Bananagun
Bad Vibrations is delighted to welcome Bananagun to The Shacklewell Arms for a free show, which has been moved to September 9th due to Covid-19 (originally scheduled for May).
There’s a deeply percussive element to Bananagun’s psychedelic ode to mother nature, touching upon Fela Kuti-esque repetitions, exotica, jazz and 1960s pop-rock. Much like a lot of the influences it filters into its own unique spin on it all, it’s intended as “music for the people” – a unifying groove that spans genres. Even the seemingly innocuous band name has an underlying message of connectivity that matches the universality of the music. They say: “It’s like non-violent combat! Or the guy who does a stick up but it’s just a banana, not a gun, and he tells the authorities not to take themselves too seriously.”
Bad Luck interview Bananagun
You guys are described as “Crusaders of the sun”, does mother nature have an impact on your sound?
For sure! Mother nature is the boss really. Endless inspiration. When it’s winter I just wanna stay inside and be warm and experiment and play around with synths etc, when it’s summer I feel like playing congas and dancing more and socialising, ha! Autumn is kind of reflective and you can witness the process of the trees doing their thing and spring is when new things are born and it’s got that exciting feel when you go outside, it smells good.
There’s a real experimentation with the percussion in the music. Where do these ideas come from?
Just spending time with different instruments and hearing a sound on a record and figuring out new techniques. Percussion is the most fun part. I suck at maths but theres a bit of maths with percussion, filling in the gaps and making a little noise before or after the beat that pulls the rhythm in a fun way.
This sort of jazz fusion to your sound, how much of that is calculated and how much is just coming from experimentation?
I'm not sure, it’s an accident. We all love jazz but don't know anything about it. I've learned heaps of jazzy chords just from listening to Bossa stuff but Jazz is another realm, I just appreciate it from afar.
Full interview here