Tom Langley caught up with Zion Train’s founder and producer Neil Perch to find out about their recent movements, and get an insight into the adventures of the world’s most prolific Dub Reggae band.

September 2007 sees the release of Dub/Dance pioneers Zion Train’s first album since 2002. Entitled ‘Live as One,’ this will be the ninth long player from the UK Dub collective since their 1992 debut ‘A Passage To Indica.’

This album is the first produced solely by Neil Perch in the Zion Train studio in Cologne, Germany. Perch brings us an album that reassures but also pleasantly surprises; the Zion Train quality and ethos is still present and the depth and quality of musicianship is a revelation. Musicians contributing include the usual deep blowing brass section of Dave Fullwood and Bigga alongside P Lush of Nucleus roots fame on guitar, keyboards from Paolo Polcari of Almamegretta, drums from Vedran of the Radikal Dub Kolektiv, and melodicas from Chasbo of the Bush Chemists. Featuring musicians from Italy, Germany, Croatia, Jamaica and the UK this is truly a world-dub production.

It’s been five years since your last studio album ‘Original sounds of the Zion’ was released in 2002, where have you been and what have you been up to since then?

Mainly relocating to the fine city of Cologne, Germany where the Zion Train studio is now based, but also working on the Zion Train side project Abassi All Stars, which has now both a vocal and dub album released on Universal Egg records. I (perch) also managed to produce an album with UB40 (Homegrown) and another with the singers of 99 posse – a well known Italian band.

How did you all meet, and what brought the Zion Train together?

We first met on the dub and roots circuit in London in 1990 although Zion Train was born out of the ashes of a sound called the Train which was resident in Oxford from 1986 – 1989. What brought Zion Train together was a mutual love of underground dub and roots music combined with a love of underground dance music and the desire to marry these two schools of music to create a new powerful sound that we felt defined the urban sound of 1990’s England.

Zion Train’s founder Perch was later joined by Dave Tench, Cod, and brass player Hake. Where does the fishy theme come from?

We adopted fish names as an antidote to the ego problems so many people in the music business seem to face during their careers. The reason we chose fish names rather than anything else was that we like fish! Not sure if it worked but it makes for good fun all the same.

What would you say is the highlight of your career so far and why?

Hmmm, tricky. Nothing really surpasses first hearing your music on the radio or a well known sound system. Both of these things happened for Zion Train in the space of a month in 1992 when Kiss Fm started playing our first single ‘Power One’ whilst our second single ‘Power Two’ was debuted on the Jah Shaka sound.

‘Live as One’ is the first album produced solely by Perch and without your female vocalist Molara. Can you tell us about the new album, and who will be featuring in the new Zion line up?

It’s not the first album without Molara – the first three albums from Zion Train do not feature Molara as she was not a founder member of the band. The new album has a great musical diversity and features many talented studio musicians such as our well established brass section of Dave Fullwood and Sebastian Harzmann alongside guitarist P. Lush, keyboard player Paolo Polcari, drummer Vedran Meniga and melodica player Chasbo. There are seven vocalists featured, including Earl 16, Tippa Irie and YT alongside the less well known Lua, Dubdadda, Marlene Johnson and Raiz. The musicians mentioned above hail from the UK, Italy, Croatia and Jamaica so we have a really diverse crew. The live line up for the 2007 tour features Dubdadda on vocals, Dave Fullwood on trumpet, Sebastian Harzmann on Trombone and perch on electronics and live dub mix.

What’s your favourite piece of equipment or software to be found in your studio right now?

Korg SDD1000 analogue delay unit – magic in a metal box…

For the sound system heads, tell us a bit about Abassi Hi Power.

Abassi is my custom 12kw rig. It features 12 x bass scoop bins driving precision device speakers and powered by Jah Tubby’s hand built bass amps. It has JBL mid range and hand made treble boxes all powered by crown amps and it is phat. It’s a hi fi sound system running in stereo (most of them run in mono). Visit www.wobblyweb.com

With gigs and tours in Japan, South America, Russia and all over Europe, the Zion Train word has spread on a global scale. Has this had an effect on your music, and how?

Of course, we visit these amazing places and are introduced to rich and diverse cultures, both musical and otherwise that go on to influence our world view and hence our music. We are privileged to be able to travel and like all experiences these ones permeate our sound. Our state of mind is hugely influenced by visiting Aztec ruins, Brazilian favelas and Japanese Bhuddist temples and so, therefore, is our music.

You recently got deported from Moscow at gunpoint – what happened there?

Well, it’s not the first time I have been mistreated by presumably racist government officials – I have been stripped, beaten and bullied in the UK, Belgium, Africa, Italy, Bavaria and Russia – but that is just a demonstration of the evils we try to fight. In Moscow, my passport was taken from me at immigration, taken into an office and vandalised without my knowledge. I was then lead to a ready to depart plane by an armed soldier who handed my vandalised passport to the pilot of the plane saying my documents were not in a fit state to enter Russia - that was the first chance I had to see the damage to my passport – not one word was said to me by any of the Russians during the whole procedure. The soldier stayed at the plane door until it was closed! The pilot of the plane who was a German said he had never experienced such a disgrace in his career. I said I had!

What is your most bizarre gig experience to date?

Could be playing under Mount Fuji in the bright sunlight, playing on a squatted boat in an LSD factory in Amsterdam or playing in the African bush during a full solar eclipse – they all felt very bizarre to me at the time.

Which musicians, and artists have most inspired and influenced you over the years?

The main names would have to be King Tubby, Ravi Shankar, Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn, Jah Shaka and John Coltrane.

What are you listening to on your Stereo/MP3 player at the moment?

Daghast systems – Classical music of Iran; Ital Horns – dub music from London and The Creator – Aisha (produced by Mad Professor).

What do think the future holds for the music industry, and how will it affect Zion Train and Universal Egg?

Major labels and media companies have been panicking for 10 years already – they are monolithic money grabbers and it is no surprise they try to swamp the music market with their crap freebies and ridiculous marketing schemes. True music lovers will always find the music they love, through whatever means are available and enough of them will pay for the music to keep the musicians in work, I am completely confident of that. The advent of widespread web use and the copying/downloading of digital music formats only serves as free advertising for those independent labels and bands brave enough to embrace it, so I hope it will help the future of Zion Train and Universal Egg.

What plans do you have on the record label front, and what future releases can we expect to hear on Deep Root, and Universal Egg?

On Universal Egg there will probably be a remix album partnered to Live as One with remixes from Vibronics, Rob Smith, Digital & Lutin and many many more. There will also be our 3rd volume of the Lead With The Bass Dub Compilation as well as the debut album from Dub Terror – our most promising up and coming artist. Abassi All stars Showcase Volume 2 is in the works also. Deep Root will feature singles from Abassi All stars, System Error and Dub Terror during 2008

Jump Around Music presents Zion Train live at Plug n Play Studios alongside sound system dubsters Jah Lion Movement. Don’t miss it this Wednesday 5th September 2007, 8pm, Tickets: £7.50 in advance from www.festivalweather.com