Concrete Playground Meets Lance Ferguson of The Bamboos

Since being formed in 2001, Melbourne nine-piece The Bamboos have released more than five acclaimed albums, placed songs in TV shows like Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty and Underbelly and worked on the soundtrack for a multi-platinum Nintendo game. But frontman and periodic electronic producer Lance Ferguson isn't one to let the band rest on its smooth, funk-born laurels. Over the years he's injected new flavours into the band by collaborating with other artists, fusing elements of hip hop and psych, and constantly shaking up the lineup.

In 2012 The Bamboos joined up with Tim Rogers of You Am I for the Triple J-championed track 'I Got Burned'. An addictive combo of the band's rhythmic grooves and the singer's distinctive howl, the track featured on The Bamboos latest album Medicine Man — their biggest release to date. This year they're taking the alliance live with The Rock n Soul Medicine Show. We caught up with Lance before the tour to talk about collaborating, staying current and the frustrations of being pidgeonholed.

You guys have been pretty busy over 2012 did you manage to get a break over Christmas?

I did, I had a week in Lorne in January, which was really good. It feels like a distant memory now though.

You did Falls Festival didn't you?

That's right.

So how did you come to team up with Tim Rogers for 'Burned'?

I first met Tim when I was playing guitar in Washington and we were playing the BDO tour. It was a few years back now, and I met him backstage and we hit it off. Just musical nerd talk of old records and stuff. We seemed to connect on that level, and on a personal level as well, and even at that point we talked about collaborating together — way before anything actually happened.

Is collaborating with other artists an important thing for you? You've also got Aloe Blacc and Daniel Merriweather on the album too.

Yeah it definitely is, and The Bamboos have often had guests involved with different records. Most of the collaborations have stemmed from some kind of friendship and the whole collaboration evolved organically rather than me on the phone to my manager going, "get me this guy." Most of these things have happened in nice natural and sincere progression. I do prefer that, because getting complete strangers in the studio can be weird if you're trying to connect musically. It is such an intimate thing, writing a song with someone, for me, so I do prefer it to stem from some kind of friendship I guess.

What about Syl Johnson?

Yeah well we toured with him twice, pretty much as his backing band. Both times were incredibly valuable. The last time unfortunately he had a heart attack when we were playing with him in Brisbane, which was just a terrible turn of events. And then he spent some time in hospital, bounced back and did a show in Melbourne after that, which was incredible. So yeah, such a cool guy actually.

Going back to the ARIAS and the recent popularity of acts like Saskwatch and Chet Faker, what do you think it is about soul music now that has people taking notice? Do you think the music has changed or are we just becoming more receptive?

Well it's been such a battle with this music, from my perspective. I recently put out a compilation called The Soul Of Melbourne with a friend of mine Chris Gill — a compilation of soulful Melbourne acts — so it was great to put that together, and you can see how the scene has crystallised. But I think what's happened is that there's a younger generation of fans and music lovers who are maybe in their late teens or early twenties now, and who came up through their teens hearing Amy Winehouse and Sharon Jones. I think that has created a sort of hotbed of people who know that music through being exposed to it. So now that they're at the age of going to gigs and going to festivals that music just seems sort of natural to them, like "oh it's a soul music band, we know what that is and we like it." So there's definitely the element of generational acceptance.

You made the Triple J Hottest 100, which is a pretty big deal for a funk/soul-driven group.

Yeah, I mean as much as that's a cool thing I do sort of battle with The Bamboos to not be such a genre-driven band. [Funk and soul] is definitely where we've come from and where we've started, and it's ostensibly what we do in terms of the sounds we create, but for me I just really don't think of The Bamboos as a band of any genre now. I just try to think of it as, "We're The Bamboos and we're just going to make some music." It could have some psych rock elements, it could be a blues tune, it could be anything — it could incorporate a whole bunch of influences now. So I definitely have tried to break the band out of just being like a soul/funk band. I'm not saying that to have a go at you, by the way!

Well that's what's so unique about your music is that it incorporates so many unexpected sounds. Your electronic project, Lanu — do you think that influences The Bamboos music at all?

I don't know if it influences but it's another avenue for me as a songwriter. I think anything I write separately from The Bamboos though, even if unconsciously, I reckon it must inform it. Whether it's just different forms or different ways of looking at putting a song together... So yeah, I reckon it does influence our music actually.

What about other local acts — anyone in particular you been listening to heavily?

My vocalist for The Bamboos, Ella Thompson, has a band called Axolotl, who do this sort of dreamy, electronic, indie stuff. I'm really into them, they supported us on our last national tour. There's another band Hiatus Kaiyote that defies genre labels, and is doing some amazing things internationally as well. They just won the Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards for Break-Though Act, so they're really being flagged internationally.

Obviously live performance is a massive part of The Bamboos appeal, and Melbourne has a very healthy live music scene. Do you think about that when making songs?

I look at the studio thing and the live thing as two very separate entities, and we started out as a live act before we ever recorded anything. [The live show] has been something I've tried to improve on and tweak and be progressive with. Now we come out and basically play our songs, which sounds really obvious — but I think the lineup we've had the last year and a half is possibly the strongest, best and most solid lineup in the history of the band. For me it's an exciting time to play live.

How do you see the band's sound developing over the next year or so?

There were some thing in that album that were real bubblegum pop things, and I think with the next recording that things might become a little more muscular again. A bit darker. That's what I'm feeling at the moment.

Is there anything else you want to say about the upcoming tour and what we can expect from it?

Not really, just that it's The Bamboos and Tim Rogers rather than The Bamboos featuring Tim Rogers, so I'm really working with Tim on some new originals and we're picking out a bunch of whole new covers. There's going to be a whole new music for the band to play, which is always good for keeping us on our toes.

Tim Rogers & The Bamboos Rock 'n' Soul Medicine Show:

Saturday 23 Feb - Perth Festival, Perth, WA

Thursday 28 Feb - QPAC, Brisbane, QLD

Friday 1 March - Melbourne Zoo, Melbourne, VIC

Saturday 2 March - Leongatha Memorial Hall, VIC

Thursday 7 March - The HiFi, Sydney, NSW

Friday 8 March - Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle, NSW

Saturday 9 March - Uni Bar, Wollongong, NSW

Sunday 10 March - Womadelaide, Adelaide, SA