Make Like A Shovel | BADBADNOTGOOD
By Donovan Farley Jun 23, 2015 • 7:50 am PDT
Words by: Donovan Farley
Images by: Caitlin Webb
:: Make Like A Shovel –BADBADNOTGOOD ::
Formed in 2010 after meeting in Toronto at Humber College’s jazz program, BADBADNOTGOOD have made a name for themselves via their wildly original (and just plain wild) hybrid of jazz and hip-hop with lighting speed. From recording with some of the biggest names in hip-hop (Tyler, The Creator; Earl Sweatshirt; Danny Brown; DOOM and Ghostface Killah among them), to serving as Frank Ocean’s backup band at Coachella in 2012, to playing in front of 900 ecstatically moshing Russians in Moscow just this month, little about BBNG falls under the traditional jazz umbrella. To put it mildly: this ain’t your father’s jazz trio, and that suits Matthew Tavares (keys), Chester Hansen (bass) and Alexander Sowinski (drums) just fine.
For three jazz dudes from Canada who are still in their early 20s, BBNG has done pretty well for themselves … kind of like the Roman Empire did “pretty well.” The band’s deft and wholly original blend of gorgeous jazz and rowdy hip-hop received a massive publicity boost after the internet got ahold of their amazing covers of some of Odd Future’s songs via Tyler, The Creator’s Twitter account. BBNG’s grouping of Odd Future’s “Bastard” with Gucci Mane’s “Lemonade” subsequently blew minds across the globe and completely changed the band’s fate.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, when BBNG first presented their interpretations of Odd Future’s music to their jazz professors, the teachers found it to be of no musical value. Fortunately, the band was undeterred and remained confident in what they were doing, not just blurring the lines between genres, but obliterating them for a kind of “Medeski, Martin & Wood meets Madlib” sound that has resonated with many disparate types of music fans. BBNG’s brand of defiant confidence and swagger is reflective of the attitude that is often pervasive throughout much of the hip-hop they hold so dear, and it has clearly served them well. For instance: rare is the band that even decides to tour a place like Russia, much less have a packed room joyously getting down to music based in jazz and hip-hop.
I recently spoke with bassist Chester Hansen about the band’s rapid ascent, playing Russia to such a euphoric response and getting stoned with Ghostface Killah in Amsterdam .
JAMBASE: So it’s pretty jaw-dropping how things have gone for you guys, from playing with all of the artists you’ve collaborated with, to cutting a record with Ghostface Killah, to just getting back from a tour of Russia. It seems you guys got a rapturous response.
CHESTER HANSON: Yeah it’s been amazing, it seems like everyday is a new mind-blowing experience. Going to Russia was so interesting because so many bands don’t even consider going over there because of the whole political situation, but for the acts that do decide to go over there and play, everyone in the audience is incredibly happy and appreciative. They were definitely some of the most enthusiastic crowds we’ve ever had.
JB: It seems like you guys have had a wealth of those type of mind blowing experiences, as huge hip-hop fans you guys still must be pinching yourselves when you think of everything that’s happened. There have to be a lot of “Holy shit, this is my life!” moments.
CH: [Laughs] Yeah totally. We’ll be onstage with Ghostface and I suddenly look up and think, “Wait… holy shit that’s Ghostface Killah performing with us!” It’s unreal and definitely an honor.
JB: It almost must seem like anything is possible at this point for BBNG, who are some other people you’d like to collaborate with? I could definitely see a BBNG/Flying Lotus collaboration being amazing, and I’d love to hear the result of you guys and Frank Ocean getting together again.
CH: Our list of dream collabs is always growing. We’re huge Fly Lo fans, we meet him briefly a couple of times but haven’t really gotten to talk. Frank Ocean is someone who we’ve performed with a few times but haven’t gotten to write with who’d we’d absolutely love to work with. We got in touch recently and he invited us to come hang out and he played us some new stuff -not sure if it’s making the new record though or not. A few people have hit us up. There are a couple things we’re working on now for the future that are really exciting. It would be really cool to collab with Sam (Herring) from Future Islands, that’s something we’d really love to do going forward. Working with people from different musical worlds is one of the best parts of all this.
JB: Yeah it seems abundantly clear to me you guys love challenging accepted notions of what music can be paired together and performed effectively. I’m sure you’ve turned some hip-hop kids onto jazz sounds and vice versa, which is very cool.
CH: Definitely. If someone gets more into jazz or hip-hop after seeing us, that’s pretty much the highest compliment you can get. We’re all about sharing music and spreading love, so that’s always really cool.
JB: When I saw you guys open for Charles Bradley here in Portland, I could tell a lot of the crowd was pretty blown away by your set: from the kids dancing hard as hell up front, to some of the older people there for Charles, it was clear you had everyone’s attention. The joy you guys clearly take in performing live is absolutely infectious.
CH: Thanks man. Our main thing is with the live show is have fun and be spontaneous, but the main thing is to put everything we have into it every time. The crowd feeds off us and we feed off them.
JB: It’s a truly symbiotic relationship.
CH Exactly.
