Mungo's Hi Fi Interview: “It started as a bunch of pals, obsessed with music"

Mungo's Hi Fi lives and breathes sound system culture. Founded in Glasgow at the turn of the millennium by Tom Tattersall (Tommy Danger) and Doug Paine (Dougie No Pain), later joined by Craig MacLeod (Craigy Wonder) and Jerome Joly (Breezak Bass), the group have garnered notoriety and acclaim thanks to their infectious brand of reggae and dub music while still paying homage to Jamaican sound system and dancehall culture. 

Since its formation, the collective has set up Scotch Bonnet Records and released albums, EPs, and singles that bring classic reggae and dancehall kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Their latest track, the UK garage and rave-inspired ‘Born With It’, reunites Mungo’s with regular collaborators Gardna and Eva Lazarus and marks a first with Nubiyan Twist singer Aziza Jaye. 

With the new single making waves and in the midst of stacked 2024 for Mungo’s with festival slots and live shows galore, we caught up with Craig to talk all things sound systems, touring and how the collective has grown since they began.

 

 

So we're here to talk about your new single ‘Born With It’ with Aziza Jaye, Gardna, and Eva Lazarus. What can you tell us about the new track?

"‘Born With It’ is quite a ravey garage track for us. We’re usually all about sound system and bass music from early reggae, with genres ranging right through the spectrum like ska. 

"Our last few releases have been more in an 80s dancehall, rub-a-dub-esque vein, so it’s been nice to have something more ravey and club-oriented again. We haven’t done something like this for a couple of years. 

"So yeah, it’s been good fun, we’ve been getting good responses and the track is going down really well in the clubs and at the festivals." 

 

What led you to take from the UK Garage and Rave scenes from the 90s and 00s?

"Well, I mean, it’s something that we’re all really into along with reggae and all that. 

"I feel it has its origins, at least partly, in Jamaican sound systems and from the Windrush Generation, people coming over from the Caribbean and bringing that influence. 

"That leads towards what you’d later find in UK garage and rave sounds. It’s nice to do something more from the UK side of things." 

 

 

You've worked a lot with Eva Lazarus before and shared the same circles with Aziza Jaye and Gardna for a while. What keeps you guys coming back to work together? And what was it that led to collaborating on ‘Born With It’?

"All these artists are fantastic and top-notch, and we always enjoy working with them. They bring so many different flavours to a project like this. 

"Everyone is different in their own right, and I don’t think we’ve had a track before this one that featured all three artists together before. 

"We’ve had dual features before, but yeah it’s nice. 

"It keeps things moving and flicking along, like often when we’re in a dance there can be three MCs there and you get that live energy where someone’s on the mic, then they pass it on to the next person. When the mic gets passed it brings a different flavour to the rhythm or instrumental, and this track reflects that. 

"It’s the first time we’ve recorded with Aziza Jaye, who’s the lead singer from Nubiyan Twist. We’ve got some wicked new stuff coming with her in the pipeline as well. And, of course, we’ve got some great new stuff with Gardna and Eva as well." 

 

Are there any artists you’d like to work with who you haven’t collaborated with yet?

"There are so many, I almost don’t want to list people. But yeah, we’re all about collaboration. 

"It's something we’ve always been lucky with, as nearly all of our projects are with featured singers, and we just love it. 

"In the past, we’ve got to work with and know people you’d grow up listening to. Jamaican veterans like Johnny Osbourne or Prince Alla, through to guys like Top Cat and people who are smashing it today like Eva, Gardna and Aziza.

"We’ve been fortunate to have been able to work with such a wide breadth of people. Even when I think back to when I was 18, if I could’ve ever imagined making a tune with these people my brain would’ve exploded. So we’re very lucky in that respect." 

 

 

Image: Mungo's Hi Fi / Facebook.com 

 

Moving on to your live shows and festival slots, how’s your year been so far? You’ve just come off Electric Bay and are in the midst of a UK and European tour stretching until December. 

"Yes, so there are three of us that go out DJing which splits the load, but means we can cover more ground as well. 

"It makes sense to do it that way, as when you’re playing it’s not often required to have more than one of you DJing. 

"It’s been a great year so far, really busy. We’ve had shows in Australia, and have been constantly gigging up in the UK. Looking at the festival season, we’ve been at Dour Festival in Belgium and to Le Chant De L'Eucalyptus in France, and we’ve got Outlook Festival coming up.

