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Interview: David Boomah breaking boundaries
Drum and Bass | Tuesday 5th July 2016 | Osh
This guys been around since early. Working with some of the biggest names in the game, the singer has been focusing on his music more these days, dropping the first multi-genred album of V Recs, and opening a new label Forward Ever. It was only right to get him down to Guestlist HQ to talk all things Boomah with the man himself!
What's up Guestlisters, here I am once again with another champion. I with the man, David Boomah - what's happening dawg, you good?
I'm good, very well!
Good to have you here player, how's life?
It's hectic, really turbulent - there's so much going on it's hard to keep a handle of everything. But I'm still here trying to promote good music and pushing the vibes.
How would you describe your current state of mind?
I'm a little disheartened, not gonna lie. I feel like I'm on a treadmill and not really getting to the levels that I wanna get to. So I'm optimistic, but reservedly optimistic.
So it's like the treadmill of life that everybody's on.
It is, we all go through it. I'm no different, I'm not special I'm just a guy like everyone else. I have to do something that I enjoy and something that it's not just me benefiting from. Money's money - you don't need it. We need to feel happy, like we're achieving something. I think those things are more important than money.
The music's strong, If anybody doesn't know, I'm sure they'll be a few people who need to go back into the history books. If they were, where should they start?
They'd have to go back to about 1995 to get a real good understanding of where I'm coming from. That was when jungle was at it's peak, at that stage I'd already been doing music from childhood.
What were you doing before then?
I was doing dancehall. I grew up in Jamaica, I was there for 10 years from the age of 9 till 19 and was obviously immersed in reggae music and dancehall culture.
So you came over here at 19, where did you move to?
Balham Tooting. I linked up with a guy called Ucap. We had a soundsystem and we just use to go and do house parties. That was in 1990.
That was obviously a big time for music here in England. As a vocalist to come into the game with someone like UK Apache, that's coming right into the heart of the scene.
At the time he was not massively known. 'Original Nutta' hadn't come out yet. I linked up with Apache in 1990, that's how I was introduced to jungle, before that I had no idea.
So when you came and saw the jungle, what was your first impression?
I thought that it was mad! I couldn't really relate to it. The riddims and basslines have that kind of reggae vibe, but the drums are going completely nuts! It took a couple of songs for me to really get it. One of those songs was 'I'm A Junglist' by Congo Natty and the other one was 'Sound Murder' by Remarc. When I first heard these two tunes the light came on - jungle is wicked, I love this!
Is this before 'Original Nutta'?
Yeah, this is all before 'Original Nutta'. First of all, Apache was introduced to Shy through our manager. He hooked up with Shy and they did 'Original Nutta' and that just blew up the whole scene. Apache said to Shy, why don't you do a tune with my singer? So we did a tune called 'We Run Tings'. It was out in 1995 and went to number 1 after about two weeks of its release date.
Number 1 of what?
I'm not trying to trick anyone, I've never had a national number 1 - it's always been underground. To date I've had 14 number 1's undergound.
Still, it's like this is the number 1 of the moment right?
Yeah, at the time we had Choice FM and Commander B.
But these guys were playing your tunes yeah?
Yeah, if you wanted to hear the jungle top 10 you had to listen to Commander B and Choice. It was number 1 on Choice for quite a while and that was 1995. So that was the first tune, and we went on to have two more number 1's.
What were they?
The second one of 'Murderation', which at the time 1xtra was born and they playlisted it.
Since then you've consistently put out big tunes.
That is what people say, but the funny thing about it is. All this time, up until about 2010 I wasn't really pushing myself as an artist. It all really started for me in 2010.
What happened there then?
I decided that I had neglected my music all my life. I knew that I wanted to do it but I always thought it's not a safe bet. I went to university and got a post grad degree in youth & community work. My life is kinda like in three. I've got my youth work, my family and my music. I gave a lot of time to my youth work because for me it was a worthwhile job. The music thing was just something I would just dance around. So up until 2010 most people did not know who I was. When I met Bryan Gee in 2010 he had no idea who I was - but he knew my voice. That's when I started actually trying to push myself as an artist and when I did the album with V.
It's interesting, it's the same with a lot of people I'm sure - because I heard the tunes for a long time and it was only through speaking with you very recently that I connected David Boomah with the tunes. There's a lot to be said about going out there and pushing yourself.
Definitely, I mean everyone's in a different situation. I know that jungle, drum & bass is very much led by producers, DJs and MCs. I'm none of those things so my situation is different from other people and I've gotta push myself.
You did a whole album with V and this took you places, big things came from that.
Yeah, the album with V called One World Many Cultures. I really enjoyed making it, it took a while to get there. It was a multi-genred album. The moment I did say, right I'm gonna believe in myself as an artist and I'm gonna put it out there and do an international tour - see what happens, it actually happened. It showed me I do have something to offer because I've offered something and I've got a response.
That's the way! Is there a great moment you remember from that tour?
There are many great moments and I don't want to be disloyal to anyone, but it was overwhelming when I went to Brazil. It's always overwhelming when you go to a country that don't speak English and they are singing your songs back to you. It's a beautiful thing because when you're trying to speak with them away from them singing the songs, they can't talk to you and I can't talk to them. But they can sing your song, so there is this connection through music.
Since then there's been serious people remixing your music, tell me about it?
Okay, I think the person you're thinking of straight off the bat is Calibre. I'm gonna put my foot in it again, arguably the best drum & bass producer ever.
Yep.
He's the only drum & bass person that hasn't been remixed. To have him remix two of my songs is an honour and he did an excellent job as always. Someone else that I'd like to mention that's remixed a track that I found particularly amazing, a guy called Rowpieces. He's from Germany, he's not very well known but I think he's exceptionally talented. This is a shout out to him personally from me - I want you to keep making music because you're too talented not to and the music scene will lose someone special if you stop.
Nice, I mean that brings us right up to know as we have a hot new single that's dropped. Wish Upon A Star and there's so many mixes of it, all so different - each one is a big tune in its own right.
I hope so!
Which one is the tune?
Well it was hard to actually choose! I wanna make a video for it and I was sitting there trying to figure out which one I am gonna do the video for. I think I'm gonna stick with the original done by Rowpieces. It's a liquid d&b track. But there's also a hard d&b mix from a new outfit, Battery. Then we have the Hypertone remix, a very smooth r&b vibe from a producer in Croydon. Then we have a house remix from my friends in Switzerland, The Lost Soundsystem. Finally a garage mix from N Type.
Is there a particular label that you haven't been on that you'd like to?
The thing is with labels, like V, me doing an album on V was a great thing and people were like woah man you've been on V that's a foundation label. But just because that label has a certain name doesn't mean I'm gonna get what I need from the label.
What about sound wise though? Forget business - just musically.
Well the sound is coming from the producers and the labels will say whether they think the sound is up to scratch. So Bryan Gee is very good at that. There's a certain expertise that come with being good at particular labels. But some labels will put out whatever they think will sell and not think about the quality. So at the moment I have my own label, Forward Ever Recordings.
What does Forward Ever mean?
It means going forward, all the time. Fine you can look back, it's good to reflect, but you should always be moving forward.
So you've got your youth work. Today you were working with young offenders, what were you doing with them?
Basically I've been working on a program with the youth offending team. So it's really trying to look at their behaviour, the way they think and the decisions they're making. It's about mentoring, supporting and getting them to reflect on what they've done and getting them to move forward.
What is the support that you've found most of these kids need?
Every young person and situation is different, but they need someone that is gonna listen to them. Working with young offenders can be a risky scenario because they are very volatile. Luckily touch wood, a young person's never struck me or swung for me, but I think the only reason they haven't done that is I try to establish a relationship with them from day one and I try to establish the fact that I really care what happens to them. Because of that they find it hard to get angry with me and they're more inclined to listen to me.
So you're definitely playing a big part in these peoples lives.
Yeah I mean it sounds simple but sometimes that's all it needs. I've worked in some cases where I've seen some really violent behaviour with young people. But if you took a minute to understand where they are coming from you would understand the behaviour. I've worked with a young person that has robbed, stolen, assaulted, and committed violent crimes upon a number of people and everyone was quick to demonise that child. When I got to know the child and where they are coming from I found that the child was never given any lunch money, never given any breakfast, never went home to any dinner. Was being physically abused by his parents on a day to day basis - then you start to understanding why the behaviour is the way it is.
Excellent advice for the people out there. If you wanna do something, listen to the kids - take the time to get to know them, find out the problem. Nice one Boomah, go out and get Wish Upon A Star, Respect!
