verbals and the insanely talented
Jibbarish. Tirelessly working on release after release,
resulting in last year’s “Toilet Humour” album and
“Ghostwriters” EP, they managed to work on crew and solo
projects. Jibbarish managed to do a limited run of a great
album. Iron Bridge take their hip-hop seriously and create
relentless flows based around good spitkicking lyrics and
humorous imagery, detailing the trials and tribulations of small
town Essex. Nikesh caught up with the boys to get their thoughts
on the UK scene, architecture and their plans for the future.
Introduce
yourselves and tell us which bridge is better and why: the
suspension bridge in Bristol or the Brooklyn bridge?
 Verbs: Hi, I’m the dirtiest verbalist aka Craig Verbs,
one half of Iron Bridge.
I guess the Brooklyn bridge is more renowned than the one in
Bristol, but I’m gonna be a patriot and go for the Bristol
bridge, coz it’s a good city and we’ve had a few shows there
recently. Can’t really comment on the architecture I’m afraid.
Jibba: Word I go by the name of Jibbbarish a.k.a Dutch
Almanax the other half of Iron Bridge, I am half human and half
rat, I’m gonna say the Iron Bridge in Shoebury is better than
both and it is also currently under reconstruction so it will be
safer and more reliable for pensioners to cross so they wont
fall through it and die.
What are
your plans for 2005?
V: Working towards my degree, and releasing/promoting the many
projects I’m involved in at the moment; the Buck Fling
compilation, that’s first, then my solo album ( ‘Private i’) and
12” which I’ve just completed, the Ill Psychosis album we
finished the other day. And as of this week, starting on the
next Iron Bridge album. Busy times ahead.
J: I’m still waiting for my solo album ( Immortal ) to be
completed and the I.P. album, starting work on the new Bridge
album and will be releasing another EP with Jaimez in the
future, and pushing my solo 12” “Drop Bombs”, which is out now.
Tell us
about the “Toilet Humour” LP, the sound you went for and how you
evolved your sound for the “Ghostwriters” EP?
V: We didn’t really go for a sound as such with ‘Toilet Humour’,
it just kinda came together. We started recording a few tracks
after we released the ‘U Cant Do It’ EP in 2002, with the intent
of doing a second EP, then it turned into an album. Looking back
I probably wouldn’t have put half the stuff that’s on there out,
some of it’s really old, but I accidentally got myself detained
in America half way through recording the album so the time
factor meant we had to put a few crusty tunes on there. When it
came to the Ghostwriters EP, I think we’d both learned a lot and
wanted to do something a bit more serious.
"...Keep
it energetic- don't stand on stage like a plum mumbling into the
mic...."
J: The “Toilet Humour” album was heavy. We featured every MC
around our way, so whatever other peoples reactions are to it,
we got that 4 life so that’s always gonna be funny memories, but
there is no style to us. We do what we wanna do. The
“Ghostwriters” EP is different to the “Toilet Humour album” and
the “Toilet Humour” album is different from the “u can’t do it”
EP. It’s just how you feeling at the time you’re writing and
what beat it is.
Tell us
your version of the story surrounding your Rob Bringur diss
track? Has it resulted in any hostility from the media?
 V: Ahh, that’s old news now. Basically, our album got a negative
review, which is fine if it’s done in a constructive manner, but
this was personal. So we recorded a track as a personal reply to
the journalist who allegedly wrote it. Apparently he didn’t write
it, but by the time we found that out we’d already recorded it
and sent it off to press. I bumped into him in Bongo’s one day
actually, we talked about it and I told him the track was done
and we’d leave it at that. A few people overreacted to it, which
is stupid really coz we were only exercising our right to free
speech, (I thought that’s what rap was meant to be about) and
some said we wouldn’t get any reviews or interviews as a result
of it, but we have so fuck it. Besides, I don’t know anyone who
buys an album based on seeing a review for it.
J: He said it.
How did
you get into rapping? How does Jibbarish manage to cram so many
syllables in?
V: Everyone in Shoebury, where we grew up was into reggae or
jungle back in the day, but there were a few of us who loved
Hip-Hop, myself and Jibba included. We all used to knock about
on the streets round by the Iron Bridge at the station trying to
rap and freestyle just for a laugh. Sometimes we recorded lyrics
over other people’s instrumentals on an old tape player but we
didn’t have any plans to try and ‘make it’ as rappers or
anything, we just did it for love. Then we met some beat makers
and started going to the studio, and it went on from there
really.
J: I was about 9 or 10 and my sister used to listen to it when
BDP was first around and I just loved it from then on. I started
rapping when I was thirteen so I was influenced by people like
Chip Fu and Da Bush Babees back when all the tongue twisting was
around.
"...we
don't really make music for our mothers...."