"Along with our regular heap of events slap bang in the middle of festival season, we’ve got a new project coming later in the year called Mungo's HiFi & Friends. We’ll play tracks and you flip the version and the MC will give their own take on the rhythm or do their own track. It feels more like a show where you’ve got all our best-known tunes performed live. We’re playing at several O2 venues like Oxford and Bristol, along with the Ritz in Manchester. 

"So yeah, it’s just a great time to put on a bigger show. Even though we’re not playing as a band it feels like that kind of show where you’ve got a massive lineup of MCs and big, big visuals. It’s just got a different vibe, not like a club show as much, more like a performance. Even for us we get to watch all our favourite MCs playing their tunes live with special guests there as well who we don’t normally work with. 

"There’s always something new. New dub plates, new productions, new stuff, alongside all our classic stuff. So, yeah, exciting times."

 

Grab your tickets to Mungo's Hi Fi & Friends in Manchester, Oxford and Bristol here. 

  

Along with your UK and European tour, you’ve been touching down in all these different cities, how do you find the reggae and dancehall scenes compare from city to city, especially when compared to your native Glasgow?

"Yeah, I mean traditionally, Glasgow is more of a techno city. When we started out in the early 2000s, it was based around having our own sound system and being able to rock into different style clubs than you would normally expect. We used to play in an old man’s drinking social club for years and years, just bizarre places where you could smoke joints somehow. 

"It was really weird, but lots of fun, just having a rig and the ability to take the party to different kinds of places, Glasgow is such a good vibe for that. People are wild here, they’re absolutely mad for it. 

"There was never a traditional dancehall or reggae scene, but it’s really built up now. There are lots of Glasgow-based sound systems now, we got very lucky. You get to travel the world and places are very similar to Glasgow. 

"No matter where you go, everyone's always up for going out and enjoying a good dance and a party. You get to travel and see some wonderful places and meet wonderful people."

 

For your end-of-summer, early autumn plans, you’ve got loads of festival appearances - Reggae Land, Equinox, Boundary - what places are you looking forward to the most?

"I would say that every gig is generally always special in its own way. There’s one, I don’t know to talk about yet, but we’ve got something pretty cool lined up for a certain festival around Winchester. I don’t think the lineup has been announced, but we’re doing a sound clash there which we’re really excited about. 

"The Mungo's Hi Fi & Friends shows are exciting because of how different they are. It’s always just a blast, getting out in the sunshine and putting out tunes in the fields. They make a nice change from the clubs, and once you’ve been out in the fields and get back to the clubs, it flips back to that kind of time." 

 

Image: Mungo's Hi Fi / Facebook.com

Do you tend to approach events like Mungo's Hi Fi & Friends differently compared to the festival slots?

"Yes, definitely. One thing I would say is we adapt what we do depending on what type of show it is. So if it’s a club show and we’re playing ourselves, it’ll be drastically different to when we’d do a show with Aziza or Eva. And then the shows that have a couple of MCs will be partly dictated by the venue or the festival, the time we’re playing at, who we’re playing with and so on. 

"You have to think of how you can weave your tracks with theirs into your set so they come at the right time. But luckily, because we work with lots of different people, it never gets boring. 

"One day you can be playing a set with Solo Banton, the next you’re with Charlie P. These two sets will be drastically different because you've got different people on the mic with you and you'll be showcasing their tunes in slightly different ways."

 

How did Mungo’s first come about, and how did you first become involved with them? 

"So Mungo’s initially started with Tom and Doug in 2000. I joined in 2002 and Jerome joined a couple of years after that. 

"More or less, it started as a bunch of pals, totally obsessed with music and obsessed with making music, wanting to put on nights in their city. We found some speakers in a skip and built up a sound system that just continually evolved into what it is today." 

 

 

What was it that first drew you to sound system culture and led you to fall in love with it?

"I’d been into DJing since I was a teenager. Back in the mid nineties I can remember my first sound system experience was actually Mungo's back when it was just Tom and Doug. 

"When you’re used to just hearing music on the radio or in a small club, when you walk into a room with a proper reggae sound system, you don’t just hear it but feel it as well. 

"There’s this certain “wow” element when you’re physically reeling from the bass from tunes. Once you hear that and have that, it’s difficult to go back from that. You don’t cut the mustard when it comes to having a full rig and hearing things drop on a full rig." 

 

How has the sound system developed and improved since Mungo's began?

"It’s one of those things, you start with something and then you keep adding a few iterations over the years. You upgrade your scoops, boxes, and drivers, and then a new amp will come on the scene. It never really ends. You can jump up and down between amps and speakers, and I think my philosophy with it is to always have top-end, studio-quality equipment. 

