Music is my first love, and it will be my last / Music of the future and music of the past
I’ve known Rajan since we were both teenagers. He was one of the first people to say hello to me when we arrived at university. Which was nice, and typical. We all need friends in a cold climate. For whatever reason we then didn’t actually become friends for most of our first year.
I’m not exactly sure why. I think maybe he thought I was a bit too straight. And I thought his mates were a bit too adventurous for me. But that was never the case, really. But stupidly, one thing I didn’t realise back then was the full and intense burden of being from an immigrant family back then.
As he says in our interview, his was one of only two Asian families growing up in – of all places – the leafy suburbia of Hampton, south west of London. He was subject to racial insults and taunts all through his young life. And that formed a huge part of his identity.
We did become friends, partly based on what Mark E Smith describes as “the outsiderness of it.” Growing up in a crumbling Coventry and coming from a poor single parent family in those days was quite tough. Both of us experienced violence, not at home, but on the streets. We certainly weren’t standard Oxford intake. I’d like to think England is a kinder place now, but I suspect it’s going backwards. I hope not.
Eventually I did what I did, and Rajan did what he was always going to do – became quite famous. If you live in the UK, you’ll probably know him from one of the many TV and radio shows he’s been on.
But our biggest bond was always music. What a time it was to be alive back then, et cetera. Our share house in James Street, was littered with records that hadn’t been put back in their sleeves by Joy Division, Gregory Isaacs, Wire, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Wah!, The Desperate Bicycles. I couldn’t make any money when I sold my vinyl a few years ago because my records were in such a terrible state. Some of them had small pieces of cardboard removed from their corners.
We formed a band together back then with two other mates. We weren’t very good. But from small acorns ... Rajan’s still in a band – they’re actually excellent. Maroon Town. I’m still, obviously, inspired by music.
It was terrific fun catching up and hearing Rajan’s Desert Island Discs. Hope it’s not too self indulgent and you enjoy it too.
Tracklist:
Do anything you want to do, Eddie and the Hot Rods
Ever so lonely, Monsoon
Gangsters, The Specials
Hi fashion dub, Dub Specialist
Paint it, black, The Rolling Stones
Visions of you, Jah Wobble and The Invaders of the Heart
Get down tonight, KC and the Sunshine Band
Rockabilly Bob, Columbo
Hello Josephine, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band
Black rabbit, Prince Fatty and Shneice McMenamin