| Thinking out of the beatbox: Mr Mouth |
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| "When you work on something on your own – it’s good to have someone else who knows what they are talking about to reassure you that the good bits are, well good!" |
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One last plug for the Student Music Awards finals, which take place at ULU in London tonight, headlined by the wonderful Delays. I mention this here because one of the hosts tonight will be Mr Mouth - a student himself and possibly CMU's favourite beatboxer. It was through his beatboxing skills, often showcased at Leyline's JUMP night at Cargo, that we first discovered this guy - though he also lists "vocalist, performer, designer and freestyle BMXer" on his biog, which suggests there is considerably more to Mr Mouth than just the verbal-beats. Curious as to his wider masterplan, we stole some quality time with him a few weeks back to find out about his career to date, his wider musical ambitions, the challenge of getting together a live show, and the genius idea of making beatbox ringtones. So if, like me, you've always had a soft spot for the world of beatboxing, then get along to ULU tonight to see Mr Mouth in action, then check out our interview with him for the fuller lowdown. |
I first came across Mr Mouth, aka Vince Frank, in his guise as beatboxer extraordinaire, most probably at one of the Jump nights at London's Cargo where he frequently performs. I’ve something of a soft spot for quality beatboxing and, despite my notoriously short attention span, can become genuinely engrossed in a beatboxer’s performance for incredibly long periods of time. I’m the same with drum solos. Guitar solos bore me after ten minutes, but seven hours of beatboxing or drumming and I’m as happy as Larry.
So, with all that in mind, when Mr Mouth’s mobile number fell into my possession I took the opportunity to harass him with some questions. But I did some research first – I’m professional like that – and discovered that the biog on his website said he was not just a “beatboxer” but also a “vocalist, performer, designer and freestyle BMXer". In fact, he’s a pretty eclectic guy all round, and so it was that I found myself in conversation with Mr Mouth, talking all thing beatboxing and beyond – all the way to the world of ringtones, and back.
“From an early age my Mum always said to do as many things as possible”, Mr Mouth explains, “and so that’s a philosophy I’m following. Music is my passion, that’s what I’d like to do – but I don’t want to confine myself to just music, which is why I decided to study at London College Of Fashion, so I could spend some time in a completely different world”.
Mrs Mouth (or, rather, Mrs Frank) has provided her son with a good philosophy to live by – but why did he pick beatboxing as one of the many things to experiment with? “Well, I always had a musical background,” he says. “I played piano and sax, and sang quite a bit. Obviously a key part of all of those things is keeping the rhythm – and that was something I always found quite easy. But I suppose I discovered beatboxing itself through a friend at school who was in to it . He’d beatbox a little himself, and gave me a tape of stuff by Rahzal [the mid-nineties king of beatboxing]. I listened to it and remember thinking ‘I can do that’! So I started playing around a bit, and soon got a reputation round my school as a beatboxer. The whole thing kind of went from there”.
Wikipedia refers to beatboxing as a branch of hip hop, and that’s certainly an association many would make, but it goes on to say that in the UK in particular beatboxers operate in other musical worlds too, and that is true of Mr Mouth. “One thing I quickly realised was that I’m not a hip hop person,” he admits. “I like some of the music, but there’s no point pretending I’m some kind of hip hop fanatic just because I like to do something normally associated with the hip hop world, because I’m not and it just wouldn’t work. Latching on to some element of the hip hop community did occur to me early on – it probably would be the easiest way to reach an audience – but it wouldn’t be honest, so I’m going down a different route instead”.
Taking that route, of course, probably makes things a little harder for Vince. Rather than falling in with one hip hop crowd or another and collaborating on a group’s collective projects, or providing the verbal beats to an MCs tracks, he’s got to do everything on his own. But it’s a challenge Vince relishes.
“I’m not really a ‘crew’ kind of person. I’ve always liked working on my own – especially on music projects. I guess in that way I’m an aspiring producer. When I was younger I bought a sequencer keyboard off one of my old music teachers and I just fell in love with the sounds it made. When I could afford it I started building a little home studio and played around with it all. So I am used to working on my own to create music”.
Not that Vince isn’t open to some outside help: “I’ve always consulted some of my older friends who have more experience than me, and whenever I make anything I get it out to my friends as soon as possible to see what they think. When I started getting together my first album I had a lot of support from a great producer [David Norland], who helped a great deal, if only because he provided me with a confidence boost. When you work on something on your own you can start to think that perhaps you're doing it wrong – it’s good to have someone else who knows what they are talking about to point out the weak bits and to reassure you that the good bits are, well good!”
Vince’s long-term interest in music production means that his recorded projects are a whole lot more than the beatboxing that he is best known for. Rather, he is producing some rather interesting pop music with definite influences from the likes of Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx and Soft Cell. That music had been confined mainly to the studio until recently when the complete Mr Mouth product got its debut live outing: “I decided to get together a proper live show featuring tracks from the album when I played a Student Music Awards show recently,” he says. “It was the first live transition of the stuff I’d been doing in the studio – so it involved a whole lot more than me just showing up and beatboxing. Although when we were rehearsing my producer and manager came over to see what we’d done and both concluded the one thing the set needed was more beatboxing!”
“But doing the live version of the tracks has been really helpful”, he continues, “and now I plan to go back to the recorded stuff I’ve done and add in some new elements based on live experience. We’ll be driving up the drums and making it sound more live – I think that will really work”.
While Vince continues to hone his recorded sound, and its live interpretation, he’s also keeping busy with the conventional beatboxing – an artform that seems to be back on the rise within the hip hop world and, thanks to people like Mr Mouth, outside it too. Reaching wider audiences is, of course, very high on Vince’s agenda, and one of the routes he’s used is the ever popular ring tone.
“Whenever I go to parties I always end up with people asking me to beatbox for them, and handing me their phones asking me to record an answer machine message or a ring tone. That seemed like too good an opportunity to ignore, so we recorded a load of ringtones – a few names, that kind of thing. We’re starting to get them out there, and they seem to be popular. It’s a bit of fun, and if it turns some more people on to beatboxing or, even better, my album or live shows, then that’s got to be a good thing”.
And a good thing it is. If you want to get turned on to the world of Mr Mouth then check out his website, and while you’re there pick up a few ringtones and impress your friends with your ubercool beatbox mobile.
Some Mr Mouth plugging:
Mr Mouth's track 'I Get Around Cos U Get Around' is available via TuneTribe.
chris@unlimitedmedia.co.uk - published may 2006
