Guerilla Radio

You may have missed them at Rage Against the Machine's Wembley show. You may still think they're just a dance band. You need to sample the genuine passion, punk spirit and immense sound of Asian Dub Foundation now...

There's barely space to breathe in Norwich's Waterfront. A punk in a "Search & Destroy" T-shirt is happily squeezed next to a middle-aged woman, a geezer decked out in skateboard gear and a posse of clubby-looking girls. And among this vastly eclectic crowd there's not one person who isn't bouncing, skanking and grinning to the righteous outpouring of bhangra, funk, punk, hip-hop, techno and ragga.

It's a sound that twists, turns, hits like a punch and sweetens the soul in equal measures. This is fun. And the five-piece onstage are equally elated. Rapper Deeder Zaman is making feline moves across the stage, DJ Pandit G can't stop jumping and mixer Sanjay Tailor, when he's not dancing is coaxing samples, breakbeats and rhythms from his beloved machines.
This- for the uninitiated- is the immense sound of Asian Dub Foundation.

In the seven years since they formed, Asian Dub Foundation and their two major label albums [1998's Rafi's Revenge and this year's Community Music] have remained largely under the spotlight of the indie and dance music scene.

With Steve Chandra citing jungle, hip-hop, dub and reggae as the sonic inspiration when they all met in South London's Community Music Project [the inspiration behind the title of their latest opus], it's not entirely surprising that the band were largely unheard of to rock audiences. But following a support slot on the European leg of Rage Against the Machine's "The Battle of Los Angeles" tour earlier this year and the release last month of the head-spinning "Community Music", ADF's undiluted punk spirits has been firmly catapulted onto Planet Rock.

Sitting with Steve Chandra on the tour bus an hour before their incendiary show, it appears the spuriousness of pigeonholing is just one of many bugbears for the amiable, vivacious guitarist.

"There's an energy and power to certain music that people are cut off from because they don't get the chance to hear it," he says. "The first time I heard jungle in its most vicious form was as great to me as the first time I heard Jimi Hendrix or Sonic Youth or Public Enemy. The feeling of great music is an allusive thing and it can appear in any genre. It's sad when people put their eggs in one basket. We just don't do that."

So how do you feel about being in Kerrang!?
"Why not? It's great that we're in Kerrang!. If you ask any member of ADF, they'd say they're really pleased. We're not preaching to the converted. That's why we did the Rage tour.

"Some friends of mine get features in here, like King Prawn", he muses while flicking through K!795. "I suppose the grunge scene changed it a lot, but still, when I see these guys with long, permed hair," he giggles, pausing at a picture of pomp rock-meisters Dream Theater. "Well, erm... I think where we would depart is that there's a physicality to ADF that works on the whole body. There's a rock element to it, but it's more of a reference than a definite feature. The melody and the power of the music is in the grooves and swings and beats. With the majority of rock music it's most definitely not.

"Even groups like Rage, as much as I like their stuff. Or Red Hot Chili Peppers, who kind of think they're alluding to funk groove: they're not. You can't dance to these groups. You can f**king get off and bang your head to Rage, but you can't dance to it. They're not a rap group. Zack does rap style. This isn't a put down, I'm just making a general statement about how music works."

There's nothing predictable about Asian Dub Foundation. In a musical climate where both rock and rap bands see dollar signs in jumping on each other's backs, ADF's genuine passion for cultural diversity is a refreshing tonic. And if the insidious, misogynistic and homophobic twaddle of certain rock stars is becoming depressingly familiar, or the sledgehammer polemics of left-wing extremists seems more like pantomime thatn politics, then ADF have got some real issues.

"Community Music" is a barrage of diatribe: Blair's middle England, the ennui of Britpop, police corruption and racism among them. Asian Dub Foundation's involvement in the campaign to free Satpal Ram - a man imprisoned 13 years ago for killing someone in self-defence while suffering a vicious racial attack - has been much publicised and garnered support from the likes of Primal Scream and Rage Against The Machine.

"We're not a didactic, re-education camp," says Steve, a man clearly tired of being branded a "politico". "We're just trying to open people's minds. The idea of being socially aware can be empowering and a pretty damn good vibe. The problem with doing conscious things is they've got this tag - not wholly undeserved - of being boring, lecturing, hectoring, uncool. But we say it doesn't have to be that way. Some of the greatest music ever has come out of social awareness: reggae, Public Enemy, punk, early hip-hop. The more you think about it, the less unusual we are and the more of an anachronism this era of introspection, ego and unbridled hedonism is."

This, you will soon hear, is Steve Chandra's biggest, hairiest bugbear.
"The aesthetic of contemporary music is about the amount of self-abuse the musician puts himself through," he seethes. "Or how much of a wanker they are. Music is pretty much second place when you read most magazines. It's all about how close to death they've been. All this drug-fuelled behaviour is just a by-product of the '60s. I think it's really conservative.

"I'm not being a prude or morally judgemental about it - we're certainly not angels - but as a defining feature of what is good about music it's boring. Rock'n'roll excess is very boring it doesn't create good music. I remember when Guns N'Roses came out and it was supposed to be rebellious. The guy [Axl Rose] was just a typical Californian drinking, homophobe wanker you'd avoid down the pub. What's rebellious about that? "Taking loads of drugs, f**king loads of women and treating them like shit, having fights - it's just mainstream America with the volume turned up."

Erudite, funny and passionate on a variety of subjects - from Slipknot ["I'm not impressed by masks"], to Korn ["Ugly,easy muisc"], to their Free Satpal Ram campaign, to obscure Turkish rap bands - Steve Chandra eventually ups and leaves to join the rest of ADF and hit Norwich upside the head with some of the most radical, powerful and exciting music you'll ever hear in this country right now.

Later that evening in the dressing room, in the buzz of a post-gig high, he bounds up.
"Did we rock hard, Kerrang!?", he laughs.
Yes, Sir. You undeniably did.

Katie Nicholls, Kerrang!