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FRA
Jamily Coach & Correspondent
Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 5477
Location: London don
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 Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 23:50 |
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Interview with Sola Akingbola by Ed Stern
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So How did you get the Jamiroquai gig?
[looks stumped] Yeah, how did I get that? You won’t believe it. I’d just got back from a world tour with Ronnie Jordan. I’d been at home for about a month then I got this call “My name’s Derrick McKenzie…I’ve been given three percussionists’ names: Thomas Dyani, Karl van Den Bosche and you. And I chose your name because it’s just the oddest name I’ve ever heard Sola Akingbola? What kind of name is that? I got to call this guy!” And that’s well, nearly how I got the gig. What then happened was that Derrrick came round, we had a lovely conversation, we realised that we frequented the same clubs, we had more or less the same record collection – and that’s such a shortcut: “Oh, you’ve got Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters? That’s a conversation we don’t need to have then!” We didn’t even talk about Jamiroquai. All Derrick did was call the manager and said “send this guy a ticket”. Next day I was on the plane to Paris, for a live TV show “Taratara”, the first song was “Space Cowboy”, nobody told me what to play, they didn’t give me any music, nothing. I had to think on my feet: “OK this sounds like the verse, this sounds like the chorus, I’ll change the feel for this bit”. The audition was the gig! When we finished, Jay (Kaye, Jamiroquai frontman) came to me and asked “So, you and Derrick been mates for a long time?” And I say “No, I just met him two days ago”. Jaye looks thoughtful, then the manager came to me and said “Sola, I’ve been instructed that you mustn’t go anywhere, a contract will be put in front of you in the next few days”. And I thought “Oh OK…let’s see how this goes!” and that was it. So I wasn’t in Jamiroquai from the beginning. After the second album came out, I joined the Space Cowboy tour. Derrick did the album, I did the tour and then I did the third album “Travelling Without Moving”.
How did you and Derrick go about forging Jamiroquai’s rhythm section?
The rapport was there immediately. The communication was totally there, because we shared the same musical history and experience. Nobody needed to speak. Derrick would play a certain 16th note groove and I’d know from the feel of it, it was from an Earth, Wind and Fire track off the album “I am”, so I’d put my Paulinho da Costa head on - with a little bit of Yoruba difference. We’d come to that same musical point from different directions. Derrick’s from Jamaica, he’s from a reggae background and started out as a reggae drummer. So right from the beginning we had that heavy groove–oriented perspective that less is more, making sure you’re nailing that groove on the head every single beat. And Jay’s a dancer so it’s imperative that he’s feeling it. It’s got to be proper grooves hitting his backbone, he doesn’t want any lightweight stuff, he needs to be feeling it to be able to dance. Because if he can’t dance, he comes back to us and asks “What’s going on with you guys? Have you had a drink tonight or something?” But with Derrick and me, that groove was there from the start.
When we started writing “Travelling Without Moving”, I was still recording with Ronnie Jordan because I was writing with Ronnie and thinking this is a great opportunity to get some writing credits on Ronnie’s album, so I was still sort of hedging my bets. This was Jamiroquai’s third album and I was thinking “this Acid Jazz thing…is it going to last? I don’t know, let’s see” because the hype was starting to fall off. So I went to Canada with Ronnie to record his album “Light To Dark” and I got two songs on it. But to my eternal regret, in putting that effort into Ronnie’s album, I wasn’t around for the writing stage of “Travelling”, so I missed out on royalties on a 10.5 million selling album!
But it was a musical decision. The Ronnie gig was a Jazz thing and at the time it was actually a better band. I felt I was the weakest link in the group, I was in up to my head, every single night was a proper sweat for me. I used to phone home almost in tears that I’d had a bad gig, I’d made a mistake or dropped a note. I really earned my stripes on the Ronnie gig, because Ronnie used to stretch me. He’d say “Sola, I don’t just want to hear congas, I want to hear cowbell, I want to hear tambourine, I want to hear shaker and tambourines and congas all at the same time” I’d never been forced into that kind of independence before. It was fantastic, and that’s what carried me. When Derrick came to talk to me about that gig in Paris, I played him a tape of one the Ronnie gigs and he said “Wow…how many percussionists are on stage?” and I thought “Yeah, well done Ronnie, I thank you for that!”. Derrick’s still listening hard and muttering “four…there must be four percussionists” and I have to tell him it’s just me.
