beardyman has frequent dealings with the venerable jfb, the right honourable klum-z-tung, the mysterious j'm black, the great shaman ed solo, prince, gary glitter and tony hadley from spandau ballet and neighbors. . . and your Mum.
Influences
Kellar Williams, Killa Kella, Ghost face killa, Godzilla, NOW compilation Filla's, the Gorillaz, a pack of 50 long slim Rizlaz. everyone in the world, except wankers, and also . . . BLackstarr, q-tip/ de la soul, Bob Marley, Bobby Mcferrin, Bob Dylan, Fela Kuti, the Prodigy, Joni Mitchel, David Bowie, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Pink Floyd, raymond scott(his ground breaking big-band stuff and his electronic pioneering visionary genius, james brown (R.I.P. you crazy, funky, god-like genius), LCD Sound-system, Bad company, John B, the future sound of london, cassette boy, Radiohead, System of a down, Aphex twin, the beatles, groove armada, al green, Method man, O.D.B. (R.I.P), Robin Williams (not 'Robbie', Robin!) Michael Jackson, (our 80's perception of him, not who he actually is, Ludakris, M.I.A, Aphex Twin, Wu-Tang clan, Left-Field, Slint, Massive attack, adam freeland, ed solo, Timothy leary, bill hicks, Suzanna Vega, trojan sound system, scientist, scotch egg, Dave Matthews, the doors, Jello Biafra/dead kennedies, Soundgarden, Blur, Low, Ltj Bukem, Dizzy rascal, jfb, Jimmy Hendrix, Stevie wonder, Chicane, Raymond Scott, infected Mushroom, Mauro picotto, Tim exile, kid beyond, all beatboxers worldwide, Bill bailey, Jill Scott, Erica Baddu, Rahzell, the kinks, Ugly Duckling, Underworld, Elbow, PLump DJ's, Beck, Alex Reece, Fleetwood mac, Joni Mitchell, Venetian snares, rick james, Robert Wyatt, Gong, Royksopp, john legend, the Velvet Teen, Dr Octogon, Vangelis, Manu chao, Erik Badu, Billy Holiday, Chet Baker, Ed solo, Bad Company, DJ Shadow, J-Live, Tipper, Ozrick Tentacles, the roots, Robert Fripp, Prince, Plaid, Nuff Old school Hardcore!, the clash, Slick Rick, rick james, Lewis Parker, Jehst, the cinematic orchestra, Lou Reed/Velvet underground, eddie murphy, Unkle, groove armada, talvin singh, mike patton, mr bungle, ozzric tentacles, Magnetic fields, ween, Soul Coughing, Nine inch nails, Funkadelic, George Clinton, sly and the family stone, eddie izzard, Chris rock, Gong, Super Furry Animals, the cooper temple clause, K.D. Lang, Ramstein, Bjork, Tenacious D, the specials, Nirvana, Tori amos, They might be giants, Queens of the stone age, Kate bush. the chemical brothers, the chemical brothers, the chemical brothers, the chemical brothers, the brothers, the brothers, the brother,brother, brother brother, bro, bro, bro, bro, bro, bro, bro, bro, bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb!! Booom! BAP! a Ti ca, ba Bom BAP! titi BOOOOM!! BAP!!! Ti ti ti Ba BOOM BAPPP!!, etc etc
Sounds Like
Depends on how i feel at the time, what i've been listening to, what is suggested to me, who i'm playing with, their mood, what the audience is like, the stage of the evening, the stage, the ambience, momentary whims, whether I'm having a fat day or a thin day, the political climate in the world, whether I've taken my pills, how much sleep i've gotten the night before, how drunk I am, if there are any real heads in da buildin, whether I've just had a curry, how well southend united are doing etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Beardyman is awesome. . . . After winning the well renowned Lyric Pad Beatbox Battle twice in 2004, he went on to win the title of London champion and UK runner up in the 2005 Championships and the following year became UK Beatbox Champion 2006. He successfully defended his title in June 2007 to become the first beatboxer in UK history to win the national championships twice in a row. In 2009 he won the award for Best Mc/Vocalist at the World renowned breakbeat awards ceremony Breakspoll.
His first musical venture was writing a symphony for his school orchestra at the age of ten. At fifteen, an introduction to drum 'n' bass led to his long-standing obsession with music technology. Now, in his live shows, as well as world-class solo human-beatbox, he uses his voice and live synths, driven through cutting-edge sound-mangling technology to create dance-inducing layered rhythms, breath-taking soundscapes, fully produced songs and tunes, often totally improvised and all created entirely from scratch. In Beardyman's shows, no pre-recorded material is used, and everything is created live and in real time in front of the audience, who he takes on a mind-bending journey from dumbstruck to dancing and back again. His unique ablity to get any crowd going bonkers has seen him play huge stages, from bezerk Rave-core Mash-ups such as Bangface and Bloc, through to legendary drum 'n' bass rave 'Slammin Vinyl' to gigantic stadium filling childrens concerts to corporate events for Prudential, Google, Deloitte and loads of other ting innit.
