Back to 4Talent THE PETEBOX
From Mexico to Malawi, The Petebox has an abilty to communicate like the most cunning linguist. He's not speaking in tongues though, but the rhythms he manages to wrench from his larynx. For as the 23-year-old says, human beatboxing is a universal language.
When TEN4 catches up with him to talk about his 4Talent award he's just returned from a short tour of Africa which began in Johannesburg and ended up at Liverpool club Chibuku Shake Shake's Lake of Stars festival on the shores of Lake Malawi, calling in at numerous remote villages en-route.
"People out there had never heard anything like it before, but they understood it immediately," he enthuses. "I did some impromptu workshops with kids I met by the side of the road and they all absolutely loved it." And this was only a short time after The Petebox had been selected to star in a Movistar mobile phone advert in Mexico.
"I like the fact that people are now taking notice and beatboxing is getting used in a wide range of things like adverts," he says. "Plus I got to go to Mexico City and find out what tequila really tastes like."
It's certainly a long way from his native Nottingham, where The Petebox began flexing his vocal chords after hearing an old Rahzel tape a few years ago. But then beatboxing itself has also travelled far. Although hip-hop clubs and beatbox battles are still the most likely place to find it - and as a performer at nights like Detonate and UK Takeover, and winner of Radio 1's Human Beatbox competition in 2005 he's a veteran of both - beatboxing is beginning to be recognised not just as a novelty act but as a bona fide artform.
Rahzel and Shlomo featured on Bjork's conceptual Medulla album in 2004, whilst the latter has also assembled the world's first beatbox choir - the Vocal Orchestra - and is currently artist-in-residence at the South Bank Centre. It's pioneering artists like these, rather than the guys doing the same tired ‘fricka-fricka-fresh' tricks, with whom The Petebox aligns himself.
"My main push is to try and steer clear of the gimmicky side of things, although I'll still drop a few tunes that people know to get that instant response," he elaborates. "But the fact that I now use a loop pedal in my sets allows me to focus more on the musicality of it, and create songs and arrangements rather than just doing snippets of tricks."
"The loop pedal is a sampler which lets me layer my voice so I can do the hi-hats, add a bassline, add some harmonies and add a vocal to deliver a full-frequency sound spectrum. Purists might say you have to do everything at once but it's all still coming from my mouth so it keeps that raw element. It means the genres I can pursue are now very eclectic because I can do house and techno routines, hip-hop, drum'n'bass and even jazz and folk."
All of which can be seen on his MySpace page, on YouTube and on forthcoming DVD The Petebox: Spit The Music Out. He's also recording his debut album, although he admits that the sheer range of styles he can now get out of his mouth has given him a lot to chew over.
"The main task is to try and bind it all together," he explains. "But I think the fact that it's all mainly from my mouth is enough of a link. It'll be my vision of what beatboxing should be about - which is the ultimate freedom to journey into any music we want."
CONTACTS
www.myspace.com/thepetebox
thepetebox@hotmail.com
Judge: Cath Lovesey, editor T4, Youth & Music, Channel 4
Words: Paul Clarke
Photography: Dave Remes
The Petebox was one of 20 4Talent Award winners in 2007, our hotly tipped young creatives to watch, to hire and to collaborate with. To meet the other 19 click here
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