Laying a foundation: British band drops into Arkansas for two rare U.S. gigs
Posted on Friday, October 3, 2008
It's all about dancing.
It may be a little bit about rock music, and jam, and a few other genres, too. But when twins Ned and Maff Scott set out to create music, it was always about making something the fans could groove along with, something that would cause them to move.
"Early, it was very much a band playing dance music with live instruments,"said Maff Scott by phone at a studio in Bath, England, where his band, The Egg, is working on new tracks.
Fans of new wave, '80s British music -- think New Order -- the members of The Egg also had a fascination with electronic music, Scott said. The band combined the sounds of house, ambient, techno and other electronic forms with Brit pop to create something that is, at least on their side of the ocean, very rare.
"There aren't a lot of people doing this in [England],"Scott said.
The new sounds have also recently led the band into something else that is rare: a North American tour. About four years ago, The Egg released "/Forwards"in its home country, a disc that only more recently found its way into American stereos. Trying to expand its fanbase here, The Egg will perform a few dates in the United States, two of which are in Arkansas. The band plays Sunday at the Coalessence Festival in Eureka Springs and Tuesday at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville.
In America, Scott acknowledges, there are several other groups who are attempting a similar sound. But not in Europe, which has made The Egg a bigger hit overseas. A remix of the band's song "Walking Away,"from "/Forwards"hit No. 3 in its native country and was No. 1 in Spain for a time.
Because of the reputation of The Egg's live shows and their penchant for using lights and creating a spectacle -- "It's a very visual show,"Scott said -- The Egg has largely been lumped in to the jam band genre in America, playing at festivals such as Camp Bisco in Mariaville, N.Y., earlier this year.
While The Egg is accustomed to playing for large crowds at festivals in its native land, the smaller crowds the band sees in America are receptive.
"They get what we are doing, which is brilliant,"Scott said.
In addition to the electronic jams on "/Forwards,"the band is also likely to play a few tunes from the record the band is currently working on. Constructed with a live band, as opposed to just being a studio effort utilizing the twin's talents, the new music won't be much different, Scott insists. It will still be dance music.
"Finally, we're getting to the point where we say, 'Yeah, that's funky,'"Scott said.
Which, after all, was the first point.
"We want to get down,"Scott said. "There is an emphasis on dance."
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