We popped over to the Soul II Soul sound check at The Venue, Ryde on the afternoon before they played to have a chat to the funky dread himself, Mr Jazzie B, OBE.
Proving his reputation as a sound bloke (pun intended), Jazzie B gave us a good 40 minutes of his time for the interview.
We’ve got the bulk of the interview coming out later, but thought you’d be interested in hearing his views on the Ryde Theatre.
To say that he’s keen on the idea of keeping it open is an understatement.
Through his extensive career — recently topped off with an OBE — he’s seen many venues disappear, only to be mourned by those living near by to them when it was too late.
Ryde Theatre is the only venue on the Island that can hold enough people to support the kind of audiences that are required to make bringing ‘big’ bands economical.
Jazzie makes a lot of good points as to why The Venue in Ryde is vital to be kept alive and vibrant. Here’s a few snippets …
- “If you don’t have a monumental venue like this … (the people of the Island) are really missing out.”
- “I love it. It puts me back in the mind of the Africa Centre.”
- “How important venue like this are – for up and coming bands.”
- “musicians help bring revenue into the country, without venue like this, it’s not going to happen”
- If you don’t have an outlet for creativity, you’re not going to bring in the revenue.
- “I just hope that the people involved in it don’t become too short sighted and research what has happened in the rest of the country and find that you really need somewhere to shelter your people.”
- “Socially, it doesn’t get much better than this.”
- “If they make a decision to redevelop it or knock it down, it’s going to be the wrong decision.”
- It’s really important that venues such as this, all over the globe, just for the pure preservation of the arts, in not just music. It’s about the children.”
- “To rebuild a venue like this is going to be impossible … The bricks and motor were done for a purpose.”
- Hopefully the people of the Isle of Wight will be respectful enough to keep it and make sure that it exists.
As you can see, good insight. Have a listen for yourself …
Photo: courtesy of iwbus. Copyright remains with the photographer
