If Fatboy Slim is the 'Brighton Butcher', then surely two times UK Beatbox champion, Beardyman must be the 'Brighton Baker'. The man behind the beat - Darren Foreman, has had nearly three million hits on YouTube with his Kitchen Diaries, and has appeared at countless festivals and live shows. He brings beat boxing to the masses and they adore him for it.
BattleJam is the first official venture for Beardyman and UK DMC Champion JFB. Away from their resident venue 'Audio' in Brighton, tonight saw Beardyman, JFB, Klumzy Tung and guest MCs head towards London's bright lights and rock the microphone at Cargo through to the wee small hours.
After a few smaller sets with little audience concentration, JFB took the decks and Klumzy Tung hit the mic. Looking like he could have walked out of Eton College yesterday, Klumzy proved his worth through his words. Using examples from a clipboard passed around during the warm up, Klumzy had to freestyle and incorporate the improvised words into his lyrics.
With everything from minger and herpes through to Dave's birthday, he certainly had his work cut out for him. As Klumzy himself said "the best use of a wii remote he'd seen" referring to the actual device he used to move the words from one to the next. From a half empty pit of a few individuals standing around talking to themselves to a packed out room filled with an enthusiastic crowd cheering every small feat, they were pumped.
In addition to Beardyman providing the beat soundtrack to BattleJam, he often uses crowd noises and comments as the hook or sample for the performers to utilise. Tonight was no exception with JFB up to his usual tricks of sampling Beardyman mid sentence and turning it back on him. Nothing was sacred on stage.
A definite highlight of the night saw incredible performances from Nathan "Flutebox" Lee and legendary Jungle Drummer. Proving they are the top of their game, they owned Cargo from the very start. Impromptu dancing and shout-outs amongst the revellers only added to the thick and heavy scene.
As the night progressed it also descended into madness as the improvisation ran riot between the performers enacting the lyric equivalent of a "yo momma".
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