A beautiful version of the newish song “Death Shoes” by The Yalla Yallas, from an unplugged in studio session with the band. The only other version of which I have heard so far was via reviewing the demo of their second album, it’s a great song all the way around, and one of my favorites by them.
If you head on over to The Yalla Yallas youtube page, there are many other videos from the same session. Global A Go Go indeed, Rob!
Drunken Balordi, “666 (Drink Up)” live at the Forum, Kentish Town
Interview by Shan
This interview first appeared on Mental Beans on May 21, 2010
Despite many odds—broken computers, hangovers, flu viruses and the like from both sides of the conversation, which caused a slight delay getting this together—I’m happy to finally be sitting here about to make this post.
Speaking as a musical head, one who is chronically listening to and seeking out great music that is, I made another jaunt through the mighty Strummerville Foundation for New Music’s DIY section a little while back, and this time around Drunken Balordi caught my attention. I gave a listen to the song posted there and immediately sought out more by them. I came across a great video clip that I wanted to use as Song of the Day, but not knowing the title, I got in touch with lead singer/guitarist Billy King, thanks to some loose connections, to inquire about the name of the song. That lead to an all out interview that I’m pleased to share with you now. So as promised . . . here’s Billy.
Drunken Balordi Vocals & guitar – Billy King (myself)
Bass & backing vocals – Justin Thomson
Accordion & party mojo – David Vegni
Drums -Dave ‘Topper’ Harris
Violin – this position is open to anyone, male or female
Brass – session musician on album again looking for more permanent
It says on your bio that Drunken Balordi are from London. What area, and are all members from there originally?
Yeah well we are Brixton based, we are quite an eclectic mix. I am originally from Ireland & lived in Italy for 7 years before moving to Brixton, Justin is from South Africa, David is from Italy, and Topper is from New Zealand.
How did the band come together initially, and who came up with the name?
The band came together when I saw the film ‘Everything is Illuminated’ and I liked the soundtrack so much, I decided to form a band based on that eastern European music and mix it with punk. I put an advertisement on Gumtree and a guy from Germany replied to it, came over for an audition, I played him some of my songs and he liked them and that was the start of Drunken Balordi. That was about two years ago now…and we have gone through a few band members who could not commit etc…or got burnt out from all the party’s we play! (Laughs)When I lived in Italy in 2000 for 7 years I played in various punk bands and basically partying my ass off, there used to be a great punk scene in Bologna and I played in a band called Thee Boozers, made many friends and fans. The name ‘Drunken Balordi ‘ came to be basically … one summers night myself and some Italian punks were sitting in a street drinking and talking about music, politics and what not, when along came another friend and he shouted out ‘Hey, I soliti drunken balordi!’, which means ‘hey, it’s the usual drunken fools’! ha ha ha. So at that moment I thought ‘mmm, that would make a great name for a band’. I forgot about it until one day while walking down Brixton hill when I remembered the name and said ok I’ll use it for this new music project that I was cooking up.
Gogol Bordello, The Clash, gypsy punk, Balkan, klezmir and folk were some names/descriptions I came across several times while reading about the band, and I can hear the influences for sure. But besides that, there’s so much more that makes Druken Balordi, Drunken Balordi. If I were an alien from another planet (and I’m not, I’m just pretending, just so you know), what would you say to describe the essence of Drunken Balordi, outside a stylistic description or references to other bands?
What makes Drunken Balordi, Drunken Balordi is that when people come to our shows most people cannot help but get involved in the ruckus and madness of the music, it really pulls them in and makes them happy and dance and go a little crazy! And after the show, we really like to party off stage just as much as when we are on stage. There are no big egos here in this band just four normal people, who have a passion for music and have ferocious appetites for partying.
What is the creative dynamic within the group like? Is there a principal songwriter or do you work as a unit on each song? How do you approach building a song? (I’m always interested in this as it relates or doesn’t relate to how a canvas is approached).
I am the principle song writer 90%, I come up with a song or story and put down with a rough draft of music, bring it down to the boys and they put their musical expertise over it and smooth it out in the studio etc. As I am the singer too, it’s 99% my lyrics, I am very critical of myself and generally only write about my experiences or how I see things through my eyes so its convincing when I sing our songs ..I think that is a very strong point to our music,..is that its not bullshit, its real!
What do you tend to do if you hit a creative road block?
Ha ha ha ..I only hit creative block when I am not happy or have issues going on. I’m generally a very happy person and content with my lot…I do know what side my bread is buttered on. But what I usually do is go out and try and meet as many new and interesting people as possible and party and dance my demons away. It usually works too.
Do you play any other instruments besides guitar? What about the rest of the band?
The rest of the band …they are pretty talented…they can play quite a lot of instruments. Me, guitar and the Banjo which I actually play on our Debut album self titled ‘Drunken Balordi’ that we are about to have a physical launch party next week at Project Orange in Brixton, this is one of the first venues we played & we are going back for one huge party to thank all the fans that have been coming to our shows for the last 2 years.
What music are you listening to these days?
Oh god ..the list is endless, where do I start?
