Humanize

Biography

Big Boss Man are a four piece band hailing from Newbury in Berkshire, and are the hottest news to come out of the area since the bypass got the go ahead. Their music is a hip Hammond hybrid of Pop, 60's R'n'B/Latin/Soul and Funk. The band formed in early 1999, signing to Blow Up in the Autumn of the same year. Having already played together in various bands and being old friends, the guys thought it made more than a little sense to put their heads together to form a suitably funked up outfit...

Big Boss Man are a four piece band hailing from Newbury in Berkshire, and are the hottest news to come out of the area since the bypass got the go ahead. Their music is a hip Hammond hybrid of Pop, 60's R'n'B/Latin/Soul and Funk. The band formed in early 1999, signing to Blow Up in the Autumn of the same year.

Having already played together in various bands and being old friends, the guys thought it made more than a little sense to put their heads together to form a suitably funked up outfit that reflected their shared love of original dance music flavours. Since then BBM have taken their infectious ramshackle road-show around Spain twice (selling out 500+ venues), and through Germany and Italy. They have played huge festivals in France, as well as being invited by Artemy Troitsky (Russia's answer to John Peel) for a special one-off in Moscow. All of which have helped them earn their deserved reputation as the punks of Hammond funk!

The release of their debut Humanize album in 2001 was marked by a show at the opening of the "My Generation" H&M Fashion & Photography Exhibition in Stockholm, and since then BBM have built up a loyal following touring extensively in the UK, Europe and further afield.

In-between their hectic live schedule their debut LP Humanize provide the entire soundtrack to short film "Sweet" starring the Perrier award winning comedy duo The Mighty Boosh. The band were also featured as the live band in the nightclub sequences in the film, which has won a Turner Classic Film Award at the National Film Institute, an Empire film award, as well as being nominated for a BAFTA. The same year also saw the inclusion of a specially recorded BBM track "Christmas Boogaloo", on the Xfm charity album It's A Cool Cool Christmas, alongside such artists as Belle and Sebastian, and The Flaming Lips.

The 2005 follow up album Winner wass produced by the band and Morgan Nicholls (The Streets / Muse / Senseless Things / Morgan). The initial recording sessions, when the band laid down the basic tracks, took place in a disused classroom using just a crusty old analogue 8-track tape recorder and about 3 cheap mics to get that required dirty funk sound. The results were taken to A Major Studios in Shepherds Bush, West London, for editing and additional recording and mixing with Morgan. Morgan is the son of Immediate Records' in-house songwriter Billy Nicholls, so the studio was choc-full of groovy stuff: The Who's Hammond, Steve Marriott's first guitar, Clavis, Wurlis etc, etc. All of which were put to good use on the album!

Winner continues the trip through 60's Funk, along the way taking in Bongo/Fuzz in Everybody Boogaloo, Latin Soul in Complicated Lady, French Beat in Tu As Gaché, Floor-fillers such as Kelvin Stardust, Boogaloo in, er, B.o.o.g.a.l.o.o. and general Hammond/Moog mentalness everywhere else.

BBM have also found time to work their magic on a re-mix of Japanese sensation Mansfield's track "If I Want It" for his album "Golden Hour", as well as reworking an obscure 60's cult Euro TV theme, "Robbi, Tobbi..." for Germany's Diggler records. Most recently, BBM were requested to provide two remix versions of Paul Weller's UK Top 20 hit The Bottle (2004), both of which featured on a limited 7"-only version of the single which sold out on the day of release. The band have also featured on numerous compilations.

In 2009, Big Boss Man released their long-awaited third album Full English Beat Breakfast. Recorded by the band at their 8-track ramshackle studio and mixed by Nick Terry at Studio 2 at The Premises, Hackney, London. Big Boss Man have been described by Russian TV as "the Worlds hottest Hammond beat group" and currently hold the record for the longest drum break at the 2007 World Breaks & Beats Festival in Helsinki. Not wishing to let this go to their head they thought it was high time they got back into the studio to complete album number three. They got down to business after finally getting over their collective hangover from their mini-tour of Tinkoff Brewery music venues in some of the more remote parts of Russia. The locals treated them to a touch of Beatlemania with clothes being ripped off and the band had to have security at all times, not that they’re complaining!

As usual the band have made good use of their extensive collection of vintage (and temperamental) gear for Full English. Head honcho Nasser (a.k.a the Bongolian) plays mini-VIP, Farfisa and Hammond organs, Wurlitzer piano, Moog synths and drums and percussion. Driving fuzz guitar and bass beat is provided by bassman Scott Milsom "the Hawk" and guitarist Trev Harding. The band have once again created a superb spaced-out selection of prime 60’s inspired dance floor tracks: Northern Soul vibes with ‘Black Eye’, garage sounds with ‘The Bloater’, Boogaloo with ‘Pies and Pastiche’ and even samba with ‘Full Brazilian’.

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