The Bamboos' work on the soundtrack to Nintendo game De Blob exposed their music to the greatest number of listeners when the game went multi-platinum, selling hundreds of thousands of copies. By this time, Phil Noy had joined the band on tenor sax. The group backed her up on 2008's Just Say: The Bamboos Present Kylie Auldist, and she also appeared on their live album, Listen! Hear! Live!!!, and the Northern soul-influenced studio offering Side-Stepper, which also featured Melbourne singer Megan Washington and British rapper TY. The group brought Auldist on tour with them, and Tru Thoughts was so impressed that they signed her as a solo artist. This was followed by Rawville in 2007, a much more vocal-heavy effort featuring rapper Ohmega Watts and singers Tyra Hammond, Fallon Williams, and Kylie Auldist. While mostly instrumental, labelmate Alice Russell sang on two cuts. In 2005 they worked on their debut full-length for Tru Thoughts, Step It Up, which appeared in 2006. Drummer Danny Farrugia and bass player Yuri Pavlinov completed the shaken-up lineup.įollowing the model of Daptone founder Gabriel Roth, their first independent releases were vinyl 45s, which attracted the attention of the Tru Thoughts label. After this string of concerts, the Bamboos expanded to add a horn section consisting of Ross Irwin on trumpet and Anton Delecca on tenor saxophone and flute. Joining him for this initial version of the band were Ben Grayson on Hammond organ, Stuart Speed on bass, and Scott Lambie on drums, playing straightforward New Orleans funk in a style heavily influenced by the Meters. The band returned to their earlier deep funk sound with 2021's Hard Up.īamboos founding member and guitarist Lance Ferguson, who also releases electronic side projects under his DJ name Lanu, began the group as a four-piece in 2000 to play a string of concerts in Melbourne club The Night Cat. Releases such as 2010's 4 incorporated hip-hop, psychedelic pop, and cinematic music into the group's sound, and later efforts like 2018's Night Time People contained their most radio-friendly material. They gradually began working with more vocalists, particularly Kylie Auldist, who has sung on all of their subsequent albums. On their early singles and 2006 debut album Step It Up, the band played old-fashioned, primarily instrumental funk with a strong emphasis on repeated grooves, simplicity, and low-tech recording techniques. Australian soul group the Bamboos progressed from bare-bones deep funk revivalists to a more ambitious, mature act, stepping up the production values and scoring radio hits in their native country.

The bamboos discography