Another exclusive interview with The Beams!
“Born out of a collective desire to play and enjoy music, The Beams were drawn together through a mutual love of the post-punk, new-wave and Brit-rock bands of the 80s, fellow UCT students Amrik Cooper (bass) and Boško Popovac (guitar) teamed up to make the original duo that would eventually become The Beams. A long standing school friend of Amrik’s, Paul Maree was asked to try his hand at vocals. Since then, he has settled into his position as frontman, adopting such secondary rolls as synth player and ‘cow-bell soloist’. A series of line-up changes ensued until May 2007, where The Beams crossed paths with East London export Jay Kruger (drums). This was the final step in the evolution of what has become the four-piece that is known today. Through their own individual contributions and influences ranging from an eclectic (and often obscure) set of bands, including The Smiths, The Stone Roses, The Rapture, Obojeni Program, Moving Units and Joy Division, The Beams have achieved a sound that they feel is best described as dance-rock fused with anthemic indie hooks.”
I caught up with Boško from The Beams, and found out about the band, how they started,and what’s new and happening!
Check it out!
also see my interview with Amrik (also from The Beams) here…
How did you meet the band? I saw a poster on campus of somebody looking for musicians to form a band. The artists that he liked and the type of music that we wanted to play was very similar. I decide to make that leap of faith and it just went smoothly from there. We had a good understanding of each others music interests and chemistry like that breathes mutual creativity. (The person mentioned is Amrik Cooper, the bassist)
What would you like to achieve in the music industry? Well, we are doing this musical project out of love of music and sheer enjoyment of being creative. That is first and foremost a reward in itself. I think first and foremost for me personal growth is paramount. I want to feel as if I have left behind a body of work that I can look back years from now and be proud of. Having said that, we do want to make ourselves heard on the SA music scene and hopefully in the world one day. Right now important thing is to enjoy the journey.
What’s the new single your releasing (or will it be a surprise)? We are working on some new material and have a few gems up our sleeve. We are not ready to share it with the world yet, but WATCH THIS SPACE!
Do you have a favorite song from the EP? I would say Glow, but that would be biased since I wrote it. However I like all of them, they are all our creations, so they all have special place in our hearts. Each song is a story of how it was written, when and under what circumstances. You could say it is our little diary. which we are happy with. I’d say I love WATCH! too. I can see that one being a great club remix.
Who takes the longest to get ready before a gig? That is one thing that none of us have a problem with. We don’t really dress up for shows, even though our prior management has tried to get us to. We are happy being ourselves and doing things our way.
Enjoy their vid for the song ’2 Degrees below’!
xx
yours in musical madness
