Feature

JOEY NEGRO: GROOVES WITH THE SHAKERS

Dave Lee a.k.a. Joey Negro has recorded under a whole range of different pseudonyms, but it’s his live focusing productions with The Sunburst Band that have brought some of the most critical acclaim. B&S caught up with him as he prepares for the release of the bands 3rd album and their first ever live date at this May’s Southport Weekender.

CZ: You’ve just finished the 3rd Sunburst Band album, ‘Moving with the Shakers’, and for someone with such a prolific output 18 months in the making must seem like a pretty long time? Any reason it took that length of time? Did that cause any issues?

JN: Thankfully I wasn’t working on it constantly for 18 months, on and off I guess, as I’ve had quite a few other releases and remixes out over that time. However, it has been my main project. The album only took that long because I was trying to make a something really consistent with a variety of tempos and write decent songs without the banal lyrics that plague so much modern dance music. I abandoned a few tracks I didn’t think were good enough and kept honing the ones that were. Also, I am label, artist, producer and a&r man, so there was no-one to say “stop, that’s enough!!!” LOL

CZ: There are 17 tracks on the album which by today’s standards is a fair few. Was the temptation there to split them over the two albums and cash in?

JN: None really. Though I think 12 would have probably been easily enough it’s not always possible to just produce 12 songs that work together to make a good album. So as I had ended up with this many I thought I might as well include them all - as I didn’t feel any were obviously weak and purely fillers. In fact I actually have 19, but the other 2 (which aren’t totally finished) will appear on a later album with some remixes. The point is, when I make Sunburst Band albums I try to produce something special and put the financial side of things to the back of my mind.

CZ: Generally the Sunburst albums tend to cover a whole range of styles from house to jazz funk and even the odd [classic] electro outing thrown in on occasion? How do you feel this one compare to the others?

JN: I’m too close to comment on it, especially now when I’ve heard the new album so much. When I finished the Until the End of Time I didn’t think it was as good as first, but now I think it’s probably better. People have said this one has more of a live feel to it, though that wasn’t intentional. The bottom line is I’m pretty sure if “MWTS” wasn’t me and I would buy it and play it a lot.

CZ: One of the stand outs on the album is Days Gone By, with the definite shift to the Motown style sound. With the success of Mark Ronson, any plans to do more material in this style?

JN: It was inspired by the early 70s Curtom sound of artists like Voices of East Harlem and early Leroy Hutson. That’s a style I thought hadn’t really been revived at all in modern music. I also thought writing lyrics about growing up and the passing of time fitting well with the music. I doubt if I’ll repeat it to be honest.

CZ: The album features vocals from Leroy Burgess as well as usual Sunburst cohorts such as Pete Simpson and Taka Boom. How did that come about?

JN: I had been playing a new song of his called “Don’t Spoilt It”, which has still never been released. I tried to track down the owners and after having no luck thought I’d try to do my own track with Mr Burgess. Chrissy T who used to work for Z hooked me up with a guy called Jason who does some work for Leroy. Myself and Michele Chiavarini did a backing track for him to write over, then Leroy and I bounced back and forward ideas until I was happy with the direction, melody and lyrical content. I wanted to do something in the vein of his classic 70/80s material like Logg - which have very distinctive chord progressions.

CZ: After the last album, there were a few calls for some live performances. You’ve clearly succumbed to the demand and are making your debut closing at this May’s Southport Weekender. What can people expect?

JN: I didn’t do it before because I was concerned about the amount of work it would entail. It has been pretty time consuming putting the show together, but once it’s all rehearsed then hopefully we can play regularly. We have 6 people on stage and I have to say it sounds pretty good, its live disco/boogie/jazz funk. The players are of such a high standard and as the tracks are pretty much made up of live instruments it wasn’t difficult to make the transition. If you like the records then you should enjoy the live performances. We are also performing at the Jazz Café on 12th July, with hopefully more to come after that

CZ: The album features a cover of Ashford & Simpson’s Rough Times, and you’ve also done a remix for their Rarities compilation. Guess you’re a fan?

JN: I think most music lovers are fans of A&S to a degree – even if they don’t know it, they’ve written so many great songs after all. Rough Times was never actually recorded by the duo, just by Angela Bofil and Candi Staton. I was playing Angela Bofil’s Angie album a lot in the car a few years back - I thought it was a really strong song and one which would work well as a house style production. When I checked the album credits and I found it was Ashford and Simpson I decided to cover it.

CZ: With the whole house scene seemingly going electro crazy over the past year or so, albums like this and the new Fanatix not only stand out, but also keep the flag flying for the soulful end of the market (not to mention British). How do you see the scene going in the near future? Obviously Southport is selling out earlier and earlier which can only be a good thing.

JN: Thankfully there is still a hardcore of people into the more soulful sound, especially in the UK - but alas not that many. Part of the problem is the style has become marginalized and doesn’t get that much exposure, very few of the tracks have videos or any marketing spend behind them. The place you used to hear this sort of music was in clubs, but people attending house parties are increasingly fed a diet of simplistic, mainly instrumental records with the emphasis being totally on energy and big build ups rather than more musical tracks with vocal melodies. I don’t even mind some of that stuff, but all night it bores me. However, it’s just the way it is right now.

CZ: Last time we caught up around the time of the release of the last album, Until The End of Time, you mentioned you weren’t particularly feeling the r’n’b around at the time. What do you think of the stuff coming through these days-Any better?

JN: Not really. The odd track like Amerie “one thing” or Beyonce “déjà vu” is great, but most of the R&B I hear seems extremely clichéd and formulaic. I guess it’s aimed at kids not the old gits like me. I also find the bling/gangster imagery thing really pathetic and is a major turn off even when I do like the tune. Timberland and The Neptunes still make some interesting records from a production point of view, recently almost housey on occasion, but they aren’t things I’d be likely to buy for the most part. I love stuff like Omar and Rebirth, not sure that counts as R&B. There again, if you were a casual listener most of the dance music you hear on TV and radio is crap too.

Moving With The Shakers by Joey Negro and The Sunburst Band is out on May 12th.
Words CURTIS ZACK