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  Yam Boy and Goonda-Raj Interview
interview 0337 added 27.09.05 words: K3G
technical:
QED
Yam Boy and Goonda-Raj are a vocals and production team
from London and Birmingham. Spanning two cities and many
continents, their sound is very classical Indian, with hints of
Bollywood, with hip-hop drums and spoken word poetry thrown in
the mix for good measure. They bridge the gap between the
breakneck pace of Asian underground breakbeat and leftfield
eclectic hip-hop sounds, all with a conscious political twist on
top. Yam Boy’s lyrics are thoughtful and unforced, a passionate
mediation on growing up with a dual heritage, far from the land
of your ancestors, and trying to make sense of the nomadic
community you live in. This is nicely backed up by Goonda-Raj’s
rootsy bats, organic and acoustic yet electronic and tough.
K3G caught up with the duo recently, witnessing the bizarre
soundbites the quiet and brooding Goonda-Raj came up with to
compliment Yam Boy’s wordiness. Here’s what they had to say.
Please introduce yourselves and tell us
more about your names.
 Goonda-Raj: I am Goonda-Raj, the beatmeister and
all-round undercover lover. I am loosely known as the producer.
A Goonda is a ruffian. And that’s me all over.
Yam Boy: I am Yam Boy, the principal vocalist. And I’m
the provider of live mandolin guitar and sitar sounds. I produce
a little, though Goonda does the bulk of it. I also do all the
niggly sorting out things that he can’t be bothered to do, like
turn up to sessions and find musicians to work with and all the
rest of it. Basic skivvy and tea-making duties. And I’m shaped
like a potato.
Your music spans a lot of different
cultures and genres. Why do you think it would appeal to a
hip-hop audience?
YB: For the same reason that hip-hop fans like Saul Williams or
Public Enemy, I suppose. Our sound is very leftfield but people
dig the difference. It’s a style that’s not often been done
before. We make elegant classical Asian music and rap/poeticise
over the top of it. My obvious reference points are Public Enemy
and Saul Williams. The lyrics are quite political and the beats
are in 4/4. So I guess that makes it more hip-hop friendly.
GR: Also, because it deals with everyday issues and has
sensibilities that hip-hop heads will relate to.
How would you describe your music?
GR: World music with a twist of hip-hop and reggae and a dash of
poetry.
YB: Yep, it’s the soundtrack in our heads. We grew up around a
huge heap of influences. Mainly Bollywood, classical Indian
stuff, reggae and 60’s rock. We both got into hip-hop and what
we’re left with is this huge melting pot of diverse influences
that we try and throw into the pot. Plus, I’m a pretentious git,
I’ll admit it. That’s where the poetry and spoken word stuff
comes in. I guess what Goonda is trying to say is that you’d be
hard-pressed to find a category for us in HMV. We cover a lot of
musical ground.
"...I’m unable to write brag and battle lyrics, cos I’m
shit at talking myself up and cussing other people out..."
How did you meet?
YB: We met in a previous band we were both in as rappers. Then
we left…
GR: And I turned 30 and didn’t want to be a middle-aged MC. The
thought of that seemed whack so I got behind the boards…
YB: Goonda started sending me beats on MP3 and I kept sending
him instrument samples back of me playing along on whatever
instrument. We had no plan, we were just e-jamming. Before we
knew it, I was laying down vocals and we had finished 10-12
tracks, at which point we decided to put it out as an outfit.
Tell us about the album, “Maad Ethics”
in terms of its lyrics and production sounds? How has it been
received?
 GR: I think very well, but many have claimed that it is an album
that one either likes or hates. No middle ground, no compromise.
YB: “Maad Ethics” was made, as I explained, through the
internet. The songs were developed in-between frequent trips
Goonda made to Bangladesh last year. The majority of the lyrics,
I wrote whilst I was out in India last year. The way we laid the
tracks down, it felt like a concept album – a loose one – where
the themes were about dual cultures and mixed heritages and my
thoughts and feelings on being British Asian and going to India
for the first time, and experiencing my British Asian-ness from
an Indian perspective. I was a Non Resident Indian (NRI) and
this was a big head-fuck for me. It took me a while to get my
head around it. Whilst all that confusion reigned, I wrote all
the lyrics. It’s on some deep mystical shit, and there’s a song
about cornershops too.
Yam Boy has done a lot of festivals
this year. How did you hook that up and what was your most
memorable festival?
