Fatty Koo mixes styles, mojo for fresh flavor

Received by Newsfinder from APJun 3, 2005 13:29 Eastern Time * Editors Note Also moved in advance for release weekend editions of June 4-6and thereafter * Photo Advisory CO301-CO304 By SARAH ANDERSONAssociated Press WriterCOLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) _ Defining Fatty Koo can be as difficult as trying to keep up with the lyrics of the group’s crowd-hyping single “Bounce.” While the name, which means mojo or originality, is unusual enough, the Columbus sextet’s style is just as quirky. The hip-hop group with a poppy Latin flair mixes in a classically trained cellist and a prodigy jazz saxophonist for a sound that is turning, or at least bobbing, heads in the music industry. The group _ whose members range in age from 15 to 22 _ has landed a star role in a 13-episode reality series airing on BET, a couple dozen dates on the Black Eyed Peas tour this summer and a 15-track album with Sony/Columbia Records due out in July. The original Fatty Koo five _ Ron Riley, Eddie Brickerson, Valure Allison, Gabrielle Travis and Marya Barrios _ all were involved in CAPAcity, an urban youth arts program in central Ohio. They each recorded in the spring of 2003 on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, a mobile studio that gives burgeoning musicians recording experience. But they first worked together when DAS Communications, which is managing the group and is affiliated with the bus, asked the five to board again for a group recording. In that September session, the group wrote and recorded eight songs. “We had a great chemistry together,” 22-year-old singer and producer Riley said, adding that he hoped to take on a project that veered from the straight hip-hop beats he had been composing. About three months after recording, Fatty Koo became the first group of the nearly 350,000 amateur artists who have recorded on the bus to land a major-label record deal, according to DAS Manager David Sonenberg. Soon after, Sony showed documentary footage from the bus to Viacom’s BET, giving birth to “Blowin’ Up!: Fatty Koo,” a reality series based in New Jersey that tracks the group’s travails as they try to make it big. The show debuted April 21. But when Fatty Koo flew to New Jersey for a professional recording session, the mojo was missing, said Brickerson, 21. Overwhelmed by contracts and cameras, Brickerson sounded timid on tape, and 18-year-old cellist Barrios couldn’t remember her back-up lyrics. “Everything we did got knocked down,” said soulful singer Allison, 20. The session fell apart, and Fatty Koo returned to Columbus to regroup. But rather than prepare for another gauntlet of missed takes and critical producers, the five worked out of a cramped, makeshift studio in a rented house. They taped foam on the windows and recorded tracks with a couple of keyboards, a microphone and a laptop in between trains passing in the backyard. The album, “House of Fatty Koo,” is the result of those recording sessions, a polished product that Riley says proves big names and expensive equipment aren’t the only recipe for success. “We set the new standard for anybody out there who says they can’t get a good product out of their homes,” he said. Working and living together, especially under the BET lenses, kept tensions high, but they laugh now when they watch episodes highlighting their petty squabbles and strained patience, said Travis, 17. But she’s quick to differentiate the show from MTV’s “Making the Band” and its drama-heavy reality show “The Real World.” “It’s the band makes the show, not the show makes the band,” she said. “They’re all casting calls and people with no real hunger for what they do. But it was our passion that brought us together before the show.” Fatty Koo once again recently returned to the city where it got its start to give a benefit concert for CAPAcity, which gave the group rehearsal space and performance experience before the move to New Jersey. The two-hour concert and video show, which drew a crowd of about 500 friends, family and fans, will air July 21 at 9 p.m. EDT as the finale for the BET series. It was only the third time the group has performed publicly together since a sixth member, singer Joshua Weston of Chicago, 15, joined the band this February. Weston, the nephew of jazz greats Count Basie and Dinah Washington, was brought into the group when DAS Communications considered replacing Brickerson, who struggled to strengthen his vocals in early recordings. Brickerson’s struggles were the subject of a series’ episode. Instead, Weston has balanced the male-female ratio and has brought what he calls his “Chicago swagger” to the already-eclectic group. Fatty Koo’s first single, “Bounce,” has become the anthem for TNT’s NBA playoffs. “I happen to like the freshness of the band, so that’s why we went with it,” said Turner Sports Creative Director Craig Barry in Atlanta, who has used different versions in playoff promotions. “The song has a good hook, a good energy,” he said, adding it appeals to a wide demographic and has strong instrumentals. The Black Eyed Peas rose up the pop charts last year when “Let’s Get It Started” was given the same exposure by ESPN during the 2004 NBA playoffs. Sonenberg, who also handles the Peas, hopes the airplay will do the same for Fatty Koo. “In this industry, odds are about 10,000-to-1,” he said. “Our odds have improved. I think we’re at about 10-to-1.”