Jah Wobble
Jah Wobble in 2005
Background information
Birth name	John Wardle
Also known as	Jah Wobble
Born	1958 Stepney, London, United Kingdom
Genre(s)	Post-punk Alternative World music
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Bass, vocals, keyboards, drums
Years active	1978 - present
Label(s)	30hertzrecords
Associated acts	Public Image Limited (1978 - 1980), The Damage Manual (2000)
Website	[1]

Jah Wobble (born John Wardle, in Stepney in 1958) is an English bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but left the band after two years. Following his departure from PiL, he went on to a successful solo career, continuing to the present. His daughter is actress Hayley Angel Wardle, and he is married to renowned harpist Zi Lan Liao.

Early life

Wobble grew up in Whitechapel's Clichy Estate in London’s East End, and is a long-time friend of John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) whom he had met in the 1970s along with John Simon Ritchie (later known as Sid Vicious) at London's Kingsway College (now Westminster Kingsway College). According to Rotten's autobiography, Wobble was once on the short list of replacements for original Pistols bassist Glen Matlock. There are several versions of the origin of his stage name, though it's unclear if these origins are more than apocryphal: One account places the origin on a drunken, mumbled version of Wardle's name by Sid Vicious; another states it was wordplay based on Wardle's name, and his fascination with the "wobbly" basslines of reggae and related genres, where praise to "Jah" — a near-homonym of "John" — is often offered.

Musical career

Public Image Ltd (PiL)

Wobble started his musical career with John Lydon's post-Sex Pistols group Public Image Ltd (PiL). His trademark bass playing drew heavily on dub, which has remained an important feature of his music. In his early life and career, by his own admission, Wardle was given to occasional bouts of aggression, brought on in part by a strict upbringing in London's East End and exacerbated by alcohol abuse. He has stated that the first Public Image Ltd. album was recorded so quickly due in part to the bassist's altercations with a studio producer and men at a nearby pub. He has, however, dismissed claims accusing him of extreme malice, such as setting fire to the former drummer for The Fall, Karl Burns, while Burns was session drumming for PiL.

Wobble left his signature mark on PiL's seminal second album Metal Box released in 1979. However, he grew increasingly frustrated by the lacklustre creative atmosphere in the band, which he felt stifled his artistic ambitions and PiL's creative potential. Besides differences in artistic vision, further conflicts were brought on in part by heavy drug and alcohol abuse in the band . Wobble then went on to recording and releasing his debut album The Legend Lives on - Jah Wobble in Betrayal, and found himself accused by other PiL members of having made unauthorized use of material from Metal Box for the making of Betrayal . Wobble then left PiL in late 1980.

Early post-PiL years

Soon after leaving PiL, Wobble started his solo career by forming The Human Condition with guitarist Dave (Animal) Maltby and PiL's original drummer, Jim Walker. The Human Condition toured the UK, Europe, and USA in 1981, and made two cassette-only releases of their live shows (Live at the Collegiate Theatre and Live in Europe). The post-PiL years saw Wobble also collaborating with Can members Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit on Czukay's solo projects (notably On the Way to the Peak of Normal and Rome Remains Rome) and Full Circle (released in 1984). In 1983, Wobble formed the Invaders of the Heart, and released the Lp Snake Charmer featuring U2's The Edge alongside Czukay and Liebezeit, and produced by François Kevorkian. However, his critical stance towards the commercialization of the music industry, compounded by heavy drinking led to his abandoning music for a short period in the mid eighties. By 1986 he was clean and sober. He then worked a variety of straight jobs, whilst continuing to perform and record his music in what spare time he had. These jobs included a long stretch on the London Underground. In an oft-quoted tale it is related that he once, at Tower Hill Underground Station via the public address system, humorously regaled commuters with the deadpan announcement, "I used to be somebody. I repeat, I used to be somebody."

Early Nineties - present

Encouraged by friends to resume music full time, the clean-and-sober Wardle has since collaborated with a wide variety of musicians. His explorations into World music predated much of the genre's popularity. Jah Wobble's 1994 album "Take Me To God" was influenced by world music genres, and its uplifting sounds made it both a critical and commercial success. His music has spanned a number of genres, including ambient music and dance music, and in 2003, reworkings of traditional English folk songs. Though he has released recordings since the early 1980s, Wobble has been quite prolific from the mid-1990s to the present. He now runs his own label, 30 Hertz Records, and tours regularly throughout England and Europe.

Besides his work as a musician and composer, Jah Wobble also writes occasional book reviews for the The Independent. [2] According to the liner notes of Alpha One Three he is currently working on his autobiography.

List of collaborators

Past and present collaborators include Dolores O'Riordan, Shahin Badar, Dave Maltby, Brett Wickens, Bob Shipton, Joolz, Sinéad O'Connor, Natacha Atlas, Najma Akhtar, Ollie Marland, François Kevorkian, Baaba Maal, Brian Eno, Harry Beckett, Neville Murray, Holger Czukay, Jaki Liebezeit, Clive Bell, Jean Pierre Rasle, Pharaoh Sanders, Bill Laswell, Bernie Worrell, Björk, Ginger Baker, The Orb, Massive Attack, Anneli Drecker, The Edge, Abdel Ali Slimani, Paul Gilroy, Primal Scream, Evan Parker, Yulduz Usmanova, The Shamen, Holly Valance, Mark Lusardi, Polly Eltes, Cat von Trapp, Gavin Friday, Shara Nelson, Annie Whitehead, Ben Mandelson, and the Invaders of the Heart. As well as the work he directs, Jah Wobble was also a member of The Damage Manual.

References

1. Discography

   Jah Wobble main discography

   First Issue/Public Image (with PiL) (1978) · Metal Box/Second Edition (with PiL) (1979) · Paris au Printemps/Paris In The Spring (1980) · The Legend Lives on…Jah Wobble in Betrayal (1980) · V.I.E.P. (1980) · Bedroom Album (1982) · Snake Charmer (1983) · Neon Moon (1985) · Tradewinds (1986) · Psalms (1987) · Without Judgement (1989) · Rising Above Bedlam (1991) · Take Me to God (1993) · Spinner (with Brian Eno) (1995) · Heaven and Earth (1995) · The Inspiration of William Blake (1996) · The Celtic Poets (1997) · Requiem (1997) · The Light Programme (1998) · Umbra Sumus (1998) · The Five Tone Dragon — Jah Wobble presents Zi Lan Liao (1998) · Deep Space (1999) · Full Moon Over the Shopping Mall (2000) · Beach Fervour Spare (2000) · 30 Hertz - A Collection of Diverse Works From A Creative Genius (2000) · Molam Dub (with The Invaders of the Heart and Molam Lao) (2001) · Passage to Hades (with Evan Parker) (2001) · Radioaxiom (with Bill Laswell) (2001) · Deep Space: Largely Live in Hartlepool & Manchester (2002) · Shout at the Devil (with Temple of Sound) (2002) · Solaris: Live in Concert (2002) · Fly (2003) · Five Beat (2004) · I Could Have Been a Contender (Anthology) (2004) · Elevator Music V.1A (2004) · Car Ad Music (2004) · Mu (2005) · Alpha-One-Three (2006) · Jah Wobble & The English Roots Band (2006) · Heart and Soul (2007)

   External links

   • Jah Wobble's site
   • Jah Wobble Last.fm group
   • Adrian Sherwood speaks about PiL
   • Don Letts on PiL
   • Keith Levene on PiL