Bow Street Sessions: Ireland's Beatbox Champion Amaron

The first of the Bow St. Sessions took place at Jameson’s Smithfield HQ in September. Fans who were lucky enough to snap up tickets for the event were treated to a superb collaboration between folk-rock act Hermitage Green and classical outfit Trinity Ensemble. Not only that, there was a special guest appearance on the night by burgeoning superhero and current Hot Press cover star, Gavin James, who also hooked up for a musical collaboration with the Ensemble.
The good news is that the second round of what promises to be a consistently thrilling series has been confirmed for December 3. Collaborating on the night will be Kilkenny art-rock maverick R.S.A.G. and indie-pop merchants HamsandwicH, whose acclaimed album Stories From The Surface reached No.1 in the Irish album charts earlier this year. Before settling into a rehearsal for the pre-Christmas show, Hot Press met up with Irish beatbox champion Amaron, who will join each act on the night…
“I’ve worked with jazz musicians before, but this is the first time I’ll have done a collaboration of this type,” explains Amaron ahead of the Bow St. Sessions performance. “We’re just about to do our first rehearsal tonight, so it’ll be very interesting to see how it goes.”
The major attraction of Bow St. Sessions is the chance to witness a unique, one-off collaboration between stylistically contrasting acts. Amaron emphasises that beatboxing is connecting with other genres better than ever before.
“I’ll be adding my stuff to one of HamsandwicH and R.S.A.G.'s tracks,” he notes. I do compose my own original material as well – beatboxing is not so much a gimmicky thing anymore. It’s all about competition and making your own rhythms.
“There is a precedent there," he adds. "You’ll see beatboxers on YouTube collaborating with a huge range of different artists. It’s a really cool way of approaching music and it usually works a lot better than most people would expect. I'm certainly looking forward to it immensely.”
2015 has been a landmark year for Amaron, with his win at the Irish Beatbox Championships coming alongside appearances at festivals like Longitude and Electric Picnic, where he played the Salty Dog stage.
“That was a really cool experience,” he says of his participation in the Stradbally extravaganza. “We played at nighttime and we did three or four performances over the weekend. On one evening, we went on after Glen Hansard, and another occasion I introduced Girlband, who I’m a big fan of. The crowd reaction was great. We even had people up onstage, dancing!”
As for what music fans can expect from his collaborations with R.S.A.G. and HamsandwicH at Bow St Sessions, Amaron is bursting with enthusiasm.
“It’ll be great,” he enthuses. “I love the experience of performing. I like to get out there as much as I can and have as much variety as possible. Collaborating like this is a huge challenge – but the experience will be a really special one.”
Overall, the second edition of Bow St. Sessions promises a brilliant evening of pioneering musical adventure. Watch this space!
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