Kaos Blac: Tell me about your self and your band.
Aidan Connell: Aidan Connell is a 26 year old singer/guitarist/producer who has established a resume, which has enabled him to share the stage and collaborate with Seasick Steve, the newly reformed Mazzy Star, Peter Doherty, Damo Suzuki (Can) and Razorlight.
Leaving a broken home in the suburbs for London to work various jobs including modelling with Kate Moss in a Revlon commercial and appearing in various publications including Esquire magazine.
- Melody Nelson
Having experimented with various line-ups Melody Nelson were formed when Aidan met 22 year old former child actor Peter Jones (Drums) and and guitar collector Peter Bloom, whilst constructing his own recording studio complex in East London the now well known
Goldmine studios. Melody Nelson have played throughout the UK and have toured in France, Italy and Scandinavia.
Kaos Blac: Speaking more about your upbringing I know your of mixed background, Caribbean and Irish, and we're of the same generation, what do you feel about the past uprising in London in relation to how people of certain backgrounds are treated in London.
Aidan: Well I grew in a very middle class suburb of London 'Wokingham' which is predominantly white. I first lived in a rough 'council house' or project with my mother and then I was raised by my grandmother and mother who are both white at my grandmother's house. Colour was never mentioned in the household and I did'nt really get it when I used to get called names at school to be honest it was'nt until about 10 or 11 it all clicked what they were actually saying. This made me lose alot of confidence in my early teens which is when I started getting into music, which was escapism from small town bigotry. There was maybe one or 2 black or mixed raced kids in the entire town.
This town accomadates very wealthy middle class folks alongside very poor council estates or projects on the edge of town. The trouble is in middle class suburbs in the UK race is not mentioned in public but many comments are made behind closed doors. For instance I never dated a girl in my home town, no way people would go crazy!!! The white people who consider themselves to be prosperous or wealthy are unfortunately not well educated and the very poor whites are either very happy to mix or completely anti any other race. I am one of a few kids from my High school who has a University degree.
Alot of these white people of the older generation in the UK are completely cut from other races or culture and never often even have an oppurtunity to intergrate, this is encouarged by the government with constant cuts in welfare and the rasising of tuition fee for universities to 9000 pound almost $14,500 a year. For instance if you're a someone living in the projects how you gonna afford that? As alot of people living in these projects are first or second generation imigrants. Communities that live side by side are not informed or educated about each other. Unfortunately so much tension has been created in UK society because it's never been said or put on the table. I've been arrested by the police for going about my own business 3 times and of course never charged, the experience is the same for most black kids. So if you are a black kid living in goverment housing with no future prospects, constantly harrassed by the police, what are you gonna do cause havoc right?
This by no means excuses mindless violence but we seem to be going through what the States went through in '68. Alot of civil unrest and Black folks are demanding equal standing in UK society. Whether people want to hear it or not Black people are not considered equal in Uk society in their own eyes and under the breathe of Oxbridge lads who still hold the idealism of the british empire dear. Just look at what happened to Kelis in the UK the other day,
Kelis slams 'racist' britain in post bestival twitter rant, sounds way too familiar. Anyway it's still unusual to play in a Rock'n' Roll band if you're black, well in the UK anyway I think the only big one was Bloc Party, (seen above)
at least in the US you have Afropunk, ect and Hottie and the Blowfish hahaha.
Kaos Blac: True. I feel however both of our countries are a long way from a post racial consciousnesses. Growing up in New York city, which is more liberal than most states (even New York state), I have been privileged to an extent to not to face such overt racism. As a artist in the public eye do you feel that your position can be used to make a change in public opinion through your music and bridge a gap in the racial divide?
Aiden
Rich
Peter
Aiden
Rich
Peter
