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Grippa Laybourne the self-confessed leader of the reggae group The Hempolics, isn't afraid to say it as it is. Sick of al- bums that sound like "one song" Grippa is going against the norm and creating a Hempolics album that he promises will be a "bit of fresh air." As the band gets ready to release their forthcoming LP Kiss, Cuddle & Torture: Volume 1, vocals Queen Nubiya and soulful Harry & his brother Dan Collier are the perfect combination to see Grippa's dream of reach- ing America with their unique reggae sound realised. However, before that happens Grippa lets us know why making this album felt like kisses & cuddles most of the time but torture the rest, as we touch on Brexit, weed and what working with Paolo Nutini and Maxi Jazz was really like. 2017 / ISSUE 102 REGGAE 53 How did the Hempolics come about? The Hempolics was a hobby, I never had the time to do anything with it or finish anything. I just sort of made little ideas and then I put engineering into it and then I went right I am going to get on with this stuff and start doing it. Yeah, I am the gang leader really, it's basically a gang, I have had a few different drummers, guitarists, this band that I have got now this is the band I feel. How would you describe your sound? Can't remember, a good quote that was given to us that was like, 'reggae soul for the..' ah it's a really good quote, I can't remember. I have had a big joint here you see, it's medicinal, it's really nice. So what would I call our sound...I don't know, just trying to be out of the box dub meets reggae. So as a smoker why do you think the UK should legalise cannabis? We could pay the NHS off and no one fights when they smoke weed, it's like Holland now, if you go Holland a lot of Dutch kids do not smoke weed cause it's there, we do it more cause it's a taboo. Everyone smokes it and there's no proof that anyone has really died from it really, and there's been too much propaganda against it. We need to wake up now, it's like how many states in America are doing it now. Let's talk about the new album Kiss, Cuddle & Torture Vol 1 com- ing out in October, what can we expect? Hopefully a bit of breath fresh air, I have tried to make an album where it's like for modern day, like you know we are so bored nowadays, we click each song, oh next, next, next. I am sick of albums where it's just like one big song the whole album and there's one peak, the single, and then it all drops back to 'what song was what again'. So I have tried to do something where it's not like that, sometimes it mixes genres a bit but it's still a Hempolics sound. We have got a really good song called 'Early in the Morning' it is the first song on the album and it's the one with Harry and it is the only one with Harry and he's the most soulful sort of guy, and Dan who sings 'High & Gritty' and 'Me Love to sing' he's, his older brother & that track is a worldwide song. It should be out with the next lot, and that will hopefully bridge the next album as well. I have also got a track with Maxi from Faithless, it's called 'In My Brain', it's like massive two verses of him talking about weed, and I have made it sort of dancey. We have also done a mixtape, I have got the Scratch Perverts. I went in the studio with them, did a mixtape of the whole album and then we basically mixed it into 20 minutes and it is a seamless mix of the album and I just did some edits, added some extra stuff, so it's wicked man, the whole album scratched together! How did the friendship between you and Paolo start up? So I met Paolo when he was just a little 18-year-old lad. He was using the studio next to me were one of my best friends was working, then me and Paolo just hit it off, we wrote 'Road Side' long ago you know, the song that's on this album I recorded it when Paolo was an 18-year-old lad and I kept it hidden. What's the story behind the song 'Road Side'? There is another story to this, because Paolo is being a little bas- tard about it because he doesn't like his original vocal right, cause his changed his vocal style since then and I don't think he's changed it better in my head. What we got back then is so good, it is just amazing, we caught a piece of time and that's what recording is about and he's thinking too much now. I am finding it hard cause he's basically saying I don't want that song out with that vocal on and we have tried to re-sing it again and it's rubbish, it's actually rub- bish. And then the last time he came in, in the end of last year, he basi- cally went ' Oh I want to change the verse lyrics and there's too many lines in the chorus' and it's just getting ridiculous. We have been redoing the song, again and again, another way this album is called Kiss, Cuddle & Torture because life is kiss, cuddle and torture. And making this album, some of these songs have been kisses, very easy to do, some have been okay, hard to do and some of them have been absolute torture to make. The Maxi one and the Paolo one have been very difficult tracks to finish and do, they are the torture tracks on the album for me, I don't even want to listen to them two tracks anymore. So what's next for the Hempolics? My aim is getting to America, I really believe my band could do really well in the United States of America with this whole college thing I have got going on, that brand, I want to get our music tunes to all of the college students who are just smoking their first joint. "I WANT TO GET OUR MUSIC TUNES TO ALL OF THE COLLEGE STUDENTS WHO ARE JUST SMOKING THEIR FIRST JOINT.'' Patience Takyuka | Guestlist follow @HEMPOLICS INTERVIEW: HEMOPLICS