Georgeous beatboxes for Biz

Why the name Georgeous the Beatboxer?

That came from the influence of my older brother; I needed something that wasn't too cheesy. It just stemmed from George, cos I always change my look a lot. People started calling me Gorgeous George, the GQ of beatboxing, so we just played with the name a bit and it developed into Georgeous.

How big is beatboxing in South Africa? What's the competition like?

Right now it's not that big, but we are trying to grow it and when I say 'we', I mean myself and my manager; we started BeatBox South Africa. And right now we've got 20 good beatboxers, really good beatboxers, so there really is quite a bit of competition. I think these guys are growing by the day and what we doing every Saturday is that we've started classes, teaching in Joburg. We're taking guys from the less privileged places, like Soweto…and trying to train them up.

When did you discover that you had this talent and how did you hone the skill to produce what you do now?

I was actually in high school when I heard the Rhazel album, Rhazel is one of the pioneers of beatboxing in America and I heard his album, and I was like "wow". At the time, a lot of people were like “no, it's not real, he's not making sounds with his mouth.” I was like the nerdy kid who took the time to go home and listen to the album. Ja, I started from there, so I started doing his material and I took it from there and started developing into my own style.

Are you inspired by any particular beatboxers?

It was just the one beatboxer, I'd say mainly is Rhazel - the godfather overseas, he's from America.

Did you ever think you'd become a professional beatboxer?

To be honest, no, especially cos I started in high school in grade eight - a lot of people would laugh at me and would be like, “yeah it's cool you can beatbox, but you never gonna make any money from it” and look, I got the last laugh so...yeah.

How did you get involved with the 2009 Nando's International comedy Festival?

It was simply just a phone call; I think they saw us at another gig and said “wow, well this would be nice,” but it was nice for us as well because we haven't tapped into this sort of market like a comedy festival, it's completely different so it's a good angle for us and our careers as well.

Where do you usually perform? At hip hop / urban events?

Ja, hip hop, but it doesn't even need to be hip hop, it's a lot of corporate stuff we do as well for clients. Our crowds really vary but we haven't really run into the comedy festivals and comedy shows, so this was the first one and it was quite a big one; it was an international comedy festival that went round the country.

How does the whole concept work - what do you use to produce those sounds and where do they come from?

You use your mouth, but it's about your lips, your throat, your tongue, your palette - different sounds come from different parts of your mouth.

How do you do those multiple sounds when you make five different sounds simultaneously?

It's really technique, look, this is what I believe: to any beat, to any song there are sort of three very important aspects: you've got your kick -it's like saying the 'b' in Ben, then you've got your high frequency sound, and then your snare which you can do anyway and then when you put those together you've got a beat.

Listen to Georgeous beatbox

What sort of music do you listen to?

Honestly, I listen to everything because I think I have to. It's very important for me so I listen to a lot of hip hop, a lot of R&B, a lot of house, a lot of rock - name it, I listen to it.

Is there any kind of music or sound you find hard to mimic?

The genre of music that would be quite hard to mimic would be jazz, because you cam imitate the sounds of the instruments', but their beat rhythms change from a six beat to a eight beat to a four beat and jazz is a bit tricky - not that you can't - it's a bit advanced, and drum and bass is also quite tricky, but if you've been beatboxing for a while then it's much easier - but it's a lot of sounds, a lot of snare, a lot of high frequencies - a lot of sounds at one time come out your mouth so its quite advanced.

Do you think anyone can do beatboxing?

Anybody can beatbox; you got a pair of lips, a tongue, and throat - you are good to go.

You can obviously mimic other sounds pretty well, but have you ever tried creating your own?

Yes, I do try, it's very difficult, especially with the beatboxing in studio to record - it's very tricky. With that I do use instruments and I feature other people.

What else does Beatbox South Africa do?

We also hold an event at the end of every year; it's called the South African Beatbox Championships. So we bring down all the best beatboxers from all around the country; we've got guys from Durban, from Cape Town, we got some from guys from PE, and we bring them through and have a beatbox event, so that the guys go up against each other, like head to head battling, freestyling from the top of their heads. The winner of the competition gets to go to France and the winner gets to go abroad and compete. Beatboxing is huge in Europe and America; ja, beatboxing is really big around the world, so the guys get to put South Africa on the map and go compete overseas.

Is there a lot of support for beatboxing from the music industry?

It's growing because we are doing something so unique and so different and the numbers are growing every single day. But I mean there hasn't been, so we are trying to grow it. There are still a lot of people out there that don't even know what beatboxing is. When I entered Idols this year (2009), it was like 12 million people that watched and we got so many emails from people, so many emails came into the show that people didn't even know what beatboxing was until they saw me do it, and they were like - oh so that's what they call beatboxing.

