Egebamyasi is a Scottish artist who's been making grooves for over forty years. A real artist, with a real story to tell. The following text is written how it's said. As the man himself would say phoneggately!
Apologies for anything lost in translation!
Photos by Wim Van Wambeke.
Who or what first got you into music?
I can remember racks of records in the house from the 50,s and 60,s when i was growing up, but it was never a music house, was no encouragement from either parent to listen or play music…..an aunties boyfriend played classical guitar and listening to him was probably the first memory of someone playing an instrument and the guitar bug started from there. That would be early 70’s. I got into Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Groundhogs and the Pink Fairys early on. I tried ti play the 6 string guitar ( self taught ) but just could not do the barre chords or get my fingers in general to go where I need them at the speed that was necessary.
So I tried the bass and that suited me much better. 4 fingers 4 strings perfect! By this time punk was up and coming and being able to play perfect was not what it was about. It was learning to play as you rehearsed.played my 1st gig with the first band called The Cunts at Stirling uni. Fuck knows how we got thru it but it grew from there. The problem was The Cunts could not get gigs due to the name so it was changed to the Fakes……by this time 78/79 The Fakes made one 7″ single called “Production”. It was not the usual punk song…1.2.3.4 crash bang wallop..it was a dour, dull, monotonous, boring tune that summed up the working persons day. I’d say its still relevant after 45 years and the same all over the world. Still getting air time all these years later and the track has been picked up by an Australian TV company for a programme over there that’s fuckin’ awesome…..would be great to hear it sung in different languages to the original lyrics which were sung in as broad a Scottish accent as you can get. But no by me.
Conventional music set ups were the way for me until 1984 when things all changed…
Who or what were the cultural/regional influences?
A’d love ti say the Bay City Rollers, Simple Minds or the Sensational Alex Harvey band but no, am no sure how the cultural thing would have been an influence unless I came from a traditional Scottish music background. Any influence I got really came from much further away.
What attracted you to the dance music genre particularly?
I wasn’t attracted to dance music as such because that was not a phrase used back in the day. There was no “dance music” in 1984 the way we know it now. People jist danced to guitar bands. I was attracted to the 303 sound and the technology as it turned out syncing the 606 drum machine to the 303 made folk dance. The sound was very exclusive and unlike anything heard like that before. It just happened that the future music I got into became dance music. A 4×4 beat is easy to move to, altho in saying that garage drums have bass drums in unusual places so can sound a bit disjointed but when the hi-hat grooves are added with the swing it all comes together. When I first heard what went on to be acid house proper on Radio 1 with John Peel in the late 80’s, I thought who the fuck is playing this music? I never knew that the machine I had was making the bass parts of the tunes. Wasn’t til much later that I found that out.
Egebamyasi is 40 years old this year, how have you kept inspired to make music for so long?
A lot of the buzz has gone to a certain eggstent. It’s like am going thru the motions at times due to the over saturation of acid music…..it seems to be getting way more popular and thats as much a bad thing as a good thing. Bad because it’s losing the curiosity and progressiveness, but it’s good for up and coming artists because the gear is a lot cheaper. I stay inspired with the acid as much to do with playing other types of music P’m into…….I’ve got back into garage which now involves wobbles, wubs, bubs and solid basslines. Also the jungle, since the early 90’s av been into it and I think if there was no jungle then drum n bass might not have been found. Never had a clue what it was about and never knew how to make it even tho I used Cubase back in the early 90’s.
Now tho I use Ableton and that helps to create whats needed and tips off the you tube are handy.and other new equipment can lead on to a different approach so ad say doing other things can give you the kick up the ass ti get back to your roots.also being a solo artist helps as you dont have to rely on anyone else and their moods, but that can have a down side as if your not in the mood then shit does not get done.
As a performer, who was the best to share a stage with? (Carl Cox must be pretty high up there?)
I shared the stage with Mr Cox once at a Rezurrection event in Edinburgh in the mid 90’s and was signed by his agency after that….I shared many stages with many artist. Played with 1 half of Orbital doing a DJ set. We got up to no good crouching down behind the decks and thats as far as I’m prepared to go. Overall tho, it does not get much better than playing with these guys…..
Marshall Jefferson, Cajmere, System 7, Mark Archer Altern 8. Eat Static, Gayle San, Gemini, Darren Emerson, Justin Robertson, Colin Faver, , 808 State, Joey Beltram, David Holmes, Andy Weatherall, Cabaret Voltaire, The Shamen, A Guy Called Gerald, Billy Nasty, Bam Bam, The Stranglers, Speedy J, Autecher, Ritchie Hawtin, Dave Angel,Laurent Garnier, Robert Leiner, Derek May,Jeff Mills.
You describe your Egg influences as Can, Captain Beefheart and Fad Gadget (among others) – that’s a pretty eclectic mix. What do you think you take from each of these?