A lot of
your lyrics involve humorous disses and exacting violence on
people, any real life funny stories of violence in Essex?
V: Every weekend same as most towns there’s a load of piss heads
getting into rucks somewhere or other. The funny thing is, of
all the years I’ve being going to hip-hop nights I’ve only seen
2 or 3 offs, whereas all the ‘beautiful people’ who listen to
house and garage and look down their noses at our genre of
music, seem to love kicking the shit out of each other. About 2
or 3 people a year get beaten to death down Lucy Road where most
of the clubs in Southend are, one guy lost his life just before
Christmas, it’s sad really…you gotta think about his family, was
it really worth it?
J: There’s mainly smack headz and thieves round Shoebury, but in
town theirs always a row kicking off, but you never know what
they’ve done to get a pasting so fuck it, but yeah like verbs
said is it worth getting killed for.
Who are
your rapping heroes? Which of your peers do you rate in the UK
rap game?
 V: I’m still listening to all my old tapes from back in the day,
Das EFX, Smooth tha Hustler, Gang Starr etc. Always been a big
fan of Chino Xl, Cypress Hill, Gravediggaz, early Wu-Tang and
Boot Camp stuff, but UK wise, I’d say some of the best around
would have to be Dark Circle, Task Force, the Colony and my boys
Phonetics.
J: My heroes are Chip Fu, Chino XL, N9ne, Pharaohe Monche, Big L
and more but too many to mention. In the UK, Task Force,
Aspects, Ill Pyschosis and I think Klasknekoff is one of the
best too.
What do
you feel needs to be done to blow the UK scene wide open?
V: Dunno really, that sounds like mission impossible to me. For
years everyone’s been going ‘the UK scene’s gonna blow up, it’s
gonna blow up’ but I don’t know. I think there’s a lack of
organisation amongst the scene, perhaps it’s the fact that
nearly everyone into hip-hop smokes green. When you look at
other scenes people seem a lot more motivated and you get a lot
of major events going on. Maybe I’m wrong, but there’s a lot of
big talkers around and not enough doers.
J: Dynamite.
What
different projects are you working on at the moment?
V: Like I said, loads at the moment. As well as everything I
mentioned earlier there’s gonna be a Colony-Iron Bridge
Collaboration EP sometime in the near future. I got one track
done for that with Willo, one of my favourite MC’s.
"...there's
a lack of organisation amongst the scene, perhaps it's the fact
that nearly everyone into hip-hop smokes green...."
J: I’m still writing some solo stuff so maybe another LP and I
wanna definitely get a Human Vermin EP out.
What do
your mothers think of your lyrical content?
V: My mums cool, she still goes clubbing and all that and she’s
quite supportive of it, she always wants to come to the live
shows-sometimes I have to lock her in the attic to stop her
coming. Aside from that though, we don’t really make music for
our mothers.
J: My mum used to tell me to get out her room because she was
getting ready for my dad if you know what I’m sayin so I don’t
think she cares too much.
What
approach do you take to live shows?
 V: Try not to get too wrecked before we go on (ahem, Jib), Keep
it energetic- don’t stand on stage like a plum mumbling into the
mic, and don’t go on too long. We go for the keep ‘em wanting
more approach, there’s nothing worse than standing there
watching someone do 40 tracks, when chances are you’re only
gonna recognise 3 of em, the human attention span can’t handle
it-so don’t milk it!
J: I take the get smashed approach and fly around the stage like
Chris Reeves in heaven.
"...I
don't know anyone who buys an album based on seeing a review for
it...."
Any final
shout outs and shameless plugs?
V: Yeah, big up to all local heads, especially Phonetics and
Ill-Son, Ill Psychosis (the albums gonna be big), Terror, Pager,
Ron Compost and the Human Vermin Crew, Apoc, err Dave the new
guy and yourself for taking the time to interview us. Oh, and if
any bodies ever in Southend and fancies a night out come down to
Cipher Circle on the last Friday of every month-it’s a Hip-Hop
night I run with another MC called Change @IMAGE on Southend
seafront. It’s ladies free so there’s loads of gash, there’s
breakers and an open mic spot, plus resident DJs Ill-son, Pager
and Terror and live PA’s by the likes of us, Phonetics, The
Colony, Shameless, Hard Living, Ill Psychosis (March) and more,
so get ya arses down there! Peace.
J: Everyone involved on my album and everyone I know even those
who wanna smash my fat face in with a brick.
With much more to come in the future and a good line in
cutting disses, all this journalist can do is say Iron Bridge is
the best damn band ever. Actually, a Nikesh diss track could be
interested. Nikesh, from the desh, I’ll hit you with a wrench…
etc etc. In the meantime, check these boys out, cos they’ll make
you laugh, then they’ll make you cry, then you’ll buy their
records. Nice.
 - Nikesh
Shukla
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