In My Record Collection, we dig down to the bottom of musicians’ souls to find out what the most treasured parts of their record collection are. This week, it’s the turn of Dub Pistols’ mainman Barry Ashworth, let’s see what he picks out…
The first record I ever bought with my own money was…
“It’s hard to remember that far back, to be honest! It could have been The Specials, Madness or any of the 2 Tone artists but I’m pretty sure it was The Clash’s London Calling. Joe Strummer was the artist that influenced me with his attitude more than any other.”
The record that made me want to be in a band was…
“I always wanted to be in a band like most people growing up. Watching the Clash, The Jam and certainly the Sex Pistols with their energy and attitude defined the way I wanted to perform but it wasn’t until the Madchester scene happened that I believed it was possible. Seeing the Stone Roses at Spike Island and the Happy Mondays at various shows was the moment in time I decided to give it a go. I would say the record that made that happen was The Stone Roses’ self-titled.”
The record I’ve played more than any other is…
“That’s such a hard question to answer. Once you get to a certain age, there are so many that you have listened to over the years and when you are younger you tend to have the same record on repeat forever. So it could be as with all of these questions a million different records. David Bowie’s Hunky Dory was on repeat forever and Pink Floyd ‘s Dark Side of the Moon is a right of passage, but probably the one I had most on repeat was Beastie Boys’ Licensed To ill.
The record that always makes me feel good is…
“Stevie Wonder’s Hotter Than July. It just has the feel-good factor.”
The record I think is the most underrated of all time is…
“Flowered Up’s Weekender. An absolute masterpiece produced by Clive Langer. It isn’t technically an album, but due to the fact that both sides are 15 minutes long, I’m going to slip it in here. It captures the whole essence of the club culture at the time in one song. The video was like a modern-day Quadrophenia and the artwork was punk as you like.”
“Flowered Up were really the only London band at that time that could capture the vibe of the time in the same way The Manchester bands did.”
The record with my favourite cover art is…
“One of the best things about buying vinyl albums was always its artwork. It’s often as creative as the music inside. There are so many iconic album covers. How do you choose just one? The Beatles and Talking Heads’ artwork was always amazing, Nirvana’s Nevermind is great, the list just goes on and on. When I got into reggae I loved the early Green Sleeves artwork. But if I had to choose just one as I do here it is Scientist’s Heavy Weight Dub Champion.”
The record with my favourite title is…
“The Happy Mondays’ Pills Thrills & Bellyaches. It captured the way I was living my life at the time through club culture and influenced the name of my first ever album which was called “Gangsters, Tarts and Wannabes”.
The record I can’t understand why everybody loves is…
“Anything by Sam Smith. It makes me want to smash up the stereo.”
The last record I bought was…
“I get sent promo’s all the time to play on my radio shows but I still buy records every week as I think it’s only right to support the bands you love. Most of the records I buy are singles that I use in my DJ sets but albums wise, it was The Nextmen vs Gentlemen’s Dub Club’s Pound for Pound. It features so many of my favourite up and coming artists such as Gardna, Hollie Cooke, Kiko Bun, Eva Lazarus. There’s not a bad track on the album.”
The record I’m most looking forward to hearing in 2020 is…
“It has to be Public Enemy’s WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE GRID GOES DOWN?. One of my favourite groups of all time back on Def Jam for the first time in over two decades and with guest Appearances By Nas, YG, Rapsody, DJ Premier, Black Thought, Questlove, Cypress Hill, Run-DMC, Ice-T, PMD, George Clinton, Daddy-O, Jahi, The Impossebulls and Mike D and Ad-Rock of Beastie Boys. This has to be one of the biggest records of the year.”
The greatest record of all time is…
“The Specials’ The Specials. My favourite band of all time. Getting Terry Hall to work with and perform with the Dub Pistols is one of my greatest achievements in life. We also had Lynval Golding join us a few times on stage. Performing Gangsters with those 2 on stage in front of 50,000 people at Rise festival had the hair on my arms standing on end. They say that it was their catalyst for reforming The Specials…”
Dub Pistols’ new album Addict is out now and available to purchase here in hmv’s online store.
Addict
Addict
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