Example Interview: Straight Benoodles

Half way through a headline UK tour; already having touched down in Manchester, Bristol, Nottingham, London and Leicester; I spoke with Fulham’s most notorious export since Barry George about his career, his thoughts on hip-hop, the infamous Rifles tour and of course Mika’s hair…

Hello there Example, how are you doing today?

Hello Mr T, I’m good thanks bruva. Was very tired after 6 days on the road but I recharged my batteries at my aunts house last night, the tour bus arrived in Birmingham and my cousin picked me up from the TravelDodge – soon as I arrived at my aunts house I had pie, mash, peas and gravy waiting for me. All gravy! A much needed health boost init. Then fell asleep on sofa – have had 14 hours sleep. Brrrraps

You're on tour at the moment how's that going?

Yeah it’s the favourite aspect of my job. I like writing new songs and hearing them on Radio 1 but to be honest there aint nothing better than seeing a few hundred peeps bouncing around, going a bit benoodles and singing along to all your songs. And obviously selling T-Shirts and Mixtapes helps – we’re unsigned at the moment so kinda need the money init?

What’s been your favourite gig on this tour?

London. They’ve all been jokes and buzzy but at London there were 700 people bouncing and shouting for an hour – that’s a great felling you know, a sea of people out there just for you… Kids at the front. Old dudes at the back. I got the youth/ peado market on lock down! After that I’d say Notts was pretty sick – one kid lost his tooth, and the barrier at the front got bent in half due to the pressure from the moshing.

You have a great live reputation where many in hip-hop/ grime suffer, what do you think you offer as a performer that others are perhaps lacking?

Energy. And good use of the space on stage. I think the obvious answer is to say we have live drums and bass as well as decks but there’s plenty of MC’s who put on great shows with just mics and decks – Dizzee for one puts on a great show. As does Lethal Bizzle. But what it comes down to is being well-rehearsed and then on top of that not being able to run about on stage and interact with the crowd. I think the classic image we have of a rapper on stage is someone just standing there pretty still moving their hands about a bit. Times have changed now – we gotta compete with Kanye’s live shows init. I aint got Kanye’s budget for lighting and sound so I have to compensate by bouncing around non-stop for 60mins.

You're one of a new generation of entrepreneur/ rapper/ fashion icons in Britain today selling merch by the truck load. What makes a great T-Shirt?

It’s gotta be zeitgeisty init. There’s no point putting out something that don’t comment on or reflect a current trend. Last year was all about indie kids bussin’ testicle-hugging skinny jeans and slogan t-shirts – I combined the 2. Then we did a T-Shirt to service the myspace vs facebook argument. Now I’ve done my own version of the the “I  NY” T-Shirt to coincide with the new Me and Mandy single and UK tour. I also think its worth paying a bit extra for quality T-Shirts and looking at fashion bibles to find out what the ‘in’ colour is gonna be this season. I personally visited 4 different manufacturers to check out their factories and offices. I also like to have a good personal relationship with anyone I’m doing business with – this always seems to get you a discount as well. Standard.

You have a unique chemistry with your producer/ DJ Rusher both on stage and in the studio, did it take a lot of hard work to develop that connection or would you say the understanding was always there?

As people we’re completely different – he’s a dickhead. I aint. Nah, we like to spend our spare times doing complete different things. I’m extrovert. Rusher is more introverted. What we’ve always shared a love of is music – we both like all the same artists past and present so we have the same approach to writing a song. We both love Jigga, classic Snoop, J Dilla, Slick Rick – but we also share a love of classic acts like Paul Simon, The Carpenters, Motown and The Beatles. Rusher has got more confident over the years though and now contributes heavily to hooks and concepts. I’m open to collabos but at the moment I don’t think there’s any reason to try and fix something that aint broken.

Your new mixtape signals a very big shift in gears for you musically, what inspired the change?

Well there’s some interesting samples on there and a few collabos which we’ve never done. I think the main thing is that we’ve started to look a bit more at the dance, electro and grime markets. There’s still a lot of traditional hip hop songs on this mixtape but the next album will be predominantly up-tempo with chanty choruses. I think with this mixtape we just had a loada b-sides and bootlegs left over from the first album so wanted to get them out there along with some new stuff. In the space of a year we would’ve released 1 album and 2 full-length mixtapes – that’s over 45 songs. It’s time we experimented with some other genre. I like how the Prodigy reinvented themselves with every album – I think we’ll do the same

You released your first album through Mike Skinner’s The Beats label which has since folded. Do you have a plan for phase two of the Example experience?

Well the 2nd album is nearly written so we’ll start recording that as soon as we can blag a studio. In the meantime though we’re gonna continue to build the live show and merchandise aspects of our careers. The way the industry is going right now it’s pretty healthy to be self-sufficient. The second phase is gonna be a slight rebrand. New sound, maybe a new look, maybe a new logo – we’ve already got a new artist involved for the artwork and myspace design. Branding is essential for career longevity. Its worked for Snoop.

You had a rough time on tour with The Rifles last year; with hindsight what do you think made the Example/ Rifles connection so difficult for the few who had a problem to understand?

I think that there’s some bands out there with diehard fans that aren’t open to other acts from other genres but sometimes it can be down to the way you look. 70% of The Rifles fans probably hated us simply because we didn’t have skinny jeans on, a Fred Perry polo and I was rapping. The rest of them listened to our set and then said “ok its not our thing but good luck to ya you big-lipped cunt”. But I love The Rifles gigs – I just appreciate that there’s some niches we aint ever gonna break into. Dizzee for instance can rock most rap, grime, indie, emo crowds at festivals but there’s still other bands’ fans who aint gonna give him the time of day. I just gotta make the music I want to and hope that it connects with as many people as possible

Between your hosting and starring duties on Beat Stevie TV and your recent foray into stand-up comedy you’ve developed a reputation for a rather humorous individual. Are their any plans to extend your non-musical media presence this year? Fresh Prince of Fulham?

Yep, there’s a new sitcom in development and I’ve been for untold screen-tests at various channels. I think there is a genuine interest there – maybe these shows are just waiting for my profile to grow even more before I get my first big break. TV/Film is definitely something in my long-term plans. Oh Radio shows as well if anyone’s reading…

Who are you listening to at the moment?

Ah, loadsa different shit – Sam Sparro, Skepta, We Smoke Fags, Team Waterpolo, Vampire Weekend, Wiley, Cocknbullkid, Santogold, Ebony Bones, and Kanye and Common on repeat most days…

Who aren’t you listening to at the moment?

Mika. Nice hair though…

Example’s new mixtape ‘What We Almost Made’ is available unofficially right here, right now but is officially in shops May 19th. For all details of future gigs, recordings and T-Shirts check him out on MySpace.