goldie "NO man is an island." This is another of Goldie's recurring refrains. The idea of the crew - the collective united in common purpose - has always been central to his work. The drum n' bass scene, he once remarked, is "a brotherhood, an underground mafia". It's an idea that relates as much to the communities of mates who bonded on E at raves as to the American-style hip hop posse. But how do Goldie's cohorts within the jungle fraternity - DJs like Grooverider, Fabio, Doc Scott, Randall; the people he calls the 'House Of Lords' - relate to his current celebrity status? "They love it, they love me, they're my boys. They all get off on it because I'm me and I will always be me. I've got a nice Ozwald Boateng suit I can put on, but then I put it away, put my sneakers back on and I'm back with the lads. They're the mates I never had - they're real mates, these fuckers are in my will, they're going to put me in my grave, they're going to be pallbearers at my funeral when I get laid out. I love them." How has your life changed since 'Timeless'?
"Drastically. I haven't changed, but my life has. It's been surprising, because you think it'll stop, but it doesn't, it keeps getting more and more... Considering I haven't had a record out for a year and a half, it's been mad, hasn't it? I think if you give out a really good vibe, you involve a lot of people. People you meet in the street, they may not have even heard your fucking record but they just like what you stand for as opposed to what you do - which is a bit weird."

goldie How do you feel - really feel inside - to be Goldie the celebrity? "I feel great. I feel very proud but I feel twice as proud because of where I've come from. But it freaks me out because inside I'm still the normal geezer I've always been." You still feel like a kid?
"Yes. I still feel like Peter Pan, I can go out and have a laugh, go out and play football. It's only physically that I feel it - I played football all day yesterday and kept thinking, 'I need a new pair of lungs!' If you want to call me a name, call me Boy, because that's how I feel inside, I'm a boy.
"I still have the attitude that I'm only halfway there. As soon as I get to a plateau, I see something else that I want to conquer. I've always lived that way, I've been in care institutes all my life and always wanted to get out, I always wanted to know who my father was, always wanted to know who my mum was, and once I'd got there, I wanted to know why the family broke down - Why? Why? Why? Why? - all the time. Then I started to think that I can never work everything out. "The more you grow up, the more you become conscious, the more questions you want to ask, the more answers you find - but you're never going to find out everything. But that's good, because there is still something you're striving for." Does the pressure of celebrity affect your music? "It has no relevance whatsoever. Because that's not pressure to me. To me, pressure is when I was in care, I went on home leave and my old lady wasn't even there - that's fucking pressure. And I go into the Spar to nick some fish fingers - that's fucking pressure. This ain't pressure - it's great. There's a certain amount of steam involved because I'm thinking 'Oh fuck, next record' - but all I have to make sure is that Grooverider likes it, Randall likes it, Fabio likes it. I really don't give a fuck as long as they give it the thumbs-up. "There is no real pressure in what I do. Because what I do is cutting edge - end of story. Who are the critics of it? No one. Nobody can really judge it. The only people I need to deal with are my House Of Lords - I've got fuck all else to bother about. If I'd have made an album and left this fraternity, that would be losing the plot big time."

goldie Three years ago, you said that "we don't want everybody else milking the money out of this music". Today - with jungle used in kids' TV show themes and deodorant adverts, and bands like Olive and Everything But The Girl scoring pop hits with diluted drum and bass licks - has your attitude changed?
"What all that does is make it so easy for me to just walk in the door and cane it all. So I come in and clean it the fuck out. It makes it all the better for me. I don't give a fuck about dilution, because right now I'm going to give everyone some concentrate. And it's wicked because all of my mates are getting sorted - they're all in situations now. Everyone's sorted, from Dillinja to Grooverider to Adam F to Doc Scott. Now we're meeting in airports!"

goldie WHEN you made 'Timeless', you were enthusiastic about drug experiences - both good and bad - as creative inputs. Do you still feel the same way now?
"Big time, yes. Because that experience still lives with me. But I couldn't go out and drop an E now - it's too heavy, I couldn't do it. I've explored that. Making music is drugs for me - I've created my own synthetic."
Very few people know what your real name is. Why have you never revealed it?
"Because my mum called me Goldie, end of story. I'm not called Goldie because I wear gold and I have gold teeth. I'm called Goldie because I was always Goldie, I was always nicking something, I was always Goldilocks the little cheeky monkey round the estate. I didn't just start making music and become Goldie. My name stood for fuck all where I was, my name meant fucking shit, my name meant my belongings going into the wash with 30 other kids' stuff in the children's home. Goldie is who I aspired to be - an individual. Because being who I was didn't mean fuck all to me, because I wasn't anybody, I was a fucking number."
Is Goldie the name on your passport?
"On my passport, it says, 'This person is known as Goldie.' My credit cards say 'Goldie'. End of story."
Do you think that you will live a long life?
"I've never thought that, have I? I'm not scared to die. I live on the edge sometimes and I love that. The times I've thought I was going to die - and I didn't and I came back - were beautiful. So when I die, I'm gone, I'm moving, and it's fucking wicked - because no matter about all the theories in the world, I know I'm going to die and it's great. "My life's a fucking drama, it really is. It's a comedy and a tragedy at the same time - but it's a great play."
'Saturnz Return' is scheduled for release on October 6th on FFRR

GOLDIE THE ROCK CRITIC

  • On David Bowie's new drum n' bass direction: "I saw Bowie play at Hanover Grand. I think it's really wicked that Bowie can get inspired by what we do. I love the amount of people from any genre coming to check it. I don't think everyone should slate him down 'cos I don't think they have a right to do that. Bowie is Bowie, end of story. I'd fucking produce him, I'd dark him out. He's got something that I could turn out unbelievable."

  • On Primal Scream: "Don't fuck with them, they're out there. They've got these dope dark sounds, fucking heinous sounds; I really love that vibe. 'Kowalski' - what a fucking tune."

  • On Kurt Cobain and Nirvana: "That's the saddest situation. It's such a shame. I play 'Nevermind' and it kills me, it makes a lump in my throat because I loved that guy to death, I loved the music they made and I love what I get out of it when I play it - it's fucking class."

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