A.J. Holmes is one of London’s musical treasures. His band, A.J. Holmes & The Hackney Empire bring fun and tropical happiness to whatever venue they rock up at. He’s played a key role in establishing London’s best alternative club night, Secousse, alongside Radioclit, who are hosting a one off special this Friday at Favela Chic: The only place to be this New Years Eve.
A truly fascinating man, here’s what he had to say when we got in touch:
Firstly, how and when did you form the Hackney Empire?
It was at the beginning of 2009. I was asked by the Royal Festival Hall to perform at one of the David Byrne concerts. They know my solo records and my previous projects. They had heard that I had a band called The Hackney Empire after a one off show that I did with some genius friends at Secousse. That one off band had different members to the band that is now A.J. Holmes & The Hackney Empire - well all but one (Kwame Ogoo who now plays guitar, played the bass that time.)
So they had heard that I could bring a band, but I didn’t actually have a band so I had to quickly put one together because I was keen to do the show, having always been a big fan of David Byrne, especially the Talking Heads stuff.
I wasn’t sure if we would do another show together after that incarnation but it really seemed to work and so for me it was the logical progression for my music. Before that I had just been playing solo shows doing a live looping show.
Where did the name ‘the Hackney Empire’ come from?
From the building of course hehehe! The Hackney Empire is a famous theatre in Hackney, which is the London borough that I live in. I really like it when bands / crews name themselves after landmarks, for example, The Newham Generals (after the Newham General Hospital), Kilburn and The High Roads (which was Ian Durry’s band before The Blockheads. Kilburn High Road is a road in London).
I also find the Imperialist connotation of the name interesting. We are a British band playing African influenced music and of course if you put the word Empire in your name it can be a contentious issue. It’s easy to think of a dubious link to colonialism. However, it is ironic that Hackney is one of most multicultural boroughs in London, with huge African, Caribbean and Asian communities as well as many more, some of whom have their origins in countries that were once part of the British Empire.
So it’s like the Empire came ‘home’ or ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ if you like… I also like the duality of the words Hackney and Empire being in the same title. It is a celebration of the multiculturalism of my immediate surroundings.
Multiculturalism is of obvious importance to you then. When did this come about?
I’ve grown up with this fantastic multiculturalism. The borough of London that I was born and grew up in, Barking & Dagenham, has had the most amount of immigrant ‘settlers’ out of all the London boroughs in the last 15 years. This has of course had some negative effects, for example, the BMP getting voted into local government a couple of years back; thankfully only for a short while.
One of the many positive points of this high number of immigrant residents is of course the cultural cross-pollination, which I totally embraced. It seemed like the most natural artist statement for me to put together a mixed race, cross-cultural band like A.J. Holmes & The Hackney Empire.
Fraudian Slip ft. Kastro (Uproot Andy Remix) by Uproot Andy
Your music has clearly taken great influence from your early exposure to other cultures, drawing huge inspiration from mainly African sounds and rhythms. Have you ever been to Africa yourself? Ever been on safari?
I’ve been to Egypt but that isn’t really the part of Africa that has inspired me the most musically. There is a big West African influence in my music: High Life / Palm Wine and Congolese: Rumba / Soukous. But I’ve never been to those places. I feel that those places came to me.
As I said, there is a huge African community living in Hackney so I feel that I have been submerged in the music through being in close proximity and contact to the African community here. For example, my nieghbour Folo Graff, from whom I learnt African Guitar, is one of Sierre Leone’s finest musicians and African music teachers in the world. I’ve been extremely lucky there.
You’re recent single, Fraudian Slip, was produced by Radioclit, how did you first come to know the Radioclit chaps?
I met them via Myspace (back in the day). I heard a demo of ‘Chalo’ by The Very Best - the project was simply called Esau Mwamwaya (the name of the singer / co song writer) at the time. I loved the track! I thought it was the best new project I’d heard for years. So I wrote to them and told them so.
They replied saying that they liked my music too and if I’d be interested in doing a session; they were in the process of putting together the 1st The Very Best album at the time. When we met we just hit it off. It felt like we had a lot of common ground. So they asked me to get involved with the club they had just started: Secousse. They have been very supportive of The Hackney Empire right from the beginning. Very lovely guys!
