Words Adrian Hextall \ Ben Pollard-Mathias
Pictures: Adrian Hextall / MindHex Media
With their first album in some 27 years, one might consider the release of ‘Go Go Sapiens’ something of a comeback for the Epsom Mad Funkers. The reality couldn’t however be further from the truth. With a successful solo career, James Atkin, the band’s vocalist, has continued to release new music over the years and guitarist Ian Dench has spent his time wisely writing songs for some of the biggest R&B artists on the planet.
The trigger moment for the band, a toe in the water to see if the fans wanted new merchandise, hats, t-shirts etc.. resulted in a flurry of orders. It was closely followed by a 30th anniversary vinyl box set celebrating the release of the band’s debut ‘Schubert Dip’ along with the follow ups and a LP of rarities. It was that release that really opened the eyes of the band to the possibility of new material and with the merch funding the recording process and production exercise, here we are in 2022 eagerly awaiting 11 new songs from the band.
The lucky few got the chance to see and hear the band perform the full album on March 20th at London’s The Water Rats and our review of that event is below:
Before the band took to the stage, we caught up with James and Ian for a chat about the new album, why it’s taken 27 years and how, if you look closely, you can see all of the song titles in the album cover art…
Was there a particular direction or plan that you wanted to follow with this release?
James: There was no master plan or anything. Ian and I have always written songs together for years. Even when EMF isn’t active we still write songs, and although they kind of get shelved there’s a few things that made us actually do it this time. The 30th anniversary year was brilliant, we did the box set, which was really well received.
Ian: We did think about a lot about it. I think it was a really good moment to take a step back at 30 years, put the ‘Flip Sides and Bona Fides‘ tracks on there as well. As James said, there were also things he and I have been doing along the way. We’d written things but at the time what we had were very much demos. But, by taking a little bit from here and a little bit from there things started to move forward. Then we did a couple of live shows (for the 30th Anniversary) and James said we should do some merch. The merch was down so went so well.
James: It’s amazing how one thing can drive all of this. The merch gave us some funds to do the studio work properly. It was special because it was a community only thing with the fans coming together, the 30th Anniversary, the merchandise and so on. Strangely, over the pandemic our socials took off more than they ever had. And Cara who runs our website, she’s always kept that going and there has really been a great community spirit around it. We’d play some shows and everyone would come together. Even the question-and-answer online sessions she’s done just kept it ticking over.
With the impetus behind the band and the community enabling them to pull a new album together, James and Ian are in doubt that expectations around this should managed. A reality check ensues….
James: It’s not like we’re pretending we’re going to go to Number One (as Unbelievable did when it was first released) in America again. We love what we did, it is a great community around us and we’re doing it for us and the fans. The love they show us is wonderful. And to feel that appreciated is enough.
The show at The Water Rats, playing the album in its entirety is very likely to be a one-off. Whilst the band have played both ‘Schubert Dip’ and ‘Stigma’ in full, it’s not the norm and Ian openly admits he hates it when bands do that, knowing that fans want the hits not all of the other tracks off an album. What the show does provide though is an opportunity to see what will fit in a live show alongside the singles and what can be played on the festival stages that will see the band performing all over the summer of 2022.
The truth of it is that, as the show and the album confirms, this is a band that seems to be enjoying making music once more. It’s something both Ian and James agree on.
Ian: It’s the truth. And there’s some stuff on there that’s looking back, lyrically looking back about the past and as we talked it was a case of don’t stop now. We began to feel like, come on, we’ve just got to keep this going, you know, just keep producing stuff.
James: I’d love to get another album out pretty quick, and it’s pretty effortless to do these days, you know? Certainly getting the set, the right set of the songs is never a problem and also getting it together, that should seem pretty easy. [Laughs] but yeah, it’s taken in 27 years and I think that’s the price.
Ian: No, it was exactly that. You would like to think this could come right now. When James wrote a bunch of songs, he sent them to me and they were great, you know. Then we got together, we worked on those, I wrote a couple songs, we got together on those and worked on them a little bit more. I mean, it wasn’t that many sessions. Some in London and then (looking at James) I went up to Yorkshire?
James: It was like the first ten songs we ever wrote together. Schubert Dip. those first ten songs… you know, it’s just like this album. Because we didn’t overthink it.
Ian: Compare it to Stigma. There was so much pressure to finish it quickly. We didn’t… we couldn’t laugh and mess around with it. We just absolutely had to do it. So that was fortunate in one way because with Cha Cha Cha we had years to faff around. My god, did we faff around! And it shows. It’s not very coherent and very crazy, right? [Laughs] An experiment!
Because the new album wasn’t on a major label, the funds to produce and engineer it weren’t available for additional resource outside of the band. With James’ experience in mixing and producing, he took on the role and whilst the duo wondered if the sound would be considered a little light, Ian’s intention was to finish the recording process with an album where each and any of the tracks could be played live. As evidenced by the show at The Water Rats – That element was achieved.
Ian: We didn’t double truckloads of guitars, and sample guitar parts otherwise we’d have had to ask ourselves ‘how are we going to do this?’ When we took the demos away and started putting guitars on, Aid (Todd – the new drummer in EMF) came in and did some of the drums. On other tracks we kept some of the electronics and we just, you know, mixed it up until it felt like EMF.
James: That sound is clear on some songs, especially Equilibrium with its old-school loop. It gives it flavour of that early 90s dance music, which you know, is an EMF feature.
One of the more breezy tunes on the album is ‘Stay Classy San Diego’, a track more well known for being uttered by Ron Burgundy on the classic Anchorman movie. It’s a song that started out with with a James Fauntleroy, the American singer, songwriter and producer who’s worked with some of the biggest names in music over the last few years. Ian and Fauntleroy met and worked together when Ian worked with Jay-Z’s management team. It was at the time he was working with and writing for Beyoncé. James had the basics of the song which Jay-Z’s manager said could never make a great pop record. How wrong he clearly was as it’s likely to become a firm fan favourite over the coming months and years.
It brings back for Ian, great memories of California and it’s a track that has the most fascinating genesis to it as well. And who doesn’t love Anchorman ?
The band are playing also several festivals over the summer. The details can be found on the band’s website and social media channels but this release, the upcoming short UK tour (dates and ticket details below) suggest that EMF are back, although remember, this isn’t a comeback, just to manage expectations ! A bigger Autumn tour is also on the cards so stay tuned.
Our review of Go Go Sapiens is below:
EMF tour dates
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