Brooklyn Hip-Hop vibes come to Lutterworth.
Gangstagrass, the Brooklyn-based bluegrass/hip-hop band, opened the Interstate stage at the Long Road Festival on 23rd August 2024, before heading off to play the Shrewsbury Folk Festival the same evening. Before the show, Americana UK sat down with travelling band members Rench, Dolio the Sleuth and R-Son The Voice of Reason as well as manager and sixth member Sleevs. The trio are being supported on the tour by Chris (banjo) and Laura (fiddle), friends of the band standing in for Dan Whitener and Brian Farrow respectively. The band has just released its latest album, “The Blackest Thing On The Menu” via a Kickstarter campaign which has been very successful. The band has been let down by the US Postal Service and estimated up to 200 physical items have been lost en route to the fans.
So why crowdfund the album?
We didn’t think we would be working with a label and doing it this way means we retain full control. Not just of the music, but how it’s produced and sold, the packaging and everything.
How successful was it?
It was one of the most successful crowdfundings. We had over 500 backers and sent out over 1,000 physical items (CDs, vinyl).
And did that help with finding where your audience is?
Well, it told us what we already knew. It’s all over, geographically, urban, rural in the US and all over; all different ages.
How did the songs come together for the new record?
We had some songs left over from the last album in 2020 which didn’t fit on that record or weren’t finished. And we had some we wrote in the studio as we were making this record. ‘Mother’ is based around a poem written in Northern France around 6 years ago, or it may have been 8 years ago, which Dolio turned into a song.
‘Mother’ has a strong focus on the environment.
These are issues that affect us all where most people are in agreement with what needs to be done, but the government won’t do it. The reason it won’t is the money which means the politicians are bought and paid for. And they gerrymander the electoral districts to make sure they stay in power to do that, no matter what.
The band had more songs than they needed for the record which they wanted to make sure would fit with the vinyl format offered via the crowdfunder. So how did they go about deciding what made the record?
We got them together and put them in a cage to fight it out.
Which would have made a great add-on video content.
Actually, we got together and listened to them all and thought about how they would fit with the vinyl format as a group of songs. Some didn’t fit there but we reached a consensus. Then we decided on the running order which was important with the vinyl format. The songs that didn’t make the cut aren’t lost forever as Gangstagrass will be releasing a deluxe version of “The Blackest Thing On The Menu” in September 2024.
So, what will be on it?
There will be three new songs as well as different versions of songs on the album including a 6 ½ minute version of ‘Avenue Boy’ and a stripped-back take of ‘Mother’.
