Remember our piece on Sound Of Rum? Well, recently we caught up with their facially hairy Sunday Best label mate Beardyman. If you haven’t heard about this YouTubely popular beatboxer already, have a gander at this, this and particularly this. Now you’re intrigued, right? He’s been making utterly absorbing beats with his mouth for years now. What makes him different is that he doesn’t just reel out any old rhythm; he mixes in really well known songs and in his new tour he spits out a rhythm based around whatever the audience requests, for example, ‘Oompa Loompa Blues’. To find out more about this fascinating bloke we caught up with him to discuss the size of his tongue and Beardbot 3000…
How long have you been beat boxing for? Why are you so good? Do you practise lots? Do you have a really hench tongue?
It’s massive, my tongue. . . only the Blue whale has a larger one. I’ve been beatboxing for 70 years, in my previous life i was a Yorkshire miner, I died age 6 down a mine from respiratory diseases and was reincarnated as a tortoise, then as a porpoise with no purpose, then a lion in a circus then an entire squadron of Gurkas. But all the way through i was beatboxing.
You’re signed to Rob da Bank’s Sunday Best label along with some great artists- Sound of Rum, Scroobius Pip and Kid Carpet, to name a few… have you ever taken advantage of that and made music with any of the musicians on your label? If not, would you ever?
I haven’t really had time to think about doing anything other than finishing the album and then this tour to be honest… but i know them all and I’d love to do a big “we are the world” style collaboration. They’re all amazing and we could raise at least 5 pounds for charity.
Youtube videos like kitchen diaries and monkey jazz… did you ever think they’d get millions of hits? In terms of kitchen diaries, how is it possible to layer all the different samples of instruments so that you’re beatboxing them all at the same time?
Both of those video’s are CGI. It’s not me in them. It’s a computer generated character i sometimes play called Beardbot 3000. I am a man. . not a number. My successes are as waves on a breezey shore, forever whispering. . distant soul crying. . where am i?
Your video for ‘where does your mind go?’ is funny; is the visual aspect of you as a performer important to you? If so, how so?
The visual aspect is more important to me than the smell of the piece. . how does your piece smell. . smell it now? does it smell pleasing to you? would it smell pleasing to another? if so . . why? and how much? You give me good price yes?
You’re involve a lot of humour in your beat boxing; would you class yourself as a sort of niche comedian who beatboxes, or are you more of a funny beatboxer?
I am an animal doing stuff it sees as enjoyable, satisfying urges, churning out content, trying to achieve contentment. Survival is only skin deep when you are comfortable, that is unless you have the key, which i don’t, but one day i will find it. . and woe betide you all when i do.
You’ve performed all over the world- Canada, Japan etc- is there anywhere that just doesn’t get beatboxing? Where were you most well-received?
The world is big, Beatbox is interesting and universal. There are places where they’ve seen beatbox and are over it, as am i. . . language barriers don’t exist when you can mime. . . japan loves queen though. . so i did lots of queen . . and MJ. . they’re crazy for MJ. .
The Where are you taking me? Tour (17th feb-12th march 2011) sounds fascinating but it also sounds like a bloody difficult task. How are you going to manage interacting with the audience? In terms of improvisation, do you ever go blank and don’t have anything to beatbox?
Nope. . . never blank. . there’s always a path to go if your travelling in a forwards motion through time. . i see is as tumbling down a vortex. . i’m just a ball in a pin ball machine. . . but who are you? that’s the question. . who are you? And why are you reading this. . . you’ve got that thing to do remember. . you’re just putting it off reading this. . toughen up!! PUT THE MAGAZINE DOWN!!! NO DON”T!!! YOU’ll KILL ME!! IF YOU STOP READING THIS, I’LL CEASE TO EXIST IN YOUR HEAD AND I SHALL DIE! NO !!! ! NO!!!!!
When’s your LP ‘I done a Album’ being released?
Soon. . . March 21st I think.
What are your plans for world domination?
If i told you that i’d have to wipe out your family.
Thanks bbz. Bye bye.
-Bronya Louise Francis