JB: Speaking of the live show, I was wondering about keeping the covers in the setlist going forward. On the one hand, your reinterpretations of these songs is what brought you so much attention, but one the other, your repertoire of dope originals is growing every year, is it hard to find room in the setlists for both?
CH: Our live set will always have a couple of covers, but yeah, we’ve been doing mostly original stuff lately and haven’t been working on any new covers for the last year or two. We’ll probably always play “Bastard/Lemonade” live, but we’re really trying to delve into and further develop our sound.
JB: What has that entailed thus far? Are you guys working on a new record? Would you say that jazz or hip-hop will be at the fore this time around? I’m very interested to see how will the BBNG sound will continue evolve.
CH: We have a few ideas recorded and a bunch of stuff written, and we’ve been going back and forth with some people about vocal collabs. Definitely more jazzy, the songs are more complex than stuff we’ve done before, which wasn’t a conscience thing, the songs just came out that way. We’ve been listening to a lot of weird old Brazilian jazz records and that has influenced us a lot this time around.
JB: That’s very cool sounding, color me intrigued. So I have to ask, and depending on your answer I might not even print this part, but have you gotten to hang with Ghostface on tour at all? I mean, are you guys hanging out backstage smoking weed and sherm together? [Laughs] Because that’s quite a visual.
CH: [Laughs] Well, the cool thing was on these last European shows it was just us and Ghostface and his manager and we were all taking the same trains and stuff and it was really surreal to be kicking it with him. I feel like he’s slowed down a lot in his older age… but we did get to smoke quite a bit with him in Amsterdam.
JB: That sounds amazing!
CH: Yeah it definitely was!
JB: Just another mind blowing experience, right?
CH: [Laughs] Yeah, pretty much.
BADBADNOTGOOD Tour Dates
7/4 -Montreal, Canada @ Métropolis
7/12 -Toronto, Canada @ TO2015 Panamania
7/16 -Pemberton, Canada @ Pemberton Music Festival
7/18 -Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
7/24 -Seattle, WA @ Capitol Hill Block Party 2015
7/25 -Victoria, Canada @ Phillips Brewery
7/26 -Guelph, Canada @ Hillside Festival
7/29 -Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s
7/30 -Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
7/31 -Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
8/14 -Somerset, WI @ Somerset Amphitheater
8/15 -Toronto, Canada @ Time Festival
8/22 -Los Angeles, CA @ FYF Fest
8/25 -Las Vegas, NV @ Life Is Beautiful Festival
8/29 -Paula, Croatia @ Dimensions Festival
9/4 -Paula, Croatia @ Outlook Festival
11/6 -Austin, Texas @ Fun Fun Fun Fest
Images by: Caitlin Webb
Formed in 2010 after meeting in Toronto at Humber College’s jazz program, BADBADNOTGOOD have made a name for themselves via their wildly original (and just plain wild) hybrid of jazz and hip-hop with lighting speed. From recording with some of the biggest names in hip-hop (Tyler, The Creator; Earl Sweatshirt; Danny Brown; DOOM and Ghostface Killah among them), to serving as Frank Ocean’s backup band at Coachella in 2012, to playing in front of 900 ecstatically moshing Russians in Moscow just this month, little about BBNG falls under the traditional jazz umbrella. To put it mildly: this ain’t your father’s jazz trio, and that suits Matthew Tavares (keys), Chester Hansen (bass) and Alexander Sowinski (drums) just fine.
For three jazz dudes from Canada who are still in their early 20s, BBNG has done pretty well for themselves … kind of like the Roman Empire did “pretty well.” The band’s deft and wholly original blend of gorgeous jazz and rowdy hip-hop received a massive publicity boost after the internet got ahold of their amazing covers of some of Odd Future’s songs via Tyler, The Creator’s Twitter account. BBNG’s grouping of Odd Future’s “Bastard” with Gucci Mane’s “Lemonade” subsequently blew minds across the globe and completely changed the band’s fate.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, when BBNG first presented their interpretations of Odd Future’s music to their jazz professors, the teachers found it to be of no musical value. Fortunately, the band was undeterred and remained confident in what they were doing, not just blurring the lines between genres, but obliterating them for a kind of “Medeski, Martin & Wood meets Madlib” sound that has resonated with many disparate types of music fans. BBNG’s brand of defiant confidence and swagger is reflective of the attitude that is often pervasive throughout much of the hip-hop they hold so dear, and it has clearly served them well. For instance: rare is the band that even decides to tour a place like Russia, much less have a packed room joyously getting down to music based in jazz and hip-hop.
I recently spoke with bassist Chester Hansen about the band’s rapid ascent, playing Russia to such a euphoric response and getting stoned with Ghostface Killah in Amsterdam .
JAMBASE: So it’s pretty jaw-dropping how things have gone for you guys, from playing with all of the artists you’ve collaborated with, to cutting a record with Ghostface Killah, to just getting back from a tour of Russia. It seems you guys got a rapturous response.
