Now based in London and the trio are to release their debut album this summer, SugaRush Beat Company are a mix of soul, funk, electro and gospel who had just played two dates in London when I spoke to them and are due to appear at the RCA Live 1 event at the Indig02, London.
What are you up to at the moment?
Jaz: We've just been doing some press after the two shows we did on Monday and Tuesday.
How did you get together?
Jaz: Well it was back in very late 2005, when Rahasaan was down in Australia doing some club solo shows for his record her was touring at that point in time and his promoter had put in a couple of writer producers to keep Rahsaan what he thought was occupied.
Rahsaan: It was really to introduce me to the counter people in Australia, and Jarrad ended up being one of those people that I decided to go and work with.
Ida: I was doing my debut album in Denmark at the time, my first album, and then I got an email from Jarrad, through my management to tell me to listen to this group. I heard it, and I thought it was amazing, so I went for it and we met up in Denmark 2 weeks later, and the next day we were recording in my apartment.
How did the two gigs go by the way?
Rahsaan: They were excellent.
Jarrad: Yeah they were great.
Ida: Yeah amazing.
Jarrad: Good reponse good turn out they were fun.
Ida: Good venue as well.
Jarrad: Great venue.
Have you got anything else planned?
Jarrad: Yeah we do we're back on the 28th May to do another show down at the Indigo at the O2. We're playing V festival in August and I'm sure there is another stuff that will come through as well as the plot starts to build there will be stuff starting to come through. There's plenty. A tour as well at the end of the year.
Have you played festivals before?
Jarrad: No, I haven't, as a group we haven't.
Ida: Individually I have.
How would you describe your music to someone who hasn't heard it before?
Ida: It's a fusion of showers and love and everything that music does and gives you, the happy moments and sad moments. Everything is put into that it's not a defined style it's a mixture of all the music that has touched us through the years.
Jarrad: It's quite eclectic I guess.
Have you finished the debut album yet?
Jarrad: Yes we have.
Ida: It's released the first week in September.
So what tracks will people have heard before they see you at festivals?
Rahsaan: Gunshots and Candyfloss, The End, L-O-V-E.
I like the video to that.
Jarrad: Thank you.
Ida: That's the next single.
Jarrad: It's released on the 24th June I think. Then 'They Said, I Said' is the single after that. Then the album and then SugaRush.
Who came up with the idea for the video?
Jarrad: It was an extension of the SugaRush video which we'd done already. It was an extension of that idea. The treatment kind of came through of the same guys which we're using for all the videos now. The theme, the look, and the feel of the artwork, the style and everything is intertwined and carried through. We've tried to create world and this space were SugaRush exists as part of our creativity. We didn't want to just have photos or a nice picture.
Who is the design people who put it together?
Jarrad: Guys in Melbourne, Australia called Planet of Animation they did our first video SugaRush back in September last year I think it was finished. Then before they started on this one they got picked up by Pixar.
So are you always going to be animated?
Jarrad: For this record.
Ida: For this one, for now. You never know what's going to happen.
Jarrad: We're not sure, but it feels right for now that's for sure.
Who has influenced each of you in your musical styles then?
Jarrad: Mozart.
Ida: Michael Jackson.
Rahsaan: Prince Rufus, Sly and the Family Stone.
Jarrad: Rolling Stones, Radiohead, all that kind of stuff, Chopin.
Who would you like to collaborate with?
Jarrad: Chopin and Mozart.
That would be kind of tricky.
Ida: yeah, just a little bit.
Jarrad: I'd like to collaborate with Richard Ashcroft, I think that would be a kind of interesting thing.
Have you got any guests on the album?
Rahsaan: Yeah, Ida and I.
Ida: Michael Franti.
Jarrad: Yeah Michael Franti guested on it.
Ida: And The Avalanches.
Jarrad: Yeah they do a bit of scratching and stuff for us on one of the tracks.
What's the best band you've been to see?
Ida: I saw India Ire in Denmark, and James Brown just before he passed away. So that's the two best most recent gigs I've been to see. I think India Ire is amazing.
Rahsaan: Well James Brown, he was great. I got to actually see him at the Northsea Jazz Festival about two years ago, and I was able to open for him so I got to watch from the side of the stage and that was monumental. And I would have to say probably also the first concert I ever went to which was the Jackson's Victory Tour back in 84 - that was good.
Jarrad: My first one I went to was the U2 concert, that was mind blowing at the age of 14. But probably the best one was Prince when he came to Australia, he played 'Purple Rain' I had to sit down I was crying.
And what's the best gig you've played so far as band together?
Rahsaan: Probably the one we just did.
Ida: Yeah, the one this Tuesday.
And what it made the special?
Rahsaan: It was the most recent.
Ida: Yeah and we'd played the day before.
Rahsaan: We were able to have a synergy that kind of propelled the energy that came forth for the audience.
Ida: And it was all our own audience, they came to see us. They were not just crashing somebody else's party.
Rahsaan: It was our first gig, where people had paid to see us and that's what made it different.
So this has been you first headlining dates? Rahsaan: We've only played here in London so far.
Jarrad: Yeah.
Ida: Yeah. We're waiting for the album to come out, so we can back the album.
Well enjoy playing live, enjoy the Indigo O2 gig and good luck with the new single.
Ida: Thanks.
Jarrad: Yeah.
Rahsaan: Thanks we will, bye.
Ida: Take care.
Jarrad: Bye
article by: Scott Williams
published: 08/05/2008 17:10
FUTURE GIGS
sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.