Bakery Boys interview: Roadside, poetry, integrity.

Image: Bakery Boys 

After getting hooked on South London trio Bakery Boys, when they nabbed Radio 1xtra track of the week status with 'Get Away' (listen below), we've been attentively tracking their every move. 

Returning with a stomping new anthem - Until The Day - featuring indie band The Thirst, the Wireless Festival regulars have asserted themselves on the playlists of many.

Speaking to band ahead of upcoming mixtape Holla At A Baker and their anticipated explosion onto the festival circuit, we spoke the latest release, their fashion forays and future plans for 2016 in a chat with the high flying collective.   

'Until The Day’ (listen below) recently featured as Radio 1Xtra’s track of the day, how valuable is such support to urban UK artists in the current musical climate? 

Dre: All support is very valuable for UK urban artist we feel, from community and local support to specialist. However a platform such as 1Xtra which is national and a much respected station that level of support is great. 

Grime has seen a big resurgence in recent years, do you feel that its gave the whole of the UK rap circuit a boost? 

Shack: I think the attention has given a lot of UK artists a boost generally which is always a good thing. I have seen an increase in artists jump on the grime bandwagon though which is each to their own I guess.

One thing I always loved about grime though was that it was a completely raw form of expressionism that had its own cult following. Hopefully it can maintain its core principles as it continues to grow. 

You linked up with indie band The Thirst for ‘Until The Day’, is it true your brother features in the band and, how did they contribute to the recording process? 

Ace: Mine and Shack’s brother Locks Laser is the drummer from the band. We have made songs with the band before and they are amazing to work with, we love them.

As far as the writing process goes, Mensah Hart the lead singer of the band started the session off by writing the hook for the song. That then inspired the song's context. We then pulled in individually for our own verses and stuff and laid it all down together. I knew instantly it was going to be a powerful song, it's actually my favourite one. 

They come across as a soulful band themselves, do you feel that demand for the genre in popular music is increasing? 

Shack: I feel that music goes round in cycles and every type gets its 15, grimes a prime example of that. Sometimes we often can’t see from the surface what's bubbling underneath and is about to blow next. Generally though good music and hit songs always prevail and they got that. 

'Until The Day' explores reaching your goals and aiming for the stars, how important is it for creatives such as yourselves to apply these values when things aren’t always working? 

Dre: They should be practiced and exercised at all times whether things are working or not. We literally live by these principles as they have got us to where we are today.

I’d say they are pretty universal practices. For artists, creatives, entrepreneurs, self employed and business owners particularly, I would say that it's imperative. Your success lies predominantly on your own results and we believe you get out what you put in so it makes sense to put in as much as you possibly can. 

You run a fashion label alongside the band, tell us about that and how does it tie in with your music? 

Dre: Myself and Shack have always done fashion, prior to setting up Bakery Boys we ran two streetwear brands. One of them being the fastest selling streetwear brands on ASOS at the time.

However we got to a point where the Bakery Boys project demanded a lot more of our time so we thought to rebrand, make the clothing more centred around the Bakery Boys. The designs are inspired by our mantra; Roadside, Poetry, Integrity.

The brand is called HAAB which is an abbreviation for Holla At A Baker. We focus predominantly on classic pieces and we’re introducing limited edition cut and sewn pieces.

We have also just released some new jewellery designs. Each piece is Individually handcrafted with uncompromised attention to detail, using only the finest materials in London’s prestigious jewellery quarter, Hatton Garden. A few pieces will be available soon on our website, look out for that. 

Do you feel that your music has a social responsibility with the community projects you are involved in? 

Ace: The music doesn’t have a social responsibility as it's a creative outlet we use to make bangers and express ourselves. However, we as individuals do. Anyone can make a song about anything that doesn’t mean a whole lot in this day and age, that's quite common.

What you do with your time, energy and resources speaks volumes. We care about our community as we are from there and our kids and loved ones have to grow up here.

It just so happens that our music currently reflects that. Our main thing was to make sure that we had an infrastructure in place that could inspire and nurture the young people. The more our profile grows the more we can do and are able to do with it. 

What can we expect from you for the remainder of 2016?

Shack: 2016 sees Bakery Boys release a new mixtape with loads of new material and collaborations outside of that. We’ve been killing the studio recently, there's so much material to drop. Outside of that we’re finalising a script for a short film and releasing a game app. They’re the things we’ll mention for now. 

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