Boz sings and does some crazy things in the pop-band Hiem (Crosstown Rebels/ Eskimo).
Boz is a super DJ/remixer & he also writes songs & releases tracks as Bozzwell (Society/Eskim/Kompakt/Firm).
Watch out for a November release from Bozzwell, links are at the bottom of the page.
I'd call his music '80's techno bass poetry'. But what do I know about it? Not much! I do like the sound of it though. That's why I want to interview him.
For more background, Boz has been on Top of the Pops & in the past has worked with Jarvis Cocker, notably in the 'All Seeing Eye' project. He also collaborated with Roots Manuva last year.
It is a Saturday afternoon in October & we are chatting on the phone...
How are you? I'm playing on my Xbox, winning Derby county by 2:1.
Hiem, Bozzwell, Bozzwell, Hiem, which do you enjoy the most? Both for different reasons. With Hiem its good to do live shows, be at the front of a band playing to a cross over audience including indie kids etc. With Bozzwell its great to go out DJ-ing. Both are as good as each other in different ways .
Please describe your music style in many words. EMOTIVE- AGGRESSIVE- MELODIC- MEATY- BEEFY
Do you have musical heroes? Not Cliff Richard even though I do like Cliff. I'd say Iggy Pop, Kraftwerk & Gram Parsons
Any musician you would love to work with? Iggy Pop, Paul McCartney
Why Paul? He’s pretty amazing, what a musical mind.
Who has been the best to work with? Rodney Roots Manuva. Because I ‘d never worked with a rapper before. He’s so interesting. Suddenly he'll start spitting out rhymes as if he’s talking.
What is your favourite all time song? Hickory winds, Gram Parsons. Or Digital Love by Daft Punk. It is a perfect marriage of Pop & Electro.
What is your favourite colour? Black! No not really because Black is not really a colour. Red for Revolution, blood & life.
How old when you knew you wanted to be a musician? About 6. I saw the Rubettes on TOTP & drummer span his stick, dropped it & picked it up. In 3 months I had a drum kit.
What is rhythms place? Without it we’d me in a motionless world. The tides rhythm effects us all. The way the world works, the seasons, the planets move in ryhthm, trains create rhythm. It is everywhere, affecting us all. Without it we’d be lost. Rhythm is cool.
How important were music teachers in school to your artistic development? I hated all my teachers. Losers the lot of them. I could play many instruments BUT this old git was such was a bore. He used to write on my end of year reports ‘Boz is interested in pop songs & not the classics so therefore he is a t**t. There were girls at school who could read music & would play Eastenders on the Piano. So he’d spend time with them & ignoring me when I was creating some pretty good stuff.
Also at Uni I felt the same. The teachers weren’t good musicians. They could teach but they couldn’t write or play music well. Music education totally confuses me. When you think about it all the best artists, mavericks seem to leave college anyway. Leave and be a rock & roller!
Today though, kids are a lot better off with drumkits & guitars in school etc. It has changed so hopefully it is better.
Did any lasting friendships or creative relationships came out of Music College? Not really! I lost it, I thought my HND was a joke. It was like the college in the late 90’s was operating as a business at that time.
Are the words & the narrative of a song important to you? I think they are VERY extremely important. In a club situation with strange substances being taken it can work but techno & house music can be strange & loopy & words get overlooked. I want to inject it back in. I’m not Nick Cave or Leonard Cohen or Byron but I’d like to think I use words well & I know they are important.
Would you describe yourself as a very imaginative person? Yes, but with that I get all the wrong thoughts too. There is a bleak place inside Boz’s head. Bleak or great. Pretty calm waters most of the time until something upsets me then I can get crazy.
Describe for me your dream perfect show. I’ve done some great shows. In a dream show I get my music so much over to audience so much that they understand perfectly what you were doing & responded back. It’s a two way thing.
Do you ever have dreams about shows or music? No, music never enters my dreams.
Do the fans input your creative process? No, we just do what we do. We write for ourselves, not for people. We get the odd fan email. A marriage proposal & a Swedish fan wanted to send us Elk droppings.
Ha ha! How do you first write a song? Words first or tune first? It changes, I tinker about maybe on the keyboard. Maybe Nick will come up with a story, idea or a bass-line & we collaborate.
What music would you never involve yourself in? I've never quite got along with Reggae, or Ragga.
Is it hard for you to be disciplined? Well being disciplined is not in the creative process. It’s about spontaneity, throwing things to the wall & seeing what sticks. In the studio everything is everywhere, It’s not posh with a plant in the corner. Boxes, wires, ash all over.
Is it important to have an element of chaos? Kate Jackson came in to sing vocals for a new track & I thought, we better clean up, we like Kate & she’s a girl so we better clean up a bit. So we tidied up. We try to cater for girls.
Have you achieved your dream? I don’t do it for money, sometimes it’s there, mostly it’s not. I’m not bothered about being a massive techno producer really. Me & Nick sing from same hymnsheet on this, we’re content, most dreams realised, I make music because I think that’s what I’m supposed to do.
What is the role of hand symbols in the band? That’s something I nicked off Jarvis (Cocker). I’d been in shows with him in the past so I kind of just copied him. You’ve seen him make strange gestures on the telly! I’m just trying to be cool! Failing miserably. No-one understand what I’m doing anyway, I just act like a plonker & people seem to like it. In my plonkered plonkerness it seemed to work in a strange twisted kind of way. Not that I do hand symbols all the time! Its only now and again you know.
Links for more of Boz...
http://www.hiem.net/
http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj-page.aspx?id=2717
http://www.samurai.fm/hiemradio
http://www.spunoutagency.com/
http://www.myspace.com/bozzmusic
http://www.myspace.com/hiem1
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