THEIR TIME IS NOW

I said that when I was 20, sighs Rsismn Murphy, gazing across the table over her big, tinted shades with a withering look. Maybe asking her to explain what she meant when she described Moloko s music as a dark child and schizophrenic, like soup wasn t such a good idea after all.

Is it too much to ask, for someone just to explain in simple terms what Moloko does? she continues menacingly. Because anything I ever try to say ends up sounding really grandiose and pretentious. We used to just say it was funky, but now even that word is a catch-all and doesn t really work. Anything can be funky now, because the word s been appropriated to describe so many different things. A hairdressing salon can be funky these days. This hotel lobby could be described as funky, for God s sake. Moloko is just a pop band an experimental pop band.
That s put me back in my box. Sensing an unseemly spat developing, Mark Brydon, Murphy s significant other in both musical matters and life in general, diplomatically takes up the baton: We started off like a little cottage industry really, just me and Rsismn making music in a potting shed. We were like a little corner shop and now we ve expanded. We ve become Sainsburys. It just happened very quickly. All we ve ever done is make our music the way we felt like making it.
I think people should just call it as it is, announces Rsismn, violently decapitating a jelly baby, from the bag I d brought along, with her teeth. Moloko are passionate about their music, they make experimental pop music, they mean it, they re sincere and that s it. End of story. After that you either like their funky little tight sweater or you don t.

Ah yes, the tight sweater. Now there s a story. Years ago at a basement party in Sheffield, Brydon then an unassuming English producer, arranger and remixer working with outfits such as House Arrest and Cloud Nine, among others was standing there minding his own business, when this pretty young Irish lass sidled up to him and asked him a very strange question. Do you like my tight sweater? she enquired. See what it does to my body!
Intrigued by this effrontery, Brydon asked who she was. The name was Murphy, Rsismn Murphy. Further dialogue on the subject of restrictive clothing ensued, and a few years later in 1995 to be precise glorying in the moniker Moloko (a reference to a brew the Droogs drank in the Karova Milk Bar in The Clockwork Orange), the duo released their first EP.
Where Is The What If The What Is In The Why? showcased some wildly inventive vocalising, mixed with an eclectic hotch-potch of ground-breaking electronic doohickery. It made an impressive opening shot.
The following year saw their debut album hit the streets. Do You Like My Tight Sweater was disparity itself, a tour de force of funk, hip hop, rap, new beat, breakbeat and drum and bass, all colliding and melding with the relentless flow of Rsismn s sassy vocals and lyrics.
It made an impact too. With sales of 250,000 worldwide, Brydon and Murphy had made complete cults of themselves.
The Moloko bandwagon failed to gather further momentum, however, until the 1998 release of their second album, I Am Not A Doctor and that song.
When you are ready/ I will surrender/ take me and do what you will . . . If by the end of this sentence you re not quietly bringing and singing it back to yourself, you obviously live on the moon.
Written in honour of New York s Body & Soul house party, Sing It Back was a dance-floor and radio smash which enthralled millions. The result of an unsolicited mix, sent to Moloko by big beat boffin Boris Dluglosh, the track astonished Mark and Rsismn, who immediately unleashed it on an unsuspecting public.
Ironically, Francois K, resident DJ at Body & Soul broke the song to American club-goers, despite remaining blithely unaware that he was indirectly responsible for its very existence. By late spring, his public were singing back at him with enough gusto to propel the track to the top of the US Billboard dance charts. Moloko had hit paydirt.
When Sing It Back was such a big hit, we thought we might never recover, but we ve been incredibly lucky to follow through with The Time Is Now , concedes Mark, referring to the latest smash from this year s opus, Things To Make And Do. Up to the year 2000, everything was really pocketed and had to be really true and pure: you were either this or that, or part of this tribe or that tribe y know. Today, though, I think there s more of a place for Moloko. Our stuff has always been really impure and all over the shop. Nobody ever seemed to know where Moloko belonged, but since the new year, people are happy to accept that.
I tell my interviewees that, according to one Russian cyberspace cadet on the Moloko message board, theirs is the most combustible European music I ve heard for the last time. Rsismn s vocals are poison, but sweet poison. I like Moloko (Russian word for milk) as a drink, and now I like it as a group.
Ah, that s nice! laughs Rsismn. Mark, however, is perplexed: Most combustible?!? What does he mean by that, then (laughs)? That s strange, isn t it? Russians getting into your music. It s the wonder of the Internet, I suppose. I have very mixed feelings about it. Sometimes I think it s to be avoided at all costs. It s kind of strange to read what people are saying about you behind your back it s really weird.
It s not really a cross-section of society either, Rsismn opines. It s just people who go on the Internet, isn t it?
There s been some good Internet moments, though, Mark counters. When things were really bleak and we weren t having any hits or anything, we still had the message board. There was about six people who d go on it a few times a week and they d start writing down their dreams, or write poems because we weren t doing anything worth talking about at the time (laughs). That was quite amusing for a while. Then it sort of turned into this big long-winded dialogue about cheese, which got a bit much.

