In Depth: Richie Stevens | Smudge All Stars
Richie Stevens.
A behind the scenes character, who has worked with just about everybody.
Initially signed to Virgin Records, Richie Stevens became renowned for independently experimenting with remix projects. This led him to join a group called the Spacemonkeyz - receiving acclaim for their full remix of the Gorillaz debut album in the early 2000’s. Following this, Richie began forming his own debut album, commencing the creation process around 2012. After eight years, this project was unleashed unto the world, entitled Smudge All Stars. A Funk project featuring an array of famous talents and musical influences, the reception the Smudge All Stars album received led to this interview taking place in late 2020.
As son of John Stevens, a reputed Jazz drummer, music had a big influence on Richie’s upbringing - drumming came naturally to him. By his twenties, Richie’s musical passion resided with Reggae music. A fortunate introduction with Dennis Bovell, an iconic Reggae producer, led Richie to work with Bovell’s band ‘the Duband’ alongside Linton Kwesi Johnson. “I was just really lucky,” admitted Richie. At the same time, Richie was working in studios prominently, taking inspiration from producers he worked alongside. After multiple years, Richie altered his practice from solely drumming to focus more on production. “If I was drumming a lot, I would then really fancy being in a studio,” explained Richie. “Then if I was in the studio a lot, I really fancied being on the road.” After production piqued his interest, Richie began a lot of remix work. He caught the attention of Virgin Records, who offered him a deal on the basis of a jam session he recorded with Lorenzo Hall from ‘The Investigators’. Through Virgin, Richie received an opportunity to collaborate with George Clinton, who he has maintained an association with to this day.
Among Richie’s most notorious remix projects was the Spacemonkeyz - who notably remixed the Gorillaz self-titled debut as a Dub/Reggae release, called Laika Come Home. This opportunity came about through an affiliation Richie had with Darren Galea aka DJ D-Zire, who had an initial gig with the band Jamiroquai. Darren asked Richie to work on a Jamiroquai remix, for a single called ’Alright’. “Then after that, he said he got a gig with the Gorillaz,” revealed Richie. “He phoned me up and said, 'Listen, I've been asked to do a Dub album for a whole first album.' I was an obvious person to call because of my Reggae background. ” Together with Gavin Dodds they created the album, Laika Come Home as a project called the Spacemonkeyz. Independently available yet officially operating under the Gorillaz umbrella, their remix album featured the likes of Terry Hall, Earl Sixteen, U Brown & more. “The Gorillaz used a bit of our video on their live set,” continued Richie, “They cut into one of our versions when they do M1A1 live. Half-way through the tune they cut into our Ska version.” Richie and DJ D-Zire remain good friends to this day, D-Zire having contributed to the Smudge All Stars album. “We have also just done a remix with Stuart Zender from Jamiroquai,” added Richie.
Despite decades of experience performing as well as producing, Smudge All Stars was regarded as Richie’s debut album release, a Funk project bolstered by multiple musical influences. The creation process began around 2012/13, when Richie caught the ‘Funk bug’ whilst living in Brighton with a home studio set-up. “For some reason I just thought, 'I want to make a Funk album,'” recalled Richie. “I'll tell you what it was - I'd been doing a ton of fucking Dub stuff. It was a bit like when I was coming out of the situation when I was younger as a drummer, from playing a lot of Reggae to have this urge to do something funky.” After throwing together some jams, Richie put his heart into making a Funk record, with the exception of a single Reggae tune that is homage to a longstanding tradition. “I thought, 'Funk bands often used to do a Reggae tune, so I'm going to do one.'”
As a born and bred Londoner, Richie had access to the phenomenal Reggae scene local to him. With this in mind, he decided to include an authentic, rootsy Reggae single. “Then of course there are moments where it goes a little bit Jazzy,” ccontinued Richie. “That is inevitable because I have got a bit of Jazz in my background.” The flavour of Jazz is further contributed by saxophone player, James Gardiner-Bateman, as well as trumpet player Reuben Fowler and trombonist Dave Liddell. Then a track Richie describes as ‘Gospel Blues’ is called 2 Cold To Hold, which happened spontaneously during a jam session. Another example of multi-genre experimentation is Headache, which has more of a Bluesy vibe whilst a Funky rhythm underpins it. “The beauty of the Brits is that we do tend to mix and match,” stated Richie. “We are not purists - we take the piss, really.”
