Big Boss Man, London, UK – Masters of the Hammond/Bongo/Fuzz Boogaloo Beat Sound!
Band Members:
Nass a.k.a “the Bongolian” – Organ, mono-synth, bongos, vocals.
Scott Milsom a.k.a “the Hawk” – Bass,
Desmond Rogers – Drums,
Trev Harding – Guitar
1. How did you guys meet and what drove you to make music together?
Nass, Scott and Trev met in Newbury in the ‘80’s on the mod/scooter scene, we met with Des later when Scott moved to Bristol. We started making music ‘cause we loved all the Hammond and Bongo sounds the DJs were spinning and wanted to play it live – back then you could not download tunes – you had to go where they were being played.
2. What are your live shows like?
Shit. Only joking! If you like to party then we think you’ll like it. We use old vintage analog gear – leslies, echo-boxes, tone benders, spring reverbs etc. to get our authentic groovy sound, then break down to bongos and soul drums.
3. What are your main influences in music? Who do/would you play covers by? And who do you despise?
We dig: Jimmy Smith, Mongo Santa-Maria, Jean Jacques-Perrey, James Brown and Bernard Purdie. We used to do Hammond covers of ‘I’m a Man’ and ‘Cloud 9’ and ‘Light my Fire’ when we started out we but don’t currently do any. Nass loves to watch X-factor, which a lot of people seem to despise for some reason – he hopes to enter next year!
4. What are your main influences outside of music?
Nass and Trev are keen fashionistas, Des plays in about 11 bands so has no time for anything else and the Hawk enjoys relaxing in a pair of dungarees watching the Dukes of Hazzard!
5. How many official recordings have you done? How many released? Where can they be found? And who write your songs and what subjects do you deal with?
BBM have released 3 albums; Humanize, Winner & Full English Beat Breakfast with Blow Up records – you can get vinyl & cds from and in- the-know record shops or downloads from iTunes etc. Nass writes a lot of the songs, with a few co-writes with Trev and group efforts, most of the tunes are instrumental whose titles are taken from “experiences” that happen on tour The songs with vocals are about subjects ranging from love and relationships , to dodgy promoters! nWe are currently working on the 4th LP which so far has been recorded “as live” in Ramshackle Studios.
6. What’s your favorite song in your repertoire currently?
Beat Breakfast from the last LP “Full English Beat Breakfast” which is out on Blow Up records.
7. How would you describe the current underground scene? Do you participate?
We travel around the world; Moscow, Spain, Greece and are always amazed to find people know the music and have the records. We participate pretty regularly, and have done for many years, our fave event is Euro Ye Ye in northern Spain.
8. What has been the biggest challenge to date?
Touring 3000 miles round Spain in a beaten up old bus with a hole in the radiator was a bit of a mission as was doing the Big Boss Man re-mix of “the Bottle” for Paul Weller.
9. How often do you Rehearse? Play Live? Record?
We are doing one of the three all the time, when not doing one we do the other.
10. What do you think of the music coverage in the media?
60’s Hammond music is a bit niche so isn’t covered that much, but we’ve had reviews in Record Collector, Echos, Blues & Soul, Loaded and even HiFi Choice.
11. Do you rate any other current bands?
We met some Dutch guys the other day from a band called Dewolffe that were doing a spin off “Hammond Battle” both seemed pretty cool.
12. Who/Where would you most like to record and why?
Hitsville USA – the original Tamla Mowtown studio, to try and capture the sound and vibe of those old classic recordings.
13. What should we expect from you in the future? What are your plans and ambitions?
We are going release our new record in 2012, which will feature a few collaborations with other artists and then go out on tour in the UK and the rest of Europe to help promote it.
Band Promo Links:
www.big-boss-man.com
www.facebook.com/BigBossManOfficial
www.myspace.com/bigbossmanmyspace
