Feature Article - Budspells

16th November 2006 @ 11:00am

Martyn Pepperell from Ruffneck Souljah profiles Sydney based, reggae/ragga-hiphop crew - Budspells.

 

If you follow reggae music and its related hybrids in Aotearoa and Australia with any degree of interest, chances are you have probably heard of Budspells from Bondi Beach, Sydney.  

Relatively unknown as a group until fairly recently, Budspells have stormed radio stations and dancehalls across both countries with their infectious ragga hip-hop and reggae jungle grooves.  A strong alliance formed in 2005 with Salmonella Dub and the Dub Conspiracy Music Group, has allowed them to tour extensively and play support at numerous well-attended events, quickly building a strong and loyal fan base.

What you probably don't know is that even though Budspells seem like a reasonably new group, core members MC Kye and Ants (producer) both have extensive individual musical histories each stretching back well beyond a decade, and yes...they are both originally from New Zealand.  

The singer – Kye - hails from Te Awamutu, but relocated to Australia fifteen years ago and has spent most of the time since operating out of Bondi Beach, singing with various reggae bands and Australian Hip-Hop groups. During that time he has achieved a reasonable degree of success performing as part of Wicked Beat Sound System.

Working with Wicked Beat was the relationship that really schooled and educated Kye in regards to performance and dealing with the industry side of things. It was a relationship which had to end however to allow Kye to continue to grow and develop as a vocalist and become an all-round musician and music producer.  

Ants is the studio guy and is a natural musician.  Seemingly possessed of an ability to play virtually any instrument, he is also a master of Pro-Tools and possesses a huge amount of knowledge in regards to the recording and mixing of music.

Ants cut his studio teeth in the UK and spent a substantial period of time living in Wellington working with the likes of Mu (Fat Freddie's Drop) and The Dental Records Crew.  He was also a member of Wellington super group 'Bong Master'.  Ants relocated to Sydney, Australia around 2001, driven by a desire to grow and expand his horizons.  

The duo originally met at a Shabeen party in Sydney circa 2003 and forged a strong initial connection based on a shared love of the same musical styles and an interesting number of common acquaintances.  At that point Ants was running a professional recording studio for an advertising company in Sydney and as a result had full access to it's equipment for personal use.

Working together as 'Budspells' they began recording songs in a variety of styles and collaborating with other local artists and musicians. Thanks to this process Budspells built up an extensive library of material prior to even performing together as a group. Developing in this manner helped solidify Budspells very early on and lead to a limited run demo bootleg which as often happens in these sort of stories managed to fall into the hands of the right man at the right time.  

The right man was Andrew Penman of Salmonella Dub and The Dub Conspiracy collective.

Dub Conspiracy was in the planning stages of assembling a national tour of Australia, which would more or less transplant the lineup of the Kaikoura Roots Festival and showcase it over three nights in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.  I was actually on tour in Australia a few weeks prior to this event and I can tell you first hand the hype was epic to say the least.  Dub Conspiracy contacted Budspells to open up the live band arena each night on the tour.  

Obviously they accepted the offer and have since extensively traveled New Zealand and Australia with Salmonella Dub, featured on two Dub Conspiracy compilation CDs and released their debut EP through that imprint.

Budspells have achieved some degree of notoriety on the New Zealand B.Net network through two critical songs - Ruckus (a grime influenced excursion) featuring P.Diggs from Sunshine Sound System, and underground hip-hop banger Feel Styles featuring Australian Hip-Hop MC, Hyjack.  

They are currently working towards completion of their debut album Cultivated Minds – a dreamy smoked-out excursion through all things bass heavy. Cultivated Minds is set to be once again released through the Dub Conspiracy imprint under Ruffiage Tunes - Budspells own record label and music production company.

Aside from Budspells, Kye and Ants are focused on several other complimentary projects. Primarily they are moving towards properly establishing Ruffiage Tunes as a record label and production company.  A studio space has been obtained in Redfurn, Sydney and they have high hopes for establishing it as a focal point in the local music scene.  The plan is to move beyond just working on their own production and help develop younger local artists in an effort to help sustain the creativity and vibrancy in their chosen musical styles.   Kye is also working on a J Dilla inspired Hip-Hop album under the alias of “Abzorb of the sorted few?”.

When questioned on their favourite artists and influences both name a surprising number of the same musicians and groups and manage to cover a very wide musical span ranging from Blues, Jazz and Soul to Rock, Drum and Bass, Garage, Reggae, Grime, Ragga and so on, including names such as Horace Andy, Miles Davis, Marvin Gaye and Bill Withers.

The Motown influence is an interesting point, as a deep understanding of that seminal labels’ musical output and production styles have heavily shaped the music writing and production process for Budspells.  Start with the drums, get them sounding nice, round and phat. Next develop the melody using a bassline and create a tight syncopated dynamic between drum and bass. Following this the vocal tracks are laid down and the additional required accompaniment parts are either played or programmed over the top. The result is pleasing to say the least. A statement I feel the majority of readers who have listened to Budspells will agree with wholeheartedly.  

Beyond just the music, Budspells have a message, a vibe and a cause.  I figured I'd let them close this interview out with a little message to all the readers out there, and it goes a little something like this.

“Stay independent and always back yourself in everything you do, never stop self educating and self schooling. Hold onto that DIY attitude and always keep things positive in everything you do”  

 
One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain

 

Martyn Pepperell

« back to the news

Webdesign and development by Tama Pugsley