After Richie decided to create an album, he invited a brilliant bass player called Phil ‘Soul’ Sewell to his studio for a jam, providing Richie with additional basslines and ideas for consideration. The next feature came as a surprise, when he happened across acclaimed Soul vocalist Omar at the local supermarket. “I thought, 'That's got to be Omar, no-one's got hair like that,'” laughed Richie. “I walked around and it was Omar, so I said, 'Listen I'm doing this project, come around?' and he did.'” Richie asked Omar to scat over a handful of grooves, gifting Richie with room for improvisation. Now the album was beginning to take shape musically, next Richie had to decide upon some lyrical content. “There is this one particular track right, I looked at all these plots from Star Trek,” continued Richie. “One of them was called ’Escape Velocity’, it was about the Enterprise getting enough thrust to get off the gravity on the planet - I thought of that as getting enough thrust to pull out of the bullshit in the music industry.”
Keeping this concept in mind, on the side Richie was also involved in a remix he was doing for Boy George, which led to the involvement of George Clinton. In his earlier years, Richie came to know George Clinton when he came into a position where he could ask Clinton to produce tracks for an earlier project, called ‘Well Red’. Keeping in touch despite their physical distance, Clinton living Stateside whilst Richie lived in the UK, Richie is the first to acknowledge the surrealness of their association. “Let me put it on the record,” began Richie. “I still to this day can't believe that I even know the geezer, what I can tell you from the bottom of my heart is that there is some sort of loyalty in the Funk world. The people that were involved or were a part of it at some point, there is a very beautiful aspect to it, which is that there is a slight family feel to it.”
Richie believes this family entity existing within the Funk world helped maintain his association with Clinton over time, before adding how he admired the icon’s humble personality. “He just doesn't have an ego like you would think he would, being who he is and having the stature he has,” continued Ritchie. “He is just a generous human being in every respect, he is a wonderful, wonderful person. I pinch myself to this day, I do honestly sit and make a cup of tea and think, 'Fucking hell, man. How come you know him? That is bonkers.’”
Dennis Bovell
Whilst collaborating with Clinton for the Boy George remix, Richie queried whether Clinton would consider contributing something to his own upcoming project. Richie played him ‘Escape Velocity’ and explained its concept. “Then he got a microphone and rattled off the whole lyric for Up Is Just A Place in one take,” revealed Richie. “I actually welled up, I literally wiped a tear out of the corner of my eye and went, 'Oh my God' - it was incredible.” Although the original vocal sounds much different to the final version, this was the basis of the first track for this project which Richie had finished the lead vocal and also had a name for - except it wasn’t called ’Escape Velocity’ any more, it was now entitled Up Is Just A Place. “Although in the beginning of the track,” added Ritchie. “You hear JC 001 say 'Battling the gravity,' which is just the last little remnant of what It used to be.” Although Richie was elated in one sense with Clinton’s feature, he admitted that he almost shot himself in the foot as a result of it. “ He raised the Funk bar so high that then the challenge was to fit something around that which did it justice,” sighed Richie. “Because standing on its own, it was kind of overwhelming.”
Quite quickly the project attracted the attention of Peg Doll Records, who showed appreciation for what Richie was pulling together. They wished to release the single Up Is Just A Place, however Richie declined because at the time, he had nothing to follow it up with. This led to the creation of the single Brutal Funk, which Richie claimed he had to truly dig deep to accomplish. “Ironically, what I came up with was a song about a conversation that I had with George Clinton,” said Richie. “A conversation about what Funk was that is all true, I have to tell you, all the lyrics on the album are all true - apart from Freaky Toe, which is a psychedelic journey.” As the album’s creation progressed, Richie enlisted assistance from stars such as Lee Scratch Perry, Dennis Bovell, Pee Well Ellis & many more.
