Introduction
Heavy Funk Bass, Hairy Fuzz Balls, Hope Fun Baby, Hippy’s Full Brunch, Heavenly Fried Bananas, Hideous Face Bends, Highlands First Bank, Hydrogen Fart Bomb, Hen’s Breath Fixation, Hitchcock’s First Blunder… or a technical term regarding aural expansion developments called High Frequency Bandwidth.
These initials are important: ‘All the debut song titles fit the letters H. F. B.,’ says Dr Alex Paterson, who embarked on the High Frequency Bandwidth project with Dom Beken. The two men are about to make some Huge F***ing Broohaha with their mission to inject some original hiphop innovation, sonic anarchy and earth-level raunch into the electronic foragings for which they’ve become well known.
Dom runs a music production company, making music for radio, TV and films and also finds time for the band called Belka and Stelka, who released last year’s “Tales From The Projector Room” album. He started as a drummer in Liverpool after finishing a history degree there, going on to the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. Dom started hanging out at the city’s Parr Street Studios, graduating from making tea to programming and engineering, with artists including Manson, Echo and the Bunnymen, Pete Wiley and Graeme Park. Since relocating to London he worked with names including Bowie, Lulu, Placebo’s Brian Molko, Liberty X and Pink Floyd’s Rick Wright, also scoring several Bollywood movies with composer Aadesh Shirvastav
a featuring Indian film legend Amitabh Buchan (Slumdog Millionaire). A long-term collaboration with Pink Floyd’s touring bassist Guy Pratt not only led to scoring TV programmes such as Channel 4’s “Spaced” but to his old friend Dr Alex Paterson.
Alex is, of course, “The Orb” – inventors of ambient house and for 20 years the ultimate embodiment of the acid house spirit, before and beyond, from early avant electronic and ambient to the furthest galaxies with major success. The Orb more recently released acclaimed albums “The Dream”, “Baghdad Batteries” and “Mettalic Spheres” (feat. David Gilmour) while currently enjoying a flurry of reissues which now make all their albums up until 2001’s Cydonia available in deluxe form.
Alex has always pursued an illustrious career outside The Orb, from FFWD (Robert Fripp – King Crimson - , Thomas Fehlman, Weston and D.R. Paterson) to himself, Dom and Guy forming the Transit Kings with original Orb member Jimmy Cauty (KLF), to make the “Living In A Giant Candle Winking At God” album that toured festivals worldwide.
After that, Alex and Dom’s Heavy Flapping Bollocks were inflamed with creative juices bursting to escape and while Dom joined in Orb activities, HFB started to materialise.
It cannot be overlooked that Dom’s studio, where the pair originally cooked up their intoxicating sonic stews was the old projection room at Ealing Studios: legendary home of classic British comedy, horror and war movies since the 1930s. With the ghosts of Will Hay and Charles Hawtrey stalking the corridors, a spirit of mischief couldn’t fail but to seep into the the air mixed with Dom’s live playing and production flights steered by the Head, Feet and Bonkers noise ratios of the good Doctor.
HFB’s debut releases are a series of 3 EPs released from 12 May 2010 on on Malicious Damage Records, with the album “Hell, Fire and BrimstoneBrimstone” in hot pursuit from July 5th 2010, featuring guest vocal appearances from Dynamax (Zulu Nation/Rhyme Syndicate) Syndicate), Funky DL (MOBO Award winner), Aadesh Shrivastava (Wyclef Jean/Fugees) plus such luminairies as as Juliet Russell and Simone Niles of Sense of Sound (vocal directors of DamonAlbarn’s“Monkey” Opera and finalists in the BBC’s “Last Choir Choir Standing”) and Quentin Collins. The luxurious delux edition features a bonus disc of remixes from around the world globe including artists such as Gaudi, Andy Blake, Dj Red and Josh Dupont.
HFB’s score for the Sony Computer/Q Games Playstation Game title “Shooter” was nominated for “Best Original Score” at the 2010 BAFTAs and the sequel “Shooter 2” is on its’ way.
Check out YouTube and Vimeo for the Mike Coles directed videos to “Hundred Forty Billion”, “Hidden Foto Banks” and “Hitchcock’s First Bugle”, Bugle” plus the Darkfibre film for “Huge Fiery Ball” with cinematography from “Cloverfield”/”Zombieland”/”Lost” Emmie award winner Michael Bonvillain.
Dom and Alex host the bi-weekly HFB flavoured show “’Ash Wednesdays” at www.fnoob.com as well as Alex’s ambient show “Chewy Tuesdays” on the Tuesdays in between.
© Kris Needs 2010
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When making music, HFB often use drum and synth software from 
