Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band Multi-instrumentalist & Bandleader Björn Wagner Talks Expansions (The Witzard Interview)
Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band (BRSB,) the mysterious steel pan outfit hailing from Hamburg, Germany, have amassed a cult following around the globe. With a slew of classic 7-inches and two critically-acclaimed full-length albums, they set a high bar for themselves, one they clearly intend on pushing even higher with this new offering. On their third album, aptly-titled Expansions, BRSB are back with more of the same, but more of the same with them is inherently different. Covering songs that span genres and range from mega-hits to deep album cuts, they make them their own with their unique approach to the traditional steel pans of Trinidad and Tobago. Part of the allure of a new record from Bacao is finding out what covers they chose.
However, die-hard fans are, also, waiting to hear the original numbers, like the stellar album opener "Tough Victory." Its air-tight rhythm section, brass arrangements, and layers of steel pan melodies make the term "cover band" a shoe that could never fit Bacao. Within the next three songs they go from Jazz (Galt MacDermot,) to Hip-Hop (Slum Village/J Dilla,) to a dancefloor classic (Grace Jones) taking them all on with their signature style, expanding on the originals. An easy crowd favorite is their gritty, gully, and neck-snapping cover of the Timbaland-produced JAY-Z club hit "Dirt Off Your Shoulder." The infamous crushing Bacao drums start the show and the moment they start playing the top line on the pans, all bets are off.
Sure to become a dancefloor filler is their bottom-heavy, four-on-the-floor version of Sylvester's classic "I Need Somebody to Love Tonight." They venture into some Gutbucket Funk with Ike Turner's "Getting Nasty" and bring the steel pans to Minnie Riperton's Jazz classic "Les Fleurs." Digging deeper in the modern canon and paying tribute to a tribute, they cover Erykah Badu's homage to the late great J Dilla, "The Healer." This is the type of thing to make Spice Adams jump on his kitchen counter and scream. From the second the beat drops they give the original Madlib production a run for its money, shaking subwoofers with the eerie tremolo bass while the pans play E. Badu's vocal melodies.
I. How would you say Expansions differs sonically from Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band's (BRSB) past two efforts, 55 & The Serpents Mouth?
Björn Wagner: [Each] of these albums is diverse, but The Serpent's Mouth, for me, has the most coherent mood. Expansions, like the first one, 55, has a very broad spectrum and expands that even further. From the grittiest Funk, Abstract Hip-Hop, slick Disco, Jazz, to almost Neo-Classical Soundtrack grooves—there's nothing I have been afraid of on this one.
II. For an album such as Expansions, how do you go about choosing which songs to cover and how to re-interpret them?
Wagner: Most ideas just come to my when I hear a melody from a record and it just "screams" to be played on a steelpan. We, also, bounce a lot of ideas back-and-forth with the production team. Danny [Akalepse] from Big Crown [Records] and my brother, Steffen [Wagner], come up with some cool ideas. First, it has to sound as sweet on the pans, as imagined, and, second, it has to be a dope choice; a bit unexpected and we have to be able to give it a twist and make it ours.
III. Who's in the current line-up of BRSB and who plays what across Expansions?
Wagner: The line-up is ever-evolving around the core members that play on the first albums. It has "expanded" to a big pool of friends, a loose group, really. We invite new people all the time for a feature. On this album, you hear, on single tenor and double-second steelpans: Björn Wagner & Hank Dettweiler; drums: Lucas Kochbeck, Sascha Weise, Guillaume Le Cahain, Shawn Lee & John Reed, percussion: Paul Elliott & Lucas Kochbeck; bass guitar: Tim Grunwald, Victor Kohn, Björn Wagner & Johannes Riedel, electric guitar: Björn Wagner, synthesizers, mellotron, philicorda organ, clavinet, and glockenspiel: Hank Dettweiler, saxophone: Bernhard Hümmer, trumpets: Hans Christian Stephan, Ben Greenslade-Stanton & Sebastian Drescher, and trombone and tuba: Ben Greenslade-Stanton.
