Brand New Heavies Interview & Review by Peter Lundy

BMS: After twenty years of making music this is the first live LP that you have brought out. How come it has taken this long as you must have a huge amount of material to draw on?

AL: Because we're back together now and we haven't had a proper relaunch of the original line up of the band, I thought that it would be nice to not just record a brand new studio album, but to step ourselves gradually back into the market. I think that what we are known for is our live show and we thought, 'let's record a really nice show with a good audience, good equipment and just remind everyone about what our biggest asset is' which is our live show. So it was kind of like a 'needs must' situation; just let people into it gradually, see if they still like us and then we can start working on some new music.

BMS: Because of the drop in CD sales it is much more important for a band to be able to cut it live. Do you think that this puts you in a strong position because, as you said, the Brand New Heavies have always been known as a great live act and you have all that experience to draw on?

AL: Yeah that is true and luckily we were a live band before anything else, before we even thought of signing a record deal and as you said, that's how it appears to be now. I also think that's why we're still around, the fact that we can just about play our instruments! None of us are trained either and I think that the album is good for musicians who are just learning how to play because we are actually playing the instruments, we're not programming them.

BMS: You were at the forefront of the early nineties nu soul and funk movement. Recently artists such as Joss Stone and Corinne Bailey Rae have been successful with their take on soul music. It shows that soul and funk are never out of fashion. Why do you think this is?

AL: I think that most modern pop music is underpinned by the blues and the blues is rock and soul and house and garage and grime. They are all based on the principles of the blues and it is interlaced with every type of modern music. It's just the basis of everything so it's never going to go away as that's what everything is based on. Everything comes from the blues.

BMS: In the past you have incorporated genres such as hip hop and reggae into your music. With your new recordings do you feel liberated by the fact that young people are so open to lots of different types of music and does it make you more ready to try out different styles knowing that kids are so much more receptive to diversity?

AL: Yeah it does. We all listen to a big variety of music and it does make us think that maybe we can introduce some other types of music, a bit of rock or house or something that we don't usually do. The other part of the story is that we might put people off that have been following us for a while. They might freak out if they hear distorted guitar solos all over the next album but hopefully it won't deter us. The new LP definitely won't sound like another album from 1995. It's going to be something you can put on and when you listen to it you go, 'Oh is that the Brand New Heavies? That's cool. They haven't got stuck in a genre or got stuck in the past.' But we do know that people like that sound and that it is becoming quite current again so I think we're going to record a lot of songs, maybe twenty or thirty and make sure that there is a good balance of what the older fans like and a good balance for the kids who don't know anything about us.

BMS: I noticed that you've recorded an EP called Black Market Heavies and I'm guessing that it was a nod to The Clash who, like yourselves, used to cover some classic songs and place them next to their own compositions. Does this make you up your game as songwriters?

AL: I'd like to say yes because it's quite a nice way of excusing the fact that the real reason is that our record company, back then, suggested it. Because we were so unusual, they wanted a failsafe device on the album so they suggested us doing a cover and we said to ourselves, 'we've got to do it, they're paying for us to make this album and there's a lot riding on it.' So usually we will try to choose something that isn't the norm, another soul song or a Stevie Wonder cover or something like that. We try to do something different to keep them happy and to give us a failsafe device so it's pretty much a marketing decision but the songs are all songs that we love. It was my idea to record Midnight At The Oasis because someone made me a mix tape that had it on about ten years before our version came out and I've always loved that song. We thought that it might be nice to do something that isn't a soul song as a cover so I suggested that at one of the A&R meetings and the rest is history. That was the song that helped put the Brother Sister LP at number two in the charts so thank God for Maria Muldaur!

BMS: A lot of your songs such as You Are The Universe, Keep On Shining and Never Stop have very positive messages and in these scary times that we live in with news of recession and global warming do you think that people are going to be drawn to your music because when times are hard we all need an uplifting tune to get us through the day?

AL: Yeah. And that's another stroke of luck because back then we were kids, eighteen, nineteen, when we wrote the songs that went on Brother Sister and the album before that. We didn't really consider it, we just wanted to be happy and have fun. Dancing and clubbing is where we started from, we're really a party band and whenever we write music the backdrop is always a club, a DJ, a bar and having a good time and it just so happens that you don't want to hear anything depressing when you're dancing, it doesn't really go. We are known as an optimistic, positive, upbeat band and that is something that we will try to do even in these scary times because it's an escape route. It's what the Heavies are, an escape route to some fun times.

BMS: I read recently that sales of self help books are up 25% on last year because people want to hear a positive message and to believe that everything's going to be alright so your music could be a soundtrack to that vibe.

AL: That's quite a good idea for the album title actually! "The Brand New Heavies Self Help." But music is really great for changing your mood, music or a glass of wine. Or both together is even better!

BMS: So your new album, is it coming out next year?

AL: Yes. We started it in the summer and we definitely have to get two albums out between now and the end of next year. Times are changing and there's so much competition that you can't spend two or three years making an album. We have to put a lot more music out and we can do it. The quality isn't going to drop, we just have to be in the studio for a bit longer and just record more because the cycle is so much faster now, thousands of albums are coming out all the time and we basically just have to catch up.

BMS: And the new album is to be called Heavy Rhyme Experience Volume 2?

AL: It will be yeah. There are going to be two albums. There'll be a hip hop/MC collaboration with N'Dea singing a lot more of the chorus vocals and then a proper studio album with brand new songs on there and N'Dea singing. It's going to be tough to get it all out but it's definitely coming. It's part of our new deal that we have to do two albums.

