Jazz/funk band from South London.
162 Lee High Road, Lewisham, SE13
Tottenham Court Road, London
Crystal Palace Park, SE19
The Gibson showcase date has been moved to the end of July.
We’re looking for a guest vocalist for our second album. If you’re interested, post us a message on the forum.
The release date for our new album, Plans, is 4th June 2007. You can pre-order it from Amazon or Play.com.
It began in 2004 when I started writing instrumentals on my computer, these included Sunday, slo tune, and Gerry Gigolo. But without vocalists it felt like there was a huge gap so I pulled in Flo, who I knew through my flatmates little sister, and put down a few vocal tracks with her. It worked well but I was also after a male vocalist/mc to complement her high tones. This was slightly harder to find as I was after someone who could sing, rap and write. The vast majority of mcs out there were more interested in emulating than inovating and so confined themselves to the stylistic restrictions of your typical uk hiphop. Eventually though, I heard of Leo, who had just moved to Peckham, through a freind of a freind in a chance meeting in Greenwich park. We arranged to meet at mine and listened to some of each others work and it became obvious that we could work well together. About a week later we started recording his parts in order to fit in with what Flo had already recorded. I then met Jonny (trombone) through Leo who added an extra element to the music and it was not long before we had a demo whith which to promote ourselves. We distributed this among freinds and then were contacted by Len, an old freind from music school who was putting on Needle and Thread nights at the bug bar in Brixton. He asked us to play, so we did a backing track set to the instrumentals on the demo which went down really well. Len asked us to return on the condition that we had a full band behind us! A month later, at the last minute, I managed to cobble together some musicians including Luke (bass) who I lived with and the rest I poached from Goldsmiths. However this line-up couldn’t last as some of the players had other commitments. So it transpired that a few months later, about three days before a gig for which I’d promised the full band, I was looking for a new cellist, drumer and pianist. Luckily, at a party I met jo (cello) who lived with Amy (percussion) and was good freinds with Morgan (Piano). They were all up for the gig so it went ahead, we all had a wicked time playing together and so kept the line-up for the next year and a half or so. In this time we had a residency in Olivers in Greenwich and played various other venues around London...all with out a drummer which gave us quite a unique sound. It was also about this time that we met Jack Steven of Filthy Luca records who helped us set up About records and record our first album. After recording we decided it was about time to get ourselves a drummer for the live show and so started auditioning. Trippy (drums), who was a freind of one of my other flatmates, aside from being a great drummer fit the ethos of the group and imediately got along well with everyone. And thats how we got to the line-up in its current form.
About Records is the home of Ashok. Having our own label is symbolic of our intention to have a long and successful musical career in which we hope to encounter and also nurture talent in the future. Once the label has the juices of a released album pumping through it, we should see it grow from strength to strength.
Filthy Lucre is the second home of Ashok. Owned and run by our partner Jack Steven. This label has been one of the main driving forces behind the production of Ashok’s debut album ‘Plans’. We hope that this fantastic label continues to help young acts find an independent way to form their careers. Helping them to develop, learn and release their material.
Kuba Music is Jack’s baby. This in business terms would be the umbrella that shades over the other labels. Or in real business terms the ‘honey pot’. Ashok likes to think of it as the father figure; there to help, there to aid, but by all rights expecting to be looked after when it gets old.
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