While Mark s accent is as Sheffield as cutlery, Rsismn s rather eclectic brogue, on the other hand, is harder to pin down. On the frequent occasions she becomes animated, though, she is unmistakably Irish.
I was born in Dublin . . . in a hospital, she announces in response to my enquiry about her background. Then I was brought up in Wicklow til I was 12 and then we moved to Manchester. The family disintegrated and moved back separately, at different times, to Ireland. I was 15 at the time, so I stayed on in Manchester. Then I moved to Sheffield when I was 18, after my A-levels. I worked in restaurants for a year or so until I met Mark, and then started making Moloko.
Why did the family disintegrate?
Well, me mum and dad broke up, she explains. Me dad went off with a woman, my mum went home to Ireland. Because I was weird and wore black, I was afraid to go back to Arklow. Honestly, I was really weird. I was into really weird music and Arklow was such a small town that I felt I couldn t go back there. I just wanted to stay in England with me weird friends and get into even weirder music (laughs). I could have gone back with me mum but I chose not to.
Any regrets?
None whatsoever.
Having spent such a long time away from home, has Rsismn become ambivalent towards her Irish roots?
I d be mad not to see meself as Irish because obviously that s what I am, she explains. I m not interested in selling it at all, though. I go home about twice a year to chill out and visit me mum in Arklow, but I don t really know anywhere else any more. I don t go out much in Dublin, for example.
Rsismn s early nomadic existence ensures that there s been no end of hometown gigs on the current Moloko tour itinerary. Does she anticipate such occasions with relish or dread?
Yeah, I ve got four hometown shows: Dublin, Sheffield, London and Manchester, she confirms, counting them out on her fingers. They are special, yeah, but I wouldn t be too worried about them. For all those four gigs, the guest list is massive. We re not going to make a penny out of this tour!
Throughout our interview, Mark seems content to let his better half do most of the talking. A reluctant pop star, he prefers to leave the showbiz end of things to the mot.
The camera hates me, he declares. It does, it really, really hates me!
It does not! she counters.
No, it does, he confirms. You know when you get two magnets and you put the same poles together and they fly apart? That s me as soon as someone points a camera at me. I lose the plot. Anyway, I m always too busy looking at where my fingers are supposed to go next to start posturing on stage. I ve always been one of life s backroom boys. I m used to being the bloke who stays back late in the studio when everyone else is gone home, so I never thought I d be touring with a band at my age.
Talk turns to Moloko s appearance on The Priory a couple of days previously, as well as other television engagements. Before long, a domestic flares up: Top Of The Pops vs Later With Jools Holland.
Jools, definitely, Rsismn declares. Getting on his show was a real milestone because getting back to what we were saying before it was never really contemplated that Moloko could pull off something as serious as getting on Jools Holland. The hilarious thing was that Macy Gray had been ringing me all week trying to get me to do something on her show because she really likes us, even since the time of Tight Sweater . So I agreed because I think she s a fantastic performer. So she came down to Jools to talk to us and hang out with us so we
could plan something together. It was great because in that sort of serious music scene, she s the goddess. She s the new genius of black music.
I think she s fuckin brilliant. Her live show is amazing any doubts anyone might have about her would disappear if you saw her live. She s pretty amazing, so when she came to see us playing on Jools Holland s show, it was a real thrill.
But it has to be said, Top Of The Pops is good too, Mark argues. The first time it was just you on your own singing Sing It Back , so that wasn t great. But when we did The Time Is Now for the first time on Top Of The Pops it was a great feeling. You re just inwardly grinning from ear to ear because it s such an institution.
Rsismn : But Jools Holland means you ve arrived.
Mark: That s true, yeah. I really lost my concentration at one point on Jools, because it was like an out of body experience: me watching us on this show everyone knows so well.
It would seem that Rsismn and Mark find life in this cosy Jamie Theakston, Zoe Ball, S Club 7 inhabited universe very agreeable. A fair comment?
It s fascinating, I ll say that much for it, avers Mark.
Would you stop! We re not part of all that, Rsismn exclaims, getting leery. We re that special section. People used to not know where to put us. We weren t put into the serious music category and we weren t put into the pop category, so if someone was looking to fill a spot on a radio or TV show, they wouldn t think of Moloko. Thankfully, though, we ve made a little niche for ourselves.
We ve just got to avoid being the new Texas, Mark reminds her.

