Pre show at The Great Indoors London
He arrived out of the cold – a hand knitted scarf bundled the Big Grin (deserving of capitals) wearing earmuffs. It’s Bushwalla: The one-man boy band-cum-circus-magician-freestyle-ghetto-blaster, the Gangsta with a basket on his bike. You may have seen him all over You Tube, cranking spontaneous street side freestyle sessions alongside long-time friend, collaborator and fellow planet-saver, Jason Mraz. Or maybe you’ve seen one of his gangstamentaries, like the fairly recent W.T.F? episodes, or his latest music video ‘In The Future’. Perhaps even you’ve been so fortunate as to experience the experience, which is apparently one to be had, of Bushwalla ‘live’: Whatever that entails, I do not know myself yet. One thing I do know is that the California-based Bushwalla attracts a diverse and loyal fan base, internationally, through his live shows and on-line presence. Tonight he will play for The Great Indoors Show, upstairs at the Roebuck in London. Pre-show we are downstairs and sit back over hot tea to share a cosy pub chat about ballroom dancing and all things Autodidactical, Freestyle and Radical:
J Your full name is William Galewood. How did the name Bushwalla come about?
B That’s right. Actually my whole full name is William David Galewood II
J Cool, that sounds very royal and important!
B Well yeah, some people get ‘their name’ then ‘Junior’, but I get to be ‘The Second’! But ‘Bushwalla’ came about from when I used to listen to the Ghetto Boys who had this guy Bush with Bill. People started calling me Bushwick, then one day someone said, ‘you can’t be called Bushwick anymore,’ because there was another guy called Bushwick. Then I just said ‘Bushwalla’. It came out like that and so people started calling me Bushwalla: See there’s the ‘Bush’ part, and then the ‘walla’ is like ‘volla!’(with appropriate hand gesture)
J (reciprocating appropriate hand gesture) Volla! Yeah, that’s cool. It really suits the magician in you. You’ve done street theatre and you were a professional clown for a number of years. How would you describe your style as a musician?
B I used to come up with different things I’d call it, but then I came up with a way to describe it; I call it acoustic hip hop, rooted in comedy and optimism.
J Where does all that come from – do you have a musical family?
B No, but my sister did ball room dancing. She taught me a lot of my moves I use today.
J Who would you say are your biggest musical influences?
B My friends actually are my biggest. To watch a fellow musician or friend grow is an honor. Especially when they come to you with their new material, so stoked to show it to you.
J Let’s talk about your latest album, released in the US earlier this year. It’s called Autodidactical…
B Autodidactical, Freestyle and Radical!
J A bit of a tongue twister! What is ‘autodidactical’?
B Autodidactical. It’s not an actual word, it’s a made up word. It’s in one of my songs from years ago, someone reminded me of it. ‘Autodidact’ is someone who is self-taught, which is me in a lot of things, juggling and a few of the things I do. Freestyle is what I do a lot of, it’s a way of living. And radical is radical… in support of radical thinking, and music is radical.
J Cool. Is there a main concept behind the album – what did you want to achieve in making it?
B What did I want to achieve? It took two years! I wanted to finish it! And to make something whole - like the tracks are…fluid. I wanted the complete work of an album. The album artwork is by John Morrow and it’s green - the cover is biodegradable, recycled paper and the inks are vegetable oil. I’m part of a community of musicians - I hire my friends, I know everyone on the album personally and we get together, we help and remind each other to tread a little lighter on this planet. It involved bringing together a lot of people in the community.
J We’ve seen you collaborate a lot in the past. What was new for you on this album?
B I do a secret track, I just gave it away now, but it’s called Mayhem is Beautiful and it’s with Dawn Mitschele. I wrote this and my ex-girlfriend used to sing on it. She played around and we kept it. Then I did it with Dawn. Dawn has a real angelic voice.
J You made a clip for that didn’t you. How was that?
B It was great, actually I just found out the other day that a couple of people went dressed up as us from the clip for Halloween!
J Wow, that’s awesome! Wow. So, you’re in London until the end of the month. What’s in the future for Bushwalla?
