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Bashy Interview
RnB/Hip Hop | Friday 16th December 2011 | Osh
Currently in America on his worldwide tour with The Gorillaz we caught up with Bashy to chat about his new single and his future in acting.
Hey, how’s it going?
Cool thanks, yeah.
Cool, we hear that you’re on tour with Gorillaz at the moment - obviously you’ve been having a lot of fun I expect?
Yeah, it’s been crazy. Well, I’ve been on the Gorillaz world tour, but I’ve only ever really toured the UK. But the UK… it’s so small but on this tour, it’s so big, you get to see so many places and each place is so different, and all the venues we’ve been performing at the audience is anything from 5,000 to 16,000 – it’s nut’s, man!
Did you play at Madison Square Gardens?
Yeah, we played Madison Square Gardens.
That must have been pretty amazing as so may big people have played there such as Jay Z.
It was like I was living inside an MTV show!We got to meet Jay Z, he was cool.
So where has been the favourite place you’ve played on your tour?
I think, for me, it’d have to be… Chicago. Chicago’s crazy, Chicago has a vibe, the crowd are super up for it. It’s sort of very much like London, but in America. I went to the after party and went to some club called Vibe, and it was HOT.
Sounds like you’re having a lot of fun?!
I’m having a – how do you say it in a posh way? – A blast!
So you’ve got your new single, “Make My Day”, which is obviously out soon, on the 29th November – tell us a bit about that?
“Make My Day” is, like, taking old school songs and flipping them, re-doing them and re-piecing them together, sort of like what a producer would do, but with lyrics. Like, flipping a song and maybe adding a melody to it, or something like that. But I’ve always done that throughout my career, whether it’s been mix-tapes or freestyles or pirate radio stations. I just enjoy it, you know? It’s just fun.
With “Make My Day”, I’ve obviously taken one of my songs, and the reason I’ve taken “Make My Day” especially is that I used to work in Urban Outfitters on High Street Kensington when I was 18 or something and they used to play this song, like, every 15 minutes or something, “Make My Day”, and I always used to say “I wanna cover this song”, and I thought it was a sign at the time and then years later it pops up, and I thought, “Right, I’m doing it.”
How did you get into your music career? Is it something you’ve just always done?
Well, you know, we used to play in bars and stuff like that, but then I just decided to take it more seriously as I got older and my followers started to grow. Like, it went from people in my school, to people in the surrounding schools, to people in the area, and from there I was like “Wow people actually like what I’m doing – I’ll just carry on”.
Also, you wrote and performed the theme song for Shank – can you tell us a bit about how that came about?
I was invited to talk about music for the film in the first place, and then they heard that I’d done acting before I came to the music business, so they asked me if I would like a part for it – like, a small, really tiny role – and I thought, well, that’s cool, but I would rather, I dunno, a stronger role. And I went to the casting and the casting director liked what I’d done - and then that was it, man, I did the film, and then I was in Shank! I mean it wasn’t a given that I would get the theme song for it because there were other artists looking for it as well, but obviously I had the advantage of being in the film and knowing what it was about. So we just took it from there, man, shot a crazy video.
Ok. So can you see yourself doing more film than music in the future?
Yeah, I was going to shoot a film with Brian Cox actually. Acting’s somewhere I definitely want to take my career. I want to graft, train, and work hard, and practice to become a better actor. I’ve got the basic skills and talent that I’m blessed with naturally. So I’d like to try some better films, and maybe some strong theatre. I’ve got a good agent, so I’m sure that can happen, with a bit of luck and some hard work.
So what’s been one of the biggest achievements of your career so far do you think?
The biggest achievement of my career… is still to come, I think. I just think, like, I wanna do some special things, man. I don’t really have one defining moment which I can look back on.
If you were invisible for the day, what would you get up to?
I’d probably just do something bad like – rob the bank, haha. I think a lot of people would rob the bank – get invisible, take some money… you know.
Haha probably. So what can we expect from you, in the future?
Definitely more films… My second album will be out next year… Developing my career…more blogging on the website, Bashi.com, going on a tour with err… myself! Some showcases…
And when will the new album be out?
I’m not sure. Possibly around next year, March? So yeah, up and down the country doing that. Also finishing the Gorillaz world tour. Lots of stuff!
Nice, so keeping yourself busy, and are you going to be in the UK soon?
The UK… Yeah, man, I live there. I’ll always be around.
Cool, well thanks for taking time out to speak to us. Hope you’re enjoying the tour and we’ll catch you in London when you’re on tour here next!
Yeah, cheers, no problem, man. Catch you later.
Bashy’s new single ‘Make My Day’ will be out on November 29th.
