Interview: SumoChief
“As long as the sampling’s being done in a musical way then it’s cool”.
“Formally known as “Yancey Boys”, SumoChief is a London based live band/collective. With influences ranging from Jazz Fusion to Soulful Hip Hop the group have a sound that ventures into e.g. Robert Glasper’s shores, but not quite so similar as to be imitative. On songs like “1of1" and “Gator Season” the guitar acts as the leading instrument. Key stabs, bass and drums often flow along to the guitars melodic pattern and audio snippets from music interviews, give songs a quirky ambience”.
Members:
Oscar Laurence: Guitar
Joe Armon-Jones: Keys
Jack ‘JP’ Polley: Bass
Olly Sarkar: Drums
Interview By Orion Anakaris
O: Thanks for your time guys, It’s a shame we couldn’t meet at the J Dilla Live Instrumentals event, but I heard It went really well and there were homemade doughnuts made available! Could you talk a bit about your background and how you came to meet?
SC: Yeah that was a live night! We all met at trinity college of music, realised we were all into hip-hop as well as jazz. The group started as a trio, and then we brought in Oscar on guitar and that completed the SumoChief team
O: Alright. What’s the creative process like when you’re sitting down to compose the arrangements on music recorded for songs or performed live?
SC: One of us usually comes in with a rough idea or a sample and we all just throw ideas around till we come up with something dope. If we’re writing with a singer we might work off a melody and add the other elements. So essentially all the tunes are written by all of us!
O: What has been the best live show you’ve done so far and how did It compare to some of the shows you did starting out?
SC: We supported fliptrix at the Fox & Firkin earlier this month and that was a wicked show! Either that or any Steez event we’ve played at. Big up Luke Newman that man knows how to run a night.
O: My friend Manu recently put me on to Steez, I’ll have to see what those events are saying. On your recent release there were snippets of audio from one of J Dilla’s interviews. One of the views expressed in that same interview was the recreation/interpolation of samples he couldn’t get clearance on for albums. Do you feel Hip Hop music needs more live production or sample based production?
SC: Well it’s definitely true that hip hop music needs more musicality in it, and using live instruments in the production helps with that; samples wouldn’t exist without live musicians. But it’s more about the musicality of the producer, as long as the samplings being done in a musical way then it’s cool. It’s when people sample stuff to get around being able to hire real musicians/play it themselves.
O: Detroit band, Will Sessions garnered a great amount of attention in 2012 with the live production done on Elzhi’s “Elmatic”. While well received the project was not without risk, with pressure to cover the material sensitively to the original source material “Illmatic”. Do you experience pressure like this when you approach covers?
SC: Not really, mainly because when we play other peoples music we’d rather come up with something that sounds different to, but is inspired by the original. Having said that our a Dilla tribute night we were just trying to nail those beats like the records. Cause the records are so good…
O: Your EP cover has a square watermelon on It, was there any reason for this in particular?
SC: Nope! Kristian Berge our artist from Lunatick Records just nailed it with the design and we liked it. Ask him!
O: Ah! Are there any plans to follow up with another project soon or will you take your time and tour more before something like that comes to fruition?
SC: Yeah don’t worry we’re already back in the studio, got a 25–30 track Beattape coming out in 3 or 4 months but before that the SumoBeats remix EP is out on October 28th! Featuring Handbook, Ben Hauke, Auxx, D’vo, Benny Mails, Creme and a whole load of other dope producers! Look out for that.
O: Very random; you’re on an island with a music player and have 3 albums released in 1980 to 2010, which 3 albums do you choose?
Slum Village “Fantastic vol 2"
Common “Like water for chocolate”
O: Lastly, who are some of the artists you’d like to work with in the near future?
SC: Jesse James
Kwabbs
Hawk House
Rejje Snow
HomeBoy Sandman
The Mouse Outfit
Sub Luna Cityyyy
Shabaka Hutchins
Soweto Kinch
Finn Peters
Eric Lau
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