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SPEEDOMETER

Drumsuite: What music did you grow up with ?

My mum was into Motown/Jazz and my Dad was into Led Zep/Yes and although I liked bits of each as a kid I got really into the ska scene in the early 80's (like everyone did) but it was my early twenties by the time i'd really found the music i wanted to do.

Who is/was your biggest influence and helped you shape the sound you have today ?

Speedometer was no more than a tribute to The Meters when it started. We were four guys who were really interested in getting the synchopation right on some of those classic grooves. Some bands attempted to modernise the grooves but no-one it did like the meters. But as the band grew it was influenced by what we were hearing in clubs by funk dj's such as Snowboy and Adrian Gibson who were playing the faster deep funk tracks, and I was hooked..

Can you tell us how Speedometer came about ?

Formed from an acid jazz band called the persuaders in the late 90's. Four of us wanted to break the sound down to a baisc guitar/bass/drums/organ format and really work on the groove. But as popularity grew I wanted to write tunes which had more dynamics and so we added horns, vocals and percussion over the last 5 years to the nine piece band it is today.

How did you come in contact with the Soulfire label ?

Snowboy had a copy of some material we had done and recomended I send it to Philip Lehman, who was running the label at the time as he had split from Desco Label. He really like it and came over to help produce the first single. Working with him really helped me understand how to get the old school funk sound.

Your first few releases are instrumental, at what point did you feel the band needed a singer ?

It was a natural progression. We had been spoilt by doing some gigs with Marva Whitney and Sharon Jones and really felt that we had something missing when we did our own thing. So finding the right singer was key. We've had Ria Currie for around 3 years and I met when she came in the studio to try out a track for us. By the first verse I knew she was the singer we needed.

Being a part of the 'New funk' movement how do you see it progressing ?

I think whats interesting is the new funk bands have fragmented into different styles over the last 2-3 years to a point where I'm not convinced there's a "scene" any more. The New Mastersounds went back to a quartet based boogaloo sound, Sharon Jones and Dap Kings focus more on the classic soul sound, Breakestra have a more progressive hiphop sound etc etc. We all seem to have our angle - and thats good. Speedometer itself is progressing with one foot still in the deep funk sound but another that explores our other passions of latin, jazz and afrobeat.

Is there any 'old artist' that you'd like to record with ?

Robert Moore (Everythings gonna be alright) is planning to come over in November to the UK so it would be great to do some stuff with him. I always had hoped to work with the legendary Lyn Collins one day, but sadly she passed away last year. It was her vocals that inspired many of the vocal arrangements in speedometer songs - so to have worked with her would have been amazing.

You've travelled the world with Speedometer, what is your favourite city and clubnight at the moment ?

Some of my favourite shows have been at the Jazzcafe in London but best city and club experience was our last night in Osaka, Japan last year. The city is an amazing mix of old and new Japan and just the most amazingly friendly people. After the last show we were invited to a club which turned out to be on the fourth floor at the back of a small record store. It had the records at one end with a bar (my kind of record shop) and a dj and small dance floor at the other side. There was a couple of musicians (sax / tromnbone) jamming to the tracks the DJ played. They played several speedo tracks while we were there which was weird! We talk about the experience from time to time and the next album will be called "four flights up" dedicated to that night.

What's your top 3 tipples ?

1. Magners (with ice) - when its hot, 2. Mohito - when you're chilled, 3. Sake - when its late !

Future plans if you can share them ?!

In Autumn Freestyle plan to release a limited edition album called "Diggin Deep" which will feature early 45's and unreleased material from our back catalogue. Our immediate plan is to complete the 3rd speedometer album which will be out on Freestyle in early 2007 and get a live album out in the latter part of 2007.

Thanks for taking the time out to do this interview is anything else you'd like to say ?

Check out the new updated website www. speedometer-funk.co.uk and look out for dates in late 2006

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