CHESTER HANSON: Yeah it’s been amazing, it seems like everyday is a new mind-blowing experience. Going to Russia was so interesting because so many bands don’t even consider going over there because of the whole political situation, but for the acts that do decide to go over there and play, everyone in the audience is incredibly happy and appreciative. They were definitely some of the most enthusiastic crowds we’ve ever had.
JB: It seems like you guys have had a wealth of those type of mind blowing experiences, as huge hip-hop fans you guys still must be pinching yourselves when you think of everything that’s happened. There have to be a lot of “Holy shit, this is my life!” moments.
CH: [Laughs] Yeah totally. We’ll be onstage with Ghostface and I suddenly look up and think, “Wait… holy shit that’s Ghostface Killah performing with us!” It’s unreal and definitely an honor.
JB: It almost must seem like anything is possible at this point for BBNG, who are some other people you’d like to collaborate with? I could definitely see a BBNG/Flying Lotus collaboration being amazing, and I’d love to hear the result of you guys and Frank Ocean getting together again.
CH: Our list of dream collabs is always growing. We’re huge Fly Lo fans, we meet him briefly a couple of times but haven’t really gotten to talk. Frank Ocean is someone who we’ve performed with a few times but haven’t gotten to write with who’d we’d absolutely love to work with. We got in touch recently and he invited us to come hang out and he played us some new stuff -not sure if it’s making the new record though or not. A few people have hit us up. There are a couple things we’re working on now for the future that are really exciting. It would be really cool to collab with Sam (Herring) from Future Islands, that’s something we’d really love to do going forward. Working with people from different musical worlds is one of the best parts of all this.
JB: Yeah it seems abundantly clear to me you guys love challenging accepted notions of what music can be paired together and performed effectively. I’m sure you’ve turned some hip-hop kids onto jazz sounds and vice versa, which is very cool.
CH: Definitely. If someone gets more into jazz or hip-hop after seeing us, that’s pretty much the highest compliment you can get. We’re all about sharing music and spreading love, so that’s always really cool.
JB: When I saw you guys open for Charles Bradley here in Portland, I could tell a lot of the crowd was pretty blown away by your set: from the kids dancing hard as hell up front, to some of the older people there for Charles, it was clear you had everyone’s attention. The joy you guys clearly take in performing live is absolutely infectious.
CH: Thanks man. Our main thing is with the live show is have fun and be spontaneous, but the main thing is to put everything we have into it every time. The crowd feeds off us and we feed off them.
JB: It’s a truly symbiotic relationship.
CH Exactly.
JB: Speaking of the live show, I was wondering about keeping the covers in the setlist going forward. On the one hand, your reinterpretations of these songs is what brought you so much attention, but one the other, your repertoire of dope originals is growing every year, is it hard to find room in the setlists for both?
CH: Our live set will always have a couple of covers, but yeah, we’ve been doing mostly original stuff lately and haven’t been working on any new covers for the last year or two. We’ll probably always play “Bastard/Lemonade” live, but we’re really trying to delve into and further develop our sound.
JB: What has that entailed thus far? Are you guys working on a new record? Would you say that jazz or hip-hop will be at the fore this time around? I’m very interested to see how will the BBNG sound will continue evolve.
CH: We have a few ideas recorded and a bunch of stuff written, and we’ve been going back and forth with some people about vocal collabs. Definitely more jazzy, the songs are more complex than stuff we’ve done before, which wasn’t a conscience thing, the songs just came out that way. We’ve been listening to a lot of weird old Brazilian jazz records and that has influenced us a lot this time around.
JB: That’s very cool sounding, color me intrigued. So I have to ask, and depending on your answer I might not even print this part, but have you gotten to hang with Ghostface on tour at all? I mean, are you guys hanging out backstage smoking weed and sherm together? [Laughs] Because that’s quite a visual.
CH: [Laughs] Well, the cool thing was on these last European shows it was just us and Ghostface and his manager and we were all taking the same trains and stuff and it was really surreal to be kicking it with him. I feel like he’s slowed down a lot in his older age… but we did get to smoke quite a bit with him in Amsterdam.
JB: That sounds amazing!
CH: Yeah it definitely was!
JB: Just another mind blowing experience, right?
CH: [Laughs] Yeah, pretty much.
BADBADNOTGOOD Tour Dates
7/4 -Montreal, Canada @ Métropolis
7/12 -Toronto, Canada @ TO2015 Panamania
7/16 -Pemberton, Canada @ Pemberton Music Festival
7/18 -Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
7/24 -Seattle, WA @ Capitol Hill Block Party 2015
7/25 -Victoria, Canada @ Phillips Brewery
7/26 -Guelph, Canada @ Hillside Festival
7/29 -Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s
7/30 -Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
7/31 -Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
8/14 -Somerset, WI @ Somerset Amphitheater
8/15 -Toronto, Canada @ Time Festival
8/22 -Los Angeles, CA @ FYF Fest
8/25 -Las Vegas, NV @ Life Is Beautiful Festival
8/29 -Paula, Croatia @ Dimensions Festival
9/4 -Paula, Croatia @ Outlook Festival
11/6 -Austin, Texas @ Fun Fun Fun Fest