Well ok then, …right now I’m listening to Lee Scratch Perry! I love all genres of music, and as I live in Brixton which is the Jamaican part of London (the best) reggae is generally the soundtrack for this area here. It’s so laid back here that you cannot help put it on.
Who are some of your musical (or other) heroes/influences?
I have quiet a few, but main hero and influence is definitely Joe Strummer from The Clash. God the passion in his voice was just second to none. On stage he was like a dynamo …super charged! And yet off stage the same person, really passionate.
Via clips and photos I noticed there are many stickers that adorn your guitar and guitar case…what are a few of them? Do you have a special fondness for, or are any of them of particular significance to you worth mentioning?
Haaa haha yeah, they are all beer stickers from show I have played since starting this band, and a lot of them get scrapped off from my aggressive strumming style.
After every show I usually take a label off a bottle and stick it on my guitar. The Sailor Jerry’s sticker makes me laugh every time I think about it. Drunken Balordi were in Norway and it was after we played The Roots Festival and the crazy chef who was looking after all the artists came backstage with a bottle of this whiskey and a bucket of ice ..ranting on about how much he enjoyed our show and saying that if I didn’t drink the bottle with him immediately that he was going to urinate in the artists food the following night! So I had to oblige..what ya gonna do eh?
If you weren’t a musician, what creative outlet do you think you would gravitate toward for most of your output? (And on that note, are there any other creative endeavors you engage in?)
Honestly, I cannot imagine my life without performing music, and entertaining people, I think I would die? Probably be a painter or sculpture, I went to art college for a year but got pissed off been told hold to draw they way they thought I should draw etc ..so I left! Haha hah
In 20 single-word adjectives or less: who is Billy King?
Mmm,.. I’ll ask my good friend Tom Whitehead who is sitting right beside me to answer this one! Tom? Who is Billy King…..
1. Music
2. Guinness
3. Clash
4. Women
5. Ambitious
6. Brixton
7. Contemplative
8. Woosh
9. Travel
10. Women
11. Hungover
12. Bikes
13. Waistcoat
14. Women
15. Music
16. Colourful
17. Jiggery-pokery
18. Curry
19. Fair
20. Women
Ha ha ha ha .. I have to say, I could not have put it better myself!!! Thank you Tom
I know you’ve been busy, what are Drunken Balordi up to these days?
Drunken Balordi will be having their ‘official’ Debut album release party at the famous punk venue The 100 CLUB on Oxford Street in London this summer 2010. We are lookingat options for distribution deals for the album if anyone can help with that. We have quite a few festival shows lined up for this summer see www.drunkenbalordi.com
We will more than likely be back in NYC this year after recently meeting up with Gogol Bordello in London before their show at the Apollo Hammersmith, and they spoke about Drunken Balordi performing at the NYC world music Festival. So hopefully see you again this year! Opppppppppppaaaaaa. We have also a few European shows in the pipeline Prague/Amsterdam/Sweden and we would love to play Germany.
Drunken Balordi have also just been asked to play StrummerCamp festival this summer in Manchester. That’s a great honour for me!
Finally, I have to ask because this is (as of this writing) officially going to become the question I ask everyone: If you had a super power, what would it be? And, what would your super hero name be?
To make everyone happy with my music regardless of how serious their problems are, to make them feel that they are amongst friends & they can always come see us and forget everything else!
Super Hero name?
Ha haha, ‘Billy The Kid’ …the list is endless!
Huge thanks go out to Billy for allowing himself to be interrogated. To hear more and to keep up with their goings on you can visit the Drunken Balordi site, and you can also stop by the Strummerville DIY Drunken Balordi page for a free download of “Brixton Sun.”
This coming Saturday Drunken Balordi, another band that I’ve recently discovered and am really enjoying lately, will be having a grand old time at Clapham Junction in London at the release party for their first album. (I’ll be stuck here while that is happening, but I’m very much looking forward to getting my hands on a copy once it’s out and about and available.)
I’ve got an interview in progress with lead singer and guitarist Billy King, so a more in depth post dedicated to Drunken Balordi is forthcoming but for now you can give them a listen here.
From top left: Marijana Hajdarhodzic (vocals/percussion), Steve Nelson (bass), Wilco van Eijk (drums), Keith Thomson (vocals/guitars/song-writing duties)
The Penny Black Remedy (Balkan/gypsy/punk/juggernauts that they are!) fast became one of my favorites last year. I have been cheering them on from over here for awhile now, privy to their live shows and goings-on that they’ve been up to lately (a lot) over in the London area and other parts of the UK and Europe. I’ve also come to learn very recently through my dear friend Steve (who looks suspiciously similar to TPBR’s bass player) the exciting news that they will be playing several music festivals this summer, one of which is a recently confirmed date at Glastonbury!
To celebrate this news, TPBR have just released their 2nd single, and it is available as a free download via their website, now through June 27th.
