Eight-piece soul-funk group The Bamboos, led by band leader Lance Ferguson, have been doing their thing for the past 16 years.
Melbourne is where the band are from, and The Bamboos band leader explains what makes the city such a musically vibrant place. “It's always been great here for music.
From back in the day, Melbourne's been great to see live bands, and in all genres. “You can go and see everything from experimental jazz to flamenco on any given night. It's just wild. That was important for us back in the late 1990s, in the early formations of The Bamboos. There has just always been an opportunity to go out and play whatever music you want.
“In terms of funk and soul, the scene has just exploded in the last ten years or so. We've seen bands just break out and do really well, with the biggest example being Hiatus Kaiyote with their Grammy nomination. It's not just Melbourne though. The whole Australian scene has really exploded, and it's a really good time to play music.”
The Bamboos have toured the world extensively. Despite his appreciation of Melbourne's musical chops, Lance also explains the love affair he has with Europe, particularly Spain. “People didn't even seem to start going out until about 2am, and it was a highly nocturnal world which really suited us.
"We were often touring, and then I'd do a DJ set afterwards so that would go on late. It was pretty wild. I'd love to go and do it all again. I'm a little bit older now, but I can still do it and still keep up.”
The Bamboos are set to begin work on a new album “roughly half way through the year”, with Lance predicting a release early next year.
Their last record, 'Rules Of Attraction', was a collaborative album with Tim Rogers of You Am I; the idea for the collaboration came simply from the enjoyment of each other's company. “[Tim and I] worked on a song called 'I Got Burned' off our 2012 album called 'Medicine Man', and I guess it became the biggest Bamboos song to date.
“But more importantly than that, we had a really good time working with Tim, and we did that song so quick. Me and Tim thought: 'what would it be like to actually spend some serious time working on material', which actually ended up being two weeks.
“It may not sound that serious, but it was an intense time because Tim's a busy guy. We still came up with this album that I think we're both pretty proud of.”
The Bamboos are all set to get the dancefloor moving at Blues On Broadbeach festival. “We've put a set together that includes tracks from 'Rules Of Attraction' album, and we've put in a whole lot of cover versions as well. It's going to be a lot of fun.
“Our manifesto is we really want people to have a good time, and also we want people to dance as well. There's a great band on the bill that I had the pleasure to play with which is Cookin' On 3 Burners. It's looking like a really fun festival.”
The Bamboos play Blues On Broadbeach 19-22 May. They also play the Perth International Arts Festival 27 February.
