Audio Transcript: Bill Drummond, artist and former musician with the KLF, on Jeremy Deller

“I first met Jeremy in 1996 in a café in Liverpool. And in this café he had a scrap of paper and on it was all these lines and all these names and squiggles and things on it. And over one side in one bubble was the word ‘Acid House’ and at the other side was the word ‘brass bands’. And there were all these other things like Clapham Common, miners’ strike, pit bands, Kraftwerk, electro and I thought he was trying to come up with some rational argument to me as to why these things are linked. And I thought, ‘it’s a pile of rubbish, he’s just making this up!’

Yes, Acid House was huge up-north and it was white, working-class lads that were making Acid House in their bedrooms and it was white, working-class men who were in brass bands, traditionally. That’s the only connection I could seriously think joined these two things together.

But I liked the idea and I liked Jeremy and I warmed to his way of approaching things. And then he told me about his idea that he was going to be having a brass band – the Wiliams Fairey brass band from Stockport – to do cover versions of all these Acid House tracks, including one of the KLF’s, which I was involved with, ‘What time is love?’ instrumental, so my ego’s being flattered here!

And he asked me to come up to the band’s rehearsal room and it was just stunning, absolutely fantastic. It’s the corny thing it’s the hairs up the back of the neck thing, it’s the fantastic chords – when they’re playing those sweeping melodies, those huge big chords, which people don’t usually think of Acid House and think of big warm rich chords, but they were bringing that element out of it. I mean, it’s the same notes that an orchestra plays but somehow when it’s done with a brass band, it has a kind of power over you.”