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FUTURE PILOT AKA
SHE REDUCED Nick Cave to a
pool of molton Vegemite,
then persuaded James and
Sean Manic to write her back
into the realm of pop
credility... Without a doubt,
Kylie Minogue has a
profound effect on otherwise
stout-hearted men.
Not Sushil K Dade, however. This
former Soup Dragon somehow finds
sufficient hours in the week to create a
series of inspired gladiatorial groove
collaborations under the collective
auspices of Future Pilot AKA, run his
own Via Satellite record label, be a
member of the BMX Bandits, and still
hold down a part-time job because all
the above activities pay less than the
average income of the average salt-
miner.
So, when the call came recently
offering this veteran of the Glasgow
indie wars six weeks honest tail and
real person's wages playing bass for
her Minoguishness, his answer was
predictable.
"Yeah. I said 'no'. And I mean, I
could do with the money!" laughs
Sushil, lord of all he surveys in his
humble one-room house/office/
recording studio. "But I couldn't do it.
Kylie's beautiful, but her music doesn't
touch me. I do have a lot of respect
for her, actually, but from a playing
point of view it just wouldn't be true."
For Sushil K Dade, truth presently
lies in the international audio
collisions between himself, as
Future Pilot AKA, and a fecurd range
of like-minded souls which shall
eventually comprise the album
'Future Pilot AKA Vs A Galaxy
Of Sound'.
Just from going to gigs and chatting
to fellow musicians about what fires
their lions at present, Sushil secured
the services of The Pastels, ex-Orange
Juice guitarist James Kirk, Brix Smith,
Scanner and Cornershop's Tjinder Singh
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among so many others that he's
had to expand the original concept
into a double album.
The interested parties may meet,
or they may simply exchange tapes
in the post, before Sushil sits down
at his dub vending machine and
out pops Future Pilot AKA's
trademark rough-hewn widescreen
symphonies.
"Ravi Shanker and Lee Perry would
be my ultimate collaborators," he
says, dreamily. "I'm just a a fan, it's
what I love. Without collaboration I
think there's no way forward for this
particular style of music."
For his new single, Sushil welcomed
US psyhchedelic legend Kim Fowley
and, for a magical imterpretation of
"We Shall Overcome", the Ranjit
Nagar Corus from New Delhi. The
latter's recruitment was especially
unpremeditated: while taking the air
one day in the land of his fathers,
Sushil noticed a group of children
clearly fascinated by the weird black
thing on his head...
"I explained to them it was a
Walkman and that it played music.
Then I thought, 'It records too'. The
next thing I knew these kids who lived
on this road called Ranjit Nagar
started singing me all these songs they
got taught in school, one of which was
'We Shall Overcome'. They were
unbelievable, they wouldn't stop! Iran
out of tape! I could probably do a
whole album!"
The crazy thing is, he probably will.
And we should be so lucky.
Keith Cameron
The single 'We Shall Overcome'/ 'Night
Flight To Memphis' is out now on Creeping Bent.
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