They Don't Dance to Techno Any More

The average member of the public knows Alabama 3 as that band wot did the music for The Sopranos. OK, these days they had a major hit with "Woke Up This Morning", but in reality they couldn't be less corporate-rock. They call their style of music Country-Techno and, unbelievably, that is an accurate enough, if terse, description. Festival stalwarts over the years - they've played Glastonbury before - "Usually we do, like the Greenpeace tent or something and then three more tents over the weekend," says singer Rob Spragg - and could be found headlining last year's Guildford festival. Which would have been good experience for their first taste of performing on the Pyramid stage.

12.30 on the Friday - being only the second band to play on the main stage - is a potential graveyard slot, with the festival having barely got off the ground. But Alabama 3 is an ideal festival band. Not for them a helicopter arrival, a listless sprint through their most familiar tracks and a hasty retreat. Dressed as cowboys, gangsters or both at once, they put on a proper show. Which includes two dancing girls in Stars And Stripes bikinis and implausibly huge blonde wigs, plus some between-song banter which generates guffaws from the pretty large and attentive crowd (I even clocked instances of people singing along enthusiastically). Even, indeed, the odd formation dance move, or at least formation crouch. The two singers, adopting comedy Nashville accents and the personae of Larry and D'Wayne Love, cover topics as diverse as buying half a pillowcase-full of dope from some dodgy dealer, holidaying in Cornwall and Frank Ifield. One between-song interlude with just vocals and piano is a nursery rhyme with the chorus: "I've got three eyes, and I'll pluck one out for Jesus". These boys remain true to the old anti-establishment punk ethic. Musically, Alabama 3's Country-Techno - perhaps better described as Swamp Funk - is pretty distinctive. Backing tapes and the efforts of the elegantly wasted Orlando on keyboards - plus those of the legendary Segs, once of the mighty Ruts and thereby craftsman of some of the finest basslines ever - give a slow underpinning to what are essentially country music guitars and vocals, with the odd bit of harmonica thrown in. Perhaps the heights of tunefulness that "Woke Up This Morning" reaches are largely uncharted elsewhere in the Alabama 3 repertoire, but in the hip-grinding and genuinely funny "We Don't dance To Techno Any More" they may have the quintessential festival track. Back at their bus after the gig, Alabama 3 are just pleased to be at Glastonbury, which they didn't expect after a debacle in 2000. Segs says: "I dunno what happened this year: we've got such a bad rep. In 2000, the then tour manager, who was from Liverpool went: "I've got wristbands and I've got passes; we don't need them both and I'm going to sell the wristbands". I said: "You can't do that, you need both", but he sold all the wristbands and about 40 people had been in. Then these travellers turned up, said they were Alabama 3, got into an argument with Security and rammed the gate. We hadn't even left London."

Despite the bus (which they hired themselves), Alabama 3 are far from languishing in the major label comfort zone. Rob Spragg says: "We've just finished off our third album - we recorded it ourselves on a really low budget. We don't have a record deal in America or Europe at the moment. The majors don't know what do with us because we're over 30, have got bad teeth and do country-techno." Are any adventurous record labels listening? Words: Steve Boxer Pictures: Alf Goodrich