sly business
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sly business

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Band Alternative Hip Hop

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"Ejack finds the funk and brings it home"

Saskatoon's latest musical hybrid combines members of Volcanoless in Canada, The Rebellion and Jiminy, but according to band founder Mark Ejack, it comes with a sound all its own.
The band is Sly Business -- a mixture of funk, soul, rock and hip hop that Ejack envisioned after moving to Victoria in the summer of 2009. When he returned to Saskatoon with a handful of new songs, he recruited his musical friends to flesh out the sound.Just stepping away from the music scene in Saskatoon -- I've grown up playing music here -- I kind of got influenced by different things, by the ocean and just chilling. It was this whole different lifestyle. I wrote a whole bunch of new funky, soul, hip-hop songs. They're kind of different than anything I've ever heard in Saskatoon," he said.
Ejack calls it hip hop with a fun perspective.
"I can rap pretty good. I mean pretty well," he said, correcting himself. "My mom would get mad at my bad grammar."
The band has been together less than a year -- their debut live show was on New Year's Eve -- but the finishing touches are already being put on their album 1976. The process was easier thanks to the fact that one of the band members, Silviu Moldovan, is part owner of PM Recording Studios. Moldovan also happens to be Ejack's roommate.
"I'd wake him up in the morning and say 'Let's jam,' " said Ejack, adding the recording process was very laid back, with lots of in-studio revelry. That is, up until the week before the album was due to be mastered in California.
"The last week before we went to Hollywood to finish the album was like the most stressed I've ever been. We took it slow and steady the whole time, but when we had a deadline we all procrastinated, like I did in high school writing essays the night before, and we realized how much we had to finish. But that also added some spontaneity to the album," said Ejack.
The band decided to get the album professionally mastered to add that extra polish on the final product. After looking at the small print on their favourite albums, one name kept coming up: Brian Gardner, the mastermind behind albums by Dr. Dre and Michael Jackson. Ejack decided to approach Gardner about working on Sly Business' debut. But it wasn't easy to get the sound engineer's attention.
"At first, they didn't give me the time of day. But eventually I got a hold of his assistant," he said, adding she was intrigued by the idea of hip hop from Saskatoon. A couple of weeks later, they got a contract in the mail.
"Even though it was really expensive, we thought it would be good to get the final polish on it."
The album 1976 is scheduled to be released in April.
Ejack and bandmate Enver Hampton, who also plays in Volcanoless in Canada, have known each other for around eight years. That longtime friendship adds up to natural chemistry in the live environment.
"We're all good friends getting together to play music. When we come together to rehearse for the live show, the songs take on a completely new life," said Hampton.But there are drawbacks to having band members with more than one musical commitment. Hampton's involvement in Volcanoless in Canada will keep him from going on the upcoming Sly Business tour, despite Ejack's threats.
"I try to break up their band all the time. I threaten to break Enver's legs so I can steal him on tour, but it's not going to happen," he said with a laugh.
Sly Business will embark on a month-long tour in April with The Rebellion, which only makes sense considering the bands share members Moldovan and Christian Kongawi.

Even though Hampton won't be there on tour, he's optimistic about how new fans will respond to the band.
"People love Sly Business. They think it's fun because it's something you can dance to and it's lighthearted, but the music has depth to it and I think people recognize that," he said. - Stephanie McKay, of The StarPhoenix


"Saskatoon’s local hip-hop heroes Sly Business to play Louis’ House Party"

Being a seven-piece funk, ska, jazz, instrumental hip-hop group will definitely turn a few heads on the indie paradise that is Saskatoon’s music scene — and that’s exactly what local band Sly Business has sought out to do since the band’s inception in fall of 2009.

After recording the group’s debut LP 1976 in Saskatoon, frontman guitarist/vocalist Mark Ejack flew out to Hollywood, Calif., to have the album mastered by Brian “Big Bass” Gardner at Bernie Grundman studios in February 2010. And more recently, Sly Business returned from a tour of Western Canada and is now getting ready for a flurry of fall shows, including Louis’ House Party on Sept. 14.

The Sheaf sat down with Ejack and pianist Ben Fawcett to discuss what this funky Saskatoon band is about, how their tour was received and the elaborate truth behind the group’s name.

