Victoria’s Evan Crofton fell in love with hip hop and rap at a young age. From listening to records as a teenager to touring the UK and mainland Europe with his band Busty And The Bass (who are based in Montreal, where Crofton lives now), music and performance have always been his life. After being on the road playing bars and clubs, Crofton says he is looking forward to coming home to play at Sugar, where he and the rest of the band will be playing material off of their new EP, Lift.
“It’s just a reality of tour life,” Crofton says about constantly being on the road. “Sometimes it’s worse and sometimes it’s better depending on where we are and what kind of gigs they are.”
Touring life, says Crofton, is hectic, and it’s often “hard to get comfortable,” but he says it’s all about taking the stage and doing what he loves: playing music. So it makes sense that the band formed in a very music-centred place.
“We all started playing together at McGill [University, in Montreal] in the jazz program; that’s how we all met,” he says. “So we were just jamming jazz standards, and then some funk, and then eventually covers of Motown tunes and more funk songs. We started writing our own music a bit more, and then it kind of evolved into wanting to do something a little bit more modern and more relevant.”
One of the main goals, says Crofton, has been “not recreating a 1970s funk band.” Crofton says that the band’s unique sound comes from its nine members having such a versatile background in music.
“I do a lot of rapping and provide hip-hop influence to the band in a number of ways,” he says. “In terms of the clubbing aspect, our drummer, Julian, has a pretty big influence on that.”
Crofton says that playing overseas, where the band is not as well known, can be a little bit harder, especially if the venue empties out as they are doing a soundcheck, which he says has happened to them before.
“We’re trying to make a name for ourselves overseas, and that requires a bit more grinding,” he says. “It’s not as luxurious. You can’t depend on people.”
Crofton takes it as a compliment that the audience usually doesn’t walk out once the band starts playing, but the trick for the band now is to do that “grinding,” that grunt work, to get themselves an overseas audience. And it’s starting to pay off.
“We play a London show, and it’s sold out, and everybody’s there to see us because they know who we are,” says Crofton. “It’s a treat to be able to do that. It’s a treat to get new fans. It’s not a constant struggle. I could say that two years ago it was a lot worse then, but now the shows just keep getting better, and we managed to sell out venues that we never thought we were going to.”
Despite the growing success elsewhere, Crofton says there is still nothing like coming home.
“I just love the west coast,” he says. “Going back there is a treat every time we get to play there.”
Crofton credits hard work and perseverance for the band’s recent success, but he also isn’t shy about giving some kudos to their own creativity.
“Our music is so unique,” he says. “It speaks for itself. If we have any self-doubt, we listen to the album that we’re making, and it’s like, ‘Wow, nobody is really doing this.’”
Busty and the Bass
Tuesday, November 8
$15, Sugar
sugarnightclub.ca