Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Rather Be having clean fun
IF YOU’VE been waiting for Clean Bandit to hit South Africa for an outdoor party, your time has come.
The Electric Summer Music Festival will sweep into the A-Track, next to Cape Town Stadium, next Saturday, bringing the hit funk band to the country for the first time. They will be co-headlining with Goldfish. You may have heard Rather Be a hundred times on radio and in TV ads, but the earworm never becomes annoying.
Like Goldfish, their live performances are defined by dance music with live instruments.
The sounds of the foursome’s strings will define this gig along with an ability to blend in live vocals. Even though you might find yourself waiting around to hear Rather Be, take a moment to chill or dance to their other tunes off their New Eyes album. This week, the band’s cellist Grace Chatto spoke to Weekend Argus from the UK to tell us about their act, along with some titbits from New Eyes. Chatto says their set lists and stage plan for gigs have been adapted and changed to suit their shows.
“When we had more singers at the show we sometimes had 10 people on stage. We found a singer, Elizabeth Troy and she now sings the whole set list. She features on the album in a few songs. When we play outdoors, I like it to be as dancy as possible,” she said.
Although New Eyes was released last year, Clean Bandit have been together for eight years, part of that at the Cambridge University.
“Rather Be changed things for us. We have been travelling all over the world and have done a long tour in the US.”
It has been available in the UK for two years and since then, it’s been continual touring for Clean Bandit. New Eyes is an album that includes several vocalists.
Rather Be catapulted the voice of Jess Glynne into the mainstream and she has since gone on to other music collaborations and recently debuted her own album, I Cry When I Laugh.
Rather Be has been performed with the BBC Philharmonic for BBC Radio 1. The performance, which can be seen on YouTube, showed the full potential of the composition with a full string setting and Glynne’s huge voice.
“We made the track before with another vocalist. It sounded more laid-back then. Then we found Jess Glynne and her big, powerful voice gave a different swing to the song.”
Their choice of vocalists for the album indicates the random nature of the tracks. Eliza Shaddad, who features on Birch, was a busker they met on the street.
A&E, featuring Kandaka Moore and Nikki Cislyn, was written while Chatto and band bassist and saxophone player Jack Patterson were waiting in the Accidents and Emergencies line at a hospital.
The song opens with a beautiful chorale by JS Bach, used for many Passion hymns. “I’m not sure why we used it. It is a favourite of mine and Jack’s. It sets up the mood for the song; it’s very calm… It was written in hospital, I was suffering from an extreme headache and we were in a queue.”
The music of Clean Bandit and the album New Eyes is largely uptempo, leaving you wondering where their inspiration and happiness comes from to keep the bop going.
“Jack and I were in love at the time. Our new album will have less humour and a bit more sadness.”
● Tickets for Electric Summer start from R350 at www.webtick ets.co.za
Visit electricsummer.co.za or follow @ElectricS_SA on Twitter or electricsummerfest on Instagram.
Twitter: WendylMartin wendyl.martin@inl.co.za