Sometime back, mid 90s, in Manchester, RSL formed releasing what was to be an award-winning album entitled ‘Every Preston Guild’. These Manc lads were embroiled in the 90s club scene and culture during the explosion of house, hip hop and drum ‘n bass. Fast forward to 2023, RSL re-release the album digitally for the first time. With Gilles Peterson a fan back in the early days, he has invited RSL to ‘We Out Here’ festival, which they are soon to perform live with their 9-piece outfit. We get a chance to catch up with the main trio on the week of the albums’ release.
WWD: Thanks for talking to us at When We Dip. Where are you and how are you spending the day?
It’s Saturday today so we’re chilling, going to watch Femi Kuti at Band on the Wall in Manchester tonight and generally pottering around the studio.
WWD: When you first made this album, did you have a feeling you would be revisiting it 20 years later?
Not at all, we were writing the album for the here and now and would never have imagined that 20 years later it would have any relevance. Funnily enough though, we think it sounds more relevant today than it did back then, maybe it’s because its got some nostalgia attached to it or the vintage sound we we’re going for gives it some new authenticity.
WWD: Where have RSL been for the last two decades?
The three of us have all been off having families and have drifted into the real world of jobs, mortgages and responsibilities, all the things we spent the first 25 years of our lives trying to avoid!
I (Joe) spent at least the first 10 years of this time studying Flamenco and starting my own business running workshops for the disaffected youth, after this I began my own group of small Spanish and Basque restaurants after my love of Flamenco music tipped over into a passion for Spanish food and ingredients, the two go hand in hand. I married Fiona amid the RSL years and we had two children at the time, since then we’ve had twins and as the children have grown we’ve carved out the time to bring music making back into our lives.
Martin went into the hospitality industry for a while, managing a few places in Manchester City Centre, it was at The Olive Press that he met Baljit, an amazingly talented chef. They married and have a son, meanwhile Martin took over the family engineering company and they both run a Indian Curry business in Urmston
Chas hasn’t stopped playing in one way or another and has been doing some reunion shows with the Space Monkeys in recent years, but this time fitting it around work and kids. He’s stayed in music and the culture sector, things like working at a training college for sound engineers, and a music charity called Brighter Sound
WWD: What was the main driver for the re-release?
After a series of seemingly unrelated opportunities were presented to us completely out of the blue, we almost felt compelled to explore what seemed like the ridiculous idea that anyone might be interested in this album we made all those years ago, we hadn’t even realised that it had been 20 years!
Music was part of our past and over the years we’d all had so many conversations about how we can’t shake the feeling that it was a missing part of our lives, and it made us sad. Never for a second did we dare to dream that making music would become a massive part of our lives again.
We had to ‘scratch that itch’. Initially it was only about getting the album up onto streaming platforms and released digitally so that it has life once again, so our kids could one day be able to hear it and it existed as something more than a memory and a pile of old, unsold vinyl stacked so sadly in our garages and attics. Once again, the planets aligned and all our old friends, musicians and supporters have gathered around us to make this all happen again, fittingly 20 years later as magic happens ‘Every Preston Guild’
WWD: Who are the original members of RSL?
Founding members Joe Botham (double bass & guitar) & Martin almond (keys & programming) were quickly joined after a year or so by Charlie Morrison (drums). The three of us have collaborated with various DJ’s, musicians and vocalists along the way as we’ve had many incarnations of RSL.
The album ‘Every Preston Guild’ represents the culmination of all those years of song writing, performing and producing and the musicians performing on that album are largely the musicians touring with us back in the late 1990’s/ early 2000’s. Almost all of those people are back with us 20 years later and it’s been a most beautiful reunion and the spirit and the energy we create together is, for us at least, quite magical. We have Howard Jacobs on percussion and clarinet, Henry Botham (brother of Joe) on organ, Rhodes, piano and trombone, and Dave Tompkins on double bass.
In the old days we had Steve Chadwick on Trumpet & Julie Gordon on vocals but those guys are out of the country at the moment so this time around we have Paul Brickles on trumpet and the formidable, original hacienda vocalists Yvonne Shelton & Melanie Williams.
WWD: It’s tough to put RSL into a musical box. How would you describe the many different vibes of RSL?
