Heads High

AJ Holmes & The Hackney Empire are somewhat of an enigma. An all-english 6-piece outfit with it’s leader claiming roots in Dagenham, rocking stages internationally with the sounds of Congolese Rhumba, Soukous and West African Highlife. With guitar skills imparted by legendary Sierra Leonian musician Folo Graff and cutting his teeth as part of the internationally acclaimed Rhumba crew Les Beaux Gosses de Berlin, AJ’s obsession with the good-time sounds of West-Central Africa is set on solid foundations. This tale of high musical pedigree continues to the present and an ongoing affiliation with London’s premier tropical ghetto music purveyors the Secousse Soundsystem. Appearing both as a resident selector at Notting Hill Arts Club’s Secousse sessions and also gracing the stage with the Hackney Empire as the club night’s in-house band, AJ et al have skillfully carved a niche for themselves with a sound which is undeniably african-inspired, yet quite distinct from anything else out there right now.

As you’ve probably guessed by now, we’ve invited them to take the live slot at our next session and they’ve graciously accepted. As I’ve said before in these pages, before I’d heard AJ Holmes & The Hackney Empire for the first time, I had some quite serious doubts about what to expect. Those doubts were allayed halfway through their first track as a realised the quality level I was dealing with! Since that first AJ experience, I’ve witnessed them tear up numerous dancefloors with their new, electric highlife and can quite honestly say that I’ve yet to see them disappoint.

In the lead-up to next Sunday’s big event, Cal Jader caught up with AJ & crew to break bread. Here’s how it went down…

Cal Jader: Since your brilliant turn at the Movimientos New Year’s Eve Tropical extravaganza the band has been out of the public eye of late…a little birdy tells me you’ve been working on your debut album…what’s happening in the world of the Hackney Empire?

AJ Holmes: Yes well that little birdy was right. We’ve mixed half the album and the rest will be completed very soon. We’ve also been writing new songs. Some of which will have their public debut at the Vibe Bar show next week, so that’s an exclusive!

Cal Jader: The band cut it’s teeth at a residency at the infamous Secousse night at the Notting Hill Arts Club, which has always been a champion of the freshest African and urban ghetto sounds how influential was the night in shaping the direction the band took?

AJ Holmes: Well I think it really turned us in to a hardened party / dance band. We figured out pretty quick that you need to hit a Friday night west London crowd hard and keep it banging, or your gonna flop and people will just start checking their phones while your playing. However we’ve been spoilt also because without wanting to blow the Secousse trumpet too much, the crowd there really are the best that we’ve played to, they give you a lot of love back if you play it right. We also have done some collaborations that have proved important for the bands development with artist that we met via Secousse – MC Kastro and Afrikan Boy for example. Also all the remixes that have been commissioned by for band have been by people that we found out about via Secousse: Uproot Andy, Moroka, Erick Rinco, Chief Boima all were Secousse connections. Also having our   first single ‘Fraudian Slip’ produced by Radioclit – which has had a big influence of the way we mixed the rest of the album – was of course a Secousse family thing, and the record label that released the 1st single and commissioned the rmxs: Ghetto Bassquake – the label of Vamanos (Ghetto Bassquake blog) is a Secousse family thing also.

Cal Jader: How do you see yourself in the context of the African music scene in London or would you rather not be pigeon-holed into one genre?

AJ Holmes: I would hate to think we would be pigeon holed as ‘African music’, mainly because we are not African – although we do work a lot with and do collaborations with African artists – we are first and foremost a British band, and probably more to the point a ‘London band’ so I don’t see us exclusively being in the context of ‘African music’. I see us more of a reflection of the influence of African communities in Britain on British musicians, much in the same why that the ‘two tone / British ska movement’ of the late 1970’s reflected the influence of the Caribbean communities in Britain and in that respect I’m very surprised I don’t know more bands like us. If we were to fit in at all the African music scene I would like to think it would be as a new generation of African influenced music. However I think if we were to consciously place ourselves in the ‘African music scene’ we wouldn’t stand a chance against ‘African Bands’ i.e. the bands with African musicians in them!

Cal Jader: Are you inspired by the success of Afro-influenced indie stylings of the likes of Vampire Weekend and Fools Gold amongst others? And do you see any similar bands in the UK incorporating African influences into guitar based indie music?

AJ Holmes: Well parallels to A.J. Holmes & The Hackney Empire and my solo work have been made to both bands you mentioned and yes I find their success very inspiring, I’m very happy for them and I personally think they deserve it. However now I hear some bands that are inspired by Vampire Weekend for example rather that by African music and these bands don’t really interest me.

So. In the words of Mc Dett in his infamous Sunday Roast pirate radio ads circa 1994, ‘All roads lead to’ Vibe Bar 91 Brick Lane E1 6QL this Sunday 15th May as we give to you a night of superior quality, tropically infused rhythm headlined by AJ HOLMES & THE HACKNEY EMPIRE with myself DUKE ETIENNE and Movimientos/Heads High mainstay CAL JADER setting the backdrop. AJ hasn’t done a London gig since the beginning of the year with the interim being spent working on the album and penning some fresh material. We’re expecting a busy one and looking forward to the exclusive drop of the bands new songs.

We’re in the upper bar again this month so jon us atop the stairwell for a blast of the new electric highlife…