Lead vocalist Clair Witcher introduces Brighton ten-piece funk and soul band The Impellers as they prepare to release their third album, My Certainty.

“We’ve currently got a settled line-up of ten players for the first time ever. This collection of players has now been together for more than two years with no changes, which has never been possible in the past due to people moving on. There’s only one founder member left: Glenn Fallows. I joined in January 2007 – the rest of us have been picked up along the way. It’s a very small world in Brighton so it’s not too difficult to find musicians. The hard part is finding the right musicians.

“We feel like this line-up is as strong as it will get for us and wanted to make sure that we were able to get that sound down in the studio. This album is like a snapshot of the band as we are right now. The sound is a mixture of the heavy-hitting deep funk that we’ve done in the past, along with a lot of new tracks which are slightly less dependent on a retro sound.

“We’ve used different musical styles – there are a couple of soulful ballads, some acoustic folky soul, a bit of RnB-inspired stuff. We’ve got Ed Meme as producer for this album, who has released stuff on labels including Breakin’ Bread. At the heart of our influences is the funk and soul made in the US during the late 1960s and into the 1970s. There’s always James Brown, of course, but also Sly Stone, Aretha Franklin, Marva Whitney, Lyn Collins, Vicki Anderson, and Motown, Atlantic, Stax and Chess acts. And then there’s New Orleans funk, breakbeat, hip hop, broken beat, Afrobeat and loads more. It turns into a bit of a fusion of everyone’s influences.

“Touring is always a huge challenge. Getting ten people and all of our gear into a van and over to Europe is hard work. Flying a ten-piece band anywhere is even more difficult. Getting out to new places and playing in front of new audiences is one of the most rewarding things for us. We enjoy playing live and like to throw as much energy at it as we can. Big gigs include Koko in London (twice) and the Mojo Club in Hamburg is incredible. It’s the Tracy Island of the German scene.

“For this album we’re going to be working with a lot of artists, video producers and other creative people to try to put some visual elements around our music. We’ll be doing lots of video work, showcasing other people’s talents: street crews, animators and anyone else who does things we enjoy and respect. We might see if we can introduce AV elements to the live show too, although it’s early days with that at the moment.”

Find out more...

The Impellers launch My Certainty in Brighton at The Warren, in Russell Place, Brighton, on Saturday, May 17. Show starts at 11pm, tickets £5/£7. Call Brighton Fringe on 01273 917272.

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