Big Boss Man (band)
Encyclopedia
Formation and early years
Nasser Bouzida, who was brought up in HarlowHarlow
Harlow is a new town and local government district in Essex, England. It is located in the west of the county and on the border with Hertfordshire, on the Stort Valley, The town is near the M11 motorway and forms part of the London commuter belt.The district has a current population of 78,889...
but formative year were spent in Newbury, Berkshire had a strong love in Latin music. When he was a teenager, Nasser liked composing mini rock-operas in the style of Showaddywaddy
Showaddywaddy
Showaddywaddy are a 1970s pop group from Leicester, England. They specialised in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s and early 1960s, and dressed as Teddy Boys.-History:...
. When he was in his early twenties he appeared on the low-budget cableTV show “Jenny Powell’s Hot”, due to him becoming a pioneer of the sports-casual movement. On the set of this show he first met the band Bloodvessel, one of whom was Trevor Harding. A quote from their website describes the pair:
"Bouzida and Harding soon formed an unbreakable bond through their love of the PortsmouthPortsmouthPortsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
Sea life centre and Roxy MusicRoxy MusicRoxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...
. After witnessing a life – changing gig by world music surrealists “Bandanna” at the now infamous Bedford Arms, the two formed “Espadrille”."
The story continues:
"Their first big break came when Sea Link offered them a glamorous five show per day three-month contract. (Including two free hot meals per day and unlimited access to the mini-bar) On one particularly choppy entertainment voyage the duo bumped into Coffin Nails’ tattooed psycho dog-man “Mad-Man” Scott Milsom and indie sex-fiend / owner of Europe’s thinnest ears; Nick Nichols.
That ferry journey changed their lives and on that November day in 1998, the band now known as Big Boss Man was formed. The original lineup was and still is Nasser Bouzida a.k.a “The Bongolian” on organs, percussion and occasional vocals, Scott Milsom on the bass guitar, Trevor Harding on the electric guitar and Nick Nicholls on drums. In the first half of 1999, the band played a gig at the "Blow Up" when it was situated at the Wag club in Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
, London. According to the band's website they were loved by the crowd, which had filled the club to capacity as was normal.
"as usual the club was packed and the crowd absolutely loved the Big Boss Sound. They were then immediately signed up to the club's very own "Blow UpBlow Up RecordsBlow Up Records is a British independent record label, that was established in London in 1994, by Blow Up club founder and DJ Paul Tunkin.Music genres of releases from the label include New Wave, Pop/Rock and Electronica...
" record label."
Afterwards, the band made their first release, as part of the V2 Blow Up compilation
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
"Blow Up A Go-Go" with the demo version of the track Humanize, (recorded in the band's very own Ramshackle studios). This track was then re-recorded and released as the title track on the band's own debut album.
In 2000, the band appeared in and wrote the soundtrack for the short comedy film "Sweet
Sweet (film)
Sweet is a 2000 short film directed by James Pilkington starring Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt that is set in Camden, London. The plot is reused in the Mighty Boosh episode, The Nightmare of Milky Joe.-Overview:...
". This film starred the UK comedy duo The Mighty Boosh
The Mighty Boosh
The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Developed from three stage shows and a six episode radio series, it has since spawned a total of twenty television episodes for BBC Three and two live tours of the UK, as well as two live shows in the...
(Julian Barratt
Julian Barratt
Julian Barratt is an English comedian, musician, music producer and actor. Barratt is best known for playing the character of Howard Moon in the cult comedy The Mighty Boosh, which he also co-writes with comedy partner, Noel Fielding.-The Mighty Boosh:Barratt stars as the character Howard Moon...
and Noel Fielding
Noel Fielding
Noel Fielding is a British artist, comedian and actor. He is known for his roles as Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh, which he co-writes with comedy partner Julian Barratt, and as team captain on the music panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks.-Stand-up comedy:Noel Fielding performed regularly as a...
), who were awarded the Perrier Best Newcomers award of Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
. As well as providing the soundtrack, the band are in the film in the club scenes and as extras in the bar scenes.
November 2000 also saw the inclusion of "Xmas BOOGALOO"on the compilation album "It’s A Cool, Cool Christmas".
