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Bumblebeez 81 Biography
Led by Chris Colonna, who hung around Brooklyn for a couple of months on an arts scholarship, The Bumblebeez are a loose collective of Braidwood mates who record tracks in Chris's bedroom. The results are a dirty tumble of tunes and beats that sound like everything and nothing you've heard before.
With Chris is Surya, his best mate, on fuzzy bass and his kid sister VILA (her folks call her Pia) who has rhymes bubbling away in her head.
When they spill out over the mike, Chris is there to catch them all and create an aural background for her words. Then there is whoever else is hanging around, like Willy, Karuna and Anders who make their presence felt on the tunes.
They pulled a few tracks together, put it on a disc and sent it into Fly TV who were running a competition. Fly loved it and The Bumblebeez took out first prize. Triple J Unearthed the Canberra region and guess who took the top spot? The Bumblebeez. White Printz is their first EP.
They set down the tracks for White Printz in just under a month and the results are whatever you make of it. Like we said, it sounds like everything you've heard before - Beastie Boys, White Stripes, Neptunes, Missy Elliot, Beck to name a few - but you've never heard them like this.
Chris puts sounds together like a Madhatter's jigsaw puzzle - and not a piece is missing. There are a whole bunch of influences on the record, but The Bumblebeez make them their own and play with all the authenticity of a ground-breaking group who worship at the alter of fuzzed out blues, dirty rock 'n' roll and distorted electronica.
Chris has been making music like this since he was 12 but back then it was all about cutting up pieces of tape and gluing them back together again, looping beats and sampling sounds until a song emerged to make his heart skip a throb. He'd listen to it, love it and do it all over again.
Then computers came along. Now the 21year old fine arts graduate writes, records and produces all the songs on the computer in his bedroom. Its faster, has more scope for exploration and is way less messy than the old way.
The Bumblebeez use a one mic / one take method in the studio 'cause it's not about perfection, but about instinct and vibe and getting the two together. Sometimes Chris will just noodle away on his guitar, not really sure of the notes he's making but liking the sounds anyway, 'cause that's the way he works best; making bits of noise and juxtaposing them together.