B I’m here until December, then it’s off to America to see family. After that I get back to San Deigo. I’m working on an EP, to come out early next year. I want to really get into producing more of my stuff.
J Sweet. Well, all the best and enjoy the night ahead! Thanks for the lovely chat.
B Thankyou.
Here is the review of the Bushwalla show in London:
http://hangout.altsounds.com/reviews...in-london.html
MySpace.com - bushwalla - palookaville - Freestyle / Classical Opera and Vocal / Zouk - www.myspace.com/bushwallamusic
J Your full name is William Galewood. How did the name Bushwalla come about?
B That’s right. Actually my whole full name is William David Galewood II
J Cool, that sounds very royal and important!
B Well yeah, some people get ‘their name’ then ‘Junior’, but I get to be ‘The Second’! But ‘Bushwalla’ came about from when I used to listen to the Ghetto Boys who had this guy Bush with Bill. People started calling me Bushwick, then one day someone said, ‘you can’t be called Bushwick anymore,’ because there was another guy called Bushwick. Then I just said ‘Bushwalla’. It came out like that and so people started calling me Bushwalla: See there’s the ‘Bush’ part, and then the ‘walla’ is like ‘volla!’(with appropriate hand gesture)
J (reciprocating appropriate hand gesture) Volla! Yeah, that’s cool. It really suits the magician in you. You’ve done street theatre and you were a professional clown for a number of years. How would you describe your style as a musician?
B I used to come up with different things I’d call it, but then I came up with a way to describe it; I call it acoustic hip hop, rooted in comedy and optimism.
J Where does all that come from – do you have a musical family?
B No, but my sister did ball room dancing. She taught me a lot of my moves I use today.
J Who would you say are your biggest musical influences?
B My friends actually are my biggest. To watch a fellow musician or friend grow is an honor. Especially when they come to you with their new material, so stoked to show it to you.
J Let’s talk about your latest album, released in the US earlier this year. It’s called Autodidactical…
B Autodidactical, Freestyle and Radical!
J A bit of a tongue twister! What is ‘autodidactical’?
B Autodidactical. It’s not an actual word, it’s a made up word. It’s in one of my songs from years ago, someone reminded me of it. ‘Autodidact’ is someone who is self-taught, which is me in a lot of things, juggling and a few of the things I do. Freestyle is what I do a lot of, it’s a way of living. And radical is radical… in support of radical thinking, and music is radical.
J Cool. Is there a main concept behind the album – what did you want to achieve in making it?
B What did I want to achieve? It took two years! I wanted to finish it! And to make something whole - like the tracks are…fluid. I wanted the complete work of an album. The album artwork is by John Morrow and it’s green - the cover is biodegradable, recycled paper and the inks are vegetable oil. I’m part of a community of musicians - I hire my friends, I know everyone on the album personally and we get together, we help and remind each other to tread a little lighter on this planet. It involved bringing together a lot of people in the community.
J We’ve seen you collaborate a lot in the past. What was new for you on this album?
B I do a secret track, I just gave it away now, but it’s called Mayhem is Beautiful and it’s with Dawn Mitschele. I wrote this and my ex-girlfriend used to sing on it. She played around and we kept it. Then I did it with Dawn. Dawn has a real angelic voice.
J You made a clip for that didn’t you. How was that?
B It was great, actually I just found out the other day that a couple of people went dressed up as us from the clip for Halloween!
J Wow, that’s awesome! Wow. So, you’re in London until the end of the month. What’s in the future for Bushwalla?
B I’m here until December, then it’s off to America to see family. After that I get back to San Deigo. I’m working on an EP, to come out early next year. I want to really get into producing more of my stuff.
J Sweet. Well, all the best and enjoy the night ahead! Thanks for the lovely chat.
B Thankyou.
Here is the review of the Bushwalla show in London:
http://hangout.altsounds.com/reviews...in-london.html
MySpace.com - bushwalla - palookaville - Freestyle / Classical Opera and Vocal / Zouk - www.myspace.com/bushwallamusic
