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| Boy Azooga Photo: Stella Gelardi Malfilâtre |
“Being on Later... with Jools
Holland was terrifying in a way, it is one of those programmes I used to watch as a
teenager, so it was a really big deal for me and the other boys. It is probably the kind of situation you always hope you are going to end up in, but you
never really know if it is going to happen or not.It was a real honour to be asked.
In the weeks leading up to it, I could not think of anything else, I was nervous thinking about it, but it was really great and we had such a good time.”
Cardiff quartet Boy Azooga's TV debut on BBC Two represented an amazing opportunity, especially since songwriter Davey Newington, drummer Daf Davies, guitarist Dylan Morgan and bassist Sam Barnes embraced it with such skill and enthusiasm.
Having only just released their debut album 1, 2 Kung Fu!, It’s All Indie were desperately keen to gain more insight into the world of the playful musical genius Boy Azooga. We caught Davey Newington at Heavenly Recordings' Jeff Barrett's birthday party and Boy Azooga just so happened to be playing (headlining) it.
Having only just released their debut album 1, 2 Kung Fu!, It’s All Indie were desperately keen to gain more insight into the world of the playful musical genius Boy Azooga. We caught Davey Newington at Heavenly Recordings' Jeff Barrett's birthday party and Boy Azooga just so happened to be playing (headlining) it.
Boy Azooga (Gwenno and The Manic Street Preachers) appeared on the popular long running TV show. The key decision to feature three excellent Welsh acts on the well-established TV strand does say a lot about the focus on music just now. There always has been a significant amount of excellent music
coming out of Wales but the good thing is that the rest of the world is paying
attention to what can only the described as a genuine buzz about the range of music and wealth of talent.
Having fellow Welshman, BBC Radio1 DJ and champion of new music,Huw Stephens appearing that same night meant there was only ever going to be one real theme; the prominence of and focus on the music. Not forgetting the popularity of Welsh cakes.
“Our
drummer Daf is super-talented but he also happens to be a Welsh
language speaker and his mum did a run of homemade Welsh cakes to take to the
studios. We turned up, he handed them out and they went down like a storm. All
the people there were like ‘um they are so delicious’. He had not really
thought of it as being part of the 'Welsh theme' but everyone else there assumed that it was. What he did was cool and he also wandered into
The Manics’ dressing room and offered them cakes too.”
There is a fun, life-affirming playfulness to Boy Azooga’s music. It is creative and intelligent, something which came in handy when they recorded for TV.
There is little doubt that Boy Azooga already have experienced many special moments as a band. As well as musicianship, the band members enjoy a strong friendship.
"When we first got together, it was like 'I love your music, let’s have a jam' and Dylan, who is also a phenomenal musician and an old friend of mine, I always knew, I was going to ask him about joining, he is so multi-talented, he plays drums, keys and guitar. All three are great drummers and that was really important to me."
Being from a musical family, Davey comes from a home with a family who enjoys listening to lots of different kinds of music.
The openness, tolerance and respect for
a wide range of musical influences now shines through Boy Azooga's music but Davey maintains that this was not always the case admitting “When I was younger, I was a bit more snobby about music.”
His parents are both professional musicians. Having their continued support for his ambitions and development during childhood and adult life, as a child, the young six-year-old Davey knew very early on that he wanted to play drums and really stuck with it. As an adult, mastering numerous other musical instruments, he continues to refer to himself as a drummer, who only recently "learnt to play the guitar."
“Sometimes I get asked about my mum and dad and what growing up was like. It was kind of everything from The Beach Boys to Tchaikovsky to Japanese synth music, a really diverse range of music was represented in the house, there was just so much music there and that is how it always has been for me.”
“Every now and then there will be some music that does not really turn me on as much but I am kind of open to just about anything really like if it is a good tune and or it has some soul in it, then I will like it.”