YB: Yeah, I did Glastonbury, Rise, London Mela and the Big Chill
amongst others. It was a great summer. We sold 100’s of CD’s and
played out in the sun and people really dug it. It’s really hard
trying to find your market, but we managed to play to enough
people this summer and they all enjoyed it, which was nice. I
dunno how I hooked it up. Most of them I was contacted and
invited to play. The most memorable was Glastonbury. Which was a
weird and wonderful experience. It was so heavy. I played in the
Poetry tent all weekend with Last Mango In Paris. The third
night, we played at the Brasian Beats stage in the Lost
Vagueness and it was an all-nighter. Staying there all night was
my favourite festival memory as I met loads of people, including
a confused Pete Doherty and partied till the sun came up. Then
afterwards, some people from another band and I went and played
loads of open mic stages in different tents till 10am. It was
humbling playing Glastonbury. That was my most memorable,
although a big shout goes to the London Mela, cos the set went
down so amazingly and was free of incident and major mistakes.
"...I’m a pretentious git, I’ll admit it. That’s where the
poetry and spoken word stuff comes in..."
Wasn't Maad Ethics a hip-hop group from
Birmingham?
 GR: Yeh, Goonda was the founder member of that group, but this
reincarnation has a new perspective and meaning.
What are your hopes for your music?
GR: To carry on serving one with boombastic slices of
uniqueness.
YB: To make it and make it free of compromise. Basically, I just
want to make music and use it to communicate my message to a
wider audience. I know that sounds wank but us conscious
vocalists have a message and blah blah… I just want groupies,
per diems and free booze. Not really… my hope for our music is
that a) we make music that we would buy if we heard it on the
radio or playing in our local independent record emporium and b)
the music finds an audience that can relate to what we’re
saying, both musically and vocally and finds it appealing to
parts of their life. God, I sound so touchy-feely.
There's a lot of talk on the album
about dual culture and identity, how important was it for you to
discuss?
GR: It’s as important as any other pressing world issue like
Bush's terrorism, or Blair's incompetence.
YB: Particularly for me, one of the main themes that emerged
writing all the lyrics was that of my dual heritage… being born
here, my parents being from Africa and the Middle East and our
Indian heritage… it all played a huge part on growing up. I only
started to really become comfortable within my own identity in
the last couple of years. These are big personal themes and I
felt that exploring them at this stage of my life, when there
was all this change and I had just been to India was the only
way I was ever going to get it out of my system.
"...Just let the music talk and people from general press
will pick it up..."
So, yeah, the
whole ‘dual culture’ thing is so central to our identities as
British Asians, as I’m sure it is to a whole generation of
British Asian kids and youths and twenty-somethings. Why not
discuss it? It’s important to us. Also, I’m unable to write brag
and battle lyrics, cos I’m shit at talking myself up and cussing
other people out. I should probably be above it and say, “I left
that in the playground years ago”, alas the truth is… I’m shit
at that stuff.
You get a lot of Asian press, do you
feel you have to play the race card to get ahead?
 GR: No. Just let the music talk and people from general press
will pick it up.
YB: Yeah, exactly. They’re the ones who immediately picked up on
it. As Goonda said, it’ll seep on through soon I hope.
What are your plans for the future?
YB: We’re working on a new EP/mini album called “The Hunger”.
It’s a collaboration with a violinist called Dr Jyotsna Srikanth.
She’s an amazing Carnatic classical South Indian violinist. She
has all these rootsy melodies that sound so achingly beautiful.
We got her in to do one track and she was so good, we got her to
record parts for all of them. It’s a themed EP about these
current turbulent times. That should be ready in 3-4 months.
We’re taking our time with it as we want it to sound like a
progression from the last release. I’m working on a few things
with Last Mango In Paris… they should change the face of…
something. I dunno what, but it’ll sound very different to the
stuff I do with Goonda. Goonda and I are also working on some
beats for MC Riz, which should be good. We’re planning to work
with a load of different musicians. You’ll see our names about.
Where can we hear your stuff and see
you live?
YB: We upload snippets a lot. Check www.yamboy.net, which will
be relaunched when the EP drops. And get on the mailing list.
Last Mango in Paris and I are always playing out live, so hit us
up with an email and we’ll inundate you with gig dates and
various other trivial shit.
"...one of the main themes that emerged writing all the
lyrics was that of my dual heritage..."
Final big ups and plugs...
GR: Big up all the people that bought the CD and supported us
and frig up all those that have sat on the fence getting
splinters because they can’t handle the music.
YB: Big up KAL and his missus, Matt Milton, Tabl-Anjali (get
well soon), Magical Anjali, Dr Jyotsna Srikanth, Last Mango In
Paris, Bobby and Nee, Prithpal, State of Bengal, Shabbdoobiest,
DJ Disscuss, Mr Lingo and Vee Kay, Rumana, Kekett, Cabein, Shiva
Soundsystem, Guptastar, Sonik Gurus, the ukhh.com staff and
Ravey Davey. Buy the album, “Maad Ethics” from
www.movemusics.com or buy it for download off
www.brasianbeats.com and look out for the “Hunger” at some
point.
“Maad Ethics” LP is available to buy now.
-
K3G
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