Issue 041

Hey Egebamyasi, well it’s an honor to
speak to you. Please tell us about the
young Jimmy before the DJ and
music. Who was he?
The young Jimmy was jist an ordinary wee guy with
no brothers or sisters growin up in Stirling, Scotland, with no
ambitions ti be anything other than play fitba pure and
simple/ He was into art at the school, liked to draw, paint and
did pottery as a craft, got classical music at the high school,
so probably where the lovegg for it started but never really
hit me till years later. Did plumbing after I left the school
although I wanted ti be a joiner, I got into trouble as you do
when ye were young bein a dafty and a bam was the thing.
As time moved on got stoned for the 1st time and the sport
went out the window and music was starting to take over as
other sounds and eggsperiences appeared.
Tell us about the music Jimmy. How
did it start, and what was it about
music that grabbed your attention in
the first place?
Glam rock in the early 70's, 1st record ever bought
was T Rex "Ride a white swan". Had all the David Bowie
records up to Aladdin Sane after as he gave up Ziggy
Stardust that was the end for me after that he got lost up his
own arsegg. Slade, Mud, The Sweet, Gary Glitter and the
Glitter band at that timegg were unique. 2 drummers and a
guitar sound way beyond its time. Unfortunately as we all
know G.G. was not the person we thought he was.
The old grey whistle test was on BBC2 thru that time
and was an ear opener to bands, watchin and listening
probably got me into wanting ti get playin, wanted ti be a
guitarist but could not get my fingers to play bar chords or
move fast eggnough for solos. Then was givin a bass. We
only have 4 fingers and the bass has 4 stings, so everything
fitted great. By then Punk came along and it was learning as
ye went. Got together with other like minded people some
worked out and others did not, but by 78/79 it kicked off
proper with The Cunts. Rehearsed in schools, community
centers anywhere we could get a practise but could not get
any gigs because we were called The Cunts. So the name got
changed to The Fakes, so we ended up getting booked as The
Fakes but playing as The Cunts. The Fakes had one 7" single
called "Production", which was reviewd in the sounds as one
of the worst song ever written..Faketastic ad say. It was
recorded at Cargo studios Rochdale in 79 and engineer by
John Brierley. Joy divison, The Fall, Teardrop Explodes, Echo
and the Bunny Men, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the dark ti
name a few all recorded theregg, and I think the sound of
Production makes it stand out. Aye it is dull, boring,
repetitive, a grind, monotone,t edious but its a classic and no
jist because I wrote it and play bass on it. It's still relevant
today, as it was 45 years ago. It's a working persons anthem
and it's what people go thru everyday all over the world.
Unfortunately the drummer was killed in a motorbike accident
later in 79 and The Fakes never looked for another drummer
so that was the end. Until The Fakes reformed in 2020 with
same singer and new drummer and guitarist. Did another
single called "Black Apple" n'was like motorhead without
lemmy. But I left them couple o' years later as they never
wanted to get better or be different and I carried on with
EBY.
Tell us about the days of 1984.
After The Fakes I drifted in and out of various bands
in the Stirling area, but 1 day while rehearsing with the
Mississippi Groovers, in a complex of cottages near Dunblane,
I went ti see another band who were also rehearsing in the
same complex this would havegg been 1983ish and then
everything changed for the future. They had a silver box not
being used and it was the Roland TB303. I heard the sound
asked ti borrow as they were not using it and then the rest is
history as they say. Likegg the Punk days it was a learning
curve jist likegg the bass playing. Pressing buttons and
turning knobs no having a clue how to work the machine but
getting new sounds out of it eggnough ti fall in lovegg with it.
I got a 606 ti sync up with the 303 and then ended up
playing what went on ti be know as Acid House, but in
Scotland then I new nothing about any scene or any Acid
House movement. I listend to John Peel thru the late 80's and
he would play the odd Ccid track, but I had no clue the
sounds was coming from the machine I had. I got the chance
of doing a gig in Stirling in 84. So a name was needed and at
that time I was heavly into Can (German band) and took the
name of their 3rd LP called "Ege Bamyasi" and although I had
no clue what I was going to do, took the gig in the Gates
Disco club in Stirling now known as the Fubar, but got thru it.
But other gigs dried up. Then I met up with other musicians
on the way played bit 303 bit bass as getting electronic gigs
in Scotland in late 80's was jist not happening, and was
unusual to folk ti be at gigs with macchines or backing tapes
and no drums and guitars, it took folk a bit of getting used to
not having the usual set up. Things drifted with various line
ups but after hearing more John Peel late 80's things changed
with Maurice "This is acid". Things with the 303 fell into place
regarding the sound. I did lose plenty patterns when the
batterys ran out thru ineggsperience of use. Another tune
that changed the lifegg was Sleezy D " I've lost control". I
bought a TR909 in 1990 for 500£ then an 808 no idea where
form, then another couple of tb303's. Shortly after that got
some gigs in Netherlands and Germany in 1991. I was selling
merchandising for the Finitribe, another band from
Edinburgh, I was also the support act. Played at the Loft in
Berlin at the time the wall was coming down the place was
nuts at that timegg. Played at the Milky Way in Amsterdam
as part of the same tour and was noticed by the label
"Groove kissing" part of Play it again Sam, in Belgium.
Recorded the Acid indigestion parts 1 and 2 along with the
EBY EP, and that really was the start of thing takin off. By
then I had ditched other members and went solo as I had
found the calling. The mcacid egg.
How did your parent feel about their
son DJ and wanting a music career?
As far as I know they were never into me doing
music, never spoke to them about what I was up to even
from when it started. Of course they new about something
but no detail, I had guitars and played music in my room but
thats as far as it got, I never saw eye to eye with them on
music and many things.
48 ZONE-MAGAZINE.EU