Interview with Massive Attack

DMA: Do you write down a list of people you want to work with before you set out to do the album or do things just sort of 'happen'?
3D: We didn't write down a list...we've wanted to work with Liz Frasier for about five years now. We tried to get in touch with her but it didn't really work out the first time. As for Horace Andy...we've got a lot of admiration for him so we just wanted to work with him consistently, so we asked him back.

DMA: Your collaboration with Everything But The Girl's Tracey Thorn, "Protection" was absolutely brilliant. Did you attempt to bring her back for Mezzanine?
3D: Well, we did a track for Batman Returns soundtrack and we were going to do another film soundtrack thing, not for our album and we also asked her to write something for us maybe to see if it would work out. We never really went through with it though...it was just an idea.

DMA: Was there someone [a vocalist] you wanted to work with on Mezzanine who either refused or couldn't budget the time to the project to do it?
3D: Well we started writing something for the vocalist from Radiohead but communication was a bit difficult because we were busy and so were they so unfortunately it didn't happen. Maybe on the next record...

DMA: Maybe he'll turn out like Liz Frasier did...With so many different vocalists featured in your songs, how do you play the songs live seeing that it's probably impossible to take all the vocalists out? Do you use DATs of them or do you have someone else sing them?
3D: Sometimes we don't use the vocal at all. It depends. It would really piss off the audience if [they] went to go check out a band and the real lead singer didn't perform. In our case, because the show is the show, and you're getting a full hour and forty five minutes of music, you're not getting what exactly you heard on the albums. You're getting an experience -- you're getting some of the sounds and some the personality and some of the ideas, but translated into a live setting. A live show is one of those very subjective things where I've seen a gig and I've loved it and the person next to me has hated it. We've learned that you cannot please everyone, so we just do what pleases us and hope the crowd is with us.

DMA: Opinions are like assholes..
3D: (Laughs)...yeah, you could play a record one day and hate it, and then the next day think it's the greatest thing in the world. But with a record you have the luxury of playing it over and over again. With a gig its a one off, it really depends on how you feel at that particular point and what you drank, what you're having, how hot you are, whether you're hungry, someone's pissed you off that day and then you came to one of our shows expecting to see Shara Neslon sing "Unfinished Sympathy" they might be rather disappointed whereas someone expected something different and go 'wow! I really liked that!' Basically opinions differ and we know that.

DMA: Do think that Americans by and large understand the concept of Massive Attack and it's sound system-like approach to music?
3D: I'm not sure if America understands Massive Attack at all because it's a very mixed bunch of ideas. When we were the Wild Bunch, we used to play all sorts of music be it new wave, reggae, funk, soul, early garage, detroit techno...that's where we came from. I'm not sure if these camps work together in America like they would and do in England. As for aspirations We don't have any idea of how it's gonna go down in America. We know that when we played there we sold out our gigs the last time we toured and it was good fun and we met people who were fans, and also people who came out of curiosity. We do alright in America, but in Canada we do better; more faithful following. If you can't define what the music is directly, then it will never be easy for us to be marketed and sold as a proper band. It seems as though that sort of thing is very important to America by and large.