Within the pages of our print and online magazine lies a section of great importance. Titled ‘Who Are You?’, we stick our ear to the ground and introduce you to the sounds that are making people whisper up and down the country. Hopefully, some time in the near future, they’ll become the regulars on your Radio Stations, Spotify lists and gig listings! The section only allows for a couple of questions to be printed, so today we bring you the full introduction to one of our new favourite bands. Back in Issue Fourteen we spoke to Boy Azooga from Cardiff. Until recently they’ve been silent, a band who only the insiders knew of. Since our chat, the band have signed to Heavenly Records and released their banger ‘Loner Boogie’. We chat to frontman, Davey, below and catch up on all things about the band.
Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?
Hey my name is Davey Newington and I write the music of Boy Azooga. Myself and the rest of the band: Daf Davies, Dylan Morgan and Sam Barnes all live in Cardiff. We make psychedelic pop music with some weirdo samples and heavy bits thrown in
What’s special about where you’re from? Has it inspired your music?
Cardiff is a pretty lovely place to live. There’s loads going on but it’s not massive so you can just get wherever you need to be quite easily. I’d say living here has definitely inspired the music. There’s some great venues here. Also certain areas are referenced in my songs like Thompson’s park in the song ‘Jerry’. There’s some amazing artists and people here that inspire you to be better too
How did you find each other?
We’ve all been in other projects for years. The band started off in my head for a while. I was playing drums in different bands and became obsessed with making an album of my stuff. Didn’t think about turning it into a band for a long time and then last year I asked the boys if they’d be up for a jam. They were, and now we’re here. It’s been lots of fun so far
What led you to form a band? A particular happening or mutual love for a record or sound?
The record is inspired by so much music that I couldn’t list here. Everything from Black Sabbath to Kelis to The Beach Boys to Henry Mancini. In terms of putting a live band together, I remember seeing Hippies vs ghosts at greenman festival last year with Dylan. That definitely inspired me to get gigging the Azooga stuff. They were so good
Can you tell us something that you collectively really love?
Our mate Craig Shankland’s art. He’s a beautiful chap and his work is hilarious. Check out trashman_art on instagram. He’s made posters and t shirts for us that we love
Can you tell us something that you collectively hate?
We had a taxi driver that was really rude to Daf once about the Welsh language. He sucked
Can you tell us the story behind one of your songs?
We have a song that I wrote about my neighbour who always complains about the noise. I live at a place called Oakfield Mews and was really pleased with the pun song name ‘Oakfield blues’. It’s heavily inspired by The Ramones. it’s about a minute and a half long and lots of fun to play live