Interview with Molara of Zion Train at the Rygerfjord hostel in Stockholm, Sweden. Interviewed by Jakob Levi on the 16:th of June 2005.

Molara is a charismatic singer best known for her vocal contribution to Zion Train creations as well as performances which often make Molara the natural key figure on stage. When not on the road with Zion Train she's gradually building up a repertoire on her own and works alongside her husband Colin Cod on their common project Dubport.com which is a internet dub portal.

Guidelight Movement: Greetings Molara!

Molara: Greetings.

GLM: Could you introduce yourself for those who don't know you and your music ?

MA: Ok, my name is Molara. I'm a singer from Zion Train and have been for nearly fifteen years now.

GLM: Alright, so how did it all come about ?

MA: Cod, Tench and Perch were the founding people. Cod was running a clubnight called Wobbly World of Music and Perch had a soundsystem, playing other peoples reggae music, called Zion Train. Zion Train went to play with Wobbly World of Music and they decided to start making music together with a guy called Tench and that was that really.I got introduced to them a few months later. A few months after they started they'd set up a studio and were recording and that's were it all began.

GLM: What about your earlier experiences in music ?

MA: Well, I didn't know anything about roots music until I met up with these guys. Before that I was very much into soul, punk, ska and bands of the 2-Tone movement kind of music at least when I was growing up. In reggae I heard Steel Pulse who I thought was horrible and I heard Bob Marley which I liked but that was about it. Nothing about King Tubby, Prince Fari and never been to a Shaka dance but around the time I met them I started working at Shaka dances for Cultural Promotions as well. Then I did some backing vocals for Bim Sherman and tour managed a Ijahman Levi tour. Gradually through several different places I got into roots music.

GLM: About what time was this happening ?

MA: This was the early ninties. I met the lads in 1992 and from 1991 I was working with Cultural Promotions.

GLM: How has the journey been so far than ?

MA: The journey has been really good. We've been all around the world. We been to America, Turkey, Italy, all over Europe and it's nice to be in Sweden for the first time. Obviously it's one of the few places that we've never been to. We played in Finland quite a lot. The journey has been expansive, inspiring and surprisingly long.

GLM: What about your own projects ?

MA: Well, it's interesting. I was sort of rationalizing this with somebody yesterday. When we all lived together and worked together all the focus was on Zion Train but since Perch moved to Germany three years ago he has very much worked on his soundsystem. Tench has always been in Extremadura so he's carried on doing that musicly but he's an agent now. He books all of the Zion Train gigs and he books other peoples gigs as well. Cod, who sort of roped a great part of the Zion Train music, is now no longer involved. He's working on a project called Power Steppers which was kind of overspilled Zion Train music.Some of have been released on Universal Egg. I'm doing a solo band with a group of other musicians. Everybody are sort of going in their own direction. Zion Train's still counting news today but in a slightly different way.

GLM: Who inspired you to sing ? You have a lovely voice and I can't believe that you done nothing until you met up with Perch and them guys ?

MA: I did sing before but not that much. I sang jazz and blues but not very much. I was in a band when I was about eighteen that did different kinds of music with african, latin and jazz influences. Then I went to university and did some singing training but didn't really do much singing. A bit of singing though but I didn't really want to be a singer I wanted to be an actress and then when I moved to London I started acting and then when I met up with these guys gradually the singing took over.

GLM: Where did you live before London ?

MA: I went to university in Norich before that I lived in France for a year and before that I lived just out side of Manchester.

GLM: You mentioned doing works with Bim Sherman. Was it recordings or live ?

MA: It was live. Live gigs.

GLM: Was it with Dub Syndicate ?

MA: Who was in the band at the time ? It was Reuben Moses on bass and then various different musicians. He had a band but was working with different musicians. I can't entirely rememeber. He had a different drummer everytime. I know that much. Hahaha..

GLM: Ok. What about future plans for yourself and Zion Train ?

MA: The future for Zion Train, I think, is to keep on playing. I don't know if there will anymore recorded material because like I said everyone have just gone into different directions. Perch is doing a series of Abassi Allstars ten inches on Universal Egg. I'm working on a project which is an online music site called Dubport.com with Cod who's doing Power Steppers. I'm doing various collaborations with people like Mad Professor and things like that. There's lots of exciting things going on really and what will come will come. Collaborations, music, concerts. It's all happening in different directions.

GLM: Ok, what can you tell us about Dubport that you just mentioned ?

MA: Well, Dubport is a music download site basically. Initially you sign up and you get free dubs basically. We put them up there and you can access them once you signed up to the mailing list. It's just our project really and my website is just like I finally realized that it was a place where I could house all of my photographs, all of my artwork, all of my creations and my diary. So if you go to www.molara.co.uk basically you find my life there. Hahaha. I suddenly realized what a valuable thing the internet was. That I could express myself in lots of different mediums. That's been great. That's been a revalation for me.

GLM: Ok, thank you very much for your time Molara.

All photos are used with kind permission of Wobblyweb.com

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