BMS: So you're going to be very busy!

AL: Yeah, but busy doing stuff that we love you know? We don't spend enough time in the studio these days and we're looking forward to getting back in there.

BMS: You take your name from a James Brown song and you've spoken of your love of his backing band; the JB's. It's three years in December since he passed away and I wondered how you felt about the fact that, for someone who did so much for black consciousness in America it's unfortunate that he didn't stay with us a little bit longer to see Obama elected.

AL: I instantly think he does know. I'm one of those people who think that, when people die they still have one eye open on the world, and the things that are important to them they always see, so I think that's he's fully aware of what's going on. He probably can't believe it like most people, but I think he knows. I wouldn't be around without that guy and when he died I was gutted obviously. We met him when we supported him at Wembley Arena back in the mid nineties and when I heard the news I was sad but I wasn't devastated because he has recorded so much music and that music will be there forever. His music is a library, it's like a university that teaches you how to play funk. Some of the tracks are quite basic and quite bare where you can hear every single note of the bass and every note on the guitar and every drum hit and that is how I learned to pay. I've never had a bass lesson in my life, I learned by listening to James Brown and to Miles Davis' solos. They're so melodic and I think that's how I learned to write songs. They taught me about melody and structure.

BMS: As a bass player myself, the one guitar I had to have when I was a kid was a Fender Jazz. James Jamerson played one, Bootsy Collins played one and I noticed you did too. What is it about the Jazz bass that makes it the choice for great bassists?

AL: It wasn't my first bass, that was a Precision. I couldn't really afford one on the first album, then I got a 1968 Precision for Brother Sister and then I moved to the Jazz. I picked one up when I was on tour in America and thought this is it! This is all those old records, it's what they sound like. It's the sound of it and it kind of puts me in that same period of time, where all that music came from. It puts me in that same state and I find it really inspiring to write when I'm playing a Jazz, or a Precision. They're both very inspirational instruments to me.

BMS: Just one more question. The band is playing at the Concorde 2 on November 12th. Do you like coming to Brighton and do you have any memories from past gigs?

AL: I love coming to Brighton. I was actually going to move there. In 2000 I was looking for a house down there so yeah I love the place. Memories? They're a little bit sketchy from the gigs but what do you expect? We're a party band! I remember stages rather than cities! But Brighton for me is one of the most important gigs on the tour because unfortunately we had a problem with our promoter last year and they cancelled the show the day before, so there were a lot of pissed off people on Facebook and on our website. We wanted to do a free gig down there to make up for it but weren't able to, so we're doing quite a lot of interviews to help promote this gig. It's going to be a special show to make up for what happened last year.

The Brand New Heavies "Live in London" album is out now.

And now for their review.....

 

Brand New Heavies at Concorde 2 12 Nov 2009

The band walks onstage, looking cool in shades, and we're off on a ride of positive vibes, funky grooves and feeling good. The first song, All Fired Up sets the tone, drummer Jan Kincaid singing "it's just a bump in the road, we're gonna work it out." N'Dea Davenport arrives dressed in a top hat and sparkly jacket like a sexy circus ringmaster and the party starts with the euphoric triumvirate of Never Stop, Dream On Dreamer and Midnight At The Oasis.

Before Dream On Dreamer, N'Dea apologises for last year's cancelled gig. Even though it wasn't their fault (the promoter pulled the plug) the band has promised fans that they would make up for their disappointment with a very special show. That is exactly what they do. They are here to celebrate: playing to their Brighton fans; a new recording contract; twenty five years in the music business; having the original line up back together. They fire on all cylinders with a turbo charged funk that is a visceral thrill. Andrew Levy's bass is high in the mix as he propels the music forward. Simon Bartholomew scratches and scrapes at his battered white Stratocaster and Jan creates the bedrock of rhythm that makes this band so special. Together they take us from the cold November night to a warm and happy place.

They slow it down and the boys play a shimmering jazz jam while N'Dea flirts with the crowd. "Does anybody have a boat?" she asks. "You gotta boat? Let's go!" Gotta Do Right gets us back in the swing of that positive thing. They play Stevie Wonder's I Don't Know Why (I Love You) and N'Dea shows herself to be the prime female soul singer of her generation. Only Jill Scott has the same combination of power and elegance that allows you to listen to what she sings without being distracted by her virtuosity. Her voice lifts when emotion demands it, not when she feels like showing off. This is spine tingling music. This is hairs standing up on the back of the neck music. Hands begin waving in the air. People are yelling approval, encouraging her on. When the song ends we scream for more. Literally. And they give it. I'm dancing so much I forget to note the song titles! You Are The Universe, their paean to positivity kicks in. It's aural Prozac. "There is nothing you can't do. If you conceive it, you can achieve it, that's why I believe in you."

They leave. We applaud and shout for more. Like junkies demanding a fix we need more and like dealers in chemical free highs they return to turn us on again. Dream Come True sates our desires. The band shimmies and shuffles to their speeded up Stubblefield groove. Then they slow it down and N'Dea gives us a dancing lesson. Everybody sways from left to right. We follow the mistress of ceremonies as she teaches us to stay in time, to follow the beat, to move our feet. The song regains momentum and finishes with a funky flourish. The band hold hands and bow to us. We would bow to them if there was room to move. The celebration is over but this band has just begun.

Peter Lundy

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