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"Kalyan Collective - Soul Searching (Sorab Dub)" by Sorab

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Busking, Beats and Bullshit - Sorab meets Animanz & Herbivores

Listening to No Future, the latest track from Herbivores and Animanz it’s hard to believe that these two groups were ever separate. Their energy flows like water creating a homogenous, inseparable sound; similarly, it becomes unclear where one part ends and the other begins; together they have been making waves in the UK Hip-Hop scene. I arrived in Acton at the end of a day’s song writing to discuss their future, or lack thereof.

“This guy is a genius,” explained Mark, keyboard player for Animanz, holding up a Sun Ra vinyl. The was set up as a musicians paradise, complete with MPC, drum kit, keyboards and amps as well as a healthy selection of vinyl ranging from said Saturnite to Talking Heads and Fela Kuti. They say clutter is the mark of a creative mind; and it was certainly clear here. PlayStation games dotted the floor and every surface not used for storage, sported scattered crumbs of weed, the remnants of a mischievous midnight feast. Charlie, from Herbivores described the song writing process, “We’ve been working on new tunes today, the whole thing at the moment is to get new stuff recorded, gigging as well, but we’ve been focussing on just generating a load of new material… We’re lucky to have the band; that creative process of being able to experiment with so many different sounds…to have the luxury of an incredible drummer, bass and keyboard player, we all just bounce off each other.”

“Jamming is key,” added Chiron from Herbivores. And it clearly appears to be working. Following on from the success of their debut single the band has been writing music with new tunes due for release in the next few weeks. “Today we started from nothing” Mark explained, “We loaded some samples into the MPC, and jammed about for a bit. By the end of the day we had a new tune. I like doing that, coming here with no real concept of what we’re going to end up with and just vibing on the spot.” This organic approach to song writing explains the vibrant feel of Herbivores & Animanz songs with such an eclectic mix of instrumentation (see electric sitar.)

Herbivores & Animanz - Hootananny, Brixton.

“There are many pitfalls in live band hip-hop as we found out, that’s probably the reason you don’t hear it as much. You always hear people saying that’s a thing, hip-hop should be more ‘live’. It’s not like we started anything new, it’s been happening for a long time now; Hip-Hop’s like religious big. But it is hard.” Understandably so, with a band that reaches up to twelve members including the three hip-hop front men, it’s a wonder that practises and gigs can be organised at all. That being said they’re clearly handling the pressures well and their impeccable production and song writing is a testament to the group’s passion, dedication and commitment to their cause.

“Recording shapes the way we sound,” mentions Mark. “We’d love to get everyone down to a big studio, the whole band in one room and record that way but it’s hard to find the time and the money.” Their determination to achieve this can be heard in their music, which couples production techniques from the 90s and 70s to achieve a sound that plays well on the track and explodes live.

Herbivores & Animanz with Juanita Euka @ Hootananny, Brixton. 2015

“Promoters are vampires, to be honest…in truth we actually prefer busking, playing out on the streets is great, it’s much more fun and free” explained Max, from Animanz. “And we improved so much more than we would just rehearsing at someone’s house” added Andrea, the drummer. The band are not alone in this belief, the list of musicians who have taken the time to busk is extensive, drawing names like James Morrisson and Tom Jones, amongst…ahem…other hip-hop greats. “The reaction’s a lot different. That’s what makes me almost prefer busking to playing elsewhere,” Mark explains. “People come to a gig and they expect music, they got this expectation of how good it’s going to be or meant to be, sometimes it feels a bit like you’re on trial” he laughs. “But when we’re busking, what we bring, the whole carnivalistic, mass-crew, party vibe; it takes people off guard and as a result they can just get into the music without any baggage.”

Busking

Nowadays, the traditional idea of busking has changed completely. Street Performance is prohibited in the borough of the City of London, and many other boroughs require a permit to busk. You even have to audition for a spot at Covent Garden, where performers make up to £150 in 30 minutes. “Yeah it’s pretty bureaucratic; and they have limits on sound. With a full band it’d be hard for us to get a license.” Mark didn’t seem that bothered. Many of London’s street performers simply set up and hope the police don’t move them on. That being said, with the charge for performing without a licence at up to £1000 and offenders running the risk of having their equipment confiscated, this is not a confrontation to be overlooked.

Between busking, gigging, writing new material and preparing for festivals the band have their hands full, especially in addition to the more mundane tasks of work and study. Perhaps the advantage of having such a big group of musicians involved means that they can take turns doing the boring stuff. They certainly aren’t afraid to work hard, and it was never going to be easy. “There’s more hip-hop than ever now, but in a way it’s almost saturated by it. It becomes hard to find the good stuff amongst everything else…People nowadays are quick to judge because there’s so much selection.” The guys clearly get on well and at the end of a day musical vibes were still flowing. Judging by the tracks they have produced so far they may, one day, see some irony in the title of their debut single.