The Streets' Mike Skinner: 'AI Will Force Us to Be More Bonkers'

Mike Skinner is back with his first proper album for The Streets in 12 years. JOHANNA LEGUERRE / AFP
Mike Skinner is back with his first proper album for The Streets in 12 years. JOHANNA LEGUERRE / AFP
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The Streets' Mike Skinner: 'AI Will Force Us to Be More Bonkers'

Mike Skinner is back with his first proper album for The Streets in 12 years. JOHANNA LEGUERRE / AFP
Mike Skinner is back with his first proper album for The Streets in 12 years. JOHANNA LEGUERRE / AFP

Mike Skinner of The Streets has returned "rejuvenated" with a new album and his own self-made movie, optimistic for the future of music as it sits on the cusp of an AI revolution.

Having defined a musical era in the early 2000s with his unique mash-up of UK garage and US hip-hop, Skinner retired from The Streets in 2011, said AFP.

The project flickered back to life a few years ago with occasional tours and singles, and on Friday sees the release of the first proper album in 12 years, "The Darker The Shadow, The Brighter The Light".

But Skinner's real obsession for the past decade has been the movie of the same name which it soundtracks -- one in which he starred, as well as wrote, directed, shot, edited and funded by himself.

"It's actually a lot easier to make a film than you think... It's just the amount of work that's the problem," he told AFP during a trip to Paris.

"I really enjoyed each individual job -- recording the sound, lighting the scenes. Even the special effects -- which are awful -- I did myself," he said with typically self-deprecating frankness.

Set in the underworld of London clubs, the film has the same jarring feel as his music -- a homespun delivery that straddles the line between amateurish and daringly experimental.

"The reason it seems experimental is just because I did everything myself and I didn't really know how it's supposed to be done," he said.

"But my best work in the past I think has been when I didn't know how things were supposed to be done.

"I sabotage myself... Even if I could make my stuff sound slick I would pull it apart because I would feel that's fake somehow.

"I can't quite bear to do things well," he added with a chuckle.

'So much weirder'

It is that embracing of imperfection that has made The Streets such a singular musical creation.

It also gives Skinner hope for the future at a time when the industry is freaking out over the coming deluge of AI-generated music.

"AI will make human creativity so much weirder because in order to stand out against that you won't be able to copy anything," Skinner said.

"It will force humans to be a bit more bonkers and a bit more avant-garde."

The Streets released the game-changing "Original Pirate Material" in 2002, putting a laddish British spin on hip-hop with lyrics that were more about "greasy spoon cafeterias" than gangsters and diamond rings.

Four studio albums followed until Skinner announced he had "run out of new avenues".

The film, however, has "totally rejuvenated" his passion, and several years of DJ-ing in clubs have given him a slate of banging new tunes, such as recent hit "Troubled Waters".

He cannot quite help a bit more self-deprecation, though.

"I think we've only really got a few songs in us to be honest. Bob Dylan said it: 'I've only ever written one song but I just do it over and over again.'

"That's why I think adding a film to that just makes it more interesting."

One downer is that he cannot tour Europe.

"We can't afford to do a tour here, which is really sad. It's a Brexit-related thing," he said, outlining the onerous tax and paperwork problems that Brexit has caused for British musicians, though he hopes to come for festivals next summer.

Having returned to The Streets in his forties, can he see himself still clubbing into his old age?

"I think I might be dancing on the QM2 from Southampton to New York on an eight-day cruise," he said with a grin, referring to the luxury Queen Mary 2 cruise liner.

"And maybe I might sneak in some ecstasy. I'm sure they'll be up for it."



Disney Sues Hong Kong Company It Says Is Selling Illegal Mickey Mouse Jewelry

Mickey Mouse balloons are displayed at Disneyland Paris in Chessy, France, June 8, 2018. (AP)
Mickey Mouse balloons are displayed at Disneyland Paris in Chessy, France, June 8, 2018. (AP)
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Disney Sues Hong Kong Company It Says Is Selling Illegal Mickey Mouse Jewelry

Mickey Mouse balloons are displayed at Disneyland Paris in Chessy, France, June 8, 2018. (AP)
Mickey Mouse balloons are displayed at Disneyland Paris in Chessy, France, June 8, 2018. (AP)

The Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday sued a Hong Kong jewelry company it accuses of selling illegal Mickey Mouse jewelry.

The international media and entertainment conglomerate filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles against the Red Earth Group, which sells jewelry online under the name Satéur.

Disney says the marketing and branding of the rings, necklaces and earrings in Satéur's “Mickey 1928 Collection” violate its trademark rights and that the Hong Kong company is deliberately trying to fool customers into thinking the pieces are official Disney merchandise.

Satéur, the suit alleges, “intends to present Mickey Mouse as its own brand identifier for its jewelry merchandise and "seeks to trade on the recognizability of the Mickey Mouse trademarks and consumers’ affinity for Disney and its iconic ambassador Mickey Mouse.”

A message seeking comment from representatives of the Red Earth Group was not immediately answered.

The lawsuit is indicative of Disney's dogged efforts to protect its intellectual property from unauthorized appropriation. Although the earliest version of Mickey Mouse entered the public domain last year after Disney's copyright expired, the company still holds trademark rights to the character.

Lawyers for Disney argue in the suit that Red Earth’s online marketing efforts “extensively trade on the Mickey Mouse trademarks and the Disney brand” with language that includes describing the jewelry as great for “Disney enthusiasts.”

Such tactics indicate Red Earth was “intentionally trying to confuse consumers,” the lawsuit says. The impression created, it says, "suggests, at a minimum, a partnership or collaboration with Disney.”

The earliest depiction of Mickey Mouse, who first appeared publicly in the film short “Steamboat Willie” in 1928, are now in the US public domain. The widely publicized moment was considered a landmark in iconography going public.

The lawsuit alleges that Red Earth and Satéur are trying to use that status as a “ruse” to suggest the jewelry is legal, by dubbing it the “Mickey 1928 Collection” and saying it is being sold in tribute to the mouse's first appearance.

The centerpiece of the collection, the suit says, is a piece of jewelry marketed as the "Satéur Mickey 1928 Classique Ring,” which has a Steamboat Willie charm sitting on the band holding a synthetic stone.

But there is an essential difference between copyright, which protects works of art, and trademark, which protects a company's brand.

Even if a character is in the public domain, it cannot be used on merchandise in a way that suggests it is from the company with the trademark, as Disney alleges Red Earth is doing.

“Disney remains committed to guarding against unlawful trademark infringement and protecting consumers from confusion caused by unauthorized uses of Mickey Mouse and our other iconic characters,” Disney said in a statement Wednesday.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction against Red Earth selling the jewelry or trading on Disney's trademark in any other way, along with monetary damages to be determined later.