The Sheaf: Describe the high and low points of your Western Canadian tour. I heard some questionable things.
Sly Business: The tour had plenty of ups and downs. We planned to be on the road throughout the month of May with another band and we were supposed to travel in their tour van but they backed out of the tour at the last minute so we had no transportation. When we finally found another van it decided to break down in North Battleford.

This left us very stressed and financially marginalized. We spent all of our band cash to fix the van, drove 30 kilometres an hour back to Saskatoon, maxed out our credit card on a rental van and drove all the way to Kelowna, straight, to make the second show of the tour (we missed our first in Edmonton).

After a great show in Kelowna, we played two shows in Victoria, one in Parksville and also Nanaimo. Nanaimo ate us up and spat us out. Our sober driver for the night blew a .03 in a no tolerance zone and our tour van was impounded for 24 hours. We had to take two taxis full of our equipment to a friend’s house literally a 45 second drive from our current point.

We hitched a ride the next day to make our show in Victoria, hitched a ride back to Nanaimo to get our van out of the impound the next morning after that and made it to our show in White Rock that night an hour after doors opened.

Yet, despite the universe kicking our asses night after night after night after night, we partied through it and were ultimately resilient.

The rest of our tour was amazing and included two shows in Kelowna and Canmore. Both shows were packed, sweaty and super dancy even though we had to play as a three-piece.

Sheaf: How was the response been to 1976?
Sly Business (Fawcett): The response to our debut album has been amazing and we’ve had nothing but positive feedback. Especially from our parents. Even though Mark’s mom hates rap music. On tour we sold sheaves of CDs and gave several free ones away in an effort to spread the Sly Business love.

Sheaf: What’s next on the horizon for Sly Business?
Sly Business: We’re just focused on writing new music and jamming regularly and getting a really tight set under our belts. We’re trying to play plenty of different shows in all types of venues and we have been in touch with a company in L.A. about shooting a video. We’re excited to see how that peter pans out.

Sheaf: What do you want Sly Business to be known for in Saskatoon? What is your trademark?
Sly Business: We just want people to have a feel-good time. We like being a friendly, live-instrument rap group in a genre that often harbors aggression. We want people to dance, not fight.

Sheaf: I’ve seen Sly Business play some one-man sets lately with just Mark rapping over some of 1976’s more hip-hop influenced tracks. How do you like doing the solo MC stuff and freestyling as compared to playing with a completely live instrumental band?
Sly Business: It’s really awesome and energetic to have a full seven-piece band at shows, but it’s cool to be versatile and do it solo as well.

Sheaf: Where in the world does the name Sly Business originate from?
Sly Business: When you spell Sly Business backwards, you get Yls Ssenisub, a renowned 19th-century German physicist who researched and developed the laws of being super cool. - DORIAN GEIGER


Discography

Sly Business's debut album:

"1976"

-Recorded in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada @ P.M Studios, and Mastered @ Bernie Grundman Studios in Hollywood, California by world renowned mastering engineer Brian "big bass' Gardner.

-The album was released in July, 2010

Sly Business is currently back in the studio collaborating with several jazz artists, making a fresh hip hop album played with live instruments and strongly influenced by jazz.

Photos

Bio

SLY BUSINESS is a funky, live hip hop band based out of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. A groovy blend of funk, soul, hip-hop, and jazz with a rockin’ live show. It all began when front man Mark Ejack moved to Vancouver Island for the summer of 2009 and wrote a handful of new music. Mark returned in the fall and began collaborating with various musicians in Saskatoon. Everyone that contributed to the album added an original element. Together, they took the funky hip-hop songs Mark wrote and crafted something fresh. Sly Business came out strong at their debut showcase on New Years Eve, giving 2010 something new to vibe with. Mark began working with engineer/producer Silviu Moldovan and recorded the debut Sly Business album entitled “1976” at P.M. recording studio. Brian “Big Bass” Gardner at Bernie Grundman studios in Hollywood, California mastered the album in February 2010. Sly Business embarked on a successful Western Canadian tour in the summer, and is hitting the road again this spring. Through continually performing live, Sly Business has developed quite an original sound, consequently gaining a supportive fan base across Canada.