BBC Derby Introducing

The Maffa Kings

What's the name of your band/act and where do you come from?

We go by the name 'The Maffa Kings' and are all Derby Lads as follows…

Lee Moran (lead vocals)

Ricardo Wosik (lead vocals & guitar & Polish)

Craig Johnson (guitar & edirol)

Darren Hollingworth (bass & grooves)

Matt ‘Haddock’ Harris (drums, percussion & hand claps).

What do you sound like?

We’re a five piece band that consist of vocals, rhythm guitar, lead guitar and drums so if we’re to be categorised into a musical genre we’d be somewhere on the indie/rock field of play.

When we set out as a band we had no motive or aspirations for a particular sound and feel we created a fairly unique sound. We’re all of the opinion that we sound like no-one but ‘The Maffa Kings’.

Live, our headline gig set list consists of songs with commanding vocals and powerful riffs coupled with a high octane funky rhythm section.

It also consists of songs from the other end of the spectrum, slower & more melancholy but with added character.

Our shorter sets contain a more powerful theme, used for maximum impact on our audience.

We put a lot of effort into composing songs that are all unique and have their own sound but fit together into our live shows comfortably.

A lot of bands today seem to have a whole host of ‘signature’ tunes that all sound pretty ‘samey’. That’s something we, by design, try to steer clear of.

Who are your influences?

We’re all influenced by each other more than anyone and we all have eclectic music collections. Lyrically our songs all come from life experiences and observations.

If we were asked to quote some artists we’re into the list would be endless but a few favourites would include: Arthur Lee & Love, The Black Crowes, Handsome Boy Modelling School, Queens of the Stone Age, Rage Against the Machine, Kasabian, Jeff Buckley, Oasis, The Stone Roses, Primal Scream, The Black Keys & DJ Shadow.

Tell us about some of your best songs...

‘Sirens’ is about uncertainty in being alone but holding your head up high. The arrangements in the song are by far the most powerful we have in our live set.

It’s a high tempo tune, full of hooks (you almost forget the track has lyrics) that draws in musical influences from all reaches.

A crowd (and band) favourite which always gets a rapturous reaction from our audience we think due to the power and impact we’ve written into the music.

‘None-Prescibed’ is a jaunty matter with shifting guitar riffs complemented with stop -start, funky rhythm and in a nutshell is about a desire for something not in your grip that you yearn for until finally that yearning is no more. The eagle as they say has landed.

‘Soul Picnic’ is a song focusing on a sound on the more subtle sound of indie rock music.

The song itself is about finding solace when one’s personality hits rock bottom. The psychedelic ‘sunsoaked’ guitars, however subtle in the verses (complemented by terrific and fitting syncopation from the rhythm section) and interlude still manage to create a lively foot stomping, head rocking composition.

Where can people come and watch you play live?

We’ve gigged all over the country including London, Nottingham, Birmingham, Manchester, Leicester and obviously Derby.

Come April /-/ all summer we are back out on the road again playing all the finest flea-pits in the finest cities around. And we also have the small matter of a gig at a music festival in Torrevejia, Spain in June.

Our MySpace site has all our upcoming gigs on.

Anything else you might like to tell us about...

The account of our band name came as follows…

We wanted a name that relates to a set of people (i.e. the band) such as a posse or crew but could think of nothing that didn’t sound too ‘urban’ and didn’t go with our sound and ethos.

Matt & Craig used to use the ‘Mafeking’ pub in Normanton to rehearse in when writing early material before we had a rehearsal space.

If you (as Matt did out of curiosity) Google ‘Mafeking’ for a meaning it will become clear to see how pertinent the name is with regard to the aforementioned ideology behind choosing a band name.

‘The Maffa Kings’ name then came from a different angle on the history of the ‘Mafeking’.

Our MySpace site is www.myspace.com/themaffakings where a new demo of Sirens, Kick In and Soul Picnic (12” sun soaked remix) available for a liste

Thanks for reading!!! Now come and see us, and as the chief says…

‘Everybody saddle up’!

Want to see a page devoted to your band on bbc.co.uk/derby? Well look no further! All you have to do is this:

Send a jpg of you or your band to [email protected] along with answers to the following questions...

1. Where are you from and what do you sound like?
2. Who are your influences?
3. Tell us about some of your songs?
4. Where do you play?
5. What are your plans for the future?
6. Anything else that might be interesting to read.

Give it the subject header 'UNSIGNED BAND' and feel free to include an mp3 sample of your music (though keep the file size below 5mb).

Alternatively include a link where we can download some of your stuff to include.