It seems Bou has used the last year of off-road time wisely… He’s been hatching plans to launch his own label: Gossip.
The label launches next month with Cous Cous, a joyously bumpy bassline muck-about from the man himself and Inja on vocal duties. If you caught Bou playing in the months leading up to lockdown you will have heard it.
Armed with plans that sound every bit as wholesome and tasty as the middle eastern dish itself – including news on his highly anticipated High Contrast collabs – in Bou’s own words, it’s the most exciting thing he’s done so far. Not bad, considering how much he’s already achieved in his relatively short career so far.
Currently in New Zealand on a 15 date tour, playing his first shows in well over a year, we called up the Manchester artist for a little gossip of our own…
Tell us all about the label!
I’ve been working on this for the last two years. Finding the right name for it, the right branding, the right people to work with. I don’t want it to be a throwaway label, or just a label for the sake of it. I want this to be a place for my special tunes and I’ve been stashing up the ones that really kicked off in the raves before lockdown. It’s been a long time coming and it’s great to see it come to life.
Love the name Gossip. D&B is a very gossipy scene!
Exactly! And that’s one side I want to explore with the label with a podcast and different type of content. There’ll be events and clothing, too. I got so much planned. I got to thank my team. Wilf who’s my manager, David and Dale who are also on the management side and Hedex who’s working on strategy and branding on the label. I’ve literally got the best team to do this with.
You’ve been using lockdown wisely, cooking up plans…
Yeah it’s just a case of waiting now. I want to launch it at the right time and with raves slowly coming back I felt it’s the right time to strike. People are still kind of at home and supporting things online and some people are kind of going to raves so DJs are working again and can play the tunes.
Yeah, we’re in that strange in-between phase! I think I heard Cous Cous when I saw you play in Printworks at the end of 2019…
You would have done yeah, I’ve had it at least a year and a half. I sent it to Inja and he laid out this sick vocal on it and it fit perfectly, he smashed it. We made a really sick video for it and I’m dead excited about it. Inja really brought the project together for me.
You named it Cous Cous though, right?
Of course. In Algeria, where I’m from, cous cous is the most famous food over there. My mum used to make it all the time, whenever my friends were around she’d cook up some cous cous for us. She loves the stuff.
What’s your favourite cous cous recipe man?
You know what? I’m not that much of a fan of it to be honest. I was fed it too much as a kid.
Haha!
She did smash it with some raisins and lamb and this really nice sauce though. I’ve got to say.
When did Inja get involved?
It was at the start of lockdown, I sent him the tune, he laid down the vocals straight away and it’s been ready to go ever since. I thought it was a good tune to introduce the label. I just want to release music that’s real to me. It’s a very personal label for me.
You’re not signing artists?
Maybe in the future of course, but I want to establish it first, get some of my music I’ve been itching to release for a long time out there and just enjoy the freedom of it all. Choosing the artwork and video and events and everything like that.
DIY power! What’s coming up next after that?
Oh I’ve got loads mate. Loads of tunes I’ve been working on or ones that I was playing before all this. I’ve got collabs with Hedex, collabs with High Contrast, so many big tunes I’ve been working on for ages and loads of collabs to announce. I’ve never been more excited about anything I’ve done before, to be honest, I’m gassed.
That’s amazing. How often can we expect releases?
The plan is to release once every two months to give it space between releases but have a constant flow of cool things coming. Hope you enjoy it!
Gossip launches with Bou – Cous Cous on May 7
Follow Bou: Facebook / Soundcloud / Instagram
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