He didn’t invent trip hop, can take or leave donuts and prefers Dairylea to Bovril or Marmite. He is Nightmares On Wax, aka George Evelyn, the all-night garage regular and skunk-funk connoisseur...

‍

Few have stayed the distance quite like Nightmares On Wax. From the early days of (don’t call it) bleep to the (don’t call it) trip hop classic, ‘Smoker’s Delight’, to the ‘pastoral’ pleasures of his new album ‘Mind Elevation’, George Evelyn has been a fixture of the British dance scene. We collared him, still jet-lagged and bleary-eyed (no, he’s given that up) from a recent tour of Australia, at his home in the countryside just outside of Leeds and quizzed him on the past, present and future of NOW, the disintegration of the local football team and the history of his haircut.

Did you ever have hair and, if so, what did it look like?

Sam Willis, Stockport

“I had an afro, a right microphone, and if I didn’t have the aerodynamics I have now then I’d have one still. I remember getting a skiffle – just short back and sides – haircut for my sister’s wedding in ‘78. Then obviously going through the jazz-funk era you got your hair permed – I don’t know anyone who didn’t. The capital for perms was Huddersfield. If you saw a black guy with a perm you knew he was from Huddersfield; even today you still see a few with the wet look and stuff. I started receding when I was 22, but head-spins were my speciality in the breakdancing days and I used to use cardboard instead of lino. That burnt a hole on top and that’s how it started to go. I grew locks in ‘87 and had them till ‘94. I knew I was receding but nobody else did.”

In ten years you’ve gone from house to hip hop through soul and ragga. What’s next?

Darren Laws, Manchester

“I was brought up on the sound system, the reggae background. I was too young to be involved in it, but that was my first real experience of music. The essence of that needs to be brought to people today. I didn’t realise it at the time but the first people I studied were Scientist and King Tubby. I’m digging deep into my memories, and I’m quite excited about the whole LSK (vocalist on ‘70s 80s’) thing as well. His album’s almost done now and this is the real him – a lot of people are gonna be surprised when they hear it.”

What happened to the rest of Nightmares On Wax?

Jen Stockton via e-mail

“Kevin Harper, aka Boy Wonder, is just now writing an album. Watch this space, he will be back because he is the man of many basslines and melodies. He’s had a few social issues but he’s got his hunger back now.”

What new music inspires you? You didn’t like anything when you did the recent Cover Up in Jockey Slut.

Fred Royce, Newcastle

‘“Will I Am’ is pushing stuff forward. It’s not straight-up hip hop, it’s more like what Quincy Jones touched upon with ‘Back on the Block’, using a lot of soul and live musicianship. Jill Scott, Jaguar Wright have been buzzing me. That Philadelphia thing, you go back through history, all the best soul musicians came from Philly. I like that kind of orchestrated production; emotionally it speaks volumes. Timbaland excites me more than The Neptunes. The Neptunes make some great party tunes, but I don’t know about their longevity.”

You don’t do the celebrity DJ/remix circuit. Are you a bit of a recluse?

Joe Pierce via e-mail

“I’II party with the best of them. If you want to invite me to a party we’ll see who goes to bed first. I’m just selective. I could have gone for that pay cheque, especially four or five years ago, but I wouldn’t have been completely honest with myself. There’ve been things I’ve been asked to do, like Nelly Furtado, where it’s gone on to be massive, but I didn’t feel right about it. I’ve just done an Ian Brown remix, but that had more to it. If something’s been sent to me for name’s sake then I’m not into it.”

Do you have any recurring nightmares or dreams, and what do they mean?

Superdog via e-mail

“I’ve got a really boring answer to that, which is no. When your dreams are a complete mish-mash I always think there are complications in your life. When you’re more focused then they become a lot clearer, more symbolic. But no recurring ones, so I don’t know if I’m doing something right or wrong.”

Why do you still live in Leeds when we’ve all moved south?

DJ Greenpeace, ex-Leeds, now London

"‘Cause you lot don’t have lungs and I do, and I like to breathe. Look how I live – I couldn’t live in London like this. I know who’s right. I want to live somewhere else at some point, but it won’t be in England, it’ll be somewhere warmer where the quality of life is better.”

Sum up your cosmic side for us.

Mystic Marv, The Miasma

“The day I can do that is the day I’ve reached ultimate awareness, and I ain’t there yet. I think that’s a know-it-all question and I definitely don’t know it all. Once you think that, you’ve failed.”

