jnj: Please tell me how the Para:Diso project started and what was your and Daniel's objective with the release of Paradise II Paranoia since it doesn't happen too often that one can enjoy a record done by father and son (only Gerald & Eddie Levert springs to my mind).
Bluey: We weren’t heavily concept driven here. Though we had the theme of Paradise (Joy and elation) to Paranoia (Darkness and despair), we were just creating, chilling, and having fun without any outside pressures. Most of it was done after midnight on down time.


jnj: What was the experience working with your son like? And do you want to do other projects with Daniel together?
Bluey: I’ve been working with Daniel since the mid 90’s, sometimes I bring him in on my productions and sometimes he gives his dad a break on things that he’s producing, like the Sabrina (Brazilian Vocalist) album he’s been producing for the Far Out label. We are always talking about doing this and that together.


jnj: How did you team up with the singers Valerie Etienne, Niki King and Tommy Blaize? Have you worked with them before or have they been on your wish list of artists you'd like to work with?
Bluey: Valerie came to mind the moment I wrote the lyrics. (Sometimes it helps the writing process to know the voice that is going to carry the message). I’ve known Val from her days with Galliano whilst we were all on Talkin’ Loud.
Tommy was someone I vowed to work with from the moment I heard his voice at sound check a few years back. He was singing and playing keys with Lewis Taylor, I thought he was the star of the show!
Niki came to my attention through Gilles Peterson. I had been looking for an opportunity to work with her for some time. She has that smoky vocal thing going on. An excellent writer too! She wrote the lyrics and melody for that tune. I released her last solo album in Japan on my label Rice and we did some shows together in Tokyo as a triple bill, Niki King, Ski Oakenfull and Para:Diso, it was great! We even got the reclusive Daniel to do Karaoke.


jnj: Paradise II Paranoia has already been recorded in 2001 and released in Japan. Why did it take over three years to get a European release?
Bluey: We were so busy that we never really tried to market this album outside of Japan. Due to our respective busy schedules, it was something we kept on putting it off until recently. There’s been a lot of interest here in the West, and we finally put the idea to Pete Robinson at Dome (who also releases Incognito in the UK) and he thought it was a good idea.


jnj: Do you plan any live dates to promote the European release of Paradise II Paranoia?
Bluey: We hadn’t thought much about it, but I think a few gigs (Half band half DJ set) might be a good idea!


jnj: It's been nearly a year since we did an interview in Hamburg/Germany. Have you discovered some new artists since then you can recommend to the visitors of jazz-not-jazz.com?
Bluey: Amp Fiddler (Best of the U.S. Nu School on a retro tip), Kaidi Tatham (at the forefront of the UK broken beat gendre), Killa Kella (Best beat box this side of the Atlantic.)


jnj: And in this period of time we've also seen the unmasking of one of the biggest lies in recent years, i.e., that there were no weapons of mass destruction left when the alliance of Bush & Blair invaded the Iraq. How do you feel with Bush and Blair still being in power and especially Bush maybe winning the future election?
Bluey: Couldn’t think of two names more deserving of being tried for war crimes! I am ashamed of the inhumanity of it all!!!