IV. What did you typical recording, creation, production, etc. processes behind Expansions entail?
Wagner: Nothing too special. When I compose, I sing melodies into my phone or do a harmonic layout on a guitar. For the covers, I write out the melodies—in my own kind of notation. When it's time for recording, we track the rhythm section live in one room directly to 16-track analog tape. Then, the steel section is overdubbed. That gives me a lot of freedom to experiment with the themes, voicings, and pan arrangements. I really get into [developing] the pan parts on top of a set rhythm section. Once all is recorded, including live echoes and reverb, the tapes are transferred into Pro-Tools, which I mostly use for muting or throwing away stuff [and] cleaning the arrangements. Then, my brother, Steffen, works his magic in the mix and mastering. I bring in some ideas in there, but the best thing is to give the final touch of the production into someone else's hands and perspective.
V. What can you tell us about the album cover, design, packaging, etc. for Expansions and how they relate to the underlying themes of the album?
Wagner: The initial idea was to have an artwork that continues the series of the "panheads" from the first two albums, like in a library. When we scrapped this approach, it got totally wild: kaleidoscope, spacemen, insect-shaped things, a Medieval map of Hamburg, a golden penny that I found in a jacket from my father, and the "panhead" still in the middle of all that! It underlines the title, Expansions, beautifully: anything goes, really.
VI. What would you cite as some of your greatest sources of personal inspiration and influence while creating and recording Expansions?
Wagner: We started recording Expansion in [January] or February 2020 and during this rather grim time of the year, a great inspiration was to look forward to being able to listen to the music during a BBQ on a hot summer day.
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VII. How exactly did the global COVID-19 Pandemic affect the making of Expansions?
Wagner: Not so much, luckily, at least, not much in a bad way. We had eight rhythm tracks recorded when the first Lockdown came, so I just did what I always do; spend hours on my own in the studio to do overdubs for the steel section. I felt very blessed to be able to move forward while the world stopped. Friends send me tapes of drum recordings I could work on and I had more time than usual to work on layouts and arrangements. As soon as it was allowed and safe, I brought the band back in again. As bad as the whole COVID [situation] was, I'm happy to have used the time to create an album that would anticipate the vibe of people celebrating together again.
VIII. What is your personal favorite BRSB cover to play live and why?
Wagner: "Bacao Suave" from the first album; it's a riff that you can play for minutes and it just gets better and better.
IX. Now that Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band's Expansions has been unleashed unto the terribly unsuspecting world, what are you planning or preparing to release next?
Wagner: There are still more tracks from [these sessions] to be revealed as singles. Before recording new material, I would like to play it live a couple of times and, then, take new inspirations from the road.
X. What can you tell us about your recent collaboration with DJ NU-MARK (Jurassic 5) in the form of a cover of Black Box's "Everybody Everybody?"
Wagner: NU just got in touch with when he started recording his Run for Cover album. We exchanged ideas about which song we could do and we both agreed on that it should be something we both would not usually do. Of course, we asked ourselves if "Everybody Everybody" would not be a bit cheesy, but listening closely to all the beautiful lines and melodies in it, it became clear quickly that we could flip this in something dope. He came over to Hamburg and we spent two days together in the studio, which was great fun.
XI. What can you tell us (if anything) about your connection to Pigalle Connection? What might we be able to expect to hear next from the mysterious group?
Wagner: Pigalle Connection is a fun "[imaginary] soundtrack" type project from my friend, Guillaume Métenier, and [myself]. We love this organ-heavy, cinematic breakdance vibe. Normally, he is mostly doing Dub & Soul-Jazz and I don't usually do much with keys, so it's a great opportunity to do something we don't do anywhere else and mix our different influences. It's called "Pigalle Connection" because Pigalle is where he lives and I'm "the connection" haha. You never [know] when or what is next up...