Sea Groove
In September 2000, Big Boss Man released their first single, "Sea Groove" (named possibly due to the chance encounter between the four members on a ferry). This was part of Blow Up's new series of 7" records called 'Blow Up 45's' . SELECT magazineSelect Magazine
Select was a United Kingdom music magazine of the 1990s which was particularly known for covering Britpop, a term coined in the magazine by Stuart Maconie...
gave the single a good review, alongside such artists as Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
, Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
, and Fat Boy Slim. It is said to be an "essential" 45 for the likes of DJs Snowboy
Snowboy
Snowboy is a UK-based Afro Cuban percussionist, bandleader, DJ, music critic, journalist and music promoter.Featured in the Who's Who of Latin American Music, Snowboy has released 11 albums and 17 singles in a career that spans over 15 years and has taken him and his authentic Afro-Cuban sound to...
, Bob Jones, Gary Crowley
Gary Crowley
Gary Crowley is an English broadcaster and DJ.When he was at school in the late Seventies Crowley started a punk fanzine titled The Modern World, interviewing some of the most important bands of the day including the Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Jam.After leaving school he took up a junior...
, Ross Alan and of course, the Blow Up DJ crew. The release was marked by a show at a Blow Up club event celebrating the opening of the "My Generation" Fashion and Photography Exhibition in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.
Humanize
Big Boss Man's debut album, Humanize, featuring the singles Sea Groove, Big Boss ManBig Boss Man (song)
"Big Boss Man" is a blues song written by Luther Dixon and Al Smith in 1960 and first recorded by Jimmy Reed. The song was a hit for Reed and has been interpreted and recorded by a variety of artists, including Elvis Presley and B.B...
and Sell Your Soul
Sell Your Soul
Sell Your Soul is the first full-length album from Burlington, Ontario's The Creepshow. The album was released by and distributed by EMI Music Canada.The album features eleven tracks, ten of which are original songs...
was released in April 2001. The sound has been described on their website as
"a hip heavy Hammond hybrid of pop, 6T's R'n'B / Latin soul and funk."
It is a very upbeat album and has the distinction of being a mostly instrumental, the only vocals being on the songs Humanize, Big Boss Man, Money and Sell Your Soul. The lyrics that are on the album are short; Big Bos Man, and Sell Your Soul are the only two songs which follow a standard structure of verse/chorus etc., whereas the other two merely have a phrase repeated throughout the song.
In May 2001, "Later
Later (magazine)
Later was a monthly men's magazine published by IPC Media from April 1999 to early 2001.In an interview with Sam Delaney in Heat magazine, "Later [was] designed to be Loaded for settled men in their 30s".The UK band Madness was interviewed in the September 1999 issue.In...
" Magazine gave away 100,000 copies of a compilation CD called “The Later Lounge” which featured kitsch classics from the 60's & 70's. Big Boss Man had the honour of being the only contemporary act featured on the CD with their track "Party 7". They were alongside such acts as James Clarke, Grant Green
Grant Green
Grant Green was a jazz guitarist and composer....
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, Paul Nero, and Hugo Montenegro
Hugo Montenegro
Hugo Montenegro was an American orchestra leader and composer of film soundtracks. His best known work is derived from interpretations of the music from Spaghetti westerns, especially his cover version of the main theme from the 1966 film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
.
In December 2001, the magazine Later
Later (magazine)
Later was a monthly men's magazine published by IPC Media from April 1999 to early 2001.In an interview with Sam Delaney in Heat magazine, "Later [was] designed to be Loaded for settled men in their 30s".The UK band Madness was interviewed in the September 1999 issue.In...
released a compilation CD entitled "The later lounge 2", featuring the band's debut single "Sea Groove".
In 2006 'Party 7' was featured in one of a number of advertisements for Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
's FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
2006 World Cup advertisement campaign. The advertisement was entitled 'Henry' and featured Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry
Thierry Daniel Henry is a French professional footballer who plays for the New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer.Henry was born in Les Ulis, Essonne where he played for an array of local sides as a youngster and showed great promise as a goal-scorer. He was spotted by AS Monaco in 1990 and...
and Eric Cantona
Eric Cantona
Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona is a French actor and former French international footballer. He played for Auxerre, Martigues, Marseille, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nîmes and Leeds United before ending his professional footballing career at Manchester United, where he won four Premier League titles in...
. Coincidentally, the UK BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final
2006 FIFA World Cup Final
The 2006 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match that took place on 9 July 2006 at the Olympiastadion, Berlin to determine the winner of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Italy beat France on penalties after the match finished 1–1 after extra time...
featured 'Party 7'. Blow Up records reissued the 'Humanize' album in 2006, with stickers on the sleeve with reference to the ad.
