Music
What kind of stuff do you play?
We play what could be described as a mix of liquid-funk, drum and bass and jazz breaks. The mission has been to merge jazz and funk with dance music, and to do it live. Until recently, dance music has always been produced entirely in the studio, but we offer something different in our live performances. Dance music is such a broad term, but we do vary in styles and I'm fairly sure that this diversity can be seen at our gigs.
Due to the numerous band members and the different backgrounds we cannot avoid having a variety of styles, although I do think we have a Confidential 'sound' which people can associate us with. We like to produce music in a variety of tempos and styles, ranging from ambient, soulful drum and bass to heavier dancefloor tunes that seem to always get the crowd going.
Having just finished two CDs we are trying to attract interest from record labels. We want to play Barcelona's Sonar Festival and Glastonbury this year - but we'll have to wait and see if they want us.
Until then we'll be playing at The Cellar in Oxford and various university gigs.
How many of you are there?
Eleven band members - bass, guitar, mc, vocalist, two sax, trumpet, percussion, djs and two boys operating beats and synths. Riz, our MC, is doing an acting diploma in London and Simon is studying Jazz at Guildhall, but we all get together about once a week. We are all good mates and do other music projects together aside from The Confidential Collective.
How did you all meet?
Me [Sam] and the guitarist Matty have been performing and writing music since 1993 in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Starting off in a blues and rock 'n'roll band (called Regal) - even then it was a large band of about eight members and we played uni gigs and appeared on The Big Breakfast.
My younger brother Charlie (Jazz Chaz) soon joined on the saxophone. The band met Simone Starbuck (vocalist) at a jazz gig in Oxford - after asking her to sing in the band, we became more soul/funk based and played under the name 'Simone Starbuck and the Soul Searchers'.
Another brother, Billy, played in that band and also features playing harmonica on the CD. We became more jazz influenced and were joined by saxophonist Simon Meredith and pianist Tom Gray.
We started featuring at the Jazz Club at The Bullingdon Arms under the new name 'Funk Exchange'.
After losing a drummer who went off to study Jazz in Leeds, Jordan stepped in and started working on incorporating sampled beats into the band's material.
Having put together a set consisting mostly of cover music we performed our first gig as the present band at The Jericho.
Our style was largely house/funk/latin dance music. We frequently played at The Cellar in Oxford at a night called 'Confidential'.
We decided to call ourselves The Confidential Collective and I pray that we don't change our name again.
Soon after that, a few more people joined the band: Riz, our MC, together with 'Fluke' - drum and bass producer and pianist, percussionist and DJ 'Rich Reason', scratch DJ - DJ FU and Charlie Trumpet. Since then our sound has become more drum and bass influenced.
What groups have influenced you?
Because there's so many of us, our influences are obviously pretty varied. Simone, the vocalist takes a lot from Jim Morrisson, Nick Drake, Marlena Shaw and Patti Smith. Matt the guitarist is a fan of Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd. Infectious takes a lot of inspiration from people like Roni Size, Daft Punk, some of the early Kraftwerk stuff and Cassius. Fluke has named Reprazent as one of his top influences while Charlie picks out Stan Getz, Charlie Parker, and Roy Ayres among others such as Massive Attack, Portishead, and Groove Armada.
What does the future hold?
We'd like to keep playing together for as long as possible. You spend so long getting a band together and now we have all the right people - so then you want a long time to get the best out of the band. We've got a bunch of material, with 11 tracks completely mastered but a load of others on the go.
Sooner or later someone will have to leave so I just hope that we've attracted significant attention - enough to help us stay together for longer, to have our material recorded and produced professionally and have it released. Obviously, at the moment, we just have to fit it in around our studies and work. Without a record deal our days may be numbered, although I believe that some of us will be playing together until we die.
More information about the band, along with some sample tracks can be found at:
www.confidentialcollective.com
Forthcoming Gigs:
• Saturday 29th Jan @ The Cellar
• Wednesday 12th Feb @ Hit 'n' Run (The Cellar)
• Friday 24th June @
Wadham Summer Ball
Who is Annie? The bastard creation of Royksopp and Richard X, Noweigan Annie appears to be a next generation model of pop perfection. A singer and DJ, the uber-babe has produced the ultimate in sophisticated pop releases, with both the mainstream press and underground blog world worshipping at her svelte feet. Think pop genetically modified to a whole new level.
What does she do? 'Annie-mal' is not a Jennifer Ellison offering of mundane desperation, instead tracks such as 'Chewing Gum' all but shiver in synthetic bliss. 'Me Plus One' muses on the fame-seeking starlet dreaming of life on TOTP, while 'Heartbeat' is a heady mix of Motwon-esque melodies and electric explosion.
