BADBADNOTGOOD with GHOSTFACE KILLAH and RAZ FRESCO at the Opera House (735 Queen East), Thursday (February 19), 8 pm. Free w/ RSVP. ticketfly.com.
When Toronto jazz/hip-hop trio BADBADNOTGOOD say they’ve been working on their new album, Sour Soul (eOne Music/Lex), with Wu-Tang veteran Ghostface Killah for a long time, they’re not exaggerating. Sure, the band is still young, but the seeds for this just-released collaboration were planted early.
“About three years ago we played our first show in Toronto, at Red Light, and that’s where we met [hip-hop producer] Frank Dukes,” recalls bassist Chester Hansen. “He ended up helming the whole project and bringing everyone together for it.”
That show was packed, thanks to online buzz generated by BBNG’s early recordings. Since then, the trio has released three albums, but behind the scenes they were constantly working on the Ghostface collaboration that would become Sour Soul, which also features appearances by some of the biggest names in hip-hop, including Danny Brown, DOOM, Slum Village’s Elzhi and others.
“When he heard us, Dukes was doing stuff with those Menahan Street Band guys and getting more into working with live instrumentation,” explains drummer Alexander Sowinski. “He already had a good connection with Ghost through touring with him, and he wanted to see if he could put together some kind of ‘Ghostface out of his cage’ thing.”
While the concept came about quickly, the process of finishing the recording was slow due to the band’s rapid rise to fame and Dukes’s own ascent. (The producer just picked up his first Grammy, for his work on Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP 2.) And then there was Ghostface Killah’s own hectic schedule.
“It started really quickly when we first went to New York City with Frank Dukes in 2012. We wrote 11 songs in four days,” says keyboardist Matthew Tavares. “We sent the instrumentals to Ghost, he sent some stuff back, and then we started reworking parts in response. But because we were all touring so much, it basically took the next three years to piece everything together and make it sound like a cohesive record.”
Their Toronto record release show will be one of the few opportunities to hear Sour Soul performed live the band’s decided to only play its songs when Ghostface Killah can join them, which he’ll do at the Opera House.
“We’re going to keep our own shows to strictly new stuff that we’re working on, which is more centred around improvisation and exploration,” Tavares says, hinting that there may be some secret local gigs in the works.
benjaminb@nowtoronto.com | @benjaminboles
