While just the words “steel pan ensemble” might conjure a “hard pass” from most wisecrackers, perhaps a few things to consider about Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band: They do a mean cover of “Nuthin But A G Thang,” and they are from Germany, where there are no sunny escapist tropicales that might influence a Caribbean act.
On their fourth album BRSB, Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band brings a hybrid formula of dynamic soul grooves along with waving a freak flag that spells a punk musical sense in the most untraditional sense. The band’s vibrant and atypical approach to the traditional steel pans of Trinidad and Tobago are rounded out by a full band ensemble where drums, bass root the rhythmic foundation, while the pans play as their own lead brass ensemble of sorts.
BRSB is dosed with daring covers that include Game & 50 Cent’s “How We Do,” Dr Dre’s “Nuthin But A G Thang,” and Tupac’s “Got My Mind Made Up”. Bacao also polished off dub rendition of Claudja Barry’s uber disco classic “Love For The Sake Of Love” changing the title to “Love For The Sake Of Dub.”
But this isnt no cover band as the originals square off with their sense of freedom and originality that flexes a musical scheme we haven’t quite yet heard yet. We caught up recently with bandleader Björn Wagner/
It was written about your new album BRSB, Bacao is back with more of the same, but more of the same with them is inherently different. Can you elaborate on what is most different on this album and how is it distinguished from your other recordings?
We always featured our songs on previous albums, but this time we put the main focus on the original compositions. The selection of covers is different too: more West Coast hiphop and recent tunes.
How did you hook up with Big Crown Records and what do you admire of them in a label? What are some of your other favorite record labels and why?
I hooked up with Danny from Big Crown Records when they were still Truth & Soul. I admire how they took that foundation and took it to the next level. So many labels and bands are still doing carbon copies of Daptone’s and Truth & Soul’s work from the 2000s, and I’m thrilled to work with a label that was part of this initial movement but never stops evolving and remains fresh and unpredictable. Most important they’re a bunch of good people.
What is your introduction to Steel Pan music and why did you decide to explore this music further versus doing a band with guitars and bass?
I learned steel pan in Trinidad, where usually a band consists exclusively of pans and percussion. I was playing in a funk band with guitars, bass, and horns. Although I did not have many examples or role models, it felt most natural to me to integrate steel pans as a 2nd section that could interplay with horns or replace them.
A lot of people think of beach or island music when hearing Steel Pan- what do you think is the greatest misconception about the instruments and sound?
Some might conceive the instrument as a toy and only associate it with island clichées. I usually show them a video of an 80-piece steel band playing a classical symphony. It’s a family of real instruments, fully chromatic. Don’t take it as a joke just because it happened to be created from used oil barrels.
What do you hope for people to achieve by listening to your new album and what have been some of the most key compliments you’ve gotten?
I hope that people discover another facet of steelpan music and what is possible with the instrument in another context. I’m usually pretty happy when someone says „you couldn’t make this up“. One of the best compliments was from a reviewer who thought we were first and foremost a great funk band and integrated steel pans in an innovative way yet showing our respect to the original pan culture from Trinidad & Tobago.
What is the German scene like for percussion-based music currently and how well are you receiving there vs other countries? Where do you think your biggest fan base is from?
Germany has a big alternative scene that is very open to all kinds of groove music, inter- and outernational. We’re usually well received in our home country, although I’m sure some people over here would rather like us to be from some weirder place than Hamburg – just for the mystique.
Our biggest fan bases are in the biggest cities, of course. Last month’s top 5 for streaming are Paris, New York, London, Berlin & Los Angeles.
The version of “Nuthin But A G Thang” is slamming. What memory does that song hold for you and why did you choose it?
Can’t help but think of hip-hop barbecues as a teenager when I hear that song. We didn’t cut it to relive a certain kind of memory though. Danny from BCR said „try that one“ and I was like „naaah that’s too iconic, it wouldn’t work“. I wanted to prove him wrong and taped the track with the band within an hour and everyone enjoyed it so much, so I said, „alright, I’m overruled, it’s sounding pretty cool“.
You also do a version of Game & 50 Cent’s “How We Do” and Tupac’s “Got My Mind Made Up” – what is it like converting hip hop to your style vs other other songs? Where do you think the band’s strengths most lie in re-interpreting music?
Hip-hop is fantastic to interpretate, as it’s very much loop-based and makes the band enjoy playing in a positively restricted way first and then take it further and add other bits on top of it. We wrote new horn lines for these songs to expand the original. When interpreting a song, you have to make it your distinctive version, and create something new and unique to it.
What other songs do you most hope to cover soon?
We’re so rooted in hip-hop, but I’m hoping to do a couple of techno numbers somewhere in the future.
What are some of the more memorable shows you’ve put on in recent years that stand out?
We only started touring last year as our sound requires a big line-up with people being able to play multiple instruments each. All the shows have been great so far. The more memorable were in unusual places: in a greenhouse with real palm trees on a cold January day in Germany and 2265m above sea level in Verbier in the Swiss alps, with the most beautiful view from stage right up the Mont Blanc.