Comparisons to Kylie do neither justice, although Annie's voice does have echoes of the purity in the former's 'I Believe in You'. Instead think sweetly sincere with wryly sarcastic undertones. Musically, Annie provides the smooth production and experimental sounds which are the very model of the nouveaux-electro pop movement set in motion by Xenomania. Chart friendly but definately a cut above standard pop fare.
Annie-mal is out in March on 679
Industry insiders are tipping the Manchester music scene for a bit of a revival. Some even going so far as to predict a long-awaited return to the halcyon days of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the North-West's industrial capital churned out talented baggy-shirted shoegazers by the bucketload.
This is thanks in no small part to Nine Black Alps: a melodic, grungey four-piece, who first set tongues wagging with a series of low-key local dates early in 2004. The demo soon followed, as did the packs of rabid A&R men, and with a little help from ultra-cool Manchester label Melodic, the group now seem set to take the nation by storm.
Big, crashing guitars run rampant over sunny vocal lines in the kind of frenetic Pixies-inspired collision that produces garage rock as likeable as it is invigorating. NBA also score well in the variability stakes, equally comfortable constructing bedroom epics or two-minute smash 'n' grabs. Now, with a single and a string of quality live performances under their belts, all the signs point to a Nine Black Alps musical conquest in 2005. Remember where you heard it first.
So, for kudos and some quality music, you can't do much better than checking out their headline tour which kicks off in February. However, for those who just can't wait, they'll be supporting the 20-20's on their January UK tour. For those who can't live without.the repeat button, live favourite 'Shot Down' has been chosen as their next single and is due for release at the end of February. Happy Hunting.
In addition to these new acts, some more familiar faces are returning over the next few months.
Sincere parent rockers Feeder are back, no doubt proffering their usual easy-on-the-ear souring chord arrangements for chart consumption in 'Pushing the Senses'.
If a little more angst is to your liking, then Shirley Manson's blend of self-loathing and ominously grungy guitar hooks should suit; Garbage's 'Bleed Like Me' will obviously be their most upbeat release to date (think fluffy kittens and pink sparkle).
What can you say about Athlete? Well, they're not Keane for a start. 'Tourist' provides the same ineffectual blathering that can't even muster offence. Expect Terry Wogan to be bigging them up, so go enjoy.
How can Daft Punk still be around? What seems like a hundred years since they and their electro-waffle first emerged, they're back again, no doubt pushing the boundaries with their...electro-waffle in 'Human After All' (what a surprise!)
For shrinking violets everywhere, the always-understated System of a Down are back to 'Hypnotize' you with lulling melodies of drifting breezes and sweet ballads about their mum. Obviously.
Death From Above 1979? Ah well, with the insightful study of the human condition that is 'You're a Woman, I'm a Machine', they will surely prove diverting, if nothing else.
Yet another pretender to the 'Coldplay award for high-pitched melancholy musings', 13 Senses give you an 'Invitation' to revel in their self-indulgent heartache.
Abby:
1. MIA - 'Glang (Diplo remix)'. Hypnotically divine.
2. Kelly Clarkson -'Since U Been Gone'. Think Max Martin channelling Linda Perry producing for Avril. But not.
3. Gwen Stefani - 'Bubble Pop Electric'. A manic stutter beat consumes all in its path.
4. Big & Rich - 'Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)'. Country with bling. It can be done.
5. FeFe Dobson - 'Don't Go (Boys and Girls)'. Celebrating Cyndi Lauper, like the 1990's, never happened.
6. Amy Winehouse - 'F-- Me Punks'. Sultry and synthtastic.
7. Hanson - 'Lost Without Each Other'. A bouncy acoustic reck return.
Rosie:
1. The Killers - 'Jenny was a Friend of Mine'. Fun-filled bass riffage beneath a punchy, lust-filled vocal line makes this feel-good track ideal for going out... or staying in.
2. Placebo - 'Protect me'. From an album struggling (and failing miserably) to escape the clutches of Brian Molko's done-to-death, cringeworthy rhyme-schemes, 'Protect Me' is the one hint of placebo's former brilliance. Sadly, the video can only be found in a porn shop.
3. The Pixies - 'I've Been Tired'. In a moment of retro craziness I rediscovered this track. Who else would have the shamelessness and sheer bravado to write such a song? Tales of whores, alcohol, lust to name a few.
Jon:
1. Pharoahe Monch - 'Queens'. A more laid back cut from one of NY's most talented MCs.
2. Metro Area - 'Miura'. Minimalistic disco house with a futuristic feel.
3. Aril Brikha - 'Otill'. Swedish producer Aril Brikha opts for warm tones and bubbling synths rather than the usual Detroit homage.
4. Nitin Sawhney - 'Sunset (London Elektricity Remix)'. Soaring vocals taken into the stratosphere by some nice vocodering courtesy of the London drum & bass collective.
5. The White Stripes - 'Joleen'. Jack White's vocal chords fight to the death in his own throat, adding some serious emotion to a Dolly Parton classic.
13th Jan 2005