In 2002, after the release of Humanize, the band decided to tour Europe to promote it. The dates included 3 weeks in Spain, 2 weeks in Germany, then travelling to Moscow (Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
), Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
(Italy) and finishing up with 2 weeks in France including the Le Rock Dans Tousses Etats festival in Evreux
Évreux
Évreux is a commune in the Eure department, of which it is the capital, in Haute Normandie in northern France.-History:In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named Mediolanum Aulercorum, "the central town of the Aulerci", the Gallic tribe then inhabiting the area...
where they played to 10,000 people.
Big Boss Man returned from Europe and continued to tour around England and Scotland. They were also asked to rework and remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
tracks for Japanese sensation Mansfield for his Golden Hour album, and reworked Ingfried Hoffmann's 60's/70's Euro-cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
TV theme Robbi, Tobbi Und Das Fliewatüüt
Robbi, Tobbi und das Fliewatüüt
Robbi, Tobbi und das Fliewatüüt is a German television series for children. It showed the adventures of a pupil called Tobias who accompanied by his robot travels in a self-designed all-in-one vehicle for an exam which involves riddles all over world.He calls his apparatus "Flie-wa-tüüt"...
for an EP released on Germany's Diggler Records.
2003
Big Boss Man returned to Europe and headlined nights at the Aucard de Tours festival and Cosmic Trip festival. They then had a two week tour of Spain, took in headline cult festival slots and club gigs, and ended the tour on a high note with a sell-out show at MadridMadrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
's Sala Caracol venue.
2004
Paul WellerPaul Weller
Paul Weller is an English singer-songwriter. Starting with the band The Jam , Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council...
released a single called "The Bottle", which Big Boss Man dutifully remixed. Weller's single went straight in to the UK top 20. Two special limited edition versions of this single (vocal and instrumental) were released and it fast became a collectors item.
Later the same year, Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
France requested the band's permission to use their second single "Big Boss Man" for promotional use. As quoted on their official website:
"Access denied!"
In May the band flew to France to play Cosmic Groove parties in Paris and Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
and in July, they touched down in Italy to play Festival Beat. Nasser Bouzida then toured Spain with a live revue of his spin-off solo album "The Bongolian" and was asked to guest with such luminaries as Woodstock's Country Joe and the Fish
Country Joe and the Fish
Country Joe and the Fish was a rock band most widely known for musical protests against the Vietnam War, from 1966 to 1971, and also regarded as a seminal influence to psychedelic rock.-History:...
and 60's British mod soul band The Action
The Action
The Action were an English band of the 1960s. They were part of the mod subculture, and played soul music-influenced pop music.-Career:The band were formed as The Boys in August 1963, in Kentish Town, North West London. After Peter Watson joined them as an additional guitarist in 1965, they changed...
.
Winner
Big Boss Man released their second album, Winner, in April 2005. The album had a subtly different feel to the first record, due to its more apparent Latin feel, although the base elements of funk, jazz and soul are all still there, as are the cool sounds of the Hammond organ.No singles were released from the album. However, Kelvin Stardust, the first track of the Winner album, was included on the 'Soulshaker Volume 2' compilation album released by Blow Up Records in July of that year.To further differentiate from Humanize, the album featured more vocals (although still mostly instrumental) with four songs (Fall In Fall Out, Complicated Lady, Reach Out and Got It So Bad) now sporting full lyrics. Winner also features some French vocals in the song Tu as Gache Mon Talent Ma Cherie - in true Big Boss Man style, the only lyrics are those in the title of the song. This French number was written possibly due to their large fan base in France, where Winner garnered wide radio play.
To promote Winner, Big Boss Man embarked on a 12 date tour of France in the spring. They also returned to Spain for a 16 date Autumn tour, including a second national TV appearance on the Spanish television show "Radio 3". Possibly related to this, at the end of the song Jackson 16, there appears to be a clip from either a Spanish radio or TV show.
Club favourite The Hawk, the 11th track from Winner, was included on “Come On Soul” an international compilation of vintage
Vintage
Vintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product . A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and...
and contemporary dance floor tracks released by the Legre record label in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
in 2008.
3rd album
Full English Beat Breakfast, released in September, is by far the band's most ambitious project yet, using more synthesisers than previous. Trevor Harding is still writing good songs as proved with C'est Moi and the very talented drumming makes this a great album.Albums
2001 Humanize2005 Winner
2009 Full English Beat Breakfast