Scroobius Pip Speaks On Spoken Word, Socks, Caps and Collaborations At Hull Uni (1/6) By Michelle Dee

(1/6), (2/6), (3/6), (4/6), (5/6), (6/6).

I arrive at Hull Uni armed with information gathered after an afternoon's research fest on the bearded one; an unlikely counter culture hero, who takes his moniker from one of the pioneers of nonsense poetry Edward Lear, or rather The Scroobious Pip, a poem that remained unfinished at the time of Edward's death in 1888. I am due to interview him before he headlines alongside beats master and DJ Dan Le Sac.

Do you see yourself as a poet, a writer, a spoken word artist, a rock n roll performer, a rap artist or a hip-hop artist? Where d'you kind of fit..?

Hopefully, all of them aren't mutually exclusive. I like to think of myself as a spoken word artist, just because I do stuff over beats. I generally try everything out as spoken word first. There's a poet I've done a load of gigs with, Inua Ellams, and he said once, we were talking about these terms, and he said a poet can never refer to themselves as a poet 'cos it kind of puts an almost arrogant gravitas on your material. Whereas someone else can refer to you as a poet, you can't refer to yourself as a poet, so I kind of like that; I'll stick with 'spoken word' chap, really.

I like 'chap'. Some people think it's weird, but I like 'chap' It's a good word.

Why do you think there's been an increase in the interest in spoken word? I think, from what I've seen in the last, say five years or so, a lot of the boundaries have been dropped. I think poetry, for a long time, was seen as a posh middle class kind of upper class thing, whereas the boundaries have dropped now and everyone who is capable of speech really is open to speak their minds, express their experience or views and opinions. I think that's a great thing 'cos it has broadened it.

It has taken a lot of the people who are doing UK hip hop and maybe feeling a bit down by it, because it can be a bit monotonous, samey - I find personally a lot of it can be generic - it opens up to be more creative; to push the boundaries.

Okay. April 2006 is when you started performing is that right? What was that first gig like? About then, yeah. Well, the first gigs were all on street corners. I toured the country living in a van. I'd go to open mics as well but mainly I was just turning up. My original plan was to just go outside, just in town centres and stuff, with a microphone and an amp. I would do spoken word or beat box into a loop pedal or play over a backing track. Then I figured, as I went on, to look at the gig listing and see who was playing that area and see if there was someone of a similar genre or mindset.

The first one I hijacked outside of London was a Mr Scruff gig in Oxford. If I play in Oxford High Street, one in every hundred might be interested in what I'm doing, whereas Mr Scruff would literally get my target audience and line them up against a wall outside his gigs, which was good because I'd just turn up and do stuff.

It went down well cos I wasn't busking or asking for anything - I didn't have anything to sell at that point - I think I might have had my album No Commercial Breaks (1000 copies only, now sadly all gone) but I wasn't attempting to sell it, I was just handing out flyers of where to find more - the myspace, the website and things like that. And yeah, it was really good.

At the gig where I was recently, in Norwich, a guy came up and he'd seen one of the first ones I ever did - it was the only other time he'd seen me - 2 years on and he said 'I saw you outside an atmosphere gig in Camden.' I remembered him because he had couple of tattoos I really liked so it was good to have that recognition and conversation. It's nice.

Continued .... Next Page (2/6)

People - An Interview with Glen Strachan, An English musician in Germany By Steve Rudd
	Glen Strachan, formerly of Uxbridge, recently made the bold decision to relocate to Berlin, where he has been edging his way into the city's music scene with cunning stealth. Former member of acclaimed underground bands TheBed and England and The April, Glen is a prolific songwriter whose tunes never fail to astound and inspire through being so daring and original. Read more...

People - An Interview with The Alps By Steve Rudd
	London band The Alps have been receiving rave reviews over the past couple of years for their CD releases and live performances. Having recently unleashed their eagerly anticipated debut album, Something I Might Regret, the band is working harder than ever, with a string of dates in Spain and the shooting of their latest music video keeping the four lads tremendously busy. Read more...

People - An Interview with Chris Helme By Steve Rudd
	Former member of acclaimed Indie band The Seahorses, in which he penned and performed tunes with John Squire, Chris Helme has never been one to shy away from the limelight. However, since The Seahorses disbanded, Chris has been hard at work pursuing other musical avenues, not least by means of York-based band The Yards. Read more...

People - An Interview With Karl Bushby By Steve Rudd
	Men come no more intrepid than adventurer Karl Bushby, formerly of Hull. In 1998, feeling like undertaking the mother of all challenges, he set out from Punta Arenas, Chile, with the intention of literally walking around the world: all the way home. Thus, he walked north through South America, Central America and North America, completing the American leg of his epic walk in Fairbanks, Alaska. Read more...

