Boy Azooga is the Cardiff-based band of Davey Newington. Newington comes from a lineage of musicians, starting with his grandfather who played drums for the Royal Marines. His mother and father met in the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, she playing clarinet and him violin. Their son quickly followed in their footsteps, taking up drums and a slew of other percussion instruments at the age of six. With his project Boy Azooga, Newington reaches from a variety of influences including Beach Boys, William Onyeabor, Sly & The Family Stone, Caribou, Black Sabbath, Outkast, Van McCoy, Ty Segall and The Beastie Boys. His debut album 1, 2, Kung Fu! Dropped last month and “Breakfast Epiphany” is one of the stand out tracks on the record. Newington told Drowned In Sound this about the song:
"I finished writing this song while I was having my Weetabix one morning. It felt like an epiphany because I'd struggled for ages to find homes for the verse, chorus and outro ideas. I felt a big sense of relief when it all came together! The chorus melody is heavily inspired by Jonathan Wilson's song 'Gentle Spirit'. I was going for a Serge Gainsbourg-y drum sound for the second verse when they kick in, really dry and punchy. Eddie recorded a loop of him and I sat on the sofa, tapping on the back of an acoustic guitar and then clapping on the offbeat. That's the loop you hear throughout the song. All the sleigh bells and Mellotron flutes are heavily inspired by the Caribou album Andorra. I came up with the chorus lyrics in the shower and was worried I would forget them before I was dry enough to write them down, so just kept repeating them again and again. I realised that I liked the chant-like style of repeating the lyric so just kept it that way. The song is about death, which is a bit serious, so I gave it a daft name.”
For the live band, Newington is joined by Sam Barnes on bass, Dylan Morgan on keys, and Dafydd Davies on drums. The album was recorded entirely by Newington with his dad playing strings.
Watch the video for “Breakfast Epiphany” made by Newington and his friend Toby Cameron during a day wandering around Cardiff, below.
