Below is a transcript of the above interview, which originally aired over the KALX airwaves on August 19, 2019.
DJ Massari: [00:00:00] Alright, so, let’s just go ahead and start and talk about ISM. Is it alright to call it ISM?
Eno Williams: Yeah, ISM, that’s Ibibio Sound Machine. Yes.
DJ Massari: So, for the uninitiated, what is the Ibibio Sound Machine sound?
Eno Williams: The Ibibio Sound Machine sound is pretty much a mixture of African highlife with songs sung in Ibibio language, which is the language of my grandparents and my parents. The language I got told a lot of stories growing up as a child in Nigeria, and a lot of those stories, that’s what you hear on the record. So, there’s a mixture of that with electronic funk and more like a futuristic sound, very much. And it’s got a very dancey, very energetic dancey vibe to it.
DJ Massari: Okay.
Eno Williams: So when people come to the show, expect to, you know, get your groove on really.
DJ Massari: Ooh! But it’s not just grooves too, like, you also have some lovely, lovely downtempo songs.
Eno Williams: Yes, we do have some downtempo songs. On this record, we have a few. We’ve got “Know You’re Thinking About Me,” [00:01:00] and “Kuka.” “Kuka” is pretty much a song referencing an angel in the listener’s life. It could be a loved one, it could be someone very, very close to them. And it’s just talking about, you know, having the angel stay close. And, and not go away. So just stay right by me. Stay really close and don’t go away. I mean, to, for, for me, that, that was referencing my grandmother ’cause she sort of was one of the inspirations into the whole Ibibio project, ’cause I remember many, many years ago, when, I mean, I was singing and she often teased me about singing in English and used to ask, “Oh yeah, you’re always singing in English, when are you going to sing in Ibibio?” And then we cackled about it for a few times and I said, “Well, like someone, like anyone’s going to understand Ibibio.” And she was like, “Well, you never know.” So fast forward, like now what? 10, 15 years since, since she passed away, it feels like it’s just all coming together, you know, out of a joke that she cracked. And so it’s pretty much like a tribute to her [00:02:00] in, in a way.
DJ Massari: Oh, that’s lovely.
Eno Williams: Yeah.
DJ Massari: But the thing is with music, you, it’s, uh, it’s universal.
Eno Williams: That’s so true.
DJ Massari: So, you can be, you don’t have to understand the words to make it a protest song.
Eno Williams: That’s so true.
DJ Massari: You don’t need to have words to say something.
Eno Williams: That’s true. I mean, music is so universal in, in itself. Music is just a universal language anyway. I mean, I remember hearing music from other parts of the world, like Latin music, like Italian music, French music and all that. And there was just something about the emotion that you heard, even though I didn’t understand most of the language, a lot of times. And I think with Ibibio language, that’s the same thing too. The language is quite rhythmic, but it’s so deep, like it’s steeped in so much culture, belief, and faith, and morals, and so many things. So sometimes even when people don’t understand it, you know, they actually feel the spirit, they feel the vibe, they feel the emotion also. And also the fact that it’s pretty much, it’s, it’s like a musical language as well, you know, it lends itself to a lot of rhythms, a lot [00:03:00] of beats and all that as well. And then mixing that with the electronic sound as well, with the synth, with the percussion. So all that mixture, ’cause the band itself is like very much a mixture of languages, that too. ‘Cause we’re from all over the place.
DJ Massari: So, where is everyone from?
Eno Williams: Oh my God. So starting from Anselmo, Anselmo is like, pretty much a ferocious percussionist, I always call him. He’s from Brazil, so he brings that Brazilian vibe, which is also steeped, funny enough, in the Yoruba traditions of the people of Bahir.
DJ Massari: Yeah.
Eno Williams: So, ’cause he’s got like that kind of link to Nigeria as well. And then we’ve got Jose, who’s from Trinidad and the drummer, that’s, he’s a drummer. And we got Derek also from the West Indies. He’s a bass player. We’ve got Australia, Japan, we’ve got Tony, who’s an Australian. He’s on the trombone and the synth. Max, who’s a producer and saxophone player as well. He’s Australian. And Scott is actually English. He plays the keys and also the [00:04:00] trumpet. And then of course we got Alfred. I call him king of highlife. He’s on the guitar and yes, that’s pretty much everyone. And then myself, born in England, but raised in Nigeria. So, I always say that we’re sort of the United Colors of Music.