Since starting to play out in 2001 Beardyman has supported Andy C, Marky, Shy FX, Grooverider, Nextmen, Groove Armada, Jazzy Jeff, Skinnyman, Terra Firma, Chaz and Dave, Squarepusher, Blondie, Bill Bailey, the beastie boys, Sly and the Family Stone, Wyclef, George Clinton, Underworld, and Jimmy Cliff and your mum, and has acted as compere for a huge variety of events all around Europe, including the Graz Hip hop festival in Austria, the Earls Court Urban Music Festival Love Box main stage, get Loaded main stage and Rise festival main stage, each in front of over 40,000 people. This Summer he will host the Bestival main stage and Camp Bestival. He hosted 'The Freestyle Show' on Get Lucky TV from 2004 to 2005 with Klum-Z-Tung, the mind-bogglingly quick-witted freestyle-MC, with whom he performed as the Gobfathers. He has supported Groove Armada on the UK leg of their tour and hosted Fatboy Slim's Big Beach Boutique Party in Brighton. Basically he's sicker than the black death. . . . cha. . .
Whilst continuing to tour and record for forthcoming releases, he finds time to co-run the ground-breaking night, 'Battlejam' with 2003 Vestax Champion and 2007 UK DMC champion JFB in his home town of Brighton. 'Battlejam', now well into its 3rd year is having to find larger and larger venues to house itself in, having earned a reputation as the most awesome and talked about night in town, fusing Hip Hop, Breaks, Reggae, Ragga, Dancehall, Jazz, Funk and Drum 'n' Bass into one sweaty but uplifting experience. It is now at the prestigious 'Audio' on Brighton sea front and 'Cargo' in London, incorporating a different set of guest musicians and freestyle MC's each month. Everything at Battlejam is completely improvised. This is made possible by their unique use of live-sampling technology 'Serato Scratch-Live', allowing levels of crowd participation and never before possible, JFB and Beardyman sampling the crowd and scratching them into the madness.
Beardyman has made guest appearances on Radio 1, Radio 3, 1xtra, BBC 6, Kiss FM, Absolute Radio, Kerrang Radio and others and has presented documentaries on radio 4. He also contributes to radio 4 show 'Music Therapy'. He has been featured on MTV's "best show ever" and was co-erced into taking part in the BBC1 flagship, saturday-night variety train-reck, "When Will I be Famous" hosted by Graham Norton, which was well gash. During the recording he and Graham got very close, but grahams not returning his calls. . . Beardyman doesnt know why. . . but he still thinks about graham . . . . .. .. graham. . . so tender, so gentle, yet so firm and commanding. mmmmmmm. . . . . graham. . . . . .
Beardyman has featured on Groove Armada's album 'soundboy rock', with A-skillz on the single "got the rhythm", the Quemists new album, Screwface and CTRL-Z's new album and many other ting which are being released soon innit. . watch this space. . . .
your mum. . . .
..
‘Literally the most entertaining live human being I've seen in donkeys years'
Rob da Bank, BBC Radio 1
'Like a barbershop quintet if they were all moulded into one man then force fed steroids for several years.'
'One Week to Live' magazine 10/2007
". . . Extraordinarily original vocal skills . . . like bobby mcferrin on speed"
Victor Lewis Smith, Evening Standard 12/02/07
"Beardyman is more 'gash' than an incestuous brother and sister on rollerskates spinning around very fast on a table. . . "
The General Public 03/07
". . . . beardy who?, . . . wasnt Princess Diana lovely, I do hope all these
foreigners go away, comin here with their strange foods and
peculiar customs. . . . they'll be the death of us i shoudn't wonder. . . "
Susan Poogently, Daily mail 27/13/12
"...best tits in the business. Me like tits, me like football, ugg!
me no like books, book make brain hurt. . . me hit book!! RRRAAARGH!!!
. . ugg!!" Daily Star 37/29/48
"BATTLEJAM is the groundbreaking club night from JFB, 2007 UK DMC Champion and Beardyman 2x UK Beatbox Champion. Its all improvised innit. BAAAAADBOOOOY!!!!"
Below is the official, brand spanking new Battlejam Promo CD. You can listen to it here, it streams right off this player device thingy. Or alternatively, you can download it and burn it to CD. We're giving it away. Yeah baby! Its the new era of free music and interactive, improvised clubnights. We're setting standards and breaking conventions all over your face. Battlejam openly encourages you to download our promo CD and send/burn/link it to your friends. Viral marketing, such a beautiful bandwagon.
beard
alas mate, a strapping young lad such as meself longs for the day when a beard as glorious and effulgent as yours would make its way to the states. I only pray to toast this wait shall'nt be for long!
Thank you Beardyman for your fantastic performance and contribution to the Crisis Hidden Gigs cause, and helping the work towards ending homelessness!!