Unquestionably the public face of Moloko, Rsismn Murphy has earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the music industry s more colourful and flamboyant performers. The current tour has seen her wowing one gyrating throng after another with her lyrical dexterity, smokin vocals and astonishing enthusiasm and stage presence. She s the first to admit, however, that it hasn t always been thus.
When I was 20 I tended to hide behind a lot of theatrics, she explains. I had quite a scary persona on stage, so somewhere along the way I just decided to be nice. More me, if you know what I mean. I became warmer, but it took me a while to get used to it. I had to try and project some warmth back out to audiences. That was a kind of middle ground, and then on this tour I thought: Right, I ve got the warmth thing down, I can do that, so now I have to learn how to take control of the situation .
We ve done three albums, and that s a lot of substance, announces Mark. No matter what else happens, people can t take the fact that we ve made three inventive records away from us. We re proud of them, and that pride gives us a confidence that we carry on-stage. The live show has always been a massive part of what we do. Rsismn s a very good performer and we ve always been militant about having performance in what Moloko does because we re sickened by the passive men and women you see fronting bands.
Like who?
Everybody! They re just standing there holding a mike. They sing a song and then they can t get off the stage fast enough.
Rsismn: It s like they don t really want to be there, they see it as a chore. If it s that much of a chore, don t do it! Most of them are just putting on this attitude and it s pathetic. I d imagine that pretending to be that sullen for two hours every night is quite draining.
Ah, you obviously mean someone like Liam Gallagher!
He would be an example I suppose, Rsismn agrees. Needless to say, Mark doesn t: But then, he s putting on a performance of a very special kind, isn t he? He doesn t just stand there . . . he spits occasionally and then sits down (laughs).

On that profound note, Mark receives a call on his mobile phone and announces that he has to go and soundcheck for tonight s show at Shepherd s Bush. He parts company with a friendly handshake and Rsismn begins reminiscing about her days in New York.
I loved it there, she coos. You go there and people say I love your funky English group! and then start freestyling your songs. It s mad. But I think that s the way you should take Moloko.
A lot of journalists tend to pigeonhole us. If you re doing an interview and you say something they don t understand they tend to misinterpret you. It s quite annoying because you lot always have the last word, as well. I can t exactly come around to your office and check your article before it goes to print.
She can if she wants, I tell her.
Right so, maybe I will then, she laughs. Also, I think a lot of it might be to do with the fact that I m a girl. If I m sitting there and answering journalists queries intelligently, a lot of them tend to think that I m being aggressive. Whereas if I was a bloke in a pair of baggy trousers, I think they d be much happier.
Isn t she being a bit paranoid?
Well maybe it isn t because I m a girl. But sometimes I think it is.
At the risk of sounding like a big sap, I argue that I wouldn t slag anyone off purely on the grounds of their gender.
No you wouldn t . . . consciously, Rsismn agrees. But girls tend to talk more emotionally than blokes look, I just don t think my opinion gets taken very seriously sometimes and that upsets me a bit. Or else the opinion is misconstrued. What goes down on paper just tends to have very little to do with what I say.
I put it to Rsismn that she seems quite a complex character. She agrees.
The pair of us are, yeah. The whole band is, actually, but we all get on really well. We re just misfits I suppose.
Like Rsismn when she was 17 and moving to Sheffield?
Yeah. I was a bit scary, I think. You would have hated me.
But now she s mellowed with age . . .
Oh yeah, totally! she confirms. I was mad as a fish when I was a teenager. I really wanted to be bright. It was like a hobby, y know. Not in school, like, but I really wanted to be big into music, into thoughts
When you re a teenager, your brain is so alive because it hasn t been damaged yet. You start thinking about philosophical things and I dunno, I was just really into surrounding myself with people who were really intelligent.
Being weird wasn t a bad way of going about things it could have been a lot worse. If I d looked for cool people, I d have got in a lot more trouble than I did looking for bright people.
What kind of people is Rsismn drawn to these days?
I still like intelligent people.
They can be fairly thin on the ground.
Yeah, I suppose they are, she laughs. I like funny people a lot too. Humour is good, I love it. I wouldn t say I choose my friends because they re trendy, at all. If you met my friends you d know why.
Is Rsismn happy now?
No, I wouldn t say I m happy.
You ve fuck all to grumble about!
I m just not a happy-go-lucky person, she explains. I wouldn t say you re going to go away and write that the first thing that struck you about me was my joi de vivre. I m very much a head person. I need to stop living inside my head a bit and try and get into my body a bit, I think. That s my next big project move out of my head (laughs). I need to get more physical about my life and my music. I do give myself stark choices like that. I ll take an aspect of my life or my personality and I ll say: Right, I m going to change that! .
And is it that simple?
Yeah, but it can be hard sometimes. You just have to be aware of it and try and visualise the changes. Like I said, somewhere just before Sing It Back , I visualised changing my way on stage. So, the main thing I thought about was the sun. And if you remember the video for Sing It Back the reflections and me being luminous that captured what I wanted to do at the time perfectly. I just sat down, decided what I wanted to project and then I did it.
Bingo!
Moloko play Creamfields Ireland at Punchestown Racecourse on Saturday June 24th. Other acts on the bill include The Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx, David Holmes, Paul Oakenfold and Kelis.