DJ Massari: Totally. I mean, I would say the times that, the two times I’ve been in England it’s definitely felt as, or maybe more, multicultural than here in Oakland, so –
Eno Williams: Oh, it’s so multicultural. London is such a multicultural place, which is why I think that, you know, putting a band together like this kinda works, because, I dunno if it would’ve worked so well in any other part of the world, but just London being such a multicultural melting pot of so many different cultures.
DJ Massari: Mm-hmm.
Eno Williams: So many different vibes, so many different influences and everything. So everyone in the band being from all over the world, but then we are all like sort of, you know, based in London. So that vibe is kind of what cuts across, you know, to what we actually bring out with the music.
DJ Massari: Yeah, and I’d say that London town celebrates music more than any other town.
Eno Williams: Definitely! Oh my [00:05:00] God. You can go anywhere in London and just, like, be able to see and hear all sorts of amazing music. Really.
DJ Massari: Yeah.
Eno Williams: I mean, I imagine it’s the same here in America though, like even here in Oakland.
DJ Massari: Um, I mean, pockets, [laughter] you know, there’s pockets, but I mean centralized, and venues, and London just has it.
Eno Williams: Yeah, that’s true. That’s true.
DJ Massari: [Laughter] I gotta say. So the electronic elements, I mean, it, it seems to weave in so well, and most of my favorite highlight, highlife, songs are electronic, like –
Eno Williams: Yeah.
DJ Massari: “Synchro System,” or Okosun’s “Highlife,” like –
Eno Williams: That’s right.
DJ Massari: There’s always that, like, drum machine bass and stuff like –
Eno Williams: That’s right.
DJ Massari: So, do you get a lot of pushback for having those elements in your guys’ sound?
Eno Williams: Well, sometimes we do, but because I think it’s pretty much trying to, like, bring a sound of the future to what we do. So we’ve got the old school highlife mixed with a lot of the Western music, a lot of funk, punk even, and then the electronic element, which is, [00:06:00] it kind of just happened because we, you know, were trying out stuff on the first record, were just really trying out that whole electronic sound. But then it’s kind of evolved to trying to keep it more of a live sound. We do get some flak, but I think people do enjoy, you know, what they see on the live show, and they enjoy what they hear on the record as well, because it’s just marrying those two, I mean, the different elements on the record.
DJ Massari: So is that the thing, like, playing live tonight, and you’re three albums in, do you feel like the people are coming in knowing what’s up? Or do you, do you still have to, like, win people over?
Eno Williams: Sometimes people actually don’t know what they’re getting into, to be honest. People just come to the show, oh, it’s people like, “You need to come and see this one. You need to come and see this one” [laughter]. And then they come along and they’re like either blown away or where they’re like, they dance the heck crazy off. And they’re like, “whoa, what did I just experience?” So, it’s a mixture of, so, you know, so many different elements. Most people don’t really know, but they just come and they’re just, you know, really they, they enjoy the experience. So we are really happy, thankful for that.
DJ Massari: Well, good. I’m excited for [00:07:00] tonight. But another thing that I saw is these outfits, these wonderful, wonderful outfits. There’s, like, you, and the woman that I have on my shirt, Róisín Murphy, that really does this, like, stage outfit stuff –
Eno Williams: Oh, I’m inspired.
DJ Massari: That like, I’m obsessed with.
Eno Williams: Inspired, I’m inspired by Róisín Murphy. Like, I saw her wardrobe once, like at a festival, and I thought, oh my God, she’s a woman after my heart. She’s just, she’s just got style.
DJ Massari: Yeah.
Eno Williams: She’s absolutely got style.
DJ Massari: And just, like, taking the layers off.
Eno Williams: Yes!
DJ Massari: So, are your outfits, who designs them? Are they as beautiful as they are functional? [Laughter] Gimme the story on these.
