Alabama 3 Older, not wiser

Hailing from across the UK, Alabama 3 spent their early career fooling people that they were from the US. Catch them at their show at PJ Molloys in Dunfermline on April 23

It’s almost 20 years since Alabama 3 brought their unique blend of country acid house music to the masses with the release of Exile on Coldharbour Lane.

Their fame spread far and wide when the track Woke Up This Morning was later used as the opening title theme for The Sopranos TV series.

Now, as one of the most original and eccentric bands to emerge from the 1990s acid-house scene embarks on a UK tour which brings them to a sold out gig in Fife, one man struggling to process the passing of two decades is the collective’s founder and front man Rob Spragg (aka Larry Love).

The 48-year-old Brixton-based fatherof-two was preparing to head off to pick his eight-year-old son up from school when The Courier called him this week.

He admits that he, and other members of the band have “never really grown up” – and the passage of time has often been a bit of a blur.

“It’s a bit like the 60s – if you were there you can’t remember it,” he laughs.

“I spoke to the rest of the band about this. We haven’t really noticed that 20 years have gone past. I don’t know if that’s indicative of our commitment to rock n roll, or music, or just because we were totally stoned all the time.

“It’s like we’ve maintained a childlike approach to it.

“None of us have grown up basically even though we might have had some kids along the way.”

Founded in 1995 when Glaswegian Jake Black (aka The Very Reverend Dr D. Wayne Love) met Welsh-raised son of a preacher man Spragg at a party in Peckham, South-East London, Alabama 3 emerged from experimental

warehouse DJ sets when the pair started layering blues and gospel over acid house beats.

They weren’t American and didn’t have three members.

“We’d pretend we were American – just for a laugh,” says Spragg.

“If you think of the other states of America we could have been the Utah 5 or the Memphis 7.

“A lot of them had been used but we thought Alabama was the funkiest name – it’s the birthplace of Robert Johnson, Hank Williams. The three on the end is a nod to the Guildford Four, the Birmingham Six and other miscarriages of justice,” he explains.

“We associated ourselves with Americana and the criminal justice system. I don’t quite know why. And then we started talking in American accents to English journalists.”

The American accents certainly had many fooled.

When David Chase, director of The Sopranos, first heard Woke up This Morning – a song about domestic violence – while driving down the freeway in New Jersey, and decided he wanted it for his series titles, he was led to believe the band were “three black kids from the Bronx”.

“Then he finds out it was a Scotsman and a Welshman living in Brixton pretending to be from Alabama – and he went for it,” Spragg laughs.

“That was a real complement,” says Spragg.

The band’s line-up has ebbed and flowed over the years, and Spragg is still influenced by a staple diet of Miles Davis, Captain Beefheart, Rolling Stones, Hank Williams and Jimi Hendrix.

Still proudly based in Brixton, the band run their own recording studio, record label and club, which helps keep their musical influences fresh.

But they are also incredibly proud of their range of fans – many of whom, like them, are “growing old disgracefully”.

“I like to think we’re the music for broken families,” he adds.

“Hopefully people go home converted, or perverted – one of the two.”

We pretended we were American – just for a total laugh

The nine members of Alabama 3 bring their alternative rock music to the stage in Fife on Sunday.