Thursday 31 May 2012

The Voice of Music.......De'Vide's dynamic dualism





I have watched Suffolk home-grown De’Vide blossom over the last two years, bringing to our speakers beautiful beats of true musical fusion. With such a refreshing hybrid of sounds (think an Indie, Soul, Hip Hop sandwich with some Funky sauce on top) the band is taking the musical realms by storm.
Consisting of melodic acoustic singer –songwriter Barney Holmes and lyrical Lexi Lex (with Matt Gardiner accompanying on Cajon drums,) the band ring out with unique flair and memorable, infectious melodies.
Barney’s vocals and guitar melodies have a crisp yet wonderfully harmonious tone that will resonate, whilst Lexus creates lyrical frenzies with undeniable rhythmic conviction. Tracks such as the upbeat ‘To & Fro,’ will get caught easily into your head and their recent single ‘Mood Swings,’ for which they have their debut music video, will leave a clear impression on your mind. The acoustic version of it is amazing – here is the band performing live on BBC Introducing in Norfolk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJF5ijLmHXU.   
A personal favourite for me has to be the bands cover of ‘Drive’ by Incubus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBwylFh7i-Y. Listen carefully and you will hear references to ‘Back to the Future’, a mutual love between me and the band. More than that, the cover, in my eyes, executes both Lexus and Barney to their full potential – the lyrics in this song are very profound at times, reflecting not only musical talent but great social awareness.
‘Keep Running’  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR5qGjFQ8-w&feature=plcp is another one that is certainly worth listening to; much softer than the other tracks, it gives a small insight to the more emotive, musing works of De’Vide.
De’Vide have also produced other excellent covers such as ‘Ready or Not’ by The Fugees and ‘You might Need Somebody’ by Shola Ama, indicating their clearly established musical background.    


Since watching the boys perform together back in 2010 in Norwich (I remember then feeling very excited by their music) they have been immensely busy - they have been playing BBC Norfolk Introducing on three occasions; reaching the semi –finals of the ‘Rocket from the East’ Competition; performing at a 2800 capacity o2 Academy in Leeds; being part of MTV’S ‘Brand New for 2012;’ featuring on BBC 6 Music and Suffolk Introducing; winning second place in Choice FM competition to support Neyo & Trey Songz at the O2 and in October 2011, they were interviewed on BBC Radio 1Xtra with ‘To & Fro’ being selected as the homegrown download of the week.
On top of their busy De’Vide schedule, they both still pursue individual pathways; Lexus DJ’s and MC’s various Hip Hop & R&B around the UK and Europe, whilst Barney, who is finishing a Fine Art degree, is involved in various bands ranging from his own acoustic work to heavier rock to funk music.
De’Vide are currently in the process of completing work on a EP with the help of producer Jammy. For further gig listings and track downloads visit their YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/devidetheband?feature=watch and SoundCloud http://soundcloud.com/devidetheband.
They are without doubt a very unique duo, creating brilliant music that is much needed on our airwaves – watch this space…