“Our hometown will always be Edinburgh..."
Edinburgh isn’t exactly renowned for its band scene. Art galleries, sure, and don’t forget it’s rolling streets and beautiful architecture. But in terms of bands, of young kids getting up onstage and kicking out the jams, well... it’s somewhat lacking.
Which is why it’s heartening to see the hard-earned success of Bwani Junction. The Edinburgh troupe are a deeply independent story, with their commitment to playing live any time, anywhere taking them to unexpected heights. Stood outside London venue The Lexington, the group are clearly tired but elated to be playing live once again.
“Our hometown will always be Edinburgh” they state. “We’re staying with a friend who is currently in America right now but he’s let us use his house, which is amazing. We would have been sleeping in the van otherwise!”
Joking amongst themselves, Bwani Junction explain that they also had another option, from a rather unlikely saviour. “We’ve just had a show on Monday... It was the Royal event, so we were playing after Newton Faulkner. He was so nice! We had nowhere to stay, and then we met him after the soundcheck and he said ‘you can come crash back at my place if you want!’” Sadly, it seems that the pairing just wasn’t to be. “We didn’t go. He gave us his number, we were like: this is ridiculous. He wanted someone to babysit his kids!”
Life on the road can be exhausting, but it’s Bwani Junction’s commitment which has pushed them into unexpected quarters. After playing in London, the band face a trip to Inverness and then a return journey to Edinburgh – all in all, covering a distance of some 900 miles. Using social networks to keep in touch with fans, the band have been able to build up a devoted following. “It’s like an obsession, checking the numbers. The number game” they muse. “In a way, you’re not too fussed because you’re doing what you’re doing but you’re also interested to see what you do brings in more numbers. Like some random show in some horrible venue and you’ll actually get a hundred fans from it. You can do a fifteen hundred capacity show and you’ll get five. It’s going well –we’re all really happy with it. It’s just sort of nice and steady. A lot of bands, the quicker they climb the quicker they fall, I think”.
They have a point. More and more young groups are simply being given no time to develop – either hit platinum with your debut, labels reason, or it’s back to the dole queue. “Then you’re tarred with a brush thereafter – even if your second or third albums are amazing” the band reason. “You’re tarred with – ‘well, you didn’t sell...’ It’s a difficult position for a band after that. I just take it as it comes.”
Recording their debut album with Paul Savage at the Chem19 facility, Bwani Junction were given a masterclass into how translate a live show into a studio document. Hooking up with the producer once again, the band recall the impact he had on their music. “In a way, less” they muse. “He taught us how to strip back our music and that helped a lot because a lot of the time we’d be playing over each other or playing as much as we could all the time. He just kind of stepped in and said: strip it back, chill out, jam for a while. It was amazing what he brought to the table. He changed our aspect on creating music”.
Bwani Junction - Two Bridges
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Making the transition from being a live entity into a studio band, Bwani Junction were forced to re-think the way they approached music. “It’s a different game. He taught us that things can sound good live just because it’s so loud. You think, that’s amazing! Then you record it and listen to it behind monitors and you’re like, actually it’s he’s right – it’s not as good live. You have to change and adapt. When you see it from the place he sees it, it was all rubbish.”
Which is, of course, ludicrous. Bwani Junction aren’t rubbish – they’re infused with a rare sense of energy which is completely contagious. All looping riffs, bouncing, tribal rhythms and sighing harmonies the band are busy ploughing through album #2 – however their independent status means that it’s slow going. “We’re kind of doing this album almost in blocks of four. So four songs, four songs, four songs. Take it as it comes... It’s all sort of when we can” they state. “It’s coming together nice, though”.
Dropping new material into their live set, Bwani Junction are proving that life outside the label system isn’t impossible. Mind you, proving where they come from is still mighty difficult. “We’ve had a lot of Tweets from people lately saying: when will Bwani Junction come to Scotland? It’s like, come on guys we live here! When we were at T In The Park a few weeks ago we got a Tweet saying: why aren’t Bwani Junction at T In The Park? We’re just about to go on! He didn’t reply. It’s funny, you don’t get a reply from these guys. We live in Edinburgh we’re from here! Radio silence...”