"The reggae scoops for bass and kick drums allow for faster transients like drum and bass. So if you didn’t have kicks you would get scoops that are too slow for the fast kick and snare pattern whereas when you’ve got a kick that handles it, the frequencies are split and the subs are dealing with the lower frequencies. 

"The crew with you on the rig is also important. Sound systems are a team effort and you’re out with people who are often DJing, and there are other guys with you.

"We used to go to Outlook Festival in Croatia, and we’d have the Mungo's Arena in the Fort. We’d have our own arena but we’re not just DJing but we’re also hosting the whole weekend. There, you’ve got someone stage managing while providing the best audio experience for the crowd, but then for the performers you have to make sure that they have the best sound quality to put on their best set.  Even details like paying attention to the mic and how the delay flicks off the last word, or something like that.

"The vibe you can create when you’re not playing with the rig is something special. It’s like an art form, which differentiates it from your general pads." 

 

 

You mentioned earlier about how Glasgow was more of a techno-heavy city, how have the dancehall and reggae scenes evolved over the years?

"Even for us, there have been people before us. Especially in Edinburgh, there’s this guy called Stevie who does Messenger Sound System, who is still active and fantastic over in Edinburgh. I’m sure there are lots of people from Glasgow, other rigs as well, not just us And that's been the influence on them to do it as well. 

"We encouraged that there was no kind of competition. The more the merrier, and it’s great to see lots of sound systems and music crews in Scotland and beyond. Even in places abroad while touring, we had people in Croatia saying “We built our rigs from hearing your rig”, so it’s a real global scene. Cities in America have people starting to gather around sound system projects, it’s really cool." 

 

You also manage Scotch Bonnet Records alongside your DJ and production work at Mungo's. How does managing a record label compare and interlink with your work as DJs and producers? 

"I help manage it and deal with the general running of it, but that’s just part of the whole process. It’s quite DIY and we try to cover all aspects of making music, releasing it and playing it out as we can. 

"Having the opportunity to release other people’s work with a lot of vocalists plays into it as well."

 

Image: Mungo's Hi Fi / Facebook.com

Which artists or sound systems do you think are ones to watch, and which do you look towards for inspiration?

"Across the board, people are really interesting now, like Samurai Breaks, O.B.F who are obviously really established already, Dub-Stuy from New York as well. I’ve enjoyed watching the likes of Sammy Virji and Hamdi, and even people like Overmono, I’m enjoying all that kind of stuff. 

"Thinking of the reggae world, you’ve got singers like Lila Ike and other nice Jamaican artists coming through. People like Nikki Nair are smashing it as well. 

"For inspiration we tend to lean on the older side of things, always still inspired by Jamaican music, like King Jammy and King Tubby, the obvious examples. Their attitude and philosophy towards music still rings true. 

"There’s all the obscure eighties dancehall and stuff that never really saw the light of day. Some great reissue labels like TRS Records are finding these treasures. Some of them have records you’ve got and are worth a fortune in Discogs, and they’ve just gone and reissued that. But you’re glad that these big tunes are being spread about. 

"Artists who didn’t get their rewards at the time are hopefully getting them now."

 

To finish, we have a feature we run with people we interview called Three Tracks. So, the question is, if a Mungo's Hi Fi set was reduced to just three tracks, what are you playing and why?

"Okay, I’m gonna have to go with some internal stuff. I’m going to go with our single ‘Born With It’, I don’t know if that would be too self-promotion-y, but that’s been doing bits lately and it’s been really enjoyable watching it go off. 

"Then, we’ve got a remix of one of our biggest tunes with Soom T called ‘Jump Up Quickly’. That’s just a remix from Zero, which absolutely pops off. 

"Thirdly, I would go for more of a vintage reggae. We’ve got a tune with Aziza that’s due for release late in the year, and it’s a cover and adaptation of Lauryn Hill’s ‘Doo Wop (That Thing)’. 

"The three of them, I’d say, are some awesome set highlights for us at the moment."

 

 

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Want to see Mungo's Hi Fi live? Find out where they're playing on Skiddle - HERE

 

Mungo's Hifi & Friends: Manchester

 

Mungo's Hifi & Friends: Oxford

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Mungo's Hifi & Friends: Bristol

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Mungo's Hi Fi @ Run The Town, Airon Tokzic 40th Birthday Rave

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Check out our What's On Guide to discover even more rowdy raves and sweaty gigs taking place over the coming weeks and months. For festivals, lifestyle events and more, head on over to our Things To Do page or be inspired by the event selections on our Inspire Me page.