Bumblebeez 81

Somewhere between Braidwood and NY, The Bumblebeez were created.

Led by Chris Colonna, who hung around Brooklyn for a couple of months on an arts scholarship, The Bumblebeez are a loose collective of Braidwood mates who record tracks in Chris’s bedroom. The results are a dirty tumble of tunes and beats that sound like everything and nothing you’ve heard before.

With Chris is his sister VILA (her folks call her Pia) who has rhymes bubbling away in her head. When they spill out over the mike, Chris is there to catch them all and create an aural background for her words. Then there is whoever else is hanging around, like Willy, Karuna and Anders who make their presence felt on the tunes.

They pulled a few tracks together, put it on a disc and sent it into Fly TV who were running a competition. Fly loved it and The Bumblebeez took out first prize. Triple J Unearthed the Canberra region and guess who took the top spot? The Bumblebeez. White Printz is their first EP.

They set down the tracks for White Printz in just under a month and the results are whatever you make of it. Like we said, it sounds like everything you’ve heard before – Beastie Boys, White Stripes, Neptunes, Missy Elliot, Beck to name a few – but you’ve never heard them like this.

Chris puts sounds together like a Madhatter’s jigsaw puzzle – and not a piece is missing. There are a whole bunch of influences on the record, but The Bumblebeez make them their own and play with all the authenticity of a ground-breaking group who worship at the alter of fuzzed out blues, dirty rock ‘n’ roll and distorted electronica.

Chris has been making music like this since he was 12 but back then it was all about cutting up pieces of tape and gluing them back together again, looping beats and sampling sounds until a song emerged to make his heart skip a throb. He’d listen to it, love it and do it all over again.

Then computers came along. Now the 23year old fine arts graduate writes, records and produces all the songs on the computer in his bedroom. Its faster, has more scope for exploration and is way less messy than the old way.

The Bumblebeez use a one mic / one take method in the studio ‘cause it’s not about perfection, but about instinct and vibe and getting the two together. Sometimes Chris will just noodle away on his guitar, not really sure of the notes he’s making but liking the sounds anyway, ‘cause that’s the way he works best; making bits of noise and juxtaposing them together.

After White Printz, Chris adds a second puzzle to his “Printz” musical saga with an absolutely wicked second EP, Red Printz.

This time Chris blended Pia’s verbal verve, his own primal scream and mother Colonna’s animal farm samples all together and made 7 tracks of dirty punk rock, twisted hip hop and mutant electronica. Not far from the White Printz sound, Red Printz is sleazier but more mature, cleaner but still organic.

Sister Pia aka ViLa has never been so persuasive and fierce with her ViLa Attack, Rappa and Pink Fairy Floss. She is cheekier than ever, super confident and hits the microphone with a giggle.

For Red Printz, Chris has taken his cut , paste & loop skills to another level and managed to use his signature mixed beats to create, not only an original sound, but great tunes. You still won’t sing along but shaking your ass is not excluded.

It’s just sexy, sassy and very naughty…

What else…?

Since the beginning of the “Bumblebeez” adventure, Chris travelled to many places, met many girls and practiced his public persona. Since the UK release of White Printz, the band received raving reviews from the likes of NME, ID, Sleaze Nation, Jockey Slut...etc. With his off-beat fashion sense and unusual art works, Chris attracted the attention of Dior Homme designer and photographer Hedi Slimane who shot him for Vogue.

Beside all these vein attentions, the six-piece band played chaotic live performances and opened for bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Death in Vegas.

For the US release, both these EP's were combined and released together as The Printz.