Interviews

Glasswerk meets: The Brand New Heavies

• 12th Apr 2013

We caught up recently with Andrew Levy from 90’s legendary funked up dancefloor fillers The Brand New Heavies to quiz him on their absence from the UK music scene, new material and their plans for the future.

What can we all expect from your new album Forward?
Fans can expect real music; classic Heavies jazz funk with a tinge of disco glam. Horns are expensive, percussion shimmering and strings glorious!

There’s a slightly different feel to the new material, was this a conscious decision? If so, why?
This time we are sharing the vocals around a bit more, we Have N’Dea (Davenport) plus a new voice in the form of Dawn Joseph, and Jan and Simon are also singing. There is also more of an uptempo feel on this recording, a kind of ‘let’s get things moving’ attitude.

Stream new single Sunlight here:

When you aren’t touring and recording, what do the band get up to?
We are constantly at Heathrow so the few weeks we do have off are usually spent with family, a bit of telly, cooking…there are a some budding business entrepreneurs in the band too so watch this space.

New single Sunlight features N’Dea Davenport your longtime collaborator, how was it working with her again?
It’s always an event working with Miss Davenport, and we’ve been doing shows with her for a good few years since the 90s. Our fans all over the globe love her and her voice and massive stage persona rocks! She is going to be with us at KOKO London the 10th of May.

Why did it feel like the right time to release new material?
We’ve actually been trying to release a new LP for a while now but we had some issues with our management team which was a struggle to say the least. Now we are with a wonderful bunch of talented and experienced people and have a new record out…we hope it was worth the wait.

How have you found the early response to the new single and album so far?
We are all happy with the response, radio is already starting to play it and that’s always a good indicator.

Is there a lot of pressure to live up to your own legend?
Always some pressure when one has been around for so long, but we’ve always been pretty spontaneous, as long as we just do as we’ve always done, stumble around in the studio for a few months, try to have a laugh and see what happens, we’re good to go.

This time around you’ll be connecting with a younger audience – what’s the plan, is it iPad crazy at TBNH HQ?
We’re all big tech heads, you have to be these days, so we’ll be teaching the kids a few tricks I’m sure!

What’s your personal favourite track on the album?
Heaven is my fave track, playing it live is lots of fun, a pure jazz funk floor filling extravaganza.. topped off by Jan’s brilliantly slick vocal.

What’s coming next for the band? Can we expect tour dates?
More new music later this year, dates in London, Japan, South Africa, Spain and the US.

‘Sunlight’ is released April 14th with new album ‘Forward’ released 6th May.