The release came out on Ghetto Bassquake, can you tell us a little bit about the label?
Ghetto Bassquake started (and still is) as a tropical music blog run by Vamanos, an amazing DJ and taste-maker. He’s one of the resident DJs at Secousse in London. So after writing the blog for 5 years, it was fast becoming one of the main points of reference for DJs and lovers of Tropical music / contemporary international club music. He therefore decided to put his money where his mouth is and start a record label to release some of the music that we loves and has been blogging about.
Fraudian Slip by A.J. Holmes & The Hackney Empire was the 1st release on the label.
What’s the main idea behind Secousse and how did it come about?
It was started by Radioclit in 2007. The idea was to create a platform to play out some of the amazing music that we’d ‘discovered’ that is coming out of the ‘devoloping world’. Etienne Tron (Radioclit / The Very Best) calls it ‘Third World Power’.
We have a huge love for African music. At the time when Radioclit started the night there didn’t seem to be any clubs outside the African community that were playing and mixing up all the genres of modern African music: Kwaito & Shangaan from South Africa, Kuduro from Angola, Coupe Decale from Ivory Coast, Funana from Cabo Verde.
However, we didn’t, and continue not to draw the line there. We mix it with Afro Grime and UK Funky, Indie & Hip Hop from the US, European Tropical Dance as well as old school stuff that we love: Palm Wine, Jive, Afro pop, Rumba, Soukous, Kavacha, Tradimodern, High Life. AsloReggaeton and Cumbia from Latin America. Even some old school rock ‘n’ roll. So the music policy is very broad, fitting under the concept of ‘Tropical’ which I guess is what people used to call ‘world music’, but with an emphasize on club music / culture.
What role do you see Secousse playing in the current London dance music scene?
Well I think it’s fair to say we were the first ‘Tropical’ club night. Well at least the first to label a night ‘Tropical’. So even though there are quite a lot of Tropical club nights now, we are the original and I would say still the best!
The music that we promote tends to be ‘ghetto music’ so it’s easy to see how it’s sat comfortably with Hip Hop & the UK Funky scene for example. I’d like to think we bring all these sensibilities together and show the parallels.
What’s the future plan for AJ Holmes & The Hackney Empire?
We have just recorded an album so that will be released in 2011. We’ll be working on that for the next few months. Then it’s time to write the next album which is exciting because in the 2 years (almost) that we have been together we have progressed so much as a band and as producers.
Other members of the band are coming up with ideas for songs now, so I’m really looking forward to this next episode. The main plan is to continue to be inspired.
Have you got anything special planned for the NY Secousse party at Favela Chic?
Oh yes, there is gonna be an amazing band call Maringha Band led by one of Sierra Leone’s legendary musicians, Folo Graff. Also in the band is Emile Ogoo (Super Combo / S.E. Rogie & The Morning Stars). It’s an impressive mix of Traditional rituals and music from rural Sierra Leone and the urban Pan-African music of High Life and Rumba.
Also you can expect the usual DJs from the London crew: Vamanos, Moroka, Etienne Tron, and myself. We also welcome back the Paris crew: Mo Laudi, Arthur & Jean Jacques. So it’s set to be a banger.
A.J. Holmes & The Hackney Empire are playing at Rich Mix so I’ll be party hopping on the night.
A.J. HOLMES FRAUDIAN MIXTAPE by A.J. & The Hackney Empire
Finally, where do you get your fantastic jumpsuits from?
From the amazingly talented stylist/costume designer: Nino Magic Consultant. She also does a project in Berlin called The Action Painting Club (T∆PC).
We have another stylist that we work with also called Iman Ogoo (yes Emile’s daughter and Kwame’s sister) she has designed the new look for A.J. Holmes & The Hackney Empire which is a cross between Pearly Kings / Queens and African sapeurs. So watch out for that one!
To buy tickets to the New Year Secousse special at Favela Chic, click here.
Also, check out the second release from Ghetto Bassquake, the Banana Clipz EP, right here.
