 |
With upbeat electro beats and synths, jagged punk riffs and vocals that slip between souldful and sneering, Mama Shamone's music could have been so, so wrong.
But these guys are no mere genre experimentalists, they know exactly what they're doing. Different sounds are pushed together for specific effect, rather than to simply tick boxes.
A lot of bands have decided they need a synth in order to cut it in the current music scene, but Mama Shamone actually know how to use it.
We spoke to vocalist Mama and bassist Ru Man Chu. |
Q1 How did you start out making music?
Ru: We weren’t finding what we wanted to hear in the shops or on the radio, so we made our own soundtracks.
Mama: Our friendship was built on hanging out, getting drunk and making random music every weekend
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Ru: Parties, failure and poverty.
Mama: Hanging out and getting drunk
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
Ru: We’ll have a basic musical idea which’ll get vocals over the top and then a bassline and a middle eight. Then the drums’ll get the personal treatment in the rehearsal studio.
Mama: Hang out, get drunk and bang out at least two songs a weekend
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Ru: Magazine, QOTSA, Missy Elliot...
Mama: I’m influenced by everyone and everything. S Club 7 influence me on how not to do it, Linton Kwesi Johnson influences me on how to ‘keep it real’ and Gang Of Four inspire me to keep on rolling and touring 'til the coffin.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Ru: Lie back and think of England
Mama: Stop being a smart arse for one sec! Don’t try to define the sound just take it for what it is. No it’s not Skin meets Blondie, meets Shabba Ranks at Studio 54... it’s simply Mama Shamone
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest single, and for the future?
Ru: For people to hear it, want more and come and see our gigs. We’d love to tour an album as we’ve so many songs we could do a different set each night.
Mama: Make more music to share with the whole wide world not just the world wide web. Tour the planet forever and ever and ever and ever, Amen.
published july 2008
