PANDIT COUNTRY

In the same way that hairdryers are way down the list of things you d ask Siniad O Connor about, you don t immediately go, Oooh, we must discuss stand-up comedy , when presented with an Asian Dub Foundation interview. The tireless champions of political causes that they are, they don t have time for ribaldry. Right?

Actually, I love comedy, says ADF mainman Pandit G over a tub of Haagen-Dazs. I don t know if you saw the film about the car plant in Michigan that Michael Moore did, but some of it was wickedly funny. A guy over here I always try and catch is Mark Thomas. Him and Goodness Gracious Me are two of the best things on British TV.
I think I detect a pattern emerging here.
They re using comedy to get a message across, like we are with our music, the G-man continues. It s a route in to talk about more serious issues like, for instance, racism which I know is a growing problem in Ireland.
As you d expect, the Dubbies are fully up to speed with what s been happening here recently.
I ve been reading about it in a magazine called CARF Campaign Against Racism & Fascism which we re working with. I wish I could remember some of the names so I could big em up, but there are organisations in Cork, Waterford and other places who are doing really good work on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers.
My mother moved over to London from Tipperary in the late 50s, and you know what she saw on all the doors? he continues. No Irish, no Asians, no dogs . You d have thought that having been discriminated against for hundreds of years the Irish would be really tolerant, but no, you ve got the same Nazi bollocks happening here as everywhere else.
Not that ADF are averse to visiting the Emerald Isle.
We do a thing every three or four months in Belfast called Hydroponic. It s in a pub called The Front Page, and fucking hell, the crowd have gone ballistic every time we ve been there. No one gives a shit if you re Catholic or Protestant it s all about jumping around and making a fool of yourself.
Here here!