WanDan Interview

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1.  How old are you?

Well I'm gonna be 27 next birthday, lost all hope of growing up now. I think I must have a mental age of about 6. I still laugh at turd jokes.

2.  Where are you from?

Keeping it strictly Rural & purely Sub-urban: Wokingham, near Reading in Berkshire, England, Yoooookaaaaay, but I've moved to London for a bit coz I got sick of the f*cking traffic on the M4

3.  How long have you've been Beatboxing for?

Non stop for the last 3 hours. I think my lips are bleeding but I'm a bit too scared to look. I can taste red & I'm starting to feel a bit dizzy, that could just be waning breath control though.

About 3 years or so I guess now, but I've always suffered from chronic vocal diarrhoea

4.  What got you into Beatboxing?

It seemed a natural progression from the recreational pharmaceuticals I was taking to combat the vocal diarrhoea which in turn led me to develop an incurable case of percussive tourettes.

It's now part of my "treatment" according to the nice Doctors.

5.  What type of equipment do you have?

2 balls and a... I use a Shure Beta 58A, I'm on my second one now coz I left one somewhere in the middle of a field in Somerset (long story involving hippies).

6.  Have you ever done any live shows, events, concerts?

Been doing shows for over two years now, think I must have done in the region of 200 'performances' to date. Live shows have pretty much become my staple diet. I like the solo gigs but sometimes the one-man-ego-show gets a bit too much & like to hang about with people who have spare rizla's & can give me a lift home when I'm drunk.

I roll with 2 Crews at the moment - My boy Lazy & his band: (www.lazyhabits.co.uk) < the sickest live Jazz/Hip Hop outfit - we been smacking things to death up and down the UK over the last year or so. I feel proper lucky to be able to chill with a bunch of talented musicians & artists who put up with me following them around everywhere asking for rizlas

& my boys from the 'Shire (Berkshire) : Nine High (www.nine-high.co.uk) < We be bringing the skills from the hills, kicking tricks from the sticks, get meh!... These guys carry at least one packet of rizla, each, at all times. That's how f*cking gully we are.

Also done shows with DMC Champs; DJ Tigerstyle & DJ Muzzell. Me & Muzz recently went to Prague in the Czech Republic quite recently, that place is dope, except when you contract gastroenteritis and have to run off stage to vomit the water up that you drank during your set.

7.  How do you feel about the Beatboxing movement?

First I was happy, then I was really quite excited, this lead to some nervous tension & I did feel a little bit sick when we went over the bumpy bit & now I'm just really hungry, really really hungry, must be all this fresh air.

Word to all involved in the scene, and anyone whose had a good movement this morning.


 

8.  What do you like better:  Freestyling or Layering?

Well freestyling is a spontaneous thing, layering takes time & computer software & is something I'm yet to venture into fully... spotch this waste as they say.

9.  Who Is Your Favorite Beatboxer?

Dang, I can't choose one...

We should wait till all they're all dead, then rob their coffins & make some ill beatbox Frankenstein with 9 vocal chords & 12 lungs & 7 sets of lips n sh*t. That'd be my favourite beatboxer. He's gonna be dope as f*ck, bet he'll look ugly as f*ck too tho, but I guarantee he'll still get with bare chicks after a show.

10.  What other stuff (besides Beatboxing) are you involved in?

Drink, contraband & chasing women young enough to be my girlfriend.  Always been into music & video & graphics.  I spend a lot of time getting irate with inanimate objects that don't do what I tell them. I'd like to get into botany.

11.  What are your future Beatboxing goals?

To make, finish & release my first damn CD before my condition deteriorates too much further

12.  Is there anyone you would love to work with?

A really fit receptionist.

13.  What are your musical influences?

Anything that doesn't involve having a rubbish haircut, and some that does.

14.  Does anyone else in your family beatbox?

hehe, no. They disowned me when I got serious about it & moved house without telling me..
 

15.  Where did your name (E WanDan) come from?

It's WanDan now - I dropped the E (which stood for Ean which is my "real" name (well it's Ian on my birth cert but I though the 'I' looked rubbish so I changed it to E coz I thought that'd be well gangsta & more girls would want to get wid me & my job prospects would improve)

WanDan without the E is a lot easier to say to people without them going "What?"

Recently found out that Wandan is a township somewhere in Southern Taiwan & besides the red bean biscuit, Wandan is also famous for A-kuo Stinky Tofu, the Lu’s Rice Dumpling and the fresh mutton of Wang-pin. - I'm a go there one day & take a load of photos by signs like "Welcome to Wandan" and "Wandan Laundrette" & prolly eat some fresh mutton of Wang-pin. That ish sounds f*cking regional!  In colloquial Mandarin, Wandan also means “to finish" or "put an end to”  that's pretty ill actually innit.

The real 100% reason as to where the WanDan bit comes from is still somewhat disputable & there is currently an independent committee looking into it. I'll get back to you with the findings as soon as they do some bloody work.

16.  What's the best Beatboxing memory that you have?

There was this one time that I did this one snare. Man that was good day. I shudda took a photo.

NYC Convention will be pretty hard to top. Hip Hop Kemp (www.hiphopkemp.cz) in front of 7,000+ peeps comes pretty close tho...& the small parts of Glastonbury that I can remember, but yeah maybe the yattie down the front row in Bristol Academy last week whose top didn't stay on too well, that was pretty memorable.

17.  Describe what Beatbox means to you?

Spending a lot of time alone making odd noises & people telling you that you're a weirdo.  Then doing the same thing on stage in front of loads of people & them telling you that you're amazing.  Wish they'd make their f*cking minds up.
 

18.  What's the best collaboration you've done with Beatboxing?

Just busting with any artist be it a dope mc, a bassist, a badman jazz trumpeter, a sick turntablist, piano, flute wotever is the best thing...making music is fun, making music with other people is even better. innit.
 

19.  What do you think about Beatboxing.com?

It's a website - a DOPE ONE that supports a DOPE ARTFORM. Big ups to the Kernal & the Beatboxing.com Crew!!!!

20.  Any Shout-Outs?