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Mr. magic >> Howie B brings the vibes, as opening act on U2's Pop Mart tour by MIREILLE SILCOTT
And this is the case with the latest DJ touring with U2, the Glaswegian engineer-cum-lauded-producer and maker of exquisite electronic slabs, Howie B (for Bernstein). What are U2 like? "The vibes between us are magic." How's the success of B's own Pussyfoot label satisfying him? "I'm vibing on it; it's magic." What exactly was B's role in the production of U2's Pop album? "I was the vibes man." And the tour, what's that like? "Magic, just magic." Right. One happy guy then. Magical, you might say. So it's a good thing U2's got him on board. Because the Pop Mart tour, as you may've heard, isn't quite rocking the Casbah as was anticipated. Selling decently but not exactly causing the stir that the Zoo tour did, even with that 100-foot golden arch stage prop. Because, fact is, the five-million selling Pop album, which the tour is supporting, is kind of stinky, even with B's vibes. Of course, the Pop Mart experience would be, er, magic for any DJ, even of B's stature. He's engineered everyone from Soul II Soul and Massive Attack to Björk. He was in Skylab, along with Japanese hip hoppers Toshi and Kudo of Major Force. His downtempo Pussyfoot label is up there with Wall of Sound and MoWax as the cream of breakbeat café listening. His last album, Turn the Dark Off, has gotten much better reviews than his 1996 effort, the pretentious Music for Babies. And, of course, he spent one year in Dublin with U2, playing them Beat Butchers and Carl Craig and weirdo electronica during the making of the Pop album, then became the opening act for the tour. Now all these old rock guys want a remix off him. And he can say he's DJ'd for 40,000150,000 heads a night. But do American audiences of fraternity jocks and slouch-socked betties know what to make of a guy with records just off centre stage? Do they think B means beer-stand time? And what about the stories of U.S. stadium superintendents sweeping up the stage while B's performing? "Yes, it's been a bit of an eye-opener in America," says B. "They're not too sure what's going on really, so I try to play music they can relate to, whether they've heard it or not. Yes, the Americans are very different." So B's cut himself some fun-time, and has begun booking club gigs after shows (his Montreal appearance at Groove has been canned, because he has to go to an awards show after the U2 concert). "The club gigs are just to keep my head in place," says B. And after the tour's done? "I'm getting together a wee studio that I can take on the road. So the next album I record, I wanna to do a different track for every different hotel room I stay in. It's something that I thought of on this tour. Because every room you stay in has its own different... " Yes, we know, "magic." With U2 and Third Eye Blind, Olympic Stadium, Nov. 2. 7:30pm, $39.50-$55, 790-1245
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Everybody's got a word they overuse. It's a cute thing in real life, something that distinguishes one person's conversation from the next, but a slight knot when you're trying to unravel a decent interview. Especially when your interviewee's favoured words are "vibe" and "magic."