Bwani Junction: “Everyone wants to think that their music is so fucking original...”

With their bastardised name, ‘playful’ artwork and fresh Afro-Caribbean sounds, Edinburgh quartet Bwani Junction have been brightening up the musical underbelly of Auld Reekie and beyond for some time. With their debut album now on the horizon, the time felt right to take stock of their story

Feature by Darren Carle | 03 Nov 2011

Serendipity lays a claim to The Skinny’s meeting of Bwani Junction at a boozer next door to their Edinburgh rehearsal space on a miserably wet Monday night. Having a Glasgow gig cancelled at the eleventh hour, the band opt to drown their sorrows and chat all things Bwani with us instead. But spirits are both high and flowing freely as they take to celebrating the pressing of their debut album Fully Cocked, due for release in November.

“This is the only copy in the country right now,” announces singer and guitarist Rory Fairweather, handing the, for now, unique artifact forward. More copies are of course in the post, though the band themselves remain unsure of quite what they will do for the launch itself. “We don’t want to do that thing where you play with a couple of bands and you sell maybe a hundred records at the gig, then it’s back to scratching your balls,” begins guitarist Dan Muir somewhat colourfully. “We’ve been playing with the idea of doing a very small version of the Camden Crawl, but in Edinburgh,” adds bassist Fergus Robson rather more helpfully.

Whatever transpires, they can be proud of a flourishing debut that belies their tender ages. Only a few years out of school, the band have already been playing in some guise or other for eight years. In the past year or so though, they’ve begun to puncture the public consciousness with sessions for Maida Vale and Vic Galloway as well as a slot at the BBC Introducing Stage at this year’s T in the Park.

Yet when asked for a highlight so far, Fergus opts for something less obvious to onlookers. “We knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge being with each other day after day, but working in the studio on the album was so much fun,” he states. The band worked in Chem 19 with producer Paul Savage, a man who has pushed the buttons for such Scottish alumni as Arab Strap, Mogwai and The Twilight Sad among many others.

With such a pedigree it’s perhaps no surprise that the award-winning producer put his mark on Fully Cocked. “There’s a track on the album, I’ve Got The Minerals, that we weren’t going to record originally,” explains Rory. “But Paul picked it up, said it was good but had a shit chorus, and made us work on it. He gave us some really good ideas and pretty much forced us to record it. But he was right – it’s one of our best tracks.”

Savage’s approach didn’t stop with song choice though. Drummer Jack Fotheringham also got some sage advice on his style. “My problem is that I try to do too much with crazy solos and all,” he admits. “So when it was my turn to record he put up a huge sign saying ‘DO LESS’ in massive capitals. He kept telling me off and I was getting pissed off, but he was right and it worked in the end.”

Despite a breezy, summer sound tempered with homegrown tales, the usual pigeon-holing has cropped up as the band’s profile has risen. Top of the reference points are Vampire Weekend, something the band wince at but admit some common influences. “I think a lot of the African influences that people have commented on in our music come from Dan’s riffs,” claims Fergus. “But we’ve never really tried to focus on one kind of sound because then I think our music might lose its authenticity.”

Perhaps a large part of Bwani Junction’s appeal lies in their scope of influences, be it reggae, Afro beat or more homely indie-pop. It certainly stands them apart from some of their peers, though they’re not so blinded as to believe they stand on a podium all of their own. “Everyone wants to think that their music is so fucking original,” rails Dan a few pints in. “They want to think that no one else has ever done it before but really, no one can do that. Everything is influenced by something else so it’s impossible not to be compared.”

Yet despite their exotic name, altered from the 1956 Ava Gardner political film Bhowani Junction, many of their lyrics deal with more everyday issues. “We get asked if there’s a running theme of party tunes or heartbreak anthems, but we don’t work like that,” says Rory. “There are some songs about friendships and love and so on, but there are some tracks that are just about mindless fucking.” “You can’t just write a whole album about trying to get a shag at the weekend,” adds Dan. “Even that would get boring.”

Evidently so, as tracks like Roots Too Deep and Today’s Crusades deal with a nostalgic look at their home city and at the war in Iraq and Afghanistan respectively. “There are some barracks near where we live and one morning we saw all the guys going out to Afghanistan,” explains Dan. “Then we saw them coming back and there were about a third less.” If soaking up their surroundings is what makes a Bwani Junction song, then such a sight was always going to wriggle its way into their sound. “Art has always reflected society and politics,” says Fergus. “It was the closest thing to us at the time so we thought we had to write about it.”

These factors have helped shape Fully Cocked, an album that is at times humorous, at others sobering, but as light and refreshing as a tropical breeze. And with said debut now complete, thoughts are turning to how others will receive their labour of love. “People who say they never Google themselves, that’s fucking bollocks,” rants Dan about what influence critical opinion will have on them. “We could get a bit obsessed by what people are saying about us, but some nice reviews would obviously be welcomed.”

It seems a likelihood, but regardless of the short-term response, all four lads want to be in this music game for the long-haul. “If we can make a living out of music, just recording what we want, when we want, not focusing on selling out the world, then I think I’d be happy with that,” claims Fergus. We can only hope so, as life would be that wee bit drabber without Bwani Junction.

Fully Cocked is released via Aksatak Records on 14 Nov. Playing Avalanche Records, Edinburgh on 14 Nov (5pm); LAID at Bloc, Glasgow on 23 Nov; supporting The Pigeon Detectives at The Liquid Room, Edinburgh on 25 Nov, and headlining King Tut's, Glasgow on 30 Dec http://www.facebook.com/Bwanijunction