THE BRAND NEW HEAVIEST H E B R A N D N E W H E A V I E SOnstage at Germany’s Leverkusener Jazztage in 2016GIVE ’EM WHAT THEY WANT
To celebrate the new album’s release, the Heavies are heading back out
across the UK this November with Angela Ricci for the Funk Is Back
tour. With a considerable back catalogue spanning 30-plus years, what
can we expect? There must be a few arguments over song inclusion...
“At the end of the day, if I buy a ticket to see Earth, Wind & Fire,
I want to hear September and After The Love Has Gone. You want to
hear the songs that made you fall in love with that band. So 90% of all
our concerts consist of the big tracks. We’ll never do 20 minutes of new
stuff that nobody knows about, because you’ll kill the atmosphere.
We’ll do the new single obviously and Getaway that we released with
N’Dea a few months ago, but you’ve got to give the crowd what
they want.”
But it must get a bit boring playing the same old songs?
“Never,” he smiles. “I never, ever get bored of playing any song
by The Brand New Heavies, I can’t imagine that, because it’s up-tempo
dance. It’s always nice to watch people light up, see their smiles and
dance moves and stuff. Maybe it’s because we don’t rehearse a lot,
so every time we go on stage it’s quite nerve-wracking that we’ll
make it to the end of the song! But I guess that’s what keeps it fresh
and the crowd see that it’s not over-rehearsed. People know that
we’re vulnerable.”
Perhaps working with different vocalists live has helped give each
performance an individual edge? Andrew doesn’t sound convinced.
“Possibly,” he muses. “I mean, I’m a bit of a stalwart in that area,
because I like to make sure that the bones of the song and all the
melodies for the vocals are exactly the same as the original. I think
groove-wise you can shift that about, but the melody, it’s very
important to keep that authentic. I’m always cracking the whip on
stage if that starts changing!”
and Herbie Hancock. They’ve made some of the funkiest,
most syncopated, incredible music, especially Herbie on an
album called Thrust. We tried to emulate that by copying
certain parts of grooves.
“We recorded one particular groove on cassette and
I thought it sounded incredible,” he continues. “Barrie
Sharpe [co-creator of Duffer Of St George street clothing]
used to DJ at this rare groove funk club called The Cat In
The Hat. So I took it down, he played it, and everyone
carried on dancing like it was a cool rare groove 7". We
all looked at each other and thought, ‘Wow, this could be
something!’ He booked us to play at his club and made
himself the percussionist in that process. And then someone
from Warner Brothers came down. They actually came to
Jan’s bedroom and watched us jam.”AN OFFER FROM THE GODFATHER
On the map, it’s just a short journey from an Ealing
bedroom to Wembley Arena, but one that few get the
chance to take. Yet Andrew, Simon and Jan soon got a
taste of the big time at the iconic venue, notching up their
fi rst celebrity endorsement – from none other than the
Godfather Of Soul himself.
“We got a support slot for James Brown,” Andrew
enthuses. “That was in the very early days – it must have
been around 1987 – before we got signed or had any
music out. Obviously, we were listening to everything by him
and his backing band, The JBs. We studied that stuff a lot.
He was there when we were soundchecking in this
incredible bespoke tailored suit. I remember looking at him
from the side of the stage and he was rocking – not
dancing, but swaying. At the end, he came over and shook
our hands and started talking to our brass section. Later on
that evening, I realised he was actually trying to steal them!”
A few years after this, in the early 1990s, the band found
themselves taking funk and soul in a fresh direction.
“We grew up on the club scene, so we combined that
club sound and the whole disco thing with funk and wrote
songs on top,” Andrew says. “It wasn’t a contrived decision,
it was just what we were listening to. It was the Summer Of
Love, so house music was very big at that time, and even
hip-hop was beginning to be played on national radio. All
those things combined in our heads and in the studio, and
what came out was The Brand New Heavies – like a
commercialised version of James Brown or Motown soul.”
A deal was swiftly inked with Chrysalis and, on the
record company’s insistence that they needed a singer, theyAndrew, Jan and guitarist Simon Bartholomew met at
school, bonding over a shared love of music.
“I was brought up on 7" reggae records,” says Andrew.
“My parents were from Jamaica and my dad used to bring
lots of records back when he visited his parents. Then, the
beginning of my teens was the whole disco era. Earth,
Wind & Fire were putting stuff out and Chic were massive.
I remember when Le Freak came out, I put my pocket
money together with Jan and we bought the 12" single.
I’d have it one week, then he’d have it the next.”
At this point, it was more about hanging out. “It wasn’t
like, ‘Oh, I’m going to be a guy on stage playing guitar.’
I wanted to go to art college, so music was just a fun thing
we did. We were obsessed with James Brown, The Meters© Andreas Lawen-Fotandi