Did you invent trip hop and were you worried you’d go down with it?

Rich Hart, Sheffield

“For anyone who checks my résumé (laughs) I was the first person to say I didn’t agree with it. I always have this conspiracy theory that someone thinks of a name one week and the majors put out a compilation of it the next.”

Why don’t you make house music anymore?

A. Little via e-mail

“Never say never. I have been toying with the idea but I’m one of those people who goes into the studio and sees what happens, so it’s obviously not been in there. I still listen to house. We always made other stuff anyway, that’s why ‘Word of Science’ was the way it was. It’s just that the house tracks got released as singles.”

Bovril or Marmite?

Joanna Staunton via e-mail

“Neither. I don’t eat pigs or beef, so no Bovril. Marmite’s yeast, but it’s love it or hate it and I don’t love it.  I’ll tell you what I had on my toast yesterday: spreadable Dairylea.  I’ve got a baby daughter so I’ve got an excuse.”

Were you one of those shouting for the return of O’Leary to Leeds Utd recently, and what do you think of cockney wideboy Venables walking in Don Revie’s shoes?

Steve Montgomery via e-mail

“I was in Australia for that match, but I’ll tell you, there’s not one player who’s blossomed under Venables. How can you not play Dacourt or Viduka? The people on big wages, the ones they can sell for big money, unsettle them and make them leave. That’s the plan, it’s obvious. If I didn’t have a season ticket I wouldn’t be going. O’Leary fucked up with the book, but he was sacked ‘cause of the Rio Ferdinand sale. That’s a fact.”

What do you think of the comment from Aphex Twin and Squarepusher that everything else on Warp is shit?

Sarah, London

“I didn’t know they had, but it’s obvious people will say anything to sell records. How many controversial things can we say or do? It’s so boring.”

Why do you distance yourself from Warp’s bleep records?

Chris Cottingham, London

“That whole bleep thing, we were never involved in it. We were the second signing on Warp, we didn’t go there as part of some bleep package. You can look at Unique 3, A Guy Called Gerald and us, what you’ll see is electro, ‘cause we’re all from the same b-boy background. I would argue that all day long.”

How did the death of Rob Mitchell affect you?

Richard Sutcliffe via e-mail

“He was part of my life changing and I was part of his. I feel for his family ‘cause he was a beautiful soul. We had a lot to share but I must stress that he’s only a thought away.”

Does the b-boy in you prefer Pharcyde’s ‘Passin’ Me By’ to your own ‘Nights’ trilogy?

Isabel Brown via e-mail

“The thing I like about ‘Passin’ Me By’ is that when it came out everyone referred to us. We sampled it (Quincy Jones’ ‘Summer In The City’) first (hearty laugh). The ‘Smoker’s Delight’ gives me most pleasure as final product, but the first one has the history, ‘cause when I first found that track in ‘86, I said: ‘One day I’m going to sample that tune’.”

When you collaborated with De La Soul were you concerned they’d take the money and run?

Jack Strong, Reading

“I knew they’d come up trumps. I’d sent them the demo and Posdnuos phoned me up and even went into depth about what style I was looking for, which was some old school, rapping forever kind of thing. He could’ve just said: ‘Yeah, yeah, let’s hook up in the studio and we’ll do it there.’ But he turned up, had it all written, and was still prepared to change things. We spent 14 hours in the studio and it’s an experience I’ll never forget ‘cause to me they’re like the John Coltranes of rap.”

What inspired your classic track ‘Mega Donutz’, and are you a ‘mmm donuts’ man?

Lulu via e-mail

“Tozz 180, who MCed that track had the rhyme kicking around. It’s about making it and doing it but not taking it seriously. It’s like: ‘I’m gonna make this money, but I’m gonna spend it.’ I don’t like real donuts unless I’ve got the munchies. But no, I’m not a money man. It’s nice, but it’s not the be-all-and­-end-all.”

Legalising weed: a progressive step or taking the fun out?

Cheech via e-mail

“A progressive step. It’s not a problem in parts of Germany, Spain. It’s just getting the idea of it being a drug out of people’s heads. Soon as they hear that word, ‘drug’, people have an idea of what it leads to, but it’s their attitudes that need to change.”

Who are your favourite Georges and why?

Georgina Martin via e-mail

“George Benson, for his contribution to music. Brought up listening to him by my dad. Definitely not George Bush, he’s the one I dislike the most. I could say another great George but he played for the scum so I won’t.”

‍