So coming into Jamiroquai, I was very confident that I could handle this gig, thanks partially to the experience I got with Ronnnie, but also because the music Jay was drawing from for Jamiroquai, that old Johnny Hammond, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, Bar-Kays, Mandril, the Meters, the Crusaders, that early 70’s heavy Jazz Funk, that was my thing! Back at school I did the Sixth Form disco, that’s the stuff I used to play. So right from the start, I could hear myself in the band. That’s how I knew what to play. Very, very rarely did Jay ever have to tell me what to play. He’d listen to the band, say “let me just hear Derrick and Sola…fine. Next, keys…” And I have to give him respect for that, he’s always trusted us. He’ll always say “I give my rhythm section the song, and they’ll come up with something and that’s what we’ll do”.
Why do you think that of all those 90’s Acid Jazz bands, only Jamiroquai is still a global act?
I tell you, if Jay was less successful at making people dance, he’d be taken a lot more seriously as a musician. He’s an incredible showman, but he’s also got this weird knack – you give him some difficult Jazz progressions, where someone else would want it simpler and more straightforward, Jay likes it as quirky and as mad and angular as possible. And he’ll still string a melody around it that’s so simple and catchy and funky and danceable. Jay’s got it going on all the time, his energy level is just frightening. The main thing about working in the band with Jay is that whatever he needs, he needs it NOW. If he wants a drum part, he’ll sing it to you and you have to play it back NOW, you can’t go home and work on it and bring it in tomorrow, you have to give it instantly. I tell my students who are into football, I feel like I’m playing in the Champion’s League: you get one chance to score a goal and you’ve got to take it. But it’s good. I enjoy that kind of pressure.
But you’ve got to give Jay credit for what he is. This latest album “Dynamite”, its album number 6…with the same record company! In this day and age? I don’t know anyone else who’s doing that, at his kind of level. He’s on an 8 album deal! You just can’t knock him, he’s still there, got a new album out, selling well; we’re on tour until the end of the year for God’s sake! When I saw the tour itinerary, I had to gasp. And every time I go to the office, they say “Oh this isn’t it, there are more dates coming in for next year so don’t book yourself anywhere else”. Oh my God, this is going to be another “Travelling Without Moving”, 18 months on the road! And then after this, they’re going to release a Greatest Hits, so we’ll have a four month break and then we’re off again touring that, so…oh man, I’ve got to get some practice in!
Do you teach?
I do, and it’s taught me how much I don’t know, and how much I need to know. Also, it’s taught me to be a lot more thorough, a lot more precise. Because there’s a beauty in precision, there’s music in precision, there’s peace in precision, there’s a state of relaxation in precision. Precision is easy. Of course, to get there is hard! When I do workshops with kids I say look, when they launch that Apollo 13 into space, how much of it actually goes into space? That little tiny pod at the top. What happens to the rest of it? It burns away. Right, that’s your technique. What’ll get you into space is that technique. Once you get that, it burns away and you’ll stay in space, nobody will be coming near you. But you have to work and you have to be precise and put your metronome to 40 bpm and play perfect slow whole notes.
I remember I had one boy come to me, playing drumkit, and I showed him this Moeller bounce technique than Dom Famularo showed me – you literally drop the stick and let it bounce back. In his book “Your Next Move”, Dom’s got this fantastic warm-up exercise: you work your way up 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 strokes on each hand with a slow, slow metronome and if you miss a single beat you have to go back to the beginning, so your concentration has to be steel! I showed it to this pupil and months later he rang me and said “Sola! My hands! It works!” But a few weeks before, he’d been fidgeting and asking “do we have to do this? It’s a bit slow”. But you have to slow down to go really fast. If you want that speed, that control, you have to slow it down. You go watch Giovanni Hidalgo or Horacio El Negro or John Bonham or Ginger Baker or Vinnie Colaiuta, watch them play slow and then watch them play fast and they’re exactly the same. They’re not playing “faster”, it’s exactly the same movement, they’re just doing it more often. It’s the same easy, relaxed motion as their slow practice, just the spaces between the notes get shorter and disappear, but they still totally relaxed and controlled, just like they’re practising at 40 bpm.
What’s your touring setup?