The single, “You Have Wasted Your Life, Now Please Stop Wasting Your Money,” includes a b-side—you have to pretend the download has a second side to it, ok?—a brand new song titled “You Look Funny When You Think,” which I just heard for the first time earlier today. It’s a great acoustic track with Marijana Hajdarhodzic on lead vocals (what an amazing voice). The download comes as a zipped file (it also contains hi res artwork of the single cover, and a signed lyric sheet) and you can select among different file types (.mp3, flac, AAC) depending on how discerning your ears are.
To download the single they only ask that you sign up for their mailing list, a very fair trade in my opinion, and they also allow you the option to unsubscribe if you wish, but trust me, Keith’s email updates are among some of the funniest things I have ever read, you won’t want to unsubscribe.
If you enjoy “You Have Wasted Your Life, Now Please Stop Wasting Your Money” you need to check out the rest of the album, No One’s Fault But Your Own. It’s an incredibly infectious collection of songs full of wit and dark humor, and you can listen to in its entirety via stream and purchase from their website here rather than just me talking about it, so stop listening to me and get on over there!
Wait! Before you go, they have also sent out into the wilds a new video to go with the “You Have Wasted Your Life, Now Please Stop Wasting Your Money” single, and you can view it on their site along with other videos, and also right here:
Wait again, there’s still more! You should also check out this great article about the launch party for the single from Clink Magazine, a review with some great photos of the show.
Downside: I’m stuck all the way on the other side of the ocean and I’ll be missing all the fun (but cheering from afar!)
One of the intents of this blog when I first started it was to provide a place to share not only my own creative output, but that of my friends, from people I have known for ages to the people I have had the pleasure of meeting along the way, both near and afar. With the rise of the intertubes comes the wonderful opportunity to meet those that normally one would not have had otherwise. Back in the day when I started my very first music ‘zine at the tender age of 12, I discovered how powerful it is to connect with others who are like minded, though the tools were rough then. I remember taking an ad out in a teeny bop magazine for a few bucks, and ending up with over 200 subscribers, mostly girls of roughly the same age with the same interests. We formed our own little community and I was thrilled to have that many new pen pals to boot.
Mick Jones' Rock n Roll Public Library at Chelsea Space (Photo: Wheelz Wheeler)
Now here we are in the age of the computer, and I find myself doing the exact same thing, except now on a larger scope. Via a graphic design forum, and also through other social media outlets, I have over the past few years made acquaintances with people all over the world, some who have evolved into what I can say in all sincerity great friends. Many of them have sprung from the group I mentioned here before that I started on Facebook in support of Mick Jones’ Rock ‘n Roll Public Library. With that group of friends I share in common an intense love for the Clash and all related projects that translates into a very distinct world view and philosophy, and it is a very generous, sharing community, one I’m glad to have become a part of. The ability to network via social media can be an amazing and powerful thing indeed.
So, back to the idea of sharing the creative endeavors of others, one such person that I have met via the Mick Jones’ group is an amazingly talented photographer named Haydn “Wheelz” Wheeler, and I want to share some of his work here because I really feel it deserves to be seen by more people. So continuing with what I like to call my Friends of Tulip Tree series, I introduce to you the work of Wheelz Wheeler.
A little about him, Haydn is a long time Clash loving soul, a bass player from Bournemouth. He is a gardener in Poole, England as profession, but his real passion is street photography. He also frequently attends live concerts and photographs them. In the DIY spirit he photographs as an independent and in an incredibly generous spirit then shares the spoils of his craft via his Flickr page for all to enjoy. Speaking of social media, as of late he has been photo-documenting and attending the NOBonus4RBS campaign rallies conducted by Billy Bragg (more on that in a future post, but for now you can follow the link to learn more), a group that has a very large presence and following on Facebook, with over 33,000 members as of this writing.
So, without further adieu, here are a few images I have selected to share here, the rest resides on his Flickr Gallery, which holds a staggering number of gallery sets including The Good The Bad and The Queen (that’s the name of the album, the band has no name as Paul Simonon will tell you), The Sex Pistols, Los Mondo Bongos, Tinariwen, The Heavy, Thomas Dolby, Martha Wainwright, several sets of the Mick Jones’ Library, Billy Bragg and Jail Guitar Doors to name a tiny fraction of what is there. Enjoy and respect, and if you take a saunter into his gallery, please leave a comment or two to thank him!
Strummer London Print Expo, 2007 (photo: Wheelz Wheeler)
Los Mondo Bongos, March 13, 2010 (photo: Wheelz Wheeler)
Los Mondo Bongos, March 13, 2010 (photo: Wheelz Wheeler)
The Heavy, February 2010 (photo: Wheelz Wheeler)
Billy Bragg, NO BONUS FOR RBS Speakers Corner February 2010 (photo: Wheelz Wheeler)
Mick Jones' Rock 'n Roll Public Library (photo: Wheelz Wheeler)
Martha Wainwright Jazz Cafe London, 2009 (photo: Wheelz Wheeler)
This coming Saturday Drunken Balordi, another band that I’ve recently discovered and am really enjoying lately, will be having a grand old time at Clapham Junction in London at the release party for their first album. (I’ll be stuck here while that is happening, but I’m very much looking forward to getting my hands on a copy once it’s out and about and available.)
Sisters Dissonance 