Inspired by pirate radio stations and the sounds of the underground, Blazin' Squad look likely to smash the dancefloor with their debut single, a reworking of the Bones Thugs n’ Harmony 1996 hit ‘Crossroads’. The single release date this week coincides with the publication of the lads’ GCSE results, so they’re keeping their fingers crossed on both counts! We hooked up with Reepa, Kenzie, Melo-D, Spike-e and Flava to find out more about the new boys on the block…

 

Tell us about your new single 'Crossroads'?

Melo-D: It’s a cover of the 1996 hit by Bone Thugs and Harmony. Tom saw it on MTV and thought it would be good to cover. At first a few of us weren’t too sure but when we put our lyrics down but kept their chorus and bridge, it turned out to be a really good tune. That’s why we decided on bringing it out for our first single. We didn’t plan on a cover but it just worked!

 

Tell us about the video - part of it was filmed in South Africa wasn't it?

Flava: We shot it in South Africa, which is wicked. We were in Cape Town, which was really cool.

Kenzie: There is a funny story about that too.We all flew out there and then the video director was really ill and didn’t come out, so we just go to go out to South Africa and have a good time. Then we got to go back out there when the director was better, so that was cool.

 

How did you guys get together?

Spike-e: We were two crews who had all been mates from school for about five years. We’d all been MC’ing and we sort of merged together and made a demo at a studio called ‘Standard Flow’. It was put out on our own label and it went to No.3 in the garage charts and got picked up. We were chuffed! The producers liked it so they gave it to record companies and East West signed us.

Describe your music to a new fan...

Melo-D: It’s sort of R&B, garage with a bit of pop mixed in.

 

Your GSCE results come out this week. What's more important to you - passing them or getting to No.1?

All: No. 1 definitely!!!

Flava: We’ve always cared about school, as we didn’t know what would happen. Even now we still really want to get good results, as it’s something to fall back on. We’re all taking a year out and some of us may go back to do A levels.

 

Do you feel like famous popstars yet?

Reepa: We do feel successful but we’re just starting off really. It’s just the beginning for us but so far it’s been good.

Kenzie: We’re still the same people but I don’t think we’ll be able to hang out in the streets now people will recognise us. People tend to recognise us when we’re together as a group, when we’re on our own or there’s just a few of us we can blend in with the crowd much better.

Spike-e: We were all on Oxford Street the other night and people were just staring and following us.

 

What bands and groups around now inspire you?

Melo-D: We respect the So Solid Crew and Pay As You Go. DJs on pirate stations like EZ and the Dreem Team. And people like Eminem and Dr. Dre.

 

So, what's the Blazin' Squad album going to be like?

Reepa: We’re working on it. We’ve recorded about 18 songs for it so far and they are all very different. We’re using different producers from all over the place. It’s a mixture of drum n’ bass, pop and everything.

Blazin’ Squad’s single ‘Crossroads’ is out now.