“I knew Dennis really, really well and I learned loads off that man on every aspect of music,” continued Richie. “Certainly, watching him produce Dub, everything about him is pure music - he is a very larger than life character.” Then as previously mentioned, Richie had worked with George Clinton prior, similarly learning a lot by watching him produce. “I was also just a massive fan of Lee Perry and I always thought...” Richie paused, thoughtfully. “Could I get all three producers on the same project? Lee Perry, George Clinton and Dennis Bovell, to me, they are a reflection of each other - Dennis obviously UK, Clinton in the States and Lee Perry in Jamaica.”
Lee Scratch Perry
Coming close to working with Lee Perry many times over past years, it unfortunately never quite happened, until one evening Richie scrolled through Facebook on his phone and found a potential opportunity. “One thing I will say about me is I'm quite cheeky,” laughed Richie. “There was this thing on Facebook which said, 'Lee Perry Dub Plates' and I thought, 'Well that will be ridiculous, no fucking way.'” Initially ignoring the post, a day or two later Richie decided to try his luck and sent an email, hoping to find ‘the cherry on the cake.’ “I sent this email and said, 'I'm doing this album, George Clinton is on it, Earl 16, Dennis Bovell,' etc.,” reminisced Richie. “Then I got an email shot back, I swear to God I had this indescribable feeling come over my body I never had before. Through a bit of too and throw, five tracks with crazy vocals came through and we were away.” Although these features were intended for dubplates and not for commercial release, Richie simply stated his intentions to release the singles properly and Perry replied, ‘Go for it.’
“So that is how that happened, he is not someone that I have a huge past with or anything,” admitted Richie. “But Pee-Wee and Fred Wesley - I was lucky enough to have to get a band together for supporting Bootsy Collins at Brixton Academy, that was just a random thing that happened which kind of got dropped in my lap.” Knowing Pee-Wee and Fred since the 90’s, they were easier for Richie to get hold of. Pee-Wee provided the Smudge All Stars project with brass arrangements, whilst Fred Wesley contributed his talent with section work and an amazing solo on ‘B Side’.
Altogether, there were 52 musicians and artists that featured on the record. “Obviously we have been talking about very, very high profile artists,” agreed Richie. “To me they are the history, these are legends, truly - there is not a word that is out of place at all, when talking about these characters and the influence they have had.”
However, Richie was quick to add that none of it would have been possible without his British compadres, who helped him live up to the high profile guest appearances. “They are legion in the brilliance and the love that everyone brought to the project, that is, all the British people,” continued Richie. “Omar, Mary Pearce, Derek Green, James Gardiner-Bateman, Neville Malcolm, I could go on and on - all of them.” An exceptionally notable feature is Richie’s own son, MWS, who provided much constructive criticism which guided this album’s creation process. “He has got a great ear, I'm not just saying that because he is my son,” claimed Richie. “He pushed me a bit, frustrated me a bit and you know, in the end made some really wonderful contributions to the record, he has also done an amazing remix of Brutal Funk which shall come out very soon.”
George Clinton
To promote the finished project, Richie opted to find an artist who could provide strong street art / graffiti style designs, which could help bring the featured artists to life. He was put in contact with a Shropshire artist called Kahm, who came up with an array of hand drawn characters used to portray the artists more vividly. “I have to say, apart from the Smudge logo which was done by a friend of mine in the States,” began Richie. “Kahm took it and made it beautiful, the first versions were like a hand drawn thing, then from there on, all the characters he has drawn - the whole thing is wonderful and it fits. He is doing us proud, he has pretty much single-handedly taken care of what we look like at the moment.” Elated with Kahm’s contributions, Richie hopes to eventually cartoon all the 52 artists and animate the lot. Although it is still early days, Richie hopes to continue growing this side of the project due to the brilliant response it has received. “I'm very, very pleased with everything Kahm has done,” added Ritchie. “No qualms at all - no Kahm's at all.”
Our final question for Richie, could he reveal any insight into what he has in store next? “As I say, I am starting to put my time into the next project,” revealed Richie. “I am just remixing a couple of them myself, there is a whole catalogue - there is a whole album worth of remixes coming up. I got really lucky to get the producer, bass player Youth, he is guesting on one, Stuart Zender is on one. So we have got a couple of interesting bass players on a couple of them, it has a nice vibe.”
Richie Stevens, thank you for your time.
Words by Evo
Artwork by Kahm