About Mangoseed
Hailing from the cultural and creative melting pot that is England’s capital city, Mangoseed comprise four musicians of Trinidadian, Jamaican, Australian and Irish descent. Perhaps no surprise, then, that this multinational troupe produce an enthralling fusion of global sounds, mashing up ska and soca, jungle and funk, rock and punk, all of it high-energy and unfailingly danceable. Originally formed by vocalist Nicholai La Barrie and guitarist Karlos Coleman, Mangoseed became a fully functioning act via the additions of Richard Hardy on bass and Sam Campbell on drums, configuring a pulsating punky-reggae repertoire that was captured on their self-released 2014 album, ‘Basquiat’, which earned impossible-to-really-nail-down comparisons ranging from Bad Brains to Massive Attack. What’s not up for debate, though, is the thrilling energy of Mangoseed’s live performances, as demonstrated by the band shining on bills alongside Alabama Three and Manu Chao, in addition to regularly delighting a loyal fanbase around and beyond their Brixton homes. The new year comes as the group have a slew of fresh material to release – starting with the delicious ‘Lucy’ – tracks that are sure to form the bedrock of Mangoseed’s growth into a mighty musical force.
Meet – Mangoseed
Who are you and what are you doing here? (what is your name,what is the band and what is your role in the band?)
My name is Nicholai , we are called Mangoseed and i am the singer in the band.
How did the band start?
Me and Karlos our Guitarist met at work and we found Richard our Bassist at a party and Sam our drummer happened into a room one day and never left.
How would you describe your band?
So if the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and The Wailers had kids we would be them. I mean that would be pretty weird but that’s who we are.
If you had to choose one song you’ve written that best defines your band which one would it be?
I guess our new single Jah Jah it feels like straight up Dub/Reggae song , but we have undercurrents drum and bass, rock and some psycodelica in there, and i guess thats where we live in the nether world between all those different things. In this day and age where anyone is pretty much able to pick up an instrument, what would you say sets your band apart from the rest? For a start we like all different kinds of things so trying to pin us down to a genre is not going to happen and thats exciting for us we never know where the songs are going to take us but we know when they feel right. So when we play the our sound and our live shows comes from all different places. The thing is that its loud and raucous and fun and never boring. I guess what we are doing when we are making stuff and playing we want everyone finding a collective bliss. We want everyone to be partying with us all the time when we play.
Where are people able to hear your songs?
Online , soundcloud , iTunes amazon , cdbaby. but www.mangoseed.co.uk is where you can find everything.
Are you playing any shows anytime soon (if you live outside of Australia, do you have any plans for a trip down under)?
We really want to come over to Aus. Richard our bass player is Half Aussie , and half Trini, so we would very much like to bring him back and leave him for a while , i think he might like that. ha ha ha ha
What is your proudest moment/greatest achievement as a band?
I think releasing our first album, we worked really hard on it and it pulled us together in a way that i don’t think anything else could have , the four of us shut the world out for a couple of months and figured out what we wanted to say and then put it all on a record. After that i don’t think there has been anything that has rattled us. We are this loud, annoyingly fun band that really like being on stage with each other.
Tell us 3 bands that we should be listening to/be keeping an eye out for?
Gabinet looster, Hawke and Death Grips.
Anything Else you’d like to add?
Hello Australia we very much like your surfing , beer and general aussieness and we will be coming to sample all of those , and play some show as well…..maybe…..but mainly for the beer.
Mangoseed
http://www.50thirdand3rd.com/fusing-rhythms-ska-rock-dancehall-hip-hop-soca-meet-mangoseed/