Do you think beatboxing can stand on its own as a headline act?

That's what I've sort of always pushed for from the beginning of my career, since I started in the industry. I was 15 years old, and I came into the hip hop industry and they had break-dance competitions, graffiti competitions, rapping competitions, and I came into the industry and I went “ok, but where are the beatboxers.” The beatboxers were always the guys' beatboxing in the background - they were just the complete stereotype of beatboxers. And I said, why can't the beatboxer be the main aspect of the show, why can't he be the performer, you know, why can't he be the front man on stage and have all these different side acts behind him. And that's what I've completely pushed when I've always beatboxed - the beatboxer can be the performer, can be the solo artist, so I definitely think yes, should and can and will be.

We're also working on a beatboxing band at the moment, we're training three guys up, and they're gonna be a beat box choir the first of its kind. They're all beatboxers, but each one of them has their certain sound or like the certain instrument that they're good at imitating. It's gonna be cool.

What reaction do you usually get during performances?

We recently had a gig in Cape Town at one of the campuses and I was doing my show and I didn't realise why people got a bit rowdy and everyone was moving around and I was a bit confused so I just stopped an I realised that people were going to the sound system to check, “ok, is this guy like playing the fool here.” So some of the time, people don't believe the sounds are coming out your mouth, but you get used to it.

How long does it take to get the basics of beatboxing?

Completely depends on you and how long you are willing to practice.

Are you still learning new sounds?

Yeah, always, I'm inspired with the environment around me and the different sounds I hear. I'm always trying to learn new things.

What was it like opening for Wyclef Jean?

It was amazing, just to be around an artist of his calibre, was amazing just to sit with him, besides just opening for him, it was amazing, I think it was the highlight of my career - it was definitely one of my favourite moments. Recently we opened up for The Game, which was exciting and Vanilla Ice is in the country and we met up with him and he would like us to be his opening act in November.

For more on Vanilla Ice in SA read Vanilla Ice to perform in SA.

Will you ever consider exploring other musical genres? Or learning an instrument?

Ja, definitely, I play a little bit of piano and a little bit of guitar and I think it's very important for every musician. You have to have a musical background to understand certain notes and keys, beat rhythms and I will definitely look into it more broadly throughout the years.

Has your debut music video been released yet?

Yes, we are working on it; we said instead of producing a track and then shooting a video for it, we just really wanna shoot our first demo music video - just purely me beatboxing. It's not a specific song that you can listen to on the radio, it's literally the video - it's very visual. We are busy on it, we are hoping at the end of this year - it's gonna be up on YouTube, up on Facebook, everywhere.

Can you tell us a bit about the video?

It's just basic, me and a microphone, but sort of all these sounds will make you visualise what's happening - so it's creative ja.

What are some of your plans for the future? What gigs do you have lined up?

I'm hoping to go abroad soon; we might go down to Belgium for about a week and then LA at the end of the year for about two weeks. Right now, I just wanna grow beatboxing in the country. I want everyone to know what it is, pioneer it at the moment and I always have a passion for the music side so I do wanna make songs and I do want hits and I do want the SAMA Awards. Ja, that's the future of George.

Gigs lined up...which ones can we talk about - that's the tricky part. We'll be doing shows at Galaxy, tomorrow night at Living Room (23 September 2009) at about 10.30pm, Voodoo Lounge, Adidas classic Party at Mercury.

You're currently studying Media and Marketing, how do you juggle your studies with your career?

It's very, very difficult, at the moment but I'm not gonna drop it. I work with Boston as well, where I study, so we have a good relationship. They help me out when I'm away. I'll be writing exams in January now, so it's great. I think it's very important for every artist, especially guys that are in the industry and are my age, I'm 19 years old, ja, so I'm trying to do it all.

What do you plan to do with the qualification?

It's always gonna help me as an artist; a lot of people don't understand that when you're seen as an artist, as an entertainer, people don't understand, it's not only about how good you are, it's a lot about how you market yourself as a product and how you present yourself to your clients, so I think it's gonna help us with what we do and we've made a lot of good contacts, so I don't think a high Diploma in Media and Marketing is gonna hurt.

If you were a superhero, who would you be and why?

Soundman, I would have this power that I could make music come out of my mouth...attract all the girls. (ha ha ha!)

Message for your fans?

Always be yourself. I think we appeal a lot more to the younger market so would say be yourself, believe in yourself, dream big, it's ok to dream big and as much as you want to pursue your passion, you must always study guys and go for your tertiary education cos it has a very important role in what you do.

For more info on Georgeous the Beatboxer check out his Facebook page or MySpace page.