Stylebible

Backstage with the Brand New Heavies

Date: 08 July 2008

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Growing up I was a huge fan of Soul II Soul and the Brand New Heavies but living in Portugal meant that gigs were in short supply, so when I was first invited to one of their concerts by a friend I was rather excited to find out that not only was she was friends with bassist/keyboardist Andrew Levy but that she had also secured us back stage passes. Over the last couple of years I’ve met Andrew socially a few times and it was on a recent trip to London that we ended up having a night out in Notting Hill that ended in the early hours of the morning with me promising to come to the next gig in Porto.

Despite being based in Portugal, the trip still involved a six hour train ride up North with the only fast service leaving at some ungodly hour of the morning. Having been out the night before (never a good idea), Cathy (the Algarve editor), myself and Sharon (a friend) found ourselves arriving at break neck speeds at Loule train station just as the train pulled in, while Cathy organized tickets, I barked orders for Sharon “to stop that train”, not entirely sure how she was meant to achieve this but luckily no superhuman powers were required as we managed to climb on board just as the train was pulling out.

Several hours later we’d arrived and made our way to the Porto Palacio hotel where we were staying with the band. By six O’clock we were at the artist entrance of the Super Bock Festival, back stage passes in hand, ready to enjoy a night that included Jamiroquai, Paolo Nutini, Morcheeba and the Brand New Heavies. Blessed with perfect weather, we got to enjoy soul, jazz and funky guitar licks, N’dea Davenport who is now firmly back with band after leaving for a number of years has brought back the very best the Brand New Heavies have to offer.

Pioneers of the London acid jazz scene, the Brand New Heavies was originally formed as an instrumental unit with guitarist Simon Bartholomew, bassist/keyboardist Andrew Levy and Dutch drummer/keyboardist Jan Kincaid. Starting out they played in clubs, pubs and anywhere that would have them with the record deal only coming later in their career. In 1990 they added a brass section and after signing to Delicious Vinyl and replacing the original Vocalist Jay Elle Ruth with N’dea Davenport they formed a cult following achieving success on both sides of the Atlantic. Their album Brother Sister went Platinum in the UK in 1994 and was to be the last album recorded with N’dea who left to pursue a solo career.

These are exciting times for the Brand New Heavies, having been firm fixtures in the music scene for over twenty years, N’dea is now back with the band, they’ve recently put the music to the new advert for Lancôme (which is being released later this summer), a greatest hits album will co-incide with the release of the new single and the band are back on tour kicking off with a huge event at IndigO2 in London (for anyone who wants to go we’ll be featuring a competition to win back stage passes and a signed album in an upcoming newsletter) before heading to Manchester, Edinburgh and Southampton before hitting the road again and touring Europe at the end of the year.

Fans in Porto were treated to old favourites that included Never stop, Dream On Dreamer and Midnight At The Oasis before leaving the stage to start press interviews with Portuguese TV stations. The headline act of the night was Jamiroquai and once he had finished his set we all headed back to the hotel for a few drinks, with all the bands staying in the same hotel it wasn’t long before we had taken over the bar and I found myself sandwiched between J.K and Andrew Levy talking cars (it doesn’t get much better than that).

Having spent time with the Brand New Heavies, one thing that really strikes you is how down to earth and normal they are, there was no diva tantrums or TV’s being thrown out of windows, instead I got to spend time with a band that are really excited to be back together and itching to go on tour. There are so few bands that have made the test of time in the same way they have, the original members are back together and they are well on track to overshadow their previous success, once the tour is over, they will be re grouping to write new tracks and I for one can’t wait, but in the meantime I’ll have to settle for the October 16th gig in London; I hope you'll join me.

Till next time Amanda