UK: CANADIAN COLLECTIVE BRAN VAN 3000 RELEASE THEIR DEBUT ALBUM "GLEE"

Record ID: 704111

  • Title: UK: CANADIAN COLLECTIVE BRAN VAN 3000 RELEASE THEIR DEBUT ALBUM "GLEE"
  • Date: 1st June 1998
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JUNE 1, 1998) (REUTERS) DI SALVIO SAYING, "YOU SEE IT'S A PASTICHE OF....HILL SAYS POP, ROCK....JOHNSTON SAYS AND A BIT OF HIP-HOP. DI SALVIO CONTINUES SAYING GAINSBOURG (SERGE) FOUNDED THE CONCEPT OF PLAYING THE SPOKEN WORD OVER DUB, RAGGAE WITH THE WAILERS WHO DO CABARET WITH A WOMAN WHO SINGS IN BROKEN FRENCH. HE'S SUCH A GREAT INFLUENCE BECAUSE OF HIS OPENNESS OF MIND AND ALSO THE STRENGTH OF HIS MUSIC AND SONGS." (FRENCH)
  • Embargoed: 16th June 1998 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6HMZBW0FOFGI9MAAZSFD7L5WV
  • Story Text: Said by many to be the hottest new sound to emerge from Canada in years, Bran Van 3000 are more than ready to hit global airwaves.
    Masterminded by filmmaker-turned-DJ Jamie "Bran Man" Di Salvio, this band with it's eclectic collective grooves with a musical collage of soul, hip-hop and pop are set to make some noise.
    Two years ago, Jamie "Bran Man" Di Salvio was pursuing a career as a film-maker and music video director.After months of flirting with music as a DJ-come-remixer with his friends in Los Angeles, Di Salvio decided to pursue music with conviction.
    With the help of a 'half-assembled' cast of 20 musicians from Montreal, producers and rappers, Bran Van 3000 (BV3) was formed.Everyone became involved in the shaping and recording of Jamie's songs from singers Sara Johnston and Jayne Hill to local lo-fi legends Shine Like Stars! and soul singer Stephanie Moraille.
    Bran Van 3000's debut genre-crossing album, "Glee" is the result of the group's sessions.They say the album is a compilation of pop songs, hip-hop breaks and sampledelic swirl - 'a fine line between the raw charm of indie rock and a beat-driven future'.
    The first single to be released from the album is, "Drinking in L.A" which flips between Moraille's fabulous soulful voice and the hazy laid-back groove of Di Salvio.
    Naturally the video is as important to Di Salvio as the record itself.
    "The video celebrates the learning process of the tools of electronic music, the Juno 106, the SP12 all that stuff," Di Salvio said.
    Other tracks to appear on "Glee" are "Exactly Like Me" said to be 'naive rock with violin, acoustic guitar and the sweet-femme vocals of Johnston backing Di Salvio's lead and "Couch Surfer" 'a silly beatbox ditty laced with kazoo and Bran Man's distorted rap.
    For Di Salvio and his entourage, the best part is the touring and performing live.
    "I think the big surprise is when the song fades, the lights go down and you go 'we got to them'.There's that moment when you remember being in that audience and going I remember the show because of that moment and when you feel the stage, it's cool," he said.
    Di Salvio decided to take the plunge into music during a stint in New York, where he was directing a video for jazz star Branford Marsalis.He made enough money from the shoot to go out and buy some studio equipment.Along with his friend Pierre "Electronic Pierre" Bergen they came up with the idea of Bran Van 3000 They also enrolled the help of producer/engineer Haig Vartzbedian who is responsible for Zoobone Records (which acted as a base for much of the Canadian hip-hop scene.
    From all of this, BV3 became an actual band.As album co-producer, Electronic Pierre was responsible for much of the album's electronic flavour.
    Leading ladies Johnstone and Hill are relative newcomers to the music scene, so too is guitarist Nick Hynes.Soul diva Moraille has also lent her voice to a number of dance tracks while rapper Steve "Liquid" Hawley is known in the underground projects in Canada.
    "Glee is set for release in the United Kingdom on June 8, 1998.The single "Drinking in L.A." was released in the UK on May 18.On mainland Europe it hit record stores on May 28.
    Bran Van 3000 can currently be seen supporting major acts in Europe.On June 3 they're supporting Massive Attack in Utrecht, Netherlands and on June 5 they're in Belgium with the band.On 6 June BV3 are in France supporting Bjork.
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