Mr Scruff once described Wesley Music to me as ‘a hugely sophisticated composition and arrangement, when you look at all the individual parts its incredibly complex, however, when you listen to the track as a whole its so incredibly simple.’ I think this captures the essence of RSL. We love to create this very powerful wall of sound with millions of parts but then put it together in a way that offers simplicity and order.
The three of us have very different musical backgrounds and draw influences from all over the place but ultimately, we’re not trying to be an Afro-Cuban big band, we’re a British Band from the North of England with a passion and a love for Spanish, South American, African & European music. It’s a celebration of our love for music
WWD; The Mast and Wesley Music had a lot of air play over the years. There is a huge Spanish influence on some of the other album tracks. What is the root of this inspiration?
For me (Joe) Spanish music is at the centre of everything. My musical journey has always been about ‘tracing the roots’, it’s very important to me. So as a guitarist I went from learning The Blues as a young teenager to studying Jazz at college (with Martin). I struggled to love Jazz enough to make the commitment but through jazz I was introduced to Latin & Afro-Cuban music. When Martin and I discovered this music and all the roads it took us down it blew our minds! I delved deeper onto the roots of this music it took me to Spain, here I discovered Flamenco and not only the Gypsy songs of the outcasts but the North African influence, Hungarian and Jewish cultures in within Spain
WWD: Some beautiful vocal performances on Inside Looking out. Who is the vocalist?
Julie Gordon is the vocalist on The Mast & Inside Looking out with Susana Montero performing the lead vocal on Cae La Lluvia as well as the backing vocals for Julie.
WWD: Dave Lee did a huge remix of The Mast. Are we likely to see a rerelease of this brilliant club cut?
Yes, Dave did a great job on that! Can’t say if that will get another full release at this point but there are a bunch of great remixes coming including some of the OG ones from Danny Krivit & King Britt plus some new ones which we are very excited about.
WWD: Who would you say were some of your inspirations when you first wrote the album?
We were massively influenced by the Palmieri brothers and by everything coming out of the Nu Yorican, post-boogaloo scene in Spanish Harlem in the early 1970’s. Tomatito is a great Flamenco hero of mine (Joe), the orchestrations of Ennio Morricone, the arrangements of the Master that is David Axelrod, and Fela Kuti.
WWD: Twenty years have passed since you put out this LP. How much have the mechanics of putting out music changed?
In the early 2000’s the industry was grappling with the internet and how to adapt to new technology. We sold a lot of vinyl and CD but people were file-sharing through Napster and the like so we found album sales were lower than expected. These days sites like Bandcamp and Soundcloud, as well as the way people use streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify, means that its much easier to get your music out there but I suppose it’ll be much harder to break through the noise of millions of artists releasing music on a daily basis.
Our approach to this is really about getting RSL up onto streaming platforms and released digitally so that it has life once again, so our kids could one day be able to hear it and so it exists as something more than a memory and a pile of old, unsold vinyl stacked so sadly in our garages and attics. Once again, the planets aligned and all our old friends, musicians and supporters have gathered around us to make this all happen again, fittingly 20 years later as magic happens ‘Every Preston Guild’.
WWD: But I guess it’s all about the quality of the music. And no greater endorsement of that as you are soon to be playing at Gilles Peterson’s ‘We Out Here’. How does it feel to be invited to play?
Honestly it’s an honour. We’re so excited to get back out there and no greater platform for us than ‘We Out Here’. It’s like it’s all come back round again and we’ve got a second chance to make music together again.
WWD: Will you be performing the album?
Not every track as some of them may not work live track. We have a good few tunes that work really well live but didn’t work on the album.
WWD: What will the live set up be?
Chas on kit, Dave Tompkins on double bass (OG), Howard Jacobs on percussion (OG) Martin & Henry Botham (OG) on Rhodes & Hammond, Henry doubling up on trombone, Joe on Flamenco & electric guitar. New members Paul Brickles on trumpet, Yvonne Shelton & Melanie Williams on vocals. We have a powerful 9-piece band, the addition of trombone and having two vocalists really beefs it up. There is so much joy in the room when we play, its incredible really that not that long ago this would’ve been a far fetched fantasy.
WWD: Are we about to hear new material from RSL?
Yeah, hopefully! We are in the process of re-building our old studio and are working hard to carve out some time to make new music again. There’s no way we’re going to let this slip away again, that would be mad.
WWD: So happy this album is coming back to the fore. Congratulations and thank you for your time.
Thank you!