My Fantasy Band: Alex Paterson, The Orb
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Your support makes all the difference.Vocals - Louis Armstrong, Harry Nilsson and Sister Sledge
To me, Louis Armstrong has the best voice in the world. Harry Nilsson writes the best songs and Sister Sledge do the best harmonies. They did all the harmonies for Chic. I love disco, I love Harry Nilsson and I love Louis Armstrong and that's good enough for me.
Guitars - Jimi Hendrix
Everybody I know used to like Jimi Hendrix and I never really did because I didn't really like guitars; I'm really a bass man. If you listen to The Orb you'll probably understand that. It's only in the last five years that it's become apparent to me how supreme a guitarist he really is compared to, dare I say it, people like Eric Clapton or Keith Richards or Jimmy Page. They're very good guitarists but they all look up to him so it's clear he's a master.
Drums & Bass - Sly and Robbie
Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare are one of the most prolific teams working in reggae. They became really famous when they did an album with Grace Jones but they were famous anyway if you know your reggae. They're supreme beings. I guarantee if you pick up a dub album you'll see one of them on the back, if not both. I have no words to express what I feel about them other than they've given me the most inspirational time of my life, reggae-wise. I grew up with it: Prince Far I, "African Dub Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5", Joe Gibbs, Joe Gibbs and the Revolutionaries. They had 50 hits in Jamaica before a lot of musicians nowadays were even born.
Keyboard - Brian Eno
I suppose my band wouldn't be politically correct if it didn't have a little bit of ambience going on in there. Brian Eno would be the keyboard player but he would also be the producer.
DJ - Mix Master Mike
He's the DJ with the Beastie Boys. I come from the DJ school of the music world, and I wouldn't be seen dead without having a DJ on stage in my band. He could put in added rhythms, beats and they can have little two-minutes breaks in between tunes, maybe have Sister Sledge doing a bit of disco, that'd be quite cool. I'd like to call this band Heartbeats Two and the album will be called "For You".
The album 'The Orb and Youth present Impossible Oddities: From Underground to Overground – the Story of WAU! Mr Modo' is out now on Year Zero
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