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Boy Azooga Photo: Stella Gelardi Malfilâtre
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Musically, inspired by his art
teacher at school,who sent him off to town to buy Can’s Ege Bamyasi, taking musical cues from
the likes of Sly & The Family Stone, Black Sabbath, Outkast, Van
McCoy, Ty Segall as much as The Beastie Boys and creating wonderful arrangements resembling the much-loved melodic tunefulness of The Super Furry
Animals that just about describes him. He also has a massive love of anything Beatles related.
Following the completed recording work on 1, 2 Kung Fu! Davey decided to 'recruit' friends to form the Boy
Azooga live quartet, an ensemble that swings smoothly from almost filmic instrumentals
to a churning rock resembling both Can stretching as far as The
Happy Mondays. The band played a run of high-profile shows with Magic Gang, made a
much-talked-about appearance at Heavenly Weekender at the Trades
Club in Hebden Bridge and sold out several of their live shows around the UK.
Remarkably, on the debut, the violin is played by Davey's father, but it is the exception to the 'rule' as Davey plays all the other instruments. There is an incredible amount of musicality, creativity and resourcefulness and it is an entertaining, subliminally melodic and charming album combining genuine eclecticism, musical gift and playful originality. It also makes use of literary references on songs such as Hangover Square, a song inspired by Patrick Hamilton's book.
"My dad gave me a copy of Hangover Square. He is an Alfred Hitchcock obsessive, growing up with that influence meant it was just always around the house, it is quite dark but it was great to have it around us. Bernard Herrmann did the soundtrack to the film and when I wrote the song I took some inspiration from the harmony and chords."
"That book is really amazing and in a way Hangover Square was one of the easiest songs to write because the story was already there and all I was focused on doing was to capture some kind of mood rather than having to come up with a full narrative."
Heavenly Recordings are big deal for Davey who dreamt of becoming a Heavenly artist for some time. Being signed to one of the most iconic independent labels the UK has to offer, the focus remains on good songs and artistic integrity. The label already has a couple of other Welsh acts - Gwenno and H Hawkline - on their books
“I kind of gravitated towards that label because they are into real music. Not everything on the label is necessarily going to be storming the charts but there is so much knowledge there. The people are great and they know what artists are going to work for Heavenly Recordings. Everyone who works at the label has full faith in music and that is the most important thing to me.”
“It was really bizarre because I had loads of notebooks from coming up
with this project and I repeatedly wrote ‘Heavenly Records’ as some kind of aim
or goal. When we finished making the producer said to me ‘What are you going to do
now?’ I mentioned that I was going to put it on Soundcloud to see what would happen.”
But the producer did not really like Davey’s initial plan and encouraged him to aim higher, “Aim for the stars”. Some networking correspondence with
label boss Mark Thomas at Sheik Records followed and a gig in Cardiff led to Davey getting
hooked up with Jeff Barrett. After hearing Davey’s music Jeff messaged him
that same day saying the magic words “I just heard your music" and things took off there and then"
"I definitely love the interest in our music just now but I never really
intended for this to happen. Of course, it is great that there is such a buzz about what we do but it also seems a bit scary because most of my heroes are people who have
released several records and obviously have a really extensive back catalogue."
"But it is really flattering and I am definitely in for the long run. Having played in bands since I was 13 years of age, I am going
to continue doing it whether people really care about our music or not.”
1, 2 Kung Fu! is out now on Heavenly Recordings
Live - gig and festival appearances
JUNE
12 – Cambridge, The
Portland Arms
13 – Margate, Tom
Thumb Theatre
15 – Camarthen,
Tangled Parrot
16 – Newport, Le Pub
24 – Glasgow, Oran
Mor (West End Festival)
JULY
14 – Suffolk,
Latitude Festival
21 – Topcliffe, Deer
Shed Festival
22 – Jodrell Bank,
Bluedot Festival
27 – Solihull, Lunar
Fesival
28 – Cornwall, Port
Eliot Festival
AUGUST
11 – Horncastle,
Joefest
16 – 19, Glanusk
Park - Green Man Festival
25 – Totnes, Sea
Change Festival
SEPTEMBER
01 – Dorset, End of
The Road Festival
14 – Hawarden, Good
Life Experience
OCTOBER
17 – London, Scala