When Lush came to Urban In The City it was hard to believe that this was only their second ever gig. Managed by Devil, who organized the Urban ITC event and is a So Solid Crew associate, the female duo delivered just a 2-song set of hard edged R&B, but all the signs were there that these girls could blow up big style in the next 12 months. Designer Magazine caught up the girls (who will be called Lush 1 and Lush 2 to add a little mystery...but mainly cos we didn't get their names on tape) and Devil to get the low-down on the Lush sound

Q: We're here at Lush's second ever gig so things are so fresh and raw it's unbelievable. How did you girls get together?
Lush 1: We met through a friend and we actually found out we were cousins. It was really weird because we only lived round the corner from each other and we just didn't know we were cousins.
 

Q: Had you been singing before you came together as Lush?
Lush 1: I'd been singing since I was four and I was in a group before Lush. A few years ago there wasn't the support network when we first started and now we're noticing things have really changed with producers and managers

Lush 2: I was singing solo before this.

Devil: The reason I thought they were so special was I was with a group of producers in a nightclub when I first met them and they came up to us and said they could sing. It was like ok then, sing then. And they did. To have 2 girls just sing to you on the spot and sound good. If you were a manager what would you do. You'd sign em.
 

Q: And for those who are checking you out because of the So Solid connection, but haven't heard the music yet. How would you describe the Lush sound?
Lush 1: Sort of R&B style, but then we've got the upbeat tracks. The two tracks you heard today are our upbeat singles, but we do the slower more soulful stuff as well. I guess it's hard edged R&B that we're going for. We've just done a track with JD from So Solid.

Lush 2: We just want to be the UK's answer to real R&B. We want to do everything mixed with R&B, so we're gonna have some slow jams, rock mixed with R&B and reggae mixed with R&B. One thing we're definitely not though is urban music!!!

Devil: Urban music is just really a marketing term for black music. You've got hip-hop, R&B, jungle, garage music and it's all put under the word urban. I think the word urban came from American magazine and the reasons they called the music urban was because a lot of white kids in the urban suburbs were buying the music. You'll notice all the artists will call themselves what they are. It's only the media that call them urban. At the end of the day you've got to look at it though as a marketing term that's really good.
 

Q: We're at In The City - the worlds biggest music industry conference. Have you got any any label interest while you're up here?
Devil: There's a lot of American label interest in what we're doing. I was speaking to Hank Shockley (Public Enemy) earlier and played him stuff and a lot of people at In The City have heard their stuff. I've only been managing them for a little while and what they've done in the time they've been with be is fantastic. I'm really really proud.

Steelo, another band I work with are going to be working with the girls, and Jazzy Jay really wants to work with the girls as well.