You have previously asserted that Maxinquaye was ruined by its success and turned into a “coffee-table album”. Having revisited the album for its upcoming deluxe reissue, what are your feelings about it now? VerulamiumParkRanger
I can understand why it did what it did at the time because there was nothing around like it. Years ago, when I was getting frustrated that some people didn’t understand it because it went coffee-table, someone told me: “Tricky, people will catch up with you. You’ve just got to wait.” Now I’ve done 16 albums and when young kids come to my shows, the stuff they talk to me about is Angels or Pre-Millennium Tension, not Maxinquaye. If I listen to it now, it sounds dated, but if you don’t think your older music sounds dated, you’re standing still. Universal made me enthusiastic about the Maxinquaye Reincarnated reissue because they just let me work [on it], and they’ve released my reworkings, which is amazing because these songs are not commercial vehicles. It’s made me less anti-major labels.
You were the only guest star at Beyoncé’s Glastonbury headline slot in 2011. How did you meet and do you hang out much? Robot3021
Somebody asked if I wanted to do it and convinced me I should. I met her beforehand and I thought she’d be more Beyoncé, but she was like the girl next door – really normal and a proper workhorse, rehearsing all day. I froze onstage, because I usually perform in near darkness, but this was bright fucking fireworks and all sorts of shit going on. She saw me and came over and started dancing with me. So professional. I’m shy. I’m sometimes not very good around big successful people. We don’t hang out any more.
I heard that Gary Oldman was annoyed with you during the shoot for The Fifth Element because while in character and filming a particularly difficult scene you came on set eating a Twix. Is this true? Bauhaus66
It’s true. I don’t know about movies, right? I was in the scene, but I wasn’t being filmed. I was just the person he was talking to. So he was doing his lines and watching me. Then he looks at my mouth and goes: “He’s eating a fucking Twix!”
I saw you supporting PJ Harvey at the Barrowland in Glasgow in 1995. I think it was one of your first live gigs with a band and the first night of the tour. You seemed nervous but the audience were encouraging. What was it like to take your music out on to a big stage at a rock venue? TheSurvivalBag
I was less nervous going to prison [aged 17, for buying forged banknotes] than getting on that stage, because playing live was never part of my plan. I didn’t understand how you could do an electronic album on stage, but my manager Debbie put together a band for me. The next thing I know I’m on tour with PJ Harvey. I can’t think of a worse person to have to go on before because she is so good. We played in darkness because I was shitting myself. I brought these little lamps on stage and someone from PJ’s band wrote on the poster under my name: “Lights by Ikea.”
Tell me about your friendship with Terry Hall – Poems, on Nearly God, is a dream pairing of musicians. TeeDubyaBee
I always knew I’d meet him because I was such a fan. I still can’t believe he’s dead. Once he died, I couldn’t listen to the Specials, like I still can’t look at a photograph of my daughter [Mina Mazy, who took her own life in 2019]. With Terry dying, I feel like part of my growing up has been taken away. We loved each other. I’d say we felt like family to each other. At some point, I’m going to do a Terry covers EP. I’d like to celebrate this man and I need to cover some of his songs.
Your Island Records boss Chris Blackwell’s recent autobiography The Islander didn’t feature any Tricky anecdotes. Have you got any good ones about him? McScootikins
Chris is different. I haven’t seen him for a few years but he is very special in my life. In all the years we hung out, he never once asked “How many albums are you selling?” Once we were having dinner with Rita Marley and she told me: “You remind me of Bob.” It’s a beautiful thing to say but made me a bit uncomfortable. I mean, Bob Marley is next level, so that was a bit too much for me. I’m still the kid outside the chip shop.
Whatever happened to that potential Kate Bush collaboration? blueblueelectricblue
Chris Blackwell, Jaffe [visual artist/musician Lee Jaffe] and I were driving. I was smoking a spliff and mentioned that I wanted to work with her and Chris goes: “Oh that’s Kate’s house.” Jaffe wanted to pull in and Chris is going: “Not now Jaffe!” Jaffe was all set to knock on the front door!
In my opinion Ponderosa is the greatest piece of music of the 90s. What is it about and how did it come about? mesm
It’s a sample from an Indian movie. I’ve no idea why it’s called Ponderosa. I don’t know what the lyrics are about either. Lyrics just come into my head. I’ve never had writer’s block in my life. I don’t think we make music. I think music makes us.
I enjoyed your DJ set on New Year’s at Berghain a few years ago. Hearing you spin Japan’s Ghosts in that industrial hall was memorable. How much has Berlin’s club scene inspired you musically? Liam_Cagney
Not at all. I’ve only been out to a couple of clubs there. I DJ like someone taking an LP to a party – I play the music I like. [The Pop Group’s] Mark Stewart played that song to me when I was a kid and now I’m older, “the ghosts of my life …” It’s perfect.
Did you ever read what Mark Fisher wrote about you [in the book Ghosts of My Life: “Not a music that petitioned for any kind of ordinariness. Instead, it revelled in its otherworldliness”]? If so, what did you make of it? Asurea
No. That title’s uncanny, isn’t it? My aunt always used to say I was more on the other side. I’ve always lived with the ghost of my mum, the legends of my uncles. When you’ve suffered trauma, you go into a kind of dream state and that’s me as a kid. I’m going to get his book.
It takes a very brave person to cover a Public Enemy track, but your version of Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos was a triumph. What made you give it a go and did you ever find out what Chuck D thought of it? snatchcandy
I got frustrated back in the day because the lyrics of rappers like Rakim, Slick Rick and Chuck D were so good yet they got put in their box because they were rappers. I wanted Martina [Topley-Bird], a female, to sing it to show my appreciation. I met Chuck a few times. He’s cool. He never commented on it, but I think he appreciated that I did it.
The US rapper Hus Kingpin recently put out a couple of mixtapes dedicated to you and your music. How does it feel to be still influencing great talent today? Discordia23
Oh my God, that’s so beautiful and makes me want to cry, because rap and hip-hop got me here. Sometimes people miss that and use these ridiculous names like trip-hop, so for a rapper to do that is better than a Brit award. I’m going to track him down.
What do you think Massive Attack could have achieved if you, Mushroom and Shara Nelson had remained members? wiseowl1982
I don’t think me staying would have made as much difference, because my music’s stranger. Mushroom [Andrew Vowles] is an incredible producer and can do pop, but he’s a purist. The honest answer is if Mushroom had stayed, we’d have had more tracks like Teardrop and Unfinished Sympathy and would be the biggest band in the world.
What music do you love that might surprise us? hhhhssss
I like all sorts, from Mozart and Beethoven to Albanian folk, but I listen to a lot of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Their songs are like movies, about life.
Do you still, or did you ever, “drink ’til you’re drunk and smoke ’til you’re senseless”? gin007
Yeah, that’s the problem with my life. That was a problem growing up. Once I was in a blues [party] in Bristol where my uncle had been killed a few months before. I was so drunk and stoned I suddenly thought: “Where did my uncle die? Was it here? Was it there?” I smoke a lot less now and rarely drink unless it’s an occasion. If I get really drunk, it takes me two weeks in the gym to recover and I can’t be bothered with recovering that way now.
• Maxinquaye Reincarnated is out on 13 October in triple LP, LP, double CD and digital formats
