The Herbaliser on leaving Ninja Tune, loving Obama, touring

I caught up with The Herbaliser's trumpeter, Ralph Lamb, to talk to him about changes in the UK hip-hop/funk band (adding more live elements and a singer) and a bunch of other stuff, including thoughts on Obama being elected, changing labels from Ninja Tune to K7, and living on a bus for weeks at a time.

JB: I'm excited to see you perform- what exactly will the stage set up be, and what challenges does that pose?

RL: I'm part of the live part of the Herbaliser (trumpet). Jake and Ollie were doing a DJ setup and then it became a band. Trumpet, 2 horns, sax, keys, bass and decks and a singer. We've been doing it a long time so we're used to it by now!

Are you touring by bus?

We've got a big love bus.

Tell me something funny about touring by bus.

It just happened today. There is so much luggage and we needed to store some merch; there"s a shower on the bus so someone had the idea to put all the merch in the shower. And I bet he's regretting suggesting it because somehow the water came on. The guys are outside the bus right now drying it all out.

I guess that's what happens when you're limited to a small space like that.

Exactly. We've been doing it for so long, we don't mind living with each other on the bus. We did it in europe for 4 weeks and then came straight out here. We spat a bit now and then, but there's a lot of love in the bus. You get very tight when you tour around with people.

If you're on a bus and touring do you get a chance to really see the cities you visit?

It depends on how far we have to travel to the next club, really. We have friends in a lot of cities so we usually like to catch up with them. We did just do New York and had a lot of fun out there. But that's what you do when you're in New York, eh? But we've got something like 21 dates on this tour so I'm sure there will be more seeing of the sights.

First time I listened to you guys, it was a Jean Grae track (note to readers: check out "Nah I Mean, Nah I'm Sayin'"). It seems like you hook up easily with great vocalists. How does it happen?

Jean Grae was sought by Ninja Tune, really. Most of the artists stop in to the record company - as was the case with Jessica (Darling). I worked with her when I was in another band in London, and she came down to the bar and she sang a couple numbers for us. She has the voice of an American girl about 40, you know what I mean? She fell into us. Basically what happens is that they come into your hands, really, you've got it all it out there so that people can come up to you and give you bits of work and what have you. We had a particular voice in mind and are so happy to be set up with this girl.

Tell me something about making 'Same As It Never Was' that was memorable?

We made a lot of changes. We left Ninja Tune and went to K7!. It's quite a big thing. We also changed management and we also changed agents.

Wow! You did an overhaul.

Yep, we overhauled. And we've got a girl with us now -- Jessica -- so she's the only girl with like, 9 men on the bus. Ha. She's representing. We made a lot of other changes. We got to be a bi more instrumental., and made it more like a funk outfit. So those things are key. We're shedding a lot of skin.

If you had to pick one album in your discography to listen to the rest of your life, which one would it be?

We did a record called Session 1 which is a record when we just got off tour, we just recorded the band live. It captured the time for me. We had songs from the first four albums on there. That would be the one . Also though, SAINW is the best album to date. It's a bit deeper.

Did you follow the US election? What do you think about Obama being elected?

I woke up at 6:15 AM English time on the night of the election and switched it on. I thought it was fantastic. I stayed up until 6 a.m. the next day watching all of it. He impresses me so much. I'm an artist and I know what it's like to stand on the stage. But then there is this guy, standing in front of 200,000 people and the entire world watching... It was amazing. What a showman. The way he acted was fantastic. So composed. No "um"s or "ah"s. Everyone was smiling.

We love him, too. OK, last question. What exactly does it mean to "herbalise" something?

To get down and dirty.

Hmm. Are you sure?

Yeah. Haha.

MORE:

+ Buy album "Same As It Never Was"
+ The Herbaliser MySpace
+ Tip: Check out all of The Herbz's tracks with tough-girl rapper Jean Grae - they're awesome
The Herbaliser w/ M.anifest - 11.19.08
The Varsity Theater
1308 4th St. SE
Minneapolis, MN
612.604.0222
http://www.varsitytheater.org