Funk? Soul? Brother…

Melbourne band The Bamboos regularly get rave live reviews and increasingly high profile screen soundtrack gigs with films like Crazy Stupid Love, and TV shows Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill, Ugly Betty and local fave Underbelly. But their niche is one that they don't necessarily sit in happily. “The Bamboos' music is what it is and, I'm not an idiot, when you put on the record you can hear a soul side, but I think there's a different intention behind it, too,” begins Bamboos bandleader (and ringleader) Lance Ferguson. “The soul kind of funk thing, as a label, as a pigeonhole, it seems like the hardest to escape from. Of course you can say someone's a death metal band or whatever, but to me some of the great bands out there, my favourite bands, they don't get those genre labels anymore, it's just 'That's Foo Fighters' or 'That's Radiohead', or whatever. Now of course these are huge bands and I'm not saying we're as big and as known as them, but I think it's always good to aspire to whatever the best stuff is and the best standard is and to me, I aspire to having people just say, 'That sounds like a Bamboos record'. I don't want the band to be so genre driven; I just want us to be the band. I think this album [newbie, Medicine Man], as much as it's got all these soul tracks on it, I think there're a whole lot of other influences on it as well.”

Ferguson doesn't want to pay disrespect to the soul/funk set (and indeed, he acknowledges how that scene has done him and his roster of Bamboos, well over the last five albums and decade), he is clear that it's not all that he listens to. “When I write I don't listen to funk and soul, I try to listen to other genres to get a different sound and while writing this time I was listening to a lot of psychedelic stuff, as well as just some '80s pop as well,” he says, conjuring up a curious idea for an iTunes playlist. “It's not the genre so much, but more that the purists of soul and funk music are – and many of them are my friends so I feel I can say this – but they have a really strong set of criteria for what makes something good or bad or not and I guess I'm not interested in that criteria anymore. I really used to be, but now I just want the band to be what that is.”

If you haven't come across The Bamboos until now, it might be because they have recently got their indie Aussie Rock Pig on. Most notably, their gigs with the likes of Megan Washington and Tim Rogers as guest vocalists have gotten them out of the soul/funk 'hood, but also helped provide their fantastic guests with a chance to rock out without needing to worry about their own words.

“Megan's been with us twice… We did a track on which was a cover version – a cover of James Blake's Wilhelm Scream – and it's obviously a gospel-ly, soul take on the tune. But I didn't want to have the same type of vocal on it, the soul diva type thing. I didn't think at first that Meg would be available because she was moving overseas, but it worked out. Then I also had another song – all the music, a melody, some lyrics and some chords there – and then Megan came in like a whirlwind, as she does, with John Castle who also produced the album with me. She showed up in a whirlwind two days before she went to New York and did the cover and then she also said, 'What else have you got?' And so we worked on this other song that became Eliza, also on Medicine Man. And it's a fantastic way to work because it's really quick. It's like, 'Let's write lyrics write here on the mixing desk'.”

As for getting The Bamboos down with Tim Rogers, Ferguson also led with a relatively organic, but speedy, approach. “I went to Tim with the song but kept the creative book open, saying, 'Look, if you want to change any of this, feel free. It is a song, but it's a starting point'. Because Tim is a legend, he's a living legend of Aussie music, I'd been hanging out with him a bit, especially when we were touring with Megan with the Big Day Out and stuff and he's a lovely, charming guy. And I feel a bit a weird to go to him and say, 'Here's my song, just do that'. I didn't want to come off as arrogant, I really wanted his input. But he thought it was great and said it really suited the headspace he was in at the time and so he of course, as you say, 'Tim Rogered it'. We'd recorded it before he came into the studio and I'd demoed it up in a falsetto and I didn't know how he'd do it, but it sounded best for him to put it in falsetto too and there's something so special about his voice. People don't always know it's him, but it's great, he is a soul man, really. And he really owned.”

The process of being “Rogered”, as Ferguson puts it, is a key part to The Bamboos stretch beyond the bounds of genre, but again, one based on a broad musical love. In addition, like many of the music loving public who have also, musically (metaphorically of course) been Rogered, it was a thoroughly satisfying experience. Ferguson says it was validating having Rogers record the song. “I must admit I've been trying to develop my songwriting over these years and these albums and it defiantly was like having a stamp of approval, to have him record it as he did.”

Not counting indie rock vocalists on loan (as well as other guest vocalists on the album including Daniel Merriweather, Aloe Blacc, Bobby Flynn and Kylie Auldist), The Bamboos are currently a nine-piece touring troupe. It makes for a huge stage presence (and a logistical pain, no doubt). But it's a size and sound that Ferguson continues to be excited about. “It is pretty massive. And that's probably why we haven't toured as much as we'd like to date, but hopefully with this record that will happen,” says Ferguson. “Having a horn section is the thing; that's what blows the budget out. And we have an extra vocalist in the band now too – Ella Thompson – and I've recorded with her before and I think she covers the side of vocals that Megan does and she's great; a really nice person to have in the band on a personal level as well. If nothing else, it's great to have another girl in the band. Kylie [Auldist, regularly guest vocalist] is there as well, but she's tougher than some of the blokes, so two girls on the stage, it's great,” Ferguson says, bravely.

Indeed, The Bamboos are becoming their own law, however they do remain a united front with a clear leader. It's a role Ferguson takes purposefully and practically, but also one he does for the good of the collective. “The Bamboos as a band have tried writing a song together in a studio and that sort of thing can work and can be done, particularly if you have a four-piece. But with numbers like ours, it can get pretty weird being pulled eight or nine ways. It's not that it's my way or the highway, but I think that if someone has a clear vision then at least we have a place to start and work from there.” The “from there” is Ferguson's want to keep it fresh. “It would be the easiest thing in the world for this album to just rehash what we've done in the past and do festivals and have that be it, but I feel like every album has to be a progression and I feel like I have to get in and be excited by the music. That sounds obvious, but I think the music has to keep advancing and I guess that's it – we keep advancing it.”