Nowhere is the music scene more competitive than
in Britain. Bands release incredibly strong albums, yet disappear
from view. Musicians must have to have an extra something to gain
attention and hold it. The press creates straw men and burns them
in the same breath.
Enter Shovell, a member
of the popular dance group M-People and a world class LP player.
He has kept abreast the media and public activities, which include
award presentations, TV talk shows, video specials, and major
concert appearances.
It's not all media,
though. Shovell has worked his way up - earned it, literally,
with his bare hands. A specialist on conga and bongos, his earlier
trade gave him a unique perspective on the world. Shovell explains:
"School and I didn't really get along and came to an early end.
I was always into music and arts but thought that you had to go
to college or music school, so I became a plumber for years. At
first music was a hobby for me, I first played with two electricians
- on the building site!"
In the late eighties, Shovell happened upon a London music store clinic featuring "Patato"
Valdez. "I was mesmerized," he recalls enthusiastically. "Visually,
you'd think he was a frail old man. Put him behind the congas
and it all came out: the love, the vibe he got from playing. That's
the vibe I want when I play congas."
Shovell's first major
group was Natural Life. The group had a healthy record contract
but an unhealthy attitude. As Shovell puts it, "it went downhill,
like the movie Spinal Tap to a T." Fortunately, he met M-People
at a sound check in the early nineties and was able to take up
with the band, an association that has brought him instant recognition
in Britain.
Over the years, Shovell
has accumulated a collection of percussion instruments. "When
I first started," he recalls, "I had a sound in my head and I'd
look for it in shops: it was crispness when I wanted crispness
and warmth when I wanted that. Every time I'd find an instrument
I liked, it would be LP. Obviously, were meant to be together!"
In the last year,
aside from touring with M-People, he has performed solo concerts
on percussion instruments, part spontaneous, part planned. A DJ
has been an integral part - a role Shovell sees as analogous to
his own: "He'll be DJ'ing and I have all my percussion out. It'll
be like if you can imagine me as a rapper without the actual raps.
. . . I'll be Śrapping' with percussion rather than my voice.
It's all completely unrehearsed, because I never know what the
DJ is going to do and he doesn't know what I'm going to do."
The M-People percussionist
has broken a world record. The occasion that garnered all the
attention was a short concert at London's BBC TV Centre, where
Shovell led a large ensemble consisting of 493 child percussionists.
Many observers delight
in Shovell's media savoir-faire - an essential component in him
reaching beyond the role of percussionist. At last look, he was
guesting on British radio and television specials, including Channel
4's The Big Breakfast. He even had his own series on ITV 2 network
for six months.
Meanwhile, he hasn't
let his chops go. The UK magazine Rhythm listed Shovell in a close
second place to another LP player, Evelyn Glennie, in its Best
Live Percussionist readers' poll. It's not surprising: Shovell
is a familiar veteran of the Brit Awards and his gregarious performances
are viewed in Britain and around the world.
Shovell's group M-People
is more closely aligned with disco/electronica than guitar pop.
Ironically, one of the band's hits was the Small Faces' "Itchycoo
Park", a splashy guitar anthem to psychedelia. While many British
acts employ sequences and play along to backing tapes in order
to flawlessly replicate their albums, M-People play all parts
live, as you may have witnessed on the Brit Awards. "When we need
a sax sound," Shovell remarks, "we get a saxophone player. We
don't use DAT tapes. It's the different bits of personality that
make up the music."
Perhaps Shovell's
views are best expressed in his unwavering support of Centrepoint,
a British shelter for the homeless. "I take down some congas,
bongos, and a bag of toys," Shovell says. "At first, the people
are suspicious: they're used to be treated as abnormal, but we
go through the bag and I explain the instruments. After twenty
minutes, they're delving into the bag. We play music together
and I tell them my story: I did not go to music school or college.
But I did follow my dreams and you can to. A drum is more than
a musical instrument in that respect, it will break down barriers."
Watch for Shovell's
latest project, Spiritual Hooligans, in which he sings and plays
percussion. "It's got a Steely Dan vibe," he says. "People are
going to be surprised it's not four-to-the-floor house music.
Not at all!"
