They call their music electro-soul. Like the three very different individuals who make up Unklejam, its loud, colourful and funky but thoughtful too, with instant pop hooks and a heart full of soul. Listen hard and youll hear echoes of P-funk, the sweet sound of classic soul mixing with 80s electro-pop, all with an edge thats totally contemporary, immediately commercial, yet oddly hard to place. It doesnt sound like anything else around. 'Love Ya' is unadulterated fun. With its Rich Harrison style production, it's call to shake it on the dancefloor. Carried along by a Prince- esque falsetto, its posturing and bravado are worthy of Rick James. The songs hard-edge grooves surely announce the return of the Super Freak. Putting the fun back in the funk they are a much needed breath of fresh air and counterpoint to all the serious looking skinny indie kids littering the airwaves.Tyson, Bobby and Adonistar are three men who could hardly be more different yet who each grew up outside conventional society in different ways, travelling everywhere yet belonging nowhere fully.
Thats what links us all together, because we were from such different places, we all had to somehow come up with our own individuality, explains Adonistar. And thats why we fit so well.
The name Unklejam comes from Funkadelics 1979 album Uncle Jam Wants You. George Clintons wayward habit of creating his own funked-up universe appealed to a trio trying to forge a fresh musical identity, and they also name innovators like Prince, Gary Numan, Eurythmics, Donny Hathaway, Bob Marley, Sam Cooke and Sly & The Family Stone as influences.
Theyve share great voices and an ear a great tunes with all these artists, but mainly its an attitude that they have in common: a determination to forge their own path, to make music that expresses how they feel rather than fits into neat pigeonholes.
So for Unklejam, staying true means daring to be different, standing proudly, colourfully away from the crowd. As Tyson says, How often do you see a geezer from Hawaii, a geezer from Northolt, and a geezer from Miami in a group together, in England? Unkle Jam New Single Love Ya