I’ve changed my setup recently. I used to have four congas in a typical Afro-Cuban diamond formation – tumba on the right, two congas and a quinto nearest me. Timbales, cowbells and cymbals went on my left with a cowbell and tambourine on foot-pedals under them, with the box of toys (shakers and so on) on my right and bongos on top.
The box of toys is ever-changing, I’m always on the lookout for something new. What I play really depends on what else is on the track. If the producer wants some high-end sonics then I tend to use triangles and the smaller cowbells. I like to use a heavy beater for the heavy triangle, and lighter beaters for the smaller triangles, but it really does depend on what the producer is hearing. For an R’n’B-type groove, I’ll often use a cabassa. As for tambourines, I like using those brass and bronze jingles, but the steel jingles are cutting through particularly well with the Jamiroquai loud sound.
Now I’ve got something a bit different. The timbales, cowbells and pedals are still on the left, but so is the box of toys and I’ve put the congas in a straight line. So from left to right I’ve got conga, quinto, congas, bata, and I don’t use the tumba anymore. It’s quite a rootsy sound I’ve got now, because I’m using the wood Giovanni Palladium congas. They look amazing and the sound is great – very traditional. But I’m also extending that traditional sound by extending my rig on my Right so I’ve got a Roland SPDS sampling Octapad, a 12” Brady snare, and an 18” Gretsch bass drum, along with some little timbalitos and mad little cowbells. So now I’ve got this crazy little kit there as well, there are two kick drums on stage!
And how does Derrick feel about this? Is he sneaking congas into his kit?
Oh man, he looks at me with red eyes of rage! No, he’s loving it, because I’m not using my kit to compete. When we do the big Latin numbers, we’ve got this big Samba-Battucada thing going on with the snares; we’re working out joint snare arrangements and really orchestrating the parts. My snare is pitched above his, like a repinque, and with the timbalitos straight away you’ve got a melodic cadence. And with the triggers as well, oof, it’s keeping me busy! On a few songs I’m triggering really quite complex keyboard and guitar sounds and loops from the album. There’s a lot of production on this album and I’m triggering a lot of it live. I have to be absolutely precise, because Derrick’s got the click going, it’s got to be totally in with him, so the concentration level on this tour is something new for me. People are sending me emails saying “Sola, you look so serious on-stage, is everything alright?” and I tell them “if you knew what’s going on in my head, you’d look the same”. I’m really getting into it now, relaxing into it.
What’s it like playing with samples and triggers?
Well one good thing about having to worry about the triggers and samples is that it introduced me more to the technical, production aspects of the band. I’ve always been a bit Luddite about it – get the band in, play lots, get the producer in, let someone else worry about it – but you can’t really afford to not be into it. The sound that the younger generation is used to is so processed, so produced, so programmed, that if you try to give them the live thing, they don’t know how to listen to it. You have to be able to give them what they recognise, and sometimes that’s going to be something you don’t recognise. I find that with a lot of what comes out of ProTools, you can’t hear the air from the instrument – everything sounds so tight and dry, like an old drum machine. You have to work to make it breathe, make it groove. It’s your playing, it’s your sound, you’d better be interested in it!
Do you have specific tunings for your drums?
When I tune, I use this Yoruba proverb that I recite while I’m playing. It goes in fourths, a bit like “Oye Como Va”. The proverb goes “Ko s"oun tuntun labe orun”- it means “there’s nothing new under the sun”. You know, it’s all been done before. Yoruba is a tonal language, so the phrase has a melody to it, and if the drums fit with it, they’re going to sound good with that cadence. As for absolute tuning it obviously depends on the key of the composition but if I play a G Flat Minor 9th chord I can tune from within that: the tumba is E below Middle C, the conga is G Flat, the quinto is E Natural - a third from Middle C – and the second conga is D Flat. That sounds great, especially in an acoustic setting.
It’s tough for percussionists to hear yourself properly. With percussion maybe more so than any other instrument, your own playing never sounds like the recordings you listen to, you never get that sound from the instrument under your hand. And when you’re recording, you never quite end up with the sound you get from your instruments when you’re stood in the same room as them. Often the Producer doesn’t hear the tone of the congas, cowbells, whatever, they just want that percussive Bap! sound and that’s all that ends up in the mix. Fair enough, he’s the boss, but I’d love to get closer to that sound the latin boys get, that full sound. Giovanni gets such a full, open sound, you really get to hear and feel the whole conga – obviously it’s a lot to do with his playing as well, but I’d love to see how he mics up his congas.
