3's a Crowd

WITH his beaten-up Stetson and mirror shades, Larry Love is every inch the Southern outlaw.

His country drawl, love of gospel music and the growling delivery of his best-known song Woke Up This Morning – theme tune for TV mob saga The Sopranos – completes the image of this hard-bitten good old boy.

Except Mr Love is not what he seems. And nor are Alabama 3.

As Ray Ban-clad bandmate Jake Black proudly proclaims: “We are the Alabama 3, but we’re not from Alabama – and there’s not three of us.”

And while they do hail from the Deep South, it’s the south of London. Or, to be precise, Brixton.

Larry – real name Rob Spragg – grew up in Wales, the son of strict Mormons. The band came to life when he met Glaswegian Jake – who prefers to be referred to as The Very Reverend Dr D Wayne Love – at a rave in Peckham.

Larry was singing the Hank Williams song Lost Highway over house beats.

“I just did it to annoy people,” says Larry. “But people loved it.”

They both realised that what the world needed was a country-techno band, and set to work taking slabs of blues, soul and Western music and lacing it with heart-stopping beats.

Playing what they call “sweet country acid house music”, the Alabama 3 family regularly boasts up to nine members. And while they are a pure product of the London party scene, they couldn’t sound less British if they tried.

“I don’t mind a bit of smokescreen,” drawls Larry in his deep Valleys accent. “The great irony of The Sopranos is that in the States they either thought we were hippies from San Francisco, black kids from Alabama or a hip hop band from the Bronx. And now they think we stole the song from Leonard Cohen because he's covered it – which we’re very honoured by.”

Larry is chatting to me during what is supposed to be a practice session in a Waterloo pub, but which, after multiple beers, is already turning into a heavy mid-afternoon session.

“Initially people thought our first album (Exile on Coldharbour Lane) was just a novelty record,” he goes on. “It was country Detroit techno, which was a really stupid idea. It was also totally radical at the time.

“But exactly the same thing was going on in juke joints in America.

“When we began, it was Britpop everywhere. We were castigated for not flying the Union Jack and everyone was shaking hands with Tony Blair. So I thought ‘what better way to wind people up than call ourselves Alabama 3?’”

So how did they land The Sopranos gig – the thing, let’s face it, that they are still best known for?

“Again, it’s ironic because everyone thinks we wrote it for that show,” says Larry. “They think it’s about Italian fellas with fat fingers and gold rings. But that song is written about a woman called Sara Thornton, who murdered her husband who had sexually abused and beaten her up for years.

“It has taken on a life of its own. But I’d rather that than do the theme music for Friends!”

But that’s not to say it earned them much money. “We made a bit, but our first manager was involved in a questionable import and export business in Brixton, and wasn’t really up to negotiating a major deal with Sony,” he shrugs. “I worked out that we got two-and-a-half per cent of the overall thing. That was meant to feed the whole band. Some people have made a lot of money out of it – but not us.”

In a move reminiscent of their hero Johnny Cash, the band recently went ‘inside’ to play a series of gigs at their local nick, Brixton Prison.

“They were pretty cool,” says Larry. “The first time, the guys looked at us as if to say ‘are you serious?’ But the second time they were totally up for it. The screws were dancing in the aisles and the cons were having a great time.”

Their penal connections continue with their support for the Miscarriages Of Justice Organisation (Mojo).

“We have always felt privileged to be associated with Mojo,” says Larry. “Not only have they inspired our music, but they’ve consistently proved that with integrity, passion and intelligence you can make a difference. ”

On Monday the band return to Oxford’s O2 Academy. Memories of his last visit make Larry edgy.

“We are going back a year to the day that I got beaten up there,” he grimaces. “They were idiots off their head on crack, and they broke my nose and ran off. I got a right kicking. Though there was blood shed on both sides. So you’ll find me in pugilistic mode looking forward to round two!

“Not really,” he adds, lightening up. “I’ll be spreading good love with our Holy Roller Revival show!”

Before leaving him to get another drink, I quiz Larry on the band’s legendary capacity for partying. What, I ask, do they list on their backstage rider? “That’s an official secret,” he laughs. “Just imagine everything you can – and treble it!

“I’ve never seen a band who look so demented,” he confesses. “We look really ill and disgusting, but we play very beautiful country and western music.”

Alabama 3 play the Oxford O2 Academy on Monday. Tickets are £16 from ticketweb.co.uk