"We sound like Beck? No! Beck sounds like Asian Dub Foundation!" smiles MC Master D, wryly putting down all attempts to pin down their elusive sound. "People have compared us to a lot of things, but really we're just a product of our backgrounds. There's Asian music, there's jazz, there's rap, there's punk and rock and drum and bass. We're a conscious party. Our music reflects the music we were brought up with."
Not only are ADF a startlingly powerful musical collective, combining styles of music with a rawness and energy seldom seen in tired, Beatles-obsessed Britain: ADF are also politically active, running a series of workshops aimed at improving the lot of deprived children. ADF are comprised of a collection of people vast-ranging in age - vocalist MC Master D (aka Deeder Zaman) is just nineteen years old - many years younger than his teacher Dr Das who recruited him in the first place. Yet they share goals and ideals - the same verve that brought them to Budapest to work with Gypsy children.
"We then went to Lille in France. We had problems with distribution - it's a racist place. Still, we signed to Nation and then Virgin France. France is racist, but no worse than anywhere else. We had problems in Toulon - we weren't allowed to play there because their council is controlled by the National Front. There was no trouble, though. It didn't get violent, but there are places with negative attitudes."
Much as they have encountered problems with their open celebration of their Asian roots - their label even asked them to change the name, fearing they wouldn't reach a wide enough audience - ADF aren't about fighting a racial battle.
"We're not political," explains Dr Das, "We're into local politics, at a grassroots level. We like to work locally to challenge issues. We've been involved in the campaign to free Saptal Ram, as in one of our songs ["Free Saptal Ram"]."
"He has spent eleven years in prison," states an impassioned Master D, "After being attacked by racists in a restaurant. He's been moved from prison to prison. In the attack he was glassed and stabbed - he had a knife on him he was using for work and he used it to defend himself. It was self-defence and he's in prison for it. We went to visit him there. He was so positive, even after all he's been through. He just spends his time reading. We campaign to send him presents and letters so that the guards know there's people thinking about him."
ADF have been elevated to their current hotly-tipped position after being raved about by Primal Scream who they toured with. They have used this, and Alan McGee's close relationship with Tony Blair, to get themselves a platform on which they can shout about such issues as the Saptal Ram campaign. "We have this platform of publicity, and it's a very powerful medium."
They're not the only ones pressing for change - at the time of the interview, a drive was being made to get more Asian men into sport.
"It's about time," agrees Master D, "I was going to write a song about it. There are too many stupid footballers," he laughs. D himself was going to be a footballer but sustained too many injuries. He studied performing arts in College instead - starting rapping at just nine and appeared in two bands before joining Asian Dub Foundation. Being so young, is D daunted by so much success achieved at so little an age?
"I've been waiting for this a very long time," he smiles. It's just a matter of getting on with it. "We've already achieved it abroad," he explains, "So it's just a matter of doing it again. We were told by our record company to change our name - we told them to fuck off. We've already found an audience in Europe, it just seems that we had to go France first before we could come back here."
ADF don't have much time for dull, closed-minded England. They cannot be enthused about XFM, the one station that would seem certain to give them plenty of airplay. "It's not alternative. Alternative means new and different."
What is new and different is ADF's music,
which is not just the dub/metal of Dub War, nor the d'n'b/punk of Pitchshifter,
but both put together, with RATM-style politico-rap and traditional Bhangra.
This includes samples of legendary Asian star Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, plus
a distinctive influence of Adrian Sherwood.
"He blows up sound systems," says D.
Pardon?
"He blows it up. He can make a
song sound like a firework display."
Okay, well time is running out for us,
and ADF sadly have other commitments, but one final, and utterly personal
question remains.
Whose diary would you most like to read?
"Nobody's - I'm not a nosy bastard,"
affirms Master D.
"Rex's," suggests Dr Das.
"That's a crap question, sorry," chastises
Master D, before deciding, "That's rude, innit!"