Eno Williams: Well, functional, I’m not so sure about functional, because I sweat so much in them and I think, and then after a while I have to take it off anyway. Yeah, I mean it’s just, I think a vis-, the vis-, I think I always feel like the visual is just as important as the sound as well, because I feel like, you know, it’s a whole presentation, the show as well, you know, the way, you know you look onstage.
DJ Massari: There’s a reason you’re up there.
Eno Williams: Yeah, it’s, it’s all about the look as well, and I remember my grandma and my mom never left the house, you know, without being nicely put together. And they were like [00:08:00] real, my, my fashion icons to be honest, you know? So when I was sort of thinking about, okay, what should this, I mean, I would happily have gone on stage just wearing a black T-shirt and black trousers, but then my friends would say to me, “No, you have to make an effort, you know, you know, stage, you know,” and I love theater shows a lot. I love, I love going to see productions and everything. I just love costumes and everything. So the first person I worked with was a guy called, uh, a guy from Berlin. Oh gosh, I can’t remember his name now. Shame.
DJ Massari: Oh.
Eno Williams: There’s uh, [laughter] I can’t remember! It’s just like, oh my God, my brain’s gone now.
DJ Massari: So you do have a designer?
Eno Williams: Laura Lang. Yeah, I do have a current designer, Laura Lang, who kind of worked on the current outfit and the outfit on the album cover as well. ‘Cause I sort of, she’d used one of our songs for her final year project and I loved her pieces that I saw. So I got in touch with her. I said, oh, I really like some of your stuff, you know, could we do something together? And so she was like really happy. I was like, okay. So we went back and forth. I [00:09:00] just gave her pictures and then it turns out that I kind of got pictures of the synth, of some African artifacts, some greenery, keyboards, and different elements of stuff. And then we put it together like a mirage, and then we made a print out of it. Which was one of, which was our main outfit, the main outfit that I wear. So that was sort of representing the music, the culture, and just everything about the band, pretty much.
DJ Massari: It’s the whole ISM manifesto.
Eno Williams: Yes! Pretty much [laughter].
DJ Massari: Well, looks like we got about four more minutes. Are you okay with, uh, I’m gonna get some song requests from you.
Eno Williams: Okay.
DJ Massari: That I wanna play on the air.
Eno Williams: Okay.
DJ Massari: So, the format is usually I like to ask someone a childhood fave.
Eno Williams: Okay.
DJ Massari: An all-time classic.
Eno Williams: Okay.
DJ Massari: And the third one, a new track you want more pe-, that you love, that you want more people to be exposed to.
Eno Williams: Okay. Okay, I think definitely I always, I liked, growing up, I liked Whitney Houston’s “I Want to Dance With Somebody.”
DJ Massari: And see that’s another person that [00:10:00] I am also obsessed with. But what I love about her is I’ve been collecting her 12-inches and there’s all these great dub mixes and extended mixes and, like, Kashif and all these wonderful people just, like, breaking down these wonderful songs that are already so familiar. So I love Whitney.
Eno Williams: And then Angélique is one of my all-time favorites. Angélique Kidjo.
DJ Massari: Yeah, her early nineties stuff is untouchable.
Eno Williams: Early nineties, all her early nineties stuff. I can’t really put, I mean, I loved all of them.
DJ Massari: Yeah. Yeah.
Eno Williams: So anything from that era of records. And then.
DJ Massari: I don’t know how I felt about the new Talking Heads cover album, but it was still pretty good.
Eno Williams: Well, I think to me, to me, she can’t go wrong, to be honest [laughter].
DJ Massari: Yeah. Right. I mean, it’s like a slam dunk.
Eno Williams: To me, I don’t think she can go wrong. Yeah. She’s one of those people that, you know, she’s done all her original, you know, early material and it’s like now she’s like, oh yeah, I can do whatever. And it’s, and it works and, you know, she makes it work. So, some people will like, may like it and some people may not. But yeah, [00:11:00] that’s, you know, when you get to that kind of level in, in your career, I suppose, you know, it’s like, you don’t have to care what people think.
DJ Massari: And it doesn’t matter.
Eno Williams: [inaudible] It doesn’t matter.
