TLOBF Interview // Beardyman

Two-time UK Beatbox champion? Check. Sold-out comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe? Check. Spellbinding audiences worldwide with an organic blend of jocularity and din? Check. Beardyman aka Darren Foreman is the enigmatic figure who runs onto this Velcro-covered wall of sentiment and is readily attached in swift haste. The North London native has supported the likes of Groove Armada and compered renowned festival stages such as he did last summer at Bestival.

Christian Adofo speaks to Beardy about his forthcoming I Done A Album LP, adopting the persona of a rudeboy and why he salutes the local bossman rather than the Colonel.

Easy, Beardyman. Can you give us background info for those that aren’t familiar with what you do?

I’m a beatboxer who has taken other technology to make all sorts of madness depending on the situation.

Any artists or influences that shaped your musical outlook early on?

Umm…early on when I was really young I would say the Beatles and Classical Music. But when I got into drugs, I got into dance music.

In your shows, a considerable amount of wit is interspersed alongside your natural talent of beatboxing. Does it come naturally or has it been a progressive trait you’ve developed now you have a greater stage presence?

Yeah. Basically about five days after I was born I started walking and ten days after that I could already speak about five languages. But then by the time I got to five I lost all those superhuman abilities….so since then it’s all gone downhill.

Do you feel it’s your universal selling point amongst other like-minded sound merchants?

The main reason why people come to my shows is because they know I’m creating music made in the moment and it sounds like real music. Also due to the fact that I get naked and set myself on fire on stage.

Your debut LP is out in March… What has the journey been like in the past year or so making the jigsaw pieces fit?

It’s been quite mad seeing the album making process come together where your excited at the beginning, then towards the end your arguing over the smallest detail as you want the album to sound perfect. We had a really interesting setup where we recorded the album using Ableton and my live rig.

What can listeners expect to hear?

They can expect to hear some of what they are expecting and maybe some of what they’re not.

On the album you worked with Foreign Beggars on the track ‘Oh’, what was the collaboration like?

Well they are complete assholes and I never wanna work with them again because they came round to my studio set it on fire and just left. I thought they were sound, they dropped some wicked lyrics and then they fucking set my entire studio on fire.

We can safely say the next time you meet them it won’t be too jovial.

The next time I see them, I’ll blaze them up like they did to my studio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuY9c_CEO0E&feature=player_embedded

On the track ‘Big Man’ you adopt the persona of a misguided delinquent in his early teens. What inspired this inner dialogue?

We produced a beat over a synth which sounded like it’d been borrowed from a gangster rap track and at that point in the album I was doing a session with Tom Middleton. He was giving me ideas and he said that it was too normal and I could do something a lot more interesting than that. Then he made a heavy beat, so it really didn’t come from anyway. I wasn’t mugged or anything.

*Pause*

But I have been mugged though.

I still find it hilarious though *In pre-pubescent voice* Yeah Blaad, what’s going on?

Haha, it was just a stupid freestyle which got out of hand.

On the upcoming “Where Are You Taking Me?” Tour, you’ll be making a fresh album with the aid of audience suggestions every night. What has been the most random and sweat inducing request yet?

I did this freestyle project recently with Stig of the Dump, Dizraeli, MC Lean And Dr Syntax. Basically in the video we did a song about Gummy Bears, and I did one with a monkey fuckin’ a grape via Bluegrass.

Where are you most looking forward to playing?

No where in particular. Obviously the hometown one will be good cos’ all my mates will be there.

Is their a considerable amount of weight on your shoulders to succeed as you make the transition from beatboxer to fully fledged recording artist?

Well, you have to aim to do things other people aren’t doing. I could try and be a beatboxer in the purest sense or a singer- songwriter. But I’ve found a midway which works out for me and I feel this is a really natural progression for me.

I heard on the Marvin Gaye…you were a little Mozart. Does that classical base still resonate with your current work?

Nothing particularly virtuosic is on this album. I played all the instruments but not in an extravagant way. But it’s true that when I was 10 or 11 I wrote a symphony.

Who are you listening to at the moment?

Jon Hopkins and Wheat.

Any artists we should look out for in 2011?

No one really. Actually…..watch out for Justin Bieber. He’s gonna be shot sometime in May. Also Elton John and Cliff Richard are coming back in a big way.

How has Beardy been received beyond Blighty?

The response has always been quite mental like in Australia, Japan and New Zealand.

Which place has surprised you the most?

I did this gig once in a half-finished stadium in Lithuania. That was pretty mental and they created a massive moshpit, then we had to cut the power as girls were getting crushed.

Any producers or artists you’d like to work with in the future?

Um…yeah lots, but doubt it will happen. We toyed with the idea of bringing producers in for this album, yet it never worked out. I’ll like to produce at some point mind.

North or South London?

North…because I live there.

Rahzel or Michael Winslow?

Oooooh. If I choose one person, does the other have to die?

Yes, otherwise they’ll get vaporised in this instant wherever they are in the world now.

This is ridiculously hard. I can’t choose. Sorry.

Lastly. Do you salute the Bossman or the Colonel?

Are we talking RFC, LFC or…..?

We’re talking all of the FC’s in the vicinity.

KFC is like the champagne of Fried Chicken but if I need some value for money and some real super grease then it’s the bossman.

Thanks Beardy.

Safe.

Beardyman’s upcoming “Where Are You Taking Me?” tour starts on February 17 in Brighton. For further tour dates check: www.beardyman.co.uk/live-dates

Beardyman’s debut I Done A Album LP is out via Sunday Best Recordings on March 28.