A Clean-Shaven Q&A with Beardyman
Interview By Graham S 2009 / Images from article subject.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the name or haven’t seen the guy in action, don’t think we are talking to some under dwelling – un-groomed bridge goblin. I’ve seen this guy have little scratch battles with a DJ with only a mic in his hand mimic entire tunes with just his mouth, no usual run of the mill beatboxer. Everyone meet Beardyman a now much renowned and general crowd entertainer.
Hello. . .

So how you been mate and what you been up to recently?

I’ve been good. ... very busy. . . but all stuff I’m really excited about so its been easy to get it all done. .

Your dirty deeds are usually in the company of the skilled JFB, a partnership that has created a strong and loyal following. How did you guys meet and what made you decide to put your two skills together?

We used to steal cars together when we were little. .. but we decided to reform our ways and Battlejam was the result. We both play out individually but Battlejam is this cataclysmic exothermic reaction. Basically, JFB got serato, we noticed it had a record button which allowed us to record and scratch with the recordings live. We knew nowhere would book us so we started our own night, now its one of the most successful nights in Brighton, and we do it in Cargo (London) too.

We’ve seen you in action and all your random glory at Battlejam, but for our readers...Tell us some more about what you try to achieve each time and what you offer the crowd?

It’s a night where anything can happen. We don't plan the night really, we have lots of things we can do within the schema, but we work off the random shoutings of the crowd, there's no night like it and the crowd dictates what we do to some extent, we plunge the mic into the crowd and see what people say into it., then we scratch the sample we’ve recorded into a tune. Sometimes we'll ask stupid questions to stimulate people into being creative like "what's something you've always wanted to do?”, or, "what noise do you think she would make in bed?". Other good questions are "Tell the story of jack n the beanstalk in 10 seconds" or give us your life story…in 30 seconds”. It always goes off, it’s ridiculous! I do my live looping thing, JFB has his DJ/Scratch/mentalism thing, and we’ve recently started doing the same thing with video, its crazy, no-one else is doing it. We've started doing a stage show under a different name, we'll see how that goes, it was sold out when we did it at the south bank.

We have seen your skills showcased everywhere, You-Tube videos receiving crazy amounts of hits, PA’s and hosting of events around the country, a session on Radio 1 with Scott Mills and I’m sure there’s even and appearance of a ‘clean-shaven’ Beardyman in a Rowntree’s sweet advert. But what’s been the ‘funnest’ thing that you’ve done.

Going on stage at a "Kiss" FM company conference when they'd just been taken over by a German investment group and telling them loads of them were gonna be laid off, then beatboxing at them. I had a Kaoss Pad behind the podium and just started doing a set. . it was awesome! I had all these graphs on the screen that went mental! Haha!

You’ve done a fair bit to say the least and achieved quite a bit at the same time. When speaking to Adrian (In January) there was an utter of you looking to do something different... what did you mean by this and have you found it yet?

I'm always looking to improve, expand, change, grow, evolve, if you don't you become poor, lonely, unfulfilled and forgotten. I'm developing some performance technology which no-one else in the world has and I'm working on some crazy recording projects too. Also my live show is changing and improving all the time so watch this space…..

You and JFB use an array of technology for your performances, with particular reference to Serato and your clever use of the program and the entertainment factor of using the live video scratching. But how do you think the tech will evolve and what should we all be doing with it?

We're pushing Serato to make some changes for us, its a hard process cos its a very niche market. There are some unbelievably innovative musicians and performers in the world who make their own gear but most musicians would rather rely on what they are given and what's easiest. We see it differently, there are things we need Serato to do with their software and hardware which they take into account but are reticent to invest in if its only us using it. But there are workarounds too, for example...actually... it’s too complicated to explain! But we talk a lot about the tiny incremental changes which could totally alter the way we work live. . . we're developing new techniques, I wont give too much away, but we've got some crazy ideas, multiple cameras, new techniques to smash it even more, make it less stop start, like a sound clash and more like a ridiculous shamanic experience. . .

What was the first loop or bit from a track that you mastered as a Beatboxer? That first one where you turned around to your mates and said check this out guys...
Abstract stuff….. actually…thinking about it, it was Pulp Fiction by Alex Reece, big tune, very easy to beatbox.

On that note what is your favourite track of all time.?
At the moment "Big Purple Badboy" by exile.

Now knowing that you can appreciate some gentle randomness and off-topic fun.
What would you do with 99 red balloons?
Fill them with whipped cream and have a party with naked girls.

If you could have one super hero power what would it be?
The power to make my dreams become reality.

If you could spend the night with any famous person who would it be?
Obama, we wouldn't have sex, we'd figure out a plan to save the world…..I don't want to die…..

Well cheers for the interview, hopefully get the chance to catch up with again soon. Keep up the wicked stuff and sheer entertainment mate.

As a bonus for you readers this month and a must check out – have a look at these You-Tube videos of Beardyman in action.