Little Roy To Give Special 100 Club Performance Of Nirvana Covers Album 'Battle For Seattle'
Monday, 22 August 2011
Written by Jon Stickler
Little Roy and Prince Fatty will be in London this coming Thursday, August 25th, for a special performance of their recently announced Nirvana covers record ‘Battle for Seattle’.
This will be the third show in the 100 Club and Converse’s music series, following previous guests Graham Coxon and Everything Everything in June and July respectively. Little Roy will be joined by special guests on the night including Don Letts and Hollie Cook, and the performance will be followed by further shows at Reading and Leeds festivals this coming Bank Holiday weekend.
You can have a listen to Little Roy’s version of ‘Silver/Dive’ below.
A collection of 10 songs recorded by Nirvana in a reggae style, 'Battle For Seattle' is the brainchild of Prince Fatty, aka Mike Pelanconi and the Mutant Hi-Fi, aka Nick Coplowe, and it features the vocal talents of Little Roy, one of the great singers from Jamaican music’s classic era in the 1960s and ’70s, who cut tunes with Studio One, Matador, Prince Buster and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry.
Being a fan-of-old, Nirvana was the obvious choice for Prince Fatty when considering the idea of a ‘whole album cover version’. Obviously, the choice of singer, who’d have to step into Cobain’s shoes for ten tracks, was crucial. “I’ve worked with Little Roy for a long time,” says Mike, “and so I knew tonally it was right for him.”
Little Roy admits it was a struggle getting to grips with the songs. “When I listened to the lyrics as he sung them, I found it hard to pick up on what he was saying. The lyrics came too quickly for my ears and were buried in the music. It sounded to me like he was crying out. You have to listen deep to get it. The melody was always there, though, so I knew this was a chance for me to bring them up so people could really hear what Kurt was saying. People could enjoy the words of these great songs through me singing them in my reggae style – reggae fans like me who didn’t know about Nirvana would love the songs, and Nirvana fans could enjoy the music all over again.” He laughs. “Music is not a one-road thing, you know.”
'Battle For Seattle' is set for release on September 5th.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!