Jah Wobble, the legendary bassist best known for his work with Public Image Ltd (PiL), has teamed up with his two sons, John Tian Qi Wardle, 23, and Charlie Tian Yi Wardle, 21, to create an unusual album of Beatles covers. Titled Mystic Liverpool: The Beatles’ Psychedelic Psongbook, the album is set for release on August 14 and brings an Eastern sound to the band's more Indian-influenced tracks, incorporating Chinese and Mongolian instruments.
From Skeptic to Collaborator
Wobble, 67, grew up on the Clichy Estate in east London's Stepney, an area developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s as part of post-World War II slum clearance. He recalls his early indifference to The Beatles: "I was like 5 years of age. They were a phenomenon then, rising. All the mums and dads loved them. I remember the little girls at primary school were skipping [with a] rope, singing some song that had something to do with 'she loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah.' Everybody loved them, but I was just puzzled slightly that people liked them as much as they did, because they didn't excite me."
His opinion changed dramatically in 1967 when he first heard "Strawberry Fields Forever." He explains: "I heard it on the radio, and everybody thought it was rubbish. The general view of everyone around the East End, was 'rubbish.' Then I realised, years later, it's two songs moulded together. It's proper psychedelic, and it did something to me. You know, some sort of ego dissolution and oneness with the world around me or something. I just could not articulate it. It was a delicious feeling when I heard that music."
Punk Roots and a New Name
Wobble, born John Wardle, was one of the 'four Johns' in the early 1970s—four teenagers who shared the same first name. The others were John Lydon (later Johnny Rotten), John Grey, and John Ritchie, who joined the Sex Pistols in 1975 as Sid Vicious. The group squatted together and frequented pubs, all deeply involved in the punk scene. It was during a drunken night that Vicious's slurred pronunciation of "John Wardle" came out as "Jah Wobble," and the name stuck.
Reflecting on the punk era, Wobble once said: "We were angry, frustrated, left wing. All the institutions were mocked. It was a bit like Monty Python's Ministry Of Silly Walks." He left PiL in 1980 to pursue a prolific solo career and founded his band, The Invaders of the Heart, which explored world music and jazz fusion. Over the years, he has collaborated with high-profile artists including Brian Eno, The Edge, Primal Scream, Sinead O'Connor—with whom he wrote "Visions of You"—Bill Laswell, and Bjork.
Family Affair
Wobble has been clean and sober for 40 years, financing his creative pursuits with conventional day jobs, including a long stint with London Underground. He once said: "Best thing I ever done, getting clean." Now running his own label, 30 Hertz Records, he often collaborates with his highly musical family. His second wife, Chinese-born guzheng player and harpist Zilan Liao, has been with him since the mid-1990s. Her father, a Beatles enthusiast, moved to Liverpool in 1981 and established the Pagoda Chinese Youth Orchestra there.
Wobble, who converted from Catholicism to Buddhism, says of the new album: "I kind of felt Strawberry Fields had to be on it and Walrus. I thought, 'god, how can you recreate that?' And then what you do is don't try and reinvent the wheel, just do it with your own thing, with humility, and it will be all right."
Sons' Perspectives
Like his father, Charlie was initially unimpressed by early Beatles hits. He says: "I was never really into them as a kid. As I got older and started listening to more of their psychedelic stuff—Within You Without You—I started thinking there was a similarity between, I think, our sound and some of the stuff that was going on there." John T adds: "With The Beatles, I'll be honest, I always sort of slept on them a bit, never really got too much into them." But Wobble introduced him to hits like "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," and his opinion radically changed. He says: "They really took risks doing stuff that only the real sort of avant-garde people were doing at the time."
Looking Ahead
Wobble, who now splits his time between Stockport and London, where he runs a community project called Tuned in south London, says making music with his family feels natural. "Just feels really natural. Me and me wife confirm this." Despite warning his sons against becoming musicians—"It's obviously a great deal of fun … but you'll never make any money. Don't you do this. So, of course, they were bound to become musicians"—he has no plans to retire. Describing life as a musician, he says: "I just enjoy. It should be the same as a chef. Watch everyone enjoy your food, that's great. And then cook another dish tomorrow."