People - Michelle Dee Catches Up With Afterglow During Recording Sessions At Big Hand Studio In Hull By Michelle Dee
	It's a blistering hot Saturday I am in the upstairs room of Big Hand Studio with mixing desk monitors and stacks of equipment covered with LED lights blinking intermittently. I am here to see AfterGlow who the week previous headlined at Sesh to great effect playing possibly their best Hull gig to date. They were all right on the button raising Read more...

People - An Exclusive Interview with David Icke, Candidate in the Howden and Haltemprice By-election
	Hello David Icke. Is this election the first step in a move into politics? No. I'm just using the opportunity to draw attention to the issue of the Big Brother state, the global elite which is slowly taking over. I'm not entering politics as a career. So what will you do if you win? I'm think there's a one-hundred per cent chance that I won't win, but if by some chance I did, I would resign. How could I stand up in the houses Read more...

People - An Interview with Charlie Heather of The Levellers By Steve Rudd
	The Levellers have dominated the Folk-Punk scene for the past twenty years, having had scores of hit singles and albums. Often voted as one of the best live bands in the UK, they've wowed venues and festival audiences all around the world with their brand of politically-charged music. On the brink of performing a huge number of dates at various summer festivals, The Levellers are also on the verge of Read more...

People - An Interview with Leila Slater (Mastermind behind Moonbeams Acoustic Nights in Driffield By Steve Rudd
	Fed up with having to travel out of town to indulge in her passion for live music, Leila Slater boldly took it upon herself to start organizing and promoting her own nights of live music in Driffield. Taking the form of intimate Acoustic nights, her Moonbeams events have so far attracted a whole host of marvelous musicians and singers from near and far. Read more...

People - An Interview with Adam Towse of Filth Wizard By Steve Rudd
	Fans of Torso Horse might have been wondering why it's been so quiet on their metallic front in recent months. Well, rest assured - they haven't split up; they've simply been taking a break. In the meantime, band ringleader Adam Towse has been busy writing material for a new project: Filth Wizard. Unleashing auto-erotic fury in a similar manner Read more...

People - An Interview with Phluid By Steve Rudd
	Leeds-based band Phluid have been whipping fans of Glamtastic Punk-Rock into a frenzy for the past ten years and then some. Not only have they proved to be one of the most exhilarating live bands in the UK, they have also released some stunning CDs, most notably their Cynical Smile album that was absolutely jam-packed with glorious anthems. Read more...

People - John Science Talks Exclusively To Thisisull.com - Sixties Bands and The Seventies Fast Food Phenomenon By Michelle Dee and Cilla
	... he rang me up and said, 'John, I've got this group. Don't know whether you've heard of them or not, but they're called The Beatles. They've just come back from Hamburg...' It's a wet Friday, the one a week before the floods last year, and we are drinking Cappuccinos, sitting in the lounge at The Village Hotel. Read more...

People - Interview with Christopher Manson By Steve Rudd
	Lights! Camera!! Action!!! Christopher Manson, a photographer from Driffield, has in recent years had work published in a plethora of high-profile magazines and newspapers such as The Observer On Sunday, Time Out and Hello. Having lived and worked in Dubai and Toronto since graduating from university, he is currently back in the East Riding, Read more...

People - An Interview with Sandi Thom By Steve Rudd
	Since releasing the chart-storming hit I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker, Sandi Thom's career has gone from strength to strength. Such a tune featured on her debut album, Smile... It Confuses People. Now, Sandi is on the verge of unleashing her follow-up LP, Pink and The Lily, a record she's set to promote with a lengthy UK tour. It just so happens that Sandi Read more...

People - Interview With Sid Stovold of Brassneck By Steve Rudd Brassneck photos by LMI Photography
	Sid Stovold, former guitarist for Indie-Pop-Punk heroes Inter, recently got together with a new band called Brassneck. Here, in an exclusive interview with Steve Rudd, he chats candidly about his time in Inter, and about more recent musical endeavours, as well as his frenzied involvement in the UK's underground fanzine scene... Read more...

People - An Interview with Athlete By Steve Rudd
	Athlete first burst onto the scene with their Vehicles and Animals album, a stunning debut which they followed-up with Tourist. They recently released their third album, Beyond The Neighbourhood, and in promotion of such an album the Deptford boys have been hard at work touring the length and breadth of the UK for the aural pleasure of their fans. They even stopped by Hull University Read more...

People - Interview With Miles Cain By Steve Rudd
	Miles Cain, once a Hull resident, is a superb singer-songwriter who is now based in York. Back in April he unleashed yet another outstanding album - A Way Of Being Free' - and, fresh from his recent support slot with Lucy Kaplansky in York, here he chats exclusively to Steve Rudd about the state of the local music scene in general, what Read more...

People - An Interview with Kris Mole, Skint In Europe By Steve Rudd

	Intrepid travellers unite, and meet Kris Mole... metaphorically speaking! He's a globetrotting man on a mission, determined to visit the capital city of every EU country on a budget of... wait for it - NOTHING! And all in aid of charity, too! How, you might ask? Well, if you read this here interview that Kris took time out to conduct with Steve Rudd Read more...