DJ Massari: Give it a shot, throw it out there.
Eno Williams: Exactly.
DJ Massari: And like some of those tracks are beautiful. Like her cover of [inaudible] is great.
Eno Williams: Yeah, I mean, I particularly like the one she’s just done recently, the Celia Cruz tribute, because I quite like, you know, Celia and for her to take that on, it’s like, okay! [Laughter] Respect, respect to you, Angélique, yeah. Yeah, and what else? I can’t think –
DJ Massari: Something new that you wanna hip people to.
Eno Williams: Something new. Well, something new, there’s a band that supported us in New York, and I’ve kind of followed them over the last few years. Underground Sound System. They’re quite, very energetic. Like Afro, almost like Afrobeat, but like sort of almost similar to what we do, but a bit more feisty and just more, more New Yorkish. Yeah.
DJ Massari: [Laughter] Okay. “Hey, I’m walkin’ here!”
Eno Williams: Yeah. I think it’s got, I’ve got to keep this up, I think is what it’s like. It’s [00:12:00] got that whole, just, it’s that whole New York sound of, you know, just like, just everything’s happening at the same time.
DJ Massari: Okay.
Eno Williams: A lot of hustle and bustle in New York and just –
DJ Massari: So does it have that New York disco in there as well?
Eno Williams: Yeah, very, yeah. Very New York disco. That’s right. Yeah. To keep this up, I think. Yeah.
DJ Massari: Well, cool. So is this the first time in Oakland?
Eno Williams: Yes, this is our first time in Oakland. We are really excited. We’re so excited.
DJ Massari: Have you done San Francisco or the Bay Area at all?
Eno Williams: We did San Francisco. We did Stern Grove in San Francisco.
DJ Massari: Oh, okay.
Eno Williams: About 3, 3, 4 years ago I think.
DJ Massari: Right on.
Eno Williams: Yeah. And it was really cool. It was amazing. Amazing festival, amazing turnout.
DJ Massari: Yeah.
Eno Williams: And everyone was so cool.
DJ Massari: Yeah, that’s the thing is I was gonna say like, I don’t wanna talk too much doo-doo on my area. But usually when we get interesting people, it’s usually a festival.
Eno Williams: Oh, yeah.
DJ Massari: Whereas like you wanna see someone in a club and be more intimate. Yeah.
Eno Williams: I love the clubs. I mean, to be honest, this time around, it’s been so nice to play the clubs because then you’re like really down with the people and you really, you know, it’s more [00:13:00] personal, it’s more intimate, you know, and then you really get –
DJ Massari: Back and forth with the vibe. Yeah.
Eno Williams: Exactly. It’s great. And I’d say, to be honest, Americans, you guys just know how to party, you know how to, like, get down. Like, we have, there’s nowhere we’ve been that hasn’t just been like just, you know, I’ve just been blown away at every, every single club, you know, that we’ve played.
DJ Massari: That’s lovely. And tomorrow you’re in Seattle?
Eno Williams: Tomorrow we’re in, in Seattle tomorrow.
DJ Massari: I was just there with my wife.
Eno Williams: Aww!
DJ Massari: And for the first time. And it was lovely. I think you’re gonna have a good time.
Eno Williams: Really?
DJ Massari: Yeah.
Eno Williams: Oh my God, I’m looking forward to it.
DJ Massari: I didn’t know what to think, I had no whatever, but like, I would say, you know, like you go to LA or you got those people trying, trying to be cool. You go to London, you got the people trying to be cool. No one’s trying to be cool in Seattle.
Eno Williams: Everyone’s just like, whatever.
DJ Massari: Everyone’s just like, wha-, yeah.
Eno Williams: That’s amazing. That’s why we’re like, is it, you like when people, you just go somewhere like they’re not trying to pretend to be anyone. They’re just like themselves. You just get them for what they are and that’s it, you know? That’s really cool. I’m really looking forward to it. Really.
DJ Massari: Well great! Thank you so much for talking [inaudible].
Eno Williams: Thank you so much, Ryan. Nice to meet you.
DJ Massari: And have a great show tonight. I look forward to it.
Eno Williams: Thank you. Thank you.
