Former member of The Pop Group, Mark Stewart, now makes fantastic, abstract dub under his own name (sometimes listed as Mark Stewart + Maffia). Just as abrasive as The Pop Group and slightly more catchy.

Mark E. Smith has managed to keep The Fall alive (albeit currently with a slightly boring rock sound) but has also managed to collaborate with German experimental techno duo, Mouse on Mars under the name Von Sudenfed. Their album Tromatic Reflexxions is equal parts bizarre and brilliant.

PiL’s Jah Wobble has released numerous dance and ambient albums, collaborating with the likes of Brian Eno, Holger Czukay and Bjork. One of his more recent albums is a mixture of traditional Chinese music and dub (which sounds better than it reads).

Finally, post-punk / new wave group Japan spent their career pushing the limits of pop until they were forced to disband. The group’s singer, David Sylvian, has continued his exploration of improvisation, free-jazz, drone and ambient since the 80s, most remarkably on last year’s Manafon.

A journalistic interview is a strange experience. In the short amount of time the interviewer is expected to become old friends, to become connected to the person they’re interviewing. Fifteen years of memories in fifteen minutes.

Some interviews don’t go so well (I’m still scarred from an interview with Greg Dulli) and there’s nothing that can be done. Obviously, the overlap between esteemed academic and sleazy rock singer is minimal (there are a few exceptions though) but the point remains- Robert Pascoe (whom I interviewed for the digvu site) is a man of multiple passions. Although I managed to fail my history class and have never touched a football in my life, my interaction with Pascoe revealed some common ground.

Daniel Lopatin re-imagines the past. Photo from http://blogs.houstonpress.com

As a Professor of History, Pascoe is currently teaching a unit on how memory works. My own fascination with the unreliability of memory was spurred on by an interview with Daniel Lopatin, whos Oneohtrix Point Never project imagines zones created through nostalgia, re-imagining the past to create a personal space.

When the topic of the commercialisation of football arose, Pascoe claimed that many fans may reject the AFL and become increasingly involved in local teams. For the first time I related to a passion for sports, for that love of  the real, the personal. Whether Pascoe will be proved correct remains to be seen, but his point obviously holds some weight – no matter how grandiose life can become people will always crave a sense of the personal. Perhaps that’s why academics make better interview subjects than rock stars.

I might not have known it at the time (and Faye might still not know it) but it’s that searching for emotional truth, for real passion that’s keeping her going.

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