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<\/a><\/p>\nAcclaimed London collective Benin City introduce a new 5 track EP which sees the trio\u2019s distinctive sound explore new boundaries within their trademark alternative style.<\/p>\n
Fusing together up-tempo spoken word with a carefully balanced cohesion of electronica, brass, and hip-hop elements the forthcoming ‘Midnight Malarky’ EP sees Benin City preview a more progressive sound. We’re a massive fan of their chameleon-like wardrobe and vivid clobber so we thought it wise to try and find out a little bit more..<\/p>\n
Is there any historical significance to the name ‘Benin City’?<\/strong><\/p>\n Josh: It’s the name of my parents’ hometown in Nigeria, where I’d lived for a while. Britain has a history with the Edo Kingdom, but in regards to the music it was the best name we could think up at the time; we haven’t ever consciously been inspired by my culture’s music.<\/p>\n What’s the journey – how did the collaboration happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n J: Tom and I met through a mutual friend; I had a few spoken word ideas I wanted to try out to music, specifically brass, Tom’s a killer tenor sax as well as a musical director\/composer. We dabbled a lot in the London afro-ethnic-funk scene for a bit as a purely live-hip hop-ish band\/collective\u00a0 but things only really kicked off when we wrote Baby<\/i>. That was sort of our ‘okay, this is our sound’ moment, and slowly, as we worked on the album, our identity fell into place. Were you all involved in solo projects before this project?<\/strong><\/p>\n J: I was and still am a spoken word artist, but Benin City was my first band. Tell us more about the single ‘Bus’? It’s been heavily played on our office radio since we heard it last week!<\/strong><\/p>\n J:I spent a large part of my life in East London, riding the night bus 38 home from work after bar-tending. I’ve always experienced London’s nightlife from weird angles – either as a worker or an outsider or someone who went clubbing just to dance\u2013 and that’s something I’ve often wanted to explore in music. Less cups in the air, more handcuffs by the pavement, so with the new writing came the opportunity. How do you approach the creative process – are there any in-house bust-ups.<\/strong><\/p>\n J: Tom is technically a zombie. I killed him a while back because he tried to edit my lyrics. But apart from that, naye: It’s very much a ‘every idea must be tried out no matter how stupid’ environment which makes for a lengthier process but has worked pretty well so far. How do you compromise your overall sound? What happens if one member wishes to take a certain track in a particular direction and the others aren’t feeling it?<\/strong><\/p>\n J: We nipped that in the bud pretty early. Everyone contributes songs and then we whittle the list down to 10-15. After that, any idea does not conform to the list, however cool, gets dropped. For example, So You Say off the album started out a lot more live-funk\/pop than it is now, which did not fit with where we were at the time, so we gutted it.
\nTom: Maybe in hindsight we should have played the long game, releasing more EPs, but we had this album in us waiting to get out. It was a milestone we wanted to reach so we just went for it.<\/p>\n
\nT:\u00a0I\u2019m a jobbing musician so before Benin City I was playing all over with different bands and musicians.<\/p>\n
\nT: I think it\u2019s a bit more cohesive as a track than some of the things on the last record. Marc Pell from Micachu and The Shapes has produced with us again and Portugal The Man from Alaska were keen to work together on something. Everyone who\u2019s ever lived in or even just been on a night out in London has a night bus story. You might even be someone else\u2019s night bus story and not even know it.<\/p>\n
\nT: We\u2019re always talking to each other about new music we\u2019re listening to so we can be on the same page when we\u2019re writing together. That helps a lot. Once you know the context of another persons idea, you can start shaping it together.<\/p>\n
\nT: Anyone who listens to music can spot another band\u2019s influences a mile off. The new tracks on Midnight Malarky had such an identity from the off that there was no question what they would sound like.<\/p>\n