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Bwani Junction: http://www.facebook.com/Bwanijunction
Which is why it’s heartening to see the hard-earned success of Bwani Junction. The Edinburgh troupe are a deeply independent story, with their commitment to playing live any time, anywhere taking them to unexpected heights. Stood outside London venue The Lexington, the group are clearly tired but elated to be playing live once again.
“Our hometown will always be Edinburgh” they state. “We’re staying with a friend who is currently in America right now but he’s let us use his house, which is amazing. We would have been sleeping in the van otherwise!”
Joking amongst themselves, Bwani Junction explain that they also had another option, from a rather unlikely saviour. “We’ve just had a show on Monday... It was the Royal event, so we were playing after Newton Faulkner. He was so nice! We had nowhere to stay, and then we met him after the soundcheck and he said ‘you can come crash back at my place if you want!’” Sadly, it seems that the pairing just wasn’t to be. “We didn’t go. He gave us his number, we were like: this is ridiculous. He wanted someone to babysit his kids!”
Life on the road can be exhausting, but it’s Bwani Junction’s commitment which has pushed them into unexpected quarters. After playing in London, the band face a trip to Inverness and then a return journey to Edinburgh – all in all, covering a distance of some 900 miles. Using social networks to keep in touch with fans, the band have been able to build up a devoted following. “It’s like an obsession, checking the numbers. The number game” they muse. “In a way, you’re not too fussed because you’re doing what you’re doing but you’re also interested to see what you do brings in more numbers. Like some random show in some horrible venue and you’ll actually get a hundred fans from it. You can do a fifteen hundred capacity show and you’ll get five. It’s going well –we’re all really happy with it. It’s just sort of nice and steady. A lot of bands, the quicker they climb the quicker they fall, I think”.
They have a point. More and more young groups are simply being given no time to develop – either hit platinum with your debut, labels reason, or it’s back to the dole queue. “Then you’re tarred with a brush thereafter – even if your second or third albums are amazing” the band reason. “You’re tarred with – ‘well, you didn’t sell...’ It’s a difficult position for a band after that. I just take it as it comes.”
Recording their debut album with Paul Savage at the Chem19 facility, Bwani Junction were given a masterclass into how translate a live show into a studio document. Hooking up with the producer once again, the band recall the impact he had on their music. “In a way, less” they muse. “He taught us how to strip back our music and that helped a lot because a lot of the time we’d be playing over each other or playing as much as we could all the time. He just kind of stepped in and said: strip it back, chill out, jam for a while. It was amazing what he brought to the table. He changed our aspect on creating music”.
Bwani Junction - Two Bridges
- - -
Making the transition from being a live entity into a studio band, Bwani Junction were forced to re-think the way they approached music. “It’s a different game. He taught us that things can sound good live just because it’s so loud. You think, that’s amazing! Then you record it and listen to it behind monitors and you’re like, actually it’s he’s right – it’s not as good live. You have to change and adapt. When you see it from the place he sees it, it was all rubbish.”
Which is, of course, ludicrous. Bwani Junction aren’t rubbish – they’re infused with a rare sense of energy which is completely contagious. All looping riffs, bouncing, tribal rhythms and sighing harmonies the band are busy ploughing through album #2 – however their independent status means that it’s slow going. “We’re kind of doing this album almost in blocks of four. So four songs, four songs, four songs. Take it as it comes... It’s all sort of when we can” they state. “It’s coming together nice, though”.
Dropping new material into their live set, Bwani Junction are proving that life outside the label system isn’t impossible. Mind you, proving where they come from is still mighty difficult. “We’ve had a lot of Tweets from people lately saying: when will Bwani Junction come to Scotland? It’s like, come on guys we live here! When we were at T In The Park a few weeks ago we got a Tweet saying: why aren’t Bwani Junction at T In The Park? We’re just about to go on! He didn’t reply. It’s funny, you don’t get a reply from these guys. We live in Edinburgh we’re from here! Radio silence...”
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Bwani Junction: http://www.facebook.com/Bwanijunction
