Weekly > Interviews
The Anomalies
The Anomalies have been gradually winning people over with a series of infectious single releases and a flurry of highly entertaining gigs.
All of this came together recently on their new album Free Soup Social, an album that contains a heady mix of everything you need for the summer, with hip-hop, funk, ska and any other genre you can think of colliding in spectacular fashion…yet still somehow sitting together well.
The duo are busy gearing up for the release of a new single (Margarita), so we squeezed in some time with them to find out how they were going down with the hard line hip-hop crowd and a bit more about their songwriting process.
To start with, you seem to have confused the shit out of people with your sound (always a good thing in my mind), with your mixture of guitars combining with a more hip-hop sound. Did you go through any other phases in your sound before you settled on the current vibe?
Initially we started out only using samples with no live playing (because we didn’t know how to). This meant that the sound was a lot more like oldskool hip-hop, really tight and very much loop based. We’ve kept a bit of that but over the years we’ve learnt more about music and started messing around with guitars and synths, which gives the sound its mash up feel.
It’s a fresh approach to things that has won you a lot of admirers along the way, were you wary at all about going out on a limb and stretching some of the boundaries of the various genres you encompass?
It was something we just came to naturally without really giving it much thought. Between the two of us we like so many varying styles in music that they all ended up finding their way into the mix. I think within the first 5 tracks you get about thirty different genres.
How have the more hard line hip-hop crowd taken to you so far?
Hip hop crowds like all crowds, are very divided in themselves. I think your more up beat Jurassic 5, Beastie Boys fan is pretty keen on us. I’m not sure what Akon’s fans would have to say!!!
The album Free Soup Social has been really well received, you must be delighted with the response to it?
Yeh, it’s really refreshing when you read a review, or speak to someone and they’ve got it, and when they haven’t been put off by the mix of sounds, and just gone with it.
How did the writing, production and recording work between you for the album?
It really varies track to track. We wrote the whole thing over about two years, so the writing style changes dramatically over the album. Some times we’d let a sample guide the mood of the song; other times a beat, and more often than not a melody. Some songs write themselves and others you have to beat the shit out of before you like them. These are the ones that normally end up being your favourites. Bastards.
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Add to favouritesYou are releasing Margarita as a single just before the summer, seems like perfect timing as it’s got a really summery feel to the track?
It’s all about the skank. Ska is the perfect music for summer and festivals. We’ve taken that as a starting point, and added a heavy beat and synth bass for good measure. Then bring on a load of people in a field, jumping around, spilling their organic cider.
As well as the single you are playing a number of dates with Kid British, a good opportunity to convert some more fans, will you approach the shows anything differently?
We always aim to put on the heaviest, most upbeat show we can. Recently, what with recording the album, the show had lost a bit of energy, but we’ve just spent two weeks in a rehearsal studio tightening up the live set, adding in some bits and it’s gonna go off over the summer!
You can put your ultimate hip-hop crew together…who would be in it?
Jimi Hendrix on guitar
Gene Kruper on the beats
Flea from the Chilli’s on bass
B Real and Guru on vocals
Premier and RJD2 on production
Mixmaster Mike on the decks
And finally, Justice on the mix down to get Gene’s snares sounding punchy.
Have you started working on your follow up at all?
We’re taking a little break over the summer for festivals. But we’ve already got the start to a lot of songs in place. The aim is to sit down in September, and have a proper writing session for the rest of the year. We’re really getting into our synths and big production so the next set of songs should be even heavier.
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