How do you play?
I do play sitting down for the occasional club or pub gig, but I prefer standing. I don’t have very big arms so I really do have to rely on my technique, I don’t have that weight of stroke that some of those sit-down players do, and sitting down really draws that to my attention so I prefer standing. I play quite high up, with the head between nipple and sternum height. I’m not a big hitter; I play quite lightly, on top of the drum. That said, I am trying to develop more power, get a bigger sound. I’m trying to work on that at the moment. I’m using wooden congas, so I don’t get the projection of fibreglass shells. I’ve gone for them deliberately: I’m looking at a long tour so I’ve can really concentrate and work on that area of my playing. I want to get it right, you know?
I do try to switch things round, whichever exercise I do, I’ll do it starting with both hands. I am more right handed, but I find I do tend to lead with my left. I have a theory that I was left handed at birth, but because Yorubas are averse to the children being left handed, I was forced to do things right handed. Of course, lots of conga patterns start with a left hand heel-tip but I do like going that way, and I love the timbales being set up that way. The timbales are a left-handed instrument, in a way. I play with my feet as well. At the moment I’m just doing basic stuff, keeping a quarter note going on a cowbell. I’m practising holding down the clavé pattern with my feet. Sometimes I’ll bring that in during the live gigs if I’m feeling comfortable enough, sometimes not. It’s getting there, but you don’t want to be nearly there with the clavé, it has to be absolutely there or it’s nowhere.
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http://www.mikedolbear.com/story.asp?StoryID=1035
thx to funkin.com/news
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High Times
Joined: 25 Oct 2004
Posts: 744
Location: music written by JK/Toby Smith
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| Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 07:03 |
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Fra, this is amazing interview!!! thanks!!! |
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jamirokaki
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Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 3472
Location: basque country
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| Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 16:23 |
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yes, a very very interesting interview!
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FRA
Jamily Coach & Correspondent
Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 5477
Location: London don
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jamirokaki
Expert
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 3472
Location: basque country
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| Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 20:31 |
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oh yes, always i read sometihng from him interviews or post in the blog or emails to me, he always show how great man is, and this time you can see how good it is in percussion.
i admire him too much
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FunkEducation
Joined: 15 Jul 2004
Posts: 3309
Location: Maracay, Venezuela
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| Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 21:36 |
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yeh amazing interview...
i don't know why, but Sola doesn't convince me...
i see Maurizio Ravalico a better percussionist... his performances are very great! maybe i'm wrong.... i'm just looking at it from the latin point of view... it's just different...
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This is FunkEducation, supporting the 1992-1998 Jamiroquai!!
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FRA
Jamily Coach & Correspondent
Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 5477
Location: London don
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FunkEducation
Joined: 15 Jul 2004
Posts: 3309
Location: Maracay, Venezuela
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| Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 22:03 |
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| FRA wrote: |
Ed wrote:
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| i don't know why, but Sola doesn't convince me... |
Wait to see Sola live and your opinion will surely change  |
nah... i've seen thousands of percussionists live in my life and comparing both jamiroquai percussionists, i choose Maurizio...
maybe i don't like so much Sola is because the latin technique when playing is very different from his... but he has done nice performances in the TROSTC and TWM tours... specially in Use The Force... he said that's his song...
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This is FunkEducation, supporting the 1992-1998 Jamiroquai!!
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lafly
Joined: 22 Oct 2004
Posts: 161
Location: UK
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| Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 17:28 |
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Hi everyone - I just noticed that Sola site has been updated!
His blog diary now includes the American tour. I havn't read it yet but will do so now.  |
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FRA
Jamily Coach & Correspondent
Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 5477
Location: London don
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High Times
Joined: 25 Oct 2004
Posts: 744
Location: music written by JK/Toby Smith
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| Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 14:22 |
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This interview is simply fantastic!!!!!!!!!
Sola is the coolest!!!!! |
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freeetz!
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Posts: 351
Location: Ukraine
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| Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 18:37 |
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Nice one! 
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| But to my eternal regret, in putting that effort into Ronnie’s album, I wasn’t around for the writing stage of “Travelling”, so I missed out on royalties on a 10.5 million selling album! |
Isn't he credited for co-writing "Use The Force"?  |
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