I’d say the things that acid house has lost…individualism and uniqueness. Captain Beefheart are not for everyone, but they stand alone when it came to music. I did not want to play what they played, I didn’t set out to play what anyone plays other than when I was a punk. It was more about the attitude of something different and abnormal. I’m not in this to compete with anyone. I don’t see it as a competition. I’m not looking for gongs. I prefer the vinyl to medals.
Frank Tovey (Fad gadget ) was a great showman and Fad Gadget had the electro music to back it up. “Back to nature” along with Depeche Modes “Dreaming of me” was as classic electro as you get. I was no showman. I have no want or motivation ti jump about a stagegg like Mr Tovey rip. As time moved ad say probably Adonis or Bam Bam had an effect on how the future went.
Who’s been the best label to work with and why?
Deep Cuts in Scotland because thats the label The Fakes recorded production on and the first record U made, so I thank Johnny Waller who ran the label. Johnny had a vision years beyond others to be happy to record a song like production in the late 70’s. Groove Kissing in Holland/Belgium as they were the label that really put EBY on the maps..Acid Indigestion series all kick off theregg. Binary baseline was other finegg Belgian label ran by an awesome crew based in Gent and Ostend.
I was disappointed that the deal with Rising High records based in London in the early 90’s fell thru. They offered, I thought, a very generous deal which included doing 3x 12″ but the management I had at the time thought it was not enough. It was the same management as the Utah Saints. Maybe that tells something who knows. I would also lovegged to have recorded on Mute Records. They were an early electro/industrial label with some other acts who am sure folk will know.
What’s been your highlight so far?
Starting the label with Foxtrot absolutely. Never thought I’d be a high flyin record eggsecutive. Usually i jist hand over the 24 track or floppy disc back in the good old days or now USB and let the label get on with it. It’s a bit of an eye opener when ye have to do all the leg work your selfs.
Also, collecting most of the Roland vintage gear 909/808/707/727/606/303/101/CR-68 etc. I don’t use them live anymore since the Roland T8S came out. Can fit the 6 drum machines into the 1 and that saves humping flight cases everywhere now.
A none music highlight is when my twins were born in 97..Soph mc who has been on a couple of EBY tracks and Chaz mc who is planning a future track on the Foxbam label. They are party animals and lovegg the gigs and festivals I lovegg them more than acid house. Up and coming highlight is going to Paris for a radio session with “rave up” and finally meet Monsieur Patrick Rognant.
Another highlight was having a 303 stolen from the stage at a gig in Glasgow in the mid 90’s. Having a remix done by Vince Clarke from Erasure. Playing a few gigs with the Stranglers in 85. Never liked them when I was a punk, but live must admit they were eggsellent! Still would not buy their records tho.
How much does the Scottish underground impact on your style?
I dont think it does. There was no such thing as the underground eggspecially not a Scottish one when I started and these days underground now is more over the ground drum n bass/jungle even teggno to an eggstent. Even the acid is rising. I don’t know what is underground here now as I dont follow it. I know there are a few good people doing clubs and music likegg the guys at Alien Disco who specialise in the more mental drum n bass, donk and a bit whack whack and big Rocco Baldelli aka U-tense-l, doing different sounds at Tension club in Edinburgh.
Who’s worth looking out for in the current scene?
I can only speak for the Edinburgh area but off the top o’ my head Foxtrot are always worth a listen The Alien Disco Crew, Jammin Nimjah, ma bla,aido, Pollyanna Tatiana aka Pollybama, Morphamish to name a few.
The Baconiser was someone who stood out with nutty break core, ‘spose a bit like the venetian snares, it’s kind of up to date Captain Beefheart music as it so electronically fucked up and not easy to listen to at times.
Who would you say are your modern contemporaries?
I don’t know who is a modern contemporary in acid music terms as I don’t follow what’s goin’ on regarding who is playing the same music. Might help if I was a DJ and buying records and checkin’ shops or charts etc. I trawl You Tube for jungle and garage tunes eggspecially anything by El-B and Zed Bias (so I suppose you could say they are contemporaries) as I’ve got the car fitted out with a focal sub bass and other speakers and its all about the bass. Don’t play 4×4, only tunes with the space on the bass for the boom ti be effectivegg.
Next up for me vynal wise is 2x 12″ “easyAcid” Ep on Flatlife records based in Holland and “Its an acid thing” with mc Soph doing the intro on Foxbam. Both coming out this year.
https://soundcloud.com/mr-egg http://egebamyasi.com
You’ve recently started Foxbam Inc Records with DJ Foxtrot, how did you meet up?
I met Foxy at a midge death free party in the Highlands near Inverness during the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum. We jist clicked……al let foxy take